Original Cornwall vs. Chorus II
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Stormin
Member
Its all in the voicing of the speaker to me. I've done the shoot out with both side by side. The Cornwalls soundstage is much larger but I find with its wide baffle it has a hard time with a descent image. The Chorus II is much more focused and with a much better image. Which truthfully neither of them excell with imaging. The bass is trully the difference for me. The Cornwall with its vented bottom begins to rumble with power if you like to rock out and the mids will begin to scream. The Chorus II on the other hand will just pound you as you increase the power and the tractrix is oh so smooth. I have had 45wpc to 425 wpc into the Chorus II and they just wanted more. In the end I found both speakers to have strengths and weaknesses. The Cornwall IMHO is probably one of the best jazz speakers ever made. The Chorus II is more of a rock speaker.
Stormin
Member
I should also add that I found at low to moderate volumes the Cornwall is a little more balanced I believe due to the hump in bass at around 70 HZ. So if you mainly listen at lower volumes and are a big fan of jazz I dont think you will find much better than the Cornwall. The Chorus II needs power to achieve more of a balance.
pmsummer
simul justus et peccator
Randy, I couldn't agree more. I listened to mainly Jazz, Folk, and small ensemble Classical. To me, reproducing small ensemble acoustical music is the measure of a speaker.
The soundstage of the Cornwalls is greatly improved if placed in a room per PWK's instructions (in the corners along a wall at least 14' long, toed in 45 degrees). Not everyone can do this.
P.M.
bystander
Active Member
Thanks Guys for your opinions. I am not looking at replacing my Cornwalls, if anything I'd just move them to another room.
My musical tastes run more toward CRANKING rock music on a saturday morning, and I want to FEEL the bass with my morning coffee! The Cornwalls do nicely for this purpose, just wondering if I'll get an even bigger punch from the Chorus II. Have never heard them, but have always been intrigued about the passive radiator in the back and if that results in a slightly stronger punch than the ported Corns. (By the way, I'd love a pair of K-horns but do not have the room setup to accommodate them.)
More opinions, please!
My musical tastes run more toward CRANKING rock music on a saturday morning, and I want to FEEL the bass with my morning coffee! The Cornwalls do nicely for this purpose, just wondering if I'll get an even bigger punch from the Chorus II. Have never heard them, but have always been intrigued about the passive radiator in the back and if that results in a slightly stronger punch than the ported Corns. (By the way, I'd love a pair of K-horns but do not have the room setup to accommodate them.)
More opinions, please!
OK, I didn't say this before because I didn't want to sound too... heretical (pun intended), but I'll tell you what I did to get the most bass out of my Cornies. I replaced the stock woofers with Crites 15" cast frame replacements. I did an experiment where I replaced the woofer in one Cornwall, and not the other, and had people listen to them. The difference was not subtle. You could pick the replacement 100% of the time. It' had the same depth of bass as the original, but the output was so much greater in the lower frequencies. With the stock Cornie, we could hear the low notes, but with the Crites replacement, we could also feel them.
Good luck!
Good luck!
alteklipsch
Active Member
I own both and have compared them many times, in stock form the Chorus II smokes the Cornwalls. a CornScala may be hard to beat however.
Stormin
Member
Congrats !!!
If you want to rock feed them good clean power and they will pound you !!
QSC is just killer on Chorus II's.
Stormin
Member
Indeed!
Deezel
New Member
It's definitely a matter of taste. I love the human element of music. Living and breathing, reverberating with sound....I love it. Not always the best over tones or timing, but all together in pulses like a heartbeat. You feel it. It's not always a kickass feeling sometimes it's just so sweet!
The natural slight rounding of bass, and highs are pleasing without ever having white noise. Mids are right and ring like a bell. The Cornwalls sing to me!!! I don't listen to many modern rock bands with cut neck perfect metronome timing, nor drum triggers on bass drum nor highly compressed recordings. So the Cornwalls to me convey that human living, breathing sound that as a musician I have grown to love. Flaws and perfection somehow tangled together to form my favorite natural sounding speaker. My 2 cents.
