Klipsch Cornwall IV Speakers, $6600 per pair

(38h, 25.3w, 15.5d, 102dB, 8 ohms, 100 lbs. Walnut, Black, Auburn Red)

K’s Cornwall 4 is a particularly FASCINATING loudspeaker. There’s nothing else quite like it. I’m going to call it C4 for this article. Let’s take a look.

People new to the C4 might shoot from the hip and think it’s basically a “club” speaker in a gorgeous cabinet that you can use at home. It most definitely ISN’T.

Klipsch’s Heritage Series is all about miniscule driver excursion and low distortion. You will find that when you listen to C4 it has audiophile speed and clarity right there with Pans and stats.

REALLY.

C4 is absolutely, positively, right there with most resolving speakers you can buy. Further, it does so with such high efficiency that you can get by with a much less expensive amp than you’d need for Pans or stats.

C4 provides DAZZLING definition. If you want to hear plucked guitar strings fly out of your speakers, C4 can’t be beaten. C4 can purvey hammers against cords within a piano as well as any competitor. When it comes to revealing a stand up bass or percussive drum heads C4 is unsurpassed.

Tweeter

C4 uses a 1” Titanium, horn loaded compression driver.

Midrange

C4 uses a 1.75” Mylar film, horn loaded compression driver.

Both Drivers

The travel length of these drivers is barely more than what you’ll ask from headphones. This level of articulation and dynamics makes your music sound more clear. Percussive music is particularly breathtaking. The emotion you get from vocals can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

Woofer

C4 uses a 15” woofer, comprised of a rigid, lightweight, fiber composite material- which is mounted within an accordion action surround. The motion of the woofer emulates the resonance of a snare drum head. You barely see the cone move, yet it delivers impactful bass.

To attain this level of taut yet powerful bass requires two main tools. First of all, the cabinet is large. SO WHAT?! Do you love music or not?

Secondly, C4 has been voiced by three Tractrix tuned ports with MUMPS contouring. These are Klipsch cabinet refinements you won’t get from the myriad of companies who try to copy K.

While C4 is a big boy, it’s only a little over a foot deep and CAN be placed fairly near the back wall. What other great speaker can be placed with its nose only about 18” off the back wall? The depth simply isn’t a problem.

The 25.3” width takes some husbandly convincing. But hey, they’re finished beautifully. Hold your ground on C4s and let her choose the rest of the furniture in the house. Some battles, er, discussions, are worth winning.

Amps

Surely if you’ve gotten this far you’re wondering which amps would make sense to run C4s.

Of course tube amps come to mind. But not so fast. There are precious few tube amplifiers that are actually QUIET. While they might be quiet through low efficiency speakers, noisy tube amps, or integrateds, will hiss like a snake through the 102dB revealing C4s.

Now, if we’re talking McIntosh tubed gear, you’re probably in good shape. But if you’re talking tube amps that are something other than Mac, you’ll probably find yourself listening to through annoying noise. You can pretend it isn’t there, but at some point you’ll face reality. You can’t ignore the hiss forever, it’ll drive you nuts. So don’t accept it from the start.

I love the option of a very smooth sounding solid state amp, or integrated. Macs are superb. You might even consider some of their models with tubes in the preamp section to get a taste of the tubes without noise. They’re not nearly the problem in the preamp that they are in the power amp.

I would suggest you consider the marvelous Atoll integrateds from France. They’re tremendously smooth due to big power supplies and matched MOSFET output transistors. They’re not even expensive due to their efficiency in manufacturing. You will find synergistic performance with any Atoll integrated- and they start at just over a grand.

Yup, I mean it. The Atoll IN50 will sound spectacular with C4s.