Klipsch Chorus I vs Chorus II Comparison

Moray...did someone at Klipsch tell you that about them dropping the "extended Heritage" models???...that's the first I had heard of it and the Cornwall III were only brought back somewhat recently and not without a LOT of should we or shouldn't we thinking in Indianapolis...

Bill
 
yes it was from an interview with a couple of Klipsch personnel, I have a copy but god knows where. They felt the Chorus was going to do more harm than good it it displaced the Cornwall which it was on its way to do and they did not want to mess with Heritage, I think they saw Heritage as the stone they would build the Reference line upon. Best regards Moray James.
 
I think the mid Ti diaphragm is available through Klipsch only, don't quote me on this though.

Yes, only available directly from Klipsch. They seem pretty willing to sell them as repair replacements but not so much for 'upgrades', so order accordingly.
 
Klipsch dropped the Forte ll and the Chorus ll because they were destroying the Heritage line up and the felt that would undermine the very base the company was founded upon. With a better woofer and mid horn the Chorus ll thumps the Cornwall. So they brought the good old boys (Heritage) back and left well enough alone and marched into HT future with the Rf series. Best regards Moray James.

PS: too bad they dropped the Epic series (CF3 & CF4) along the way probably the best they have done thank you to Roy for a great speaker.


The Chorus II and Cornwall were never produced at the same time making your statement of displacement false.

Here's some info from the Klipsch website...


Initially introduced in 1959, the Cornwall speaker was designed to serve as a larger, full-range alternative to the Heresy when used as a center channel speaker between two widely spaced Klipschorns. When it was discontinued in 1990, there was an outcry from consumers resulting in a letter-writing campaign and even a petition to bring back this storied loudspeaker.
 
http://community.klipsch.com/forums/storage/3/485610/Edgar Interview of PWK.pdf

The comments were those of Jim Hunter see page #9. Chorus not Chorus ll as you pointed out. Jim Hunter describes the Chorus woofer as a Pro unit with higher power handling and smoother response than a Cornwall woofer. Jim states in the interview that the Chorus had virtually crushed the Cornwall.
I am sorry but I cannot recall the origin of the comments regarding the Heritage series being the foundation of Klipsch but when I do I will pass them along to you also. I had thought that it was a comment made somewhere in this interview. I imagine that the comments would have come some time after 1990
With the hybrid tractrix mid horn and a 15 inch passive in the Chorus ll I would not purchase a Cornwall over a Chorus ll. With some cabinet brace work the Chorus ll is a fine speaker. The Chorus ll is a Forte ll on steroids.
Best regards Moray James.
 
Compared to my forte II's I MUCH prefer my Cornwall I's. I had Chorus' as well and my Cornwalls easily bested them. I'm sure most people who have spent time with both would agree. I guess it all depends on what sound you're after.
 
personal tase I guess...

Compared to my forte II's I MUCH prefer my Cornwall I's. I had Chorus' as well and my Cornwalls easily bested them. I'm sure most people who have spent time with both would agree. I guess it all depends on what sound you're after.

given that a Forte ll and a Chorus ll share the identical mid horn and driver and tweeter horn and driver and both have a 15 inch passive the differences are in the 12 inch woofer of the Forte ll and the 15 inch woofer of the Chorus ll and the small differences in the two speakers crossover networks. They are (from 40 Hz. up) very much more alike than different from a physical point of view. We could throw in a Quartet here too for that matter. Personally I like the sound of multiple ten inch woofers over a twelve or a fifteen inch woofers but that's just me. You are just as welcome to your opinion. Seems that in the article that I posted Jim Hunter of Klipsch did not agree with your assessment of what most Klipsch customers thought about the difference between the Chorus and the Cornwall. Best regards Moray James.
 
I would have to agree with those above. Although I have NOT heard the Chorus I or II, I have compared the Forte II side by side with the CWII, both stock, and it's no contest in my eyes. The Cornwall is the better speaker hands down. I also have moray's former Quartet's at home, heavily modded, which sound much better than the stock Forte II, imho. Having said that, the modded Quartet's only "slightly" edged my CW1's with CT-125 tweets before I fully upgraded them to Cornscala's. The Cornscala's are easily a class above.

There are many folks on the forum's who have owned or compared both the Chorus and CW and almost every opinion I have read has a preference towards the CW. :scratch2:
 
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post-38109-0-15140000-1397346172.jpg Back in the early early 90s I had auditioned a set of chorus II in the black veneer.... I compared them to the 380se Cerwin Vega and very much liked the comparison, chorus 2 is a pair of speakers that I would love to add to my collection one day as long as I can find a pristine pair and have the budget for them.
 
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Thought I would update this old thread for those still researching. After spending much time with the Ti mids in the CIIs, I ultimately found them too bright and brittle for my liking in a small to medium size room. They seem to need room to breathe and performed much better in a larger room (20x30). My favorite mids in these speakers are Bob Crites phenolics - detailed but very smooth.