The natural slight rounding of bass, and highs are pleasing without ever having white noise. Mids are right and ring like a bell. The Cornwalls sing to me!!! I don't listen to many modern rock bands with cut neck perfect metronome timing, nor drum triggers on bass drum nor highly compressed recordings. So the Cornwalls to me convey that human living, breathing sound that as a musician I have grown to love. Flaws and perfection somehow tangled together to form my favorite natural sounding speaker. My 2 cents.
BilboBaggins
Addicted Member
Welcome to the club Drexel! I see this is your first post.
I have Cornwalls driven by an MC2205, and music is better now than it ever was in this space. But somehow, I get the feeling the Cornies would do even better with more, clean power. I’ve noticed they get a little shrill when I crank mine up. I think the dynamics of the music are the cause. I’m tempted some time to bring up one of my 1801s, but at 88 lbs, sharp heat sink fins sticking out the sides and back, the idea is daunting. Maybe some time when my son is over...
I have Cornwalls driven by an MC2205, and music is better now than it ever was in this space. But somehow, I get the feeling the Cornies would do even better with more, clean power. I’ve noticed they get a little shrill when I crank mine up. I think the dynamics of the music are the cause. I’m tempted some time to bring up one of my 1801s, but at 88 lbs, sharp heat sink fins sticking out the sides and back, the idea is daunting. Maybe some time when my son is over...
twiiii
Lunatic Member
A 2205 never gets shrill unless its ill and needs repair. I have installed them in homes and in professional applications and never had an issue driving Altec, Klipsch, Ev, or JBL speakers. In discos I ran them just until the power guard lamps started to flash, and thats pretty loud with split professional La Scalas. I don't know which model Cornwalls you have but depending on the crossover there was some peaking that could be rather offensive. I would call Bob Crites and get his recommendations on up grading your crossovers depending on your serial numbers. The newer versions are even brighter than the older versions. That said the newer versions and the up dates from Bob will have less distortion that can be irritating. You would really have to update to a MC 152 to get a big improvement in sound. Remember the T-35 tweeter is only rated at 5 watts rms pink noise. If you didn't have power guard those tweeters would have melted a long time ago. A 2105 could take out a pair of Cornwall tweeters in less than 30 seconds with no effort. We had a pair of Cornwalls driven by a 2105 that I shared with a College room mate. I got quite adept at changing diaphragms. Now if you have Cornwall III you shouldn't have any issues. Earlier Cornwall I were smooth but were only rated at 30 watts. The later model with the T-35 and the 18 db/octave crossover have the peak that can become irritating. As I remember that peak was gone by the later II models. But ask Bob for sure.
I'm not fond of ports or passive radiators, they can cause the bass to ring and impedance curves to be very complex which amps don't like. Newer Mac amps have much higher damping factors in the bass and control woofers better thanthe older 2000 and 7000 series amps. The are exceptions, the 7100 and 7200 with out Autoformers and the MC 126, 7106 and 7104without autoformers. It was until the 352 came alog that I thought there was a Mac amp that could out perform a 7200. And a MC 152 comes from some of this later and more current technology. Klipsch drivers have improved over time and that is why I say talk to Bob.
I'm not fond of ports or passive radiators, they can cause the bass to ring and impedance curves to be very complex which amps don't like. Newer Mac amps have much higher damping factors in the bass and control woofers better thanthe older 2000 and 7000 series amps. The are exceptions, the 7100 and 7200 with out Autoformers and the MC 126, 7106 and 7104without autoformers. It was until the 352 came alog that I thought there was a Mac amp that could out perform a 7200. And a MC 152 comes from some of this later and more current technology. Klipsch drivers have improved over time and that is why I say talk to Bob.
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fredgarvin
Super Member
If you look at the response curves it is clear that the Chorus II is smoother and flatter than the Cornwall by far.
dmckean
Active Member
Yes, bass is slow though compared to the Cornwall. Both are great speakers though.
fredgarvin
Super Member
I totally agree. The Cornwall has a big hump in the 60-100hz region which makes it sound faster and very impactful. Flat isn't always the best depending on what you value in sound. A lot of people prefer the Forte one, probably because of the dip at 1000-2000hz where a lot of recordings can be too hot and the rolloff at 10,000 hz. Others find it un-Klipsch like.
