Cornwall iv

To be fair the OP is looking at used Cornwalls IV which is what $4k ish?  In that price range I would personally buy the Cornwall and be happy. I think it is far less of a risk than Tekton which would be much harder to resell. My general thought is that used Cornwalls are a cheap way to get big speaker dynamics without spending big speaker money. 
 

say the other side of the coin, something like the Revel 228be (used pairs for $5500-$6500 right now). I have owned this speaker and it is super refined, commit no sin type of refinement. Without subs they are pretty light in their bass tuning and are a touch boring (great with subs) but “perfect” sounding. Oddly I sold my 228be to someone local that owned a pair of Tektons (pendragon I think) and after a few weeks he more or less said the Revel eclipsed the Tekton in every way including bass impact and detail. I think he was a bit taken back with how good the Revel really was. Having it in your home is a lot different then a demo. 
 

I bring up the 228be because I owned them while shopping for horn speakers. I think living with a very refined speaker makes warts of other systems stick out pretty quickly. my local shop also has the Revel line (328be, Salon) and Klispch line (Cornwall, La Scala) on the floor for easy comparisons. 

So it just comes down to what you value most. With money you can have it all but most of us need to chose our priorities. I think the Cornwall is an ok compromise if you put dynamics at the top in that $5000 price range.

Pulled the trigger on the 1 year old Cornwalls. Perfect condition. I think they are outstanding looking with the walnut but ymmv. They sounded really really good at the sellers house. He had a real nice Ayon tube setup. Super dynamic and waaay smoother and layered than I expected. Really nice tone. I was ready to pull the trigger on some Paradigm S6 v.3 and the local seller messaged me back about the Cornwalls and we agreed on a price I think was fair for both of us. 
 

Way different presentation from my Focals and it seems like what I’m looking for although I love me some Focal. Using a Lyngdorf 3400. Even before room correction they sound super powerful and no fatigue. Gonna run room correction and bring in the subs tonight. 

Congrats!  The CW is a fun "entertainment" room type a speaker.  Throw them in a large space, use them for music and movies, especially concerts and they are difficult to match.  Great for parties and guests, and when you don't want to be a critical listener.  You'll also find that friends won't question their value.  Hit them with a few peaks in the high 90's/low 100db range and they'll get it.

I will say they are nothing like the Chorus 2 I had. Those could peel the paint off the wall without judicious use of EQ. My wife described these as warm and juicy sounding. Also pointed out how good the vocals were and I agree. I could not even get her to sit and listen to my Focals which I quite like. She kept asking to hear different songs on these. Maybe not perfect in an audiophile sense although I can't pinpoint what's missing in that respect, but I don't listen to the normal audiophile fare. The guy I did bought these from had a frequency response graph he measured in his room and it was very flat which surprised me. 

Mofojo,

I am glad you like them. They are en enjoyable speaker and “audiophile” enough IMO. I think the Chorus line is pretty bad (I have owned some). As I was trying to say about the Cornwalls is they are pretty good and speakers that have the same type of dynamics but are more refined come at much higher price. Dynamics are so important I would take them over the last bit of refinement. 
 

I will be interested to hear what you think with the subs and how you set them up (highpass?), Lyngdorf is a nice piece.