In the end I sold the CIIs with the Ti mids and kept the CIs, primarily for ease of placement (front ports vs rear passives). As I mentioned earlier, they sound more similar than different. I settled on Bob Crites Ti tweeters and phenolic mids. Very happy now!
 
Thought I would update this old thread for those still researching. After spending much time with the Ti mids in the CIIs, I ultimately found them too bright and brittle for my liking in a small to medium size room. They seem to need room to breathe and performed much better in a larger room (20x30). My favorite mids in these speakers are Bob Crites phenolics - detailed but very smooth.

In the end I sold the CIIs with the Ti mids and kept the CIs, primarily for ease of placement (front ports vs rear passives). As I mentioned earlier, they sound more similar than different. I settled on Bob Crites Ti tweeters and phenolic mids. Very happy now!
Did you extend the ports for lower bass?
 
No, I never did get around to it. Seems I could never find a tube of exactly the right diameter.
roll up some craft paper into a tube of the length you want (about 6 inches will do fine) a little tighter (smaller) than the vent hole insert the roll into the opening and then back twist the paper tube so it tightens up in the vent opening. A little tape and you should be good to go. This will work perfectly and allow you to hear the added bass extension. Won't cost you much or take much time. This way you can decide if you want to start a project or not.
 
Thought I would update this old thread for those still researching. After spending much time with the Ti mids in the CIIs, I ultimately found them too bright and brittle for my liking in a small to medium size room. They seem to need room to breathe and performed much better in a larger room (20x30). My favorite mids in these speakers are Bob Crites phenolics - detailed but very smooth.

In the end I sold the CIIs with the Ti mids and kept the CIs, primarily for ease of placement (front ports vs rear passives). As I mentioned earlier, they sound more similar than different. I settled on Bob Crites Ti tweeters and phenolic mids. Very happy now!

If I have any complaint against my Chorus II’s...and it may very well be my only complaint... it’s that the upper midrange is just a touch strident. And this is with gear that’s neutral to warm and with Crites tweeter diaphragms and crossovers. I haven’t damped the horns with foam or tried the ping pong ball in the throat tricks but probably will before I spend money on different mid diaphragms. I’ve seen a few say they didn’t prefer the sound of the Ti mid diaphragms, so now I’m curious about the Crites phenolic mid diaphragms and $80/pr is fairly reasonable. How would you describe them compared the stock diaphragms? Did you hear any issues in the upper mid range from the stock diaphragms?
 
I much prefer my Forte I and especially my Forte II over my Cornwall III. The Cornwall has too much cabinet resonance that somewhat obscures detail in the midrange. When I take the Cornwalls out of my system and put back in the Forte IIs I get feel a big sigh of relief. Once again I can hear detail in the midrange that the Cornwalls obscured.

Oh and the same goes for my Heresy III, and Forte I--they also have better midrange detail than my Cornwalls, even though they all share the same midrange driver. Now if you are into BIG bass, then I would guess you would prefer the Cornwalls. But my Fortes dig just as deep as my Cornwalls do. I have never heard Chorus, but on paper, for some odd reason, the Forte goes deeper in the bass.
 
I have tried Ti mids on my Fortes. I do NOT like them. I DO like Ti tweeter diaphragms though. I also had Forte III, and I prefer both Forte I and Forte II over them. I rank my experience with Klipsch speakers thusly:

Forte II (w/ Ti tweeters)
Forte I (w/ Ti tweeters)
Forte III
Cornwall III
Heresy III
Heresy II
Belles (talk about cabinet resonance----sheesh!)

I always have my ENTEC subwoofer in conjunction with any speakers, but I also evaluate the speakers without the subwoofer as well as with.
 
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If you want classic tube sound you have chosen the right amplifier. Smooth smooth smooth. They aren't quite as warm as the MC 30 which I think was a plus with my pair. They do have nice highs. The big difference is below 700 HZ versus more modern amps. They aren't mushy if you keep the speaker lines short. I preferred using 4 ft speaker cables and 20 ft signal cables versus the other way around. But make sure your pre amp has a very low source impedance, so you don't have to spend needless money picking the right signal cable between the pre- amp and amp. A C-11 or a C-20 is a nice all tube combination but you have to keep the pre amp cables short. If your were to pick a C2200 or C220 or other later hybrid tube pre- amps distance between the pre amp and power amp is of no concern. But if you choose a MX-110Z keep the cables short.
 
I recently installed Ti midrange diaphragms in my Chorus II and love the sound. I already installed Ti tweeter diaphragms as well as new Jantzen and Dayton caps. I did Moray's 2.5 oz passive modification which really does extend the bass. :) They will shake the walls with EQ (which I currently need due to my poor room location).
 
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