Klipsch Cornwall IV

In reference to above.. there is no perfect speaker.  What I consider perfect, or at least near perfect, you probably would not, even given the same room and system because our hearing curves and tastes are different.   I would consider the X5 to be as perfect a speaker as I have ever heard.  Ozzy had the X3 and bought Cornwalls...   It depends on what you are after.  Some people love horns and simply couldn't live with any other type of speaker long-term.   Others cannot stand horns.

My preference is to always start with a tube friendly speaker design.  I cannot listen to SS amps.  I find them very two dimensional compared to a GOOD tube system.  A mediocre tube system is flabby in the bass, etc...   Given a tube friendly speaker you can put together all sorts of systems, roll tubes, etc....  You can tune it.   As I said above, the Cornwall IV is a completely different animal than previous versions.   I have them dialed in so I hear micro detail and a very 3D sound stage that is literally 10 -12 ft high and several feet wider than the speakers.  They will do that in a good room with a very good system driving them.  To me they image as well as any other top quality speaker I have had in here.

What you are seeing in the later part of this thread is that a dealer demo of the cornwall IV or any other speaker can turn you off them.  Most dealers don't have the speakers well placed.   I would never demo a tube friendly speaker with even that mac hybrid integrated.  You are listening to a solid state power amp driving a very efficient horn speaker that cries out for tubes.  If I were to demo the Klipsch heritage line I would certainly have a top notch all tube system in front and a really good source, not some iPad.  A top notch DAC.

Others will disagree with me and prefer solid state amps.  That's cool, that is what the hobby is about.   I can build anything, but I only build tube amps because that is all I can listen to.  Heck, I have serious preferences in capacitors, power supply topology, output transformer type, etc...  But those are mine.  Others have different tastes.  Same with speakers... there is no perfect speaker.   Given a budget you should try to hear a number of different designs and then hopefully demo something in your room with your system.  Not always possible I know....

I was surprised when the store employees started dialing in song selections from their iPads. There was a McIntosh turntable in the room and I had brought some vinyl, but at no time did the store emps ask about it or offer to play. They said they had a four song playlist that Klipsch recommended for a sound test. 


They also insisted on playing each track at huge volumes. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but there were no jazz or classical offerings. They seemed really excited to play The Eagles and, considering the demographic most likely to buy these, I'm not surprised. But it turned me off completely. 


Another listener suggested a Nils lufgren track and the 3D imaging was quite good, but every other iPad track was bombastic and one dimensional. 

I think the IPad was most likely controlling a music server, but yes they should ask what you would like to listen to and leave you to listen without any interruptions. You are the customer, the priority, the one paying the bills. My experience is that for years many shops were focused mostly on installations to get by. It seems the more recent surge in people getting out to listen to 2 channel has them a little rusty. Hopefully we all get into our groove again.

Don offers good advice. I would never consider pairing klipsch heritage speakers with SS amps, although some do. I am listening to Deep Purple "Made in Japan" right now with 14 tube watts much louder than I probably should and it sounds awesome. Seek out another audition or try to get a pair in your home. 

Oz

Yes, I am sure the iPad was controlling some sort of server, but again, it was probably a Mac or some other decent grade thing, but maybe not top shelf.   My experience with the Cornwall IV and the X5 is that they are up there in rarified air.  They are that level of speaker.  Of course there are probably better speakers, but both of these are very good.  Every time I change a tube I can easily hear it in either speaker.  Any subtle change upstream can be heard.  So if I am demoing these speakers I am setting up a KILLER system in front of them.   They are capable of micro detail and very 3D imaging.  My opinion is that if you put a SS amp in front of them you will not hear that.  Of course you want the customer to be able to play whatever music they love to evaluate them as well.   I listen to a lot of poor recordings I love anyway, but I listen to my set of 50-100 tracks of all genres to evaluate the gear I build.  I would never use certain tracks to evaluate a pair of speakers.  Your list of tracks would be different than mine:)