Speaker Suggestions for Next Move

I highly recommend seeking an audition of the Børresen X3s somewhere, preferably with a ballsy amp, not one of the Axxess integrateds of their sister company.

I power mine with a Yamaha A-S2100. Out of ≈40 pair of loudspeakers I’ve owned over the last decade, the X3s have been most consistently good at handling all genres, and not once have I been disappointed with any particular song I’ve played through this setup. They are also the only speaker with which I haven’t encountered at least one “wart” after a couple months of ownership. The only real “weakness” if I had to pick one is the lack of first-octave bass. With most music they play plenty deep and I can enjoy them completely without a subwoofer. Coming from Cornwalls though, you’d likely be very content with their bass extension.

I am very familiar with the Klipsch Heritage sound. One thing that both the Cornwalls and X3s excel at is low volume dynamics. I pretty well agree with Steve Guttenberg’s review of the X3s with exception of soundstage—the X3s are the only speaker that have managed to achieve soundstage depth equal to my departed Magnepans. One thing of which I am certain is that you’d be impressed by the X3’s level of refinement. That’s not to knock the Klipsch, merely stating that they’re on a completely different level in that regard. But then the X3s are more refined than most $10-$15K speakers IME.

If depth, scale and live music vibe is what you’re looking for, why not Magnepans?

That’s why I have them.

OP: "I want to replace my Klipsch Cornwalls with new speakers"

Responder: "No you don't. I don't use them, but Klipsch Cornwalls can be made great by switching all your other equipment."

Why is it so hard to treat the OP as a rational person that knows what he wants?

Try the Yamaha NS5000 which I have in my Livingroom with a CODA #16 and Schitt Yggi+ OG DAC. I think the drivers on it are unsurpassed by ANY cone driver speaker. The drivers are made of a material called Zylon and it is very similar to Beryllium but not harsh sounding. The 12-inch woofer is made of the same material as the tiny tweeter (and the mid). No one does that and the coherence is amazing because of this. Try finding a 12-inch woofer made from Beryllium.

This speaker is the successor to the Yamaha NS1000 which was the first speaker (in the 1970’s) to use Beryllium on the tweeter and the mid. Yamaha has moved beyond Beryllium.

I compared this to a few Magicos | Parasound Persona (tweeter and mid made from Beryllium) | Revel | Vandersteen | Clarysis .(sp?) | Magnepan.

The NS5000 price is from $10k to $15k. I paid $12k for a new one. I also threw out the shipping boxes.

I recently lost my home office space and sold my Magnepan LRS+ office system. The best part of that is that I now blast the NS5000 from my Livingroom while I work on the open second floor space. Incredible sound even in this setup.

They are called bookshelf speakers but that must be a joke. You need a large room. Luckily, I have very tall ceilings (over 20 feet) to offset a medium sized room.

If you like the immediacy that a horn provides, but want more realism, I'd suggest going with a Tekton Design model.  The Moab with the new ceramic drivers and beryllium center is most likely astonishing value.  My friend just ordered them and they should get there next week.  The designer, Eric Alexander recommended those over the Encore model that someone here recommended.  I have the double impacts and the impact monitors and run them with rhythmik subwoofers as they are in large listening spaces.  I'd give tekton a call and talk to Eric the owner about your preferences.  They have so many models and options that it can be a little daunting.  But I'd say moabs with ceramics or their new Ulfbehrt 15 would probably crush the competition. 

Best of luck to you in your search!  I suggest sticking with your speaker swap for all it's worth.  As nice as the Cornwalls sound (i've heard almost all the klipsch designs) I think the tektons are just way more realistic sounding from top to bottom.  Check out the stereotimes, and stereophile articles on their models that have been reviewed!