Klipsch Cornwall IV

I’ve owned these speakers since December 2020--Ozzy really motivated me because I respect his opinions and measured views. I was coming from Forte IIIs. Here’s what I’ve experienced:

• Break-in . It was real, but at about 75-100 hours everything settled in nicely.
• Positioning. They are NOT fussy about distance to the front wall. They are, for me, fussy about toe in and width between them. Also, it’s the first speaker that I’ve owned that can be listened to in a closer sitting and farther away. I can’t say which is best--both are good and different.
• Dynamics. Amazing
• Imaging. Decent--say B+
• Soundstage. Unreal for me. They sound like live music.
• Treble. Crisp, clean and never fatiguing with the right gear. Be careful. They pass signal like no other so everything matters.
• Midrange. Seductive with the right setup.
• Bass. Honestly I expected more, but they are tuneful and taught to about 38 hz. I augment with 2 REL subs--not for boom, just to get the feeling of space, dimension and to fill out that lower octave.

This speaker is so darn sensitive to gear swapping. It’s fun and addictive. You just cannot feed them junk.

They sound effortless. Here I am in my late 40s owning Klipsch speakers running tubes throughout my entire system. I’m that guy now and happier than ever. I don’t think I can go back to different, modern designs.

Finally, I did damp my Forte IIIs midrange drivers. I’m wondering if I should do that here to. I would think Delgado did a great job, but....I’m curious!

This speaker big like my biceps. I going try it in my den where there is man space. I have Maggie in the gym and wife friend jump through other speaker taking the acid. I get these Cornwall and rock and charm the lady to.

I did indeed swap out the caps except the big 60 uF one between woofer + and ground. VCap ODAM. It is not a trivial job as the VCaps are larger physically, but with a little planning it can be done. I managed to glue cable tie bases to the board and mount caps. You have to insulate leads because cap body is conductive. Also put some double stick tape between cap body and inductor to make sure there is no contact. I didn’ t like caps so close to inductors and was worried it might sound worse. No. The difference is not subtle. The speaker goes up to the next level after about an hour. For the first 15 minutes you think you have destroyed them, but I know those caps and how good they are and that they need to run in. I use them in all my amp, preamp, and phono builds because they are just amazing caps. After 15-20 minutes you can hear the difference.  After the 50+ hours I have on them now, wow.  Slightly more 3D, but it is the tone and timbre of things that changes strikingly. That little hint of brightness in the speaker is gone and the vocals and instruments sound much more realistic. Yes, it is a very good speaker stock, but it improves considerably with the ODAM caps to my ear.

Again, I am not telling anyone to do this. It will undoubtedly void your warranty! I am also about to swap in pathaudio resistors. There is a 30 ohm and 8 ohm basic sand resistor. The 30 ohm is directly in series with the midrange driver so it will matter. The 8 probably not as much, but I will do it anyway. I will probably swap them next week. As I said, the speaker is now much better at all the hifi stuff, but it still has the same punch and drive and all the horn things going on. It just images a bit better and the portrayal of everything is better. Sound stage is massive, but it was pretty good before. The little hint of brightness is now gone and only detail remains. A trumpet sounds more like a trumpet. A piano more convincing. Vocals to die for. I know those of you who love the stock version will think I am nuts, but if I could flip a switch on your speaker so you could hear the ODAM caps I bet you would notice right away. To my ear you don’t lose any of the thing things you love about the Cornwall IV, it just gets better. But that is MY ear and again, I am not telling you to do this. It isn’t that hard, but I have built 1000 pieces of tube gear and modded many a crossover, so my concept of not that hard is different than that of a novice.

My significant other came into the house about an hour after the cap swap and she immediately noticed things sounded better. God bless that woman:)

Amazing how many posts on the Cornwall IV....  anyone who has heard the III or IV properly set up has to admit they sound great even if they are Klipsch haters.   I bought my Forte IV based on the sound of the Heresy IV and Cornwall IV.   I could not hear the IV in person but bought them sight unseen after hearing the were voiced like the Cornwall.   I could have easily justified the Cornwall if I had the room , maybe some day.

I haven’t heard the CW4 and wish I had before getting the Volti Razz which is of similar midrange horn design. CW4s were only 1k more but there’s no place near me to have a listen. However, I did the Greg Roberts show and tell and fell in love with the Razz. Build quality is superb and they sound awesome driven by my Pass Int 60 SS amp. Choice of DACs though makes huge differences in musicality. No turntable yet, only streaming and cds ripped by Innous.