I have had a saved search on Bay Area Craigslist for a year or so for "Klipsch Cornwalls." Since then I received hundreds of email notifications- every time someone has posted on CL just looking for Cornwalls or (more commonly) putting the words "Klipsch Cornwalls" among a hundred other hifi related words at the bottom of an ad to attract more eyeballs.
Last Thursday night about 11pm I got an email alert from my saved search for an ad from a couple looking to clean out their basement and they had pics of a pair of Cornwalls among a bunch of other very uninteresting stuff. The price was way, WAY less than I have ever seen and I emailed immediately. The very nice lady who wrote back within 30 minutes said she would hold them until I could pick them up Saturday morning and she promptly edited the CL posting to delete any mention of the speakers. I am pretty sure no one else even saw the listing. We stayed in touch for the next few days and she was super nice every step of the way.
I sweated it for 2 days but last Saturday morning I picked them up in Oakland. As it turns out they totally knew what they had, so it definitely wasn't like I was ripping them off. They had belonged to the guy's dad who bought them new in 1972. I will not bore you with the personal details but they were happy that i was happy and I even paid $5 over their asking price because I didn't have exact change- so I paid $130 for these.
Since Saturday I have played them for hours, using a few different amps: Concept 6.5, Marantz 2275 and Fisher 400. I played digital files using Tidal on my iphone with an aux cord and LPs with my Thorens TD 147.
Gotta say, these things sound so so so great. The closest sounding pair of speakers I have currently are my Wharfedale W70d- just in terms of the fullness and clarity- but the Cornwalls are in another league entirely. I'm no good at describing the sound but they are just bigger and clearer in every way than any other speaker I have (10 other pairs). It is not even a contest. Unfortunately the amp they pair best with, the Fisher 400, lives in a room where they will not fit. Looks like the whole house is going to eventually get shifted around to make these the main speakers.
They haven't been in use for at least 15 years. I took the backs off to look inside and it may have been the first time they were ever opened up. I had a tough time dating them but I emailed Bob Crites to look into all the relevant crossover/tweeter/midrange/grill cloth upgrades and he said they were from 1972 and are "some of the relatively rare Cornwall 1s that have vertically oriented horns." i'll definitely be refinishing the cabs, doing a Crites crossover rebuild and ordering new grill cloth. Will have to wait on the other upgrades for the moment.
Anyway, I couldn't be more stoked! Here are a few pics. My meager googling suggests that Klipsch's inhouse accountant is the one who signed off on these. Does "DR" mean designer? I don't see that posted anywhere yet but I am just now looking into it. The finish seems pretty amateurish.
All i can say is, I am very happy and look forward to working to get these completely up to snuff!
Last Thursday night about 11pm I got an email alert from my saved search for an ad from a couple looking to clean out their basement and they had pics of a pair of Cornwalls among a bunch of other very uninteresting stuff. The price was way, WAY less than I have ever seen and I emailed immediately. The very nice lady who wrote back within 30 minutes said she would hold them until I could pick them up Saturday morning and she promptly edited the CL posting to delete any mention of the speakers. I am pretty sure no one else even saw the listing. We stayed in touch for the next few days and she was super nice every step of the way.
I sweated it for 2 days but last Saturday morning I picked them up in Oakland. As it turns out they totally knew what they had, so it definitely wasn't like I was ripping them off. They had belonged to the guy's dad who bought them new in 1972. I will not bore you with the personal details but they were happy that i was happy and I even paid $5 over their asking price because I didn't have exact change- so I paid $130 for these.
Since Saturday I have played them for hours, using a few different amps: Concept 6.5, Marantz 2275 and Fisher 400. I played digital files using Tidal on my iphone with an aux cord and LPs with my Thorens TD 147.
Gotta say, these things sound so so so great. The closest sounding pair of speakers I have currently are my Wharfedale W70d- just in terms of the fullness and clarity- but the Cornwalls are in another league entirely. I'm no good at describing the sound but they are just bigger and clearer in every way than any other speaker I have (10 other pairs). It is not even a contest. Unfortunately the amp they pair best with, the Fisher 400, lives in a room where they will not fit. Looks like the whole house is going to eventually get shifted around to make these the main speakers.
They haven't been in use for at least 15 years. I took the backs off to look inside and it may have been the first time they were ever opened up. I had a tough time dating them but I emailed Bob Crites to look into all the relevant crossover/tweeter/midrange/grill cloth upgrades and he said they were from 1972 and are "some of the relatively rare Cornwall 1s that have vertically oriented horns." i'll definitely be refinishing the cabs, doing a Crites crossover rebuild and ordering new grill cloth. Will have to wait on the other upgrades for the moment.
Anyway, I couldn't be more stoked! Here are a few pics. My meager googling suggests that Klipsch's inhouse accountant is the one who signed off on these. Does "DR" mean designer? I don't see that posted anywhere yet but I am just now looking into it. The finish seems pretty amateurish.
All i can say is, I am very happy and look forward to working to get these completely up to snuff!
Yes, I'd say it's time to rearrange the whole house around these bad boys.
