Tube Amp for Klipsch Cornwalls - Fisher receiver or something else?

My Fisher 500 wasn't at home until it was driving a pair of Cornwalls.... Its my main system

 

What's great about Cornies is pretty much any quality amp you throw at it will sound good/great. At least that's been my experience. Hard to screw up.

 

I hooked a 200w SS amp up to mine just to experiment and it was god awful.

 

The physical size is hard to get around but I don’t think they need as much space as the size might lead you to believe. Obviously they work in corners and against a wall but you can sit pretty close to them. I’ve moved my chair as close as four feet back and it sounds great.

 

I've run a Fisher 500B with Klipsch Cornwall for 5 years-a great pairing in my experience.
I've also paired the Cornwalls with the Fisher 400, & 500C/800C-All sound great.

My observations:
400 - Most holographic/best imaging. Nice headphone section.
500/800C - Most accurate/analytical sounding. 800C adds AM band.
500B - Most bass presence/weight. Great FM tuner.

They all have the Fisher house sound, and again sound great.
I think it comes down to features-Tuner, Headphone section.

I'd suggest the 500B as you mentioned wanting bass response.
Easy to EQ/tune your Fisher with a couple tube substitutions.

Let us know what you end up with and enjoy!
Paul

 

What amp was it? Like I said, it's only my experience, and I've had everything from 6 to 350 watts on mine, and never had any issues. Some sound better then others, but I could easily live with any amp I've ever heard on my Cornwalls.

Ultimately, it's a personal decision. I would never want less then 25 watts on mine.

 

I auditioned them in a small space - it was a foyer, as I recall - and even that sounded amazing.

 

My ‘72 Cornwall IIs are powered by the Octave V70SE integrated amp... currently running some NOS Tung Sols, and some NOS Telefunken and Amperex input and driver tubes with it... so good!

 

I'll throw in my EL84 '59 X-100 to the mix...

Compared to my 400, which was very lush and maybe a little dark, the X-100 is much quicker and open, but still has that wonderful holographic quality. Curiously, it seemed slightly louder than the 400, despite being around 14wpc vs. the 400's 28wpc.

I love that little X-100!

 

It was a B&K with a BAT tube line stage. I’ve ran it for years with paradigm studio 100’s with great results. With the cornwalls it would certainly rattle the windows but the bass was bloated and the highs where shrill, all the sweetness was missing from the mids. I kept it hooked up for a week, it was actually painful after a while and really made me miss the fisher.

I was actually looking at a Sansui 9090 to try out with it.

 

I have a kx-200 being delivered tomorrow.

 

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the KX-200/X-200 essentially a 500 without the tuner?

 

That’s is what the information I’ve seen would suggest. Less complicated circuitry, 35wpc and it has a bias meter. Should be interesting. It’s has original power Tubes and 3 of the original ax7’s

 

Beautiful amp!

 

This is exactly how I was! My previous setup consisted of 2 500w monoblocks and b&w towers. Only dynamic with high volume. Hated that. I had some 'detail' bc of the speaker design, but compared to my setup up now, it just felt like a 'large stereo'. I was always turning up and up and up, and honestly, it's not even enjoyable at that point. I was always trying to 'get there'....I listen at low levels now and love it. Dynamics at even whisper volumes. That is what it's all about. And I listen to a lot aggressive music. Just picked up the new cannibal corpse LP 2 days ago in fact. Even this, I will listen to, late at night, lights down, coffee in hand, feet up. SET and horns probably for the rest of my life......

 

My 24w per channel SET amp can blare above any level that you'd want. Another example. The Lm508 makes 48w per channel. Through cornwalls you would never crank this. You can get plenty loud even if you go SET, no worries

 

I ran a NOSvalves Scott 222c with Forte Is and it was an outstanding combo. I can definitely add to the praise for Craig at NOSvalves. I'm sure either Scott or Fisher would be great.

 

Sounds like me!

 

That is a concern, so it's necessary to be able to service them yourself or have access to someone. Old stuff can be quirky, but the restored 400 I used to own and the restored X-100 I have now haven't been problematic, only requiring some minor maintenance. I do have a nice Rega Brio-R ready to swap in if needed though!

 

I'm a fan of Eastern Electric, and the M520 has a unique level of adjustability so you could really tailor the sound to your ears. The transformer cores are sourced from Japan and are highest quality. Very high quality for the price. Negative feedback is adjustable, too, so you can go as rich or damped as you choose. Eighteen or 25 watts depending on if you go ultralinear.

eastern electric

 

I chose the 500C over a KX-200 only because I love the Fisher tuners.

If it's a quality piece, like the one's from Fisher, Scott, Marantz, etc., and it's been properly restored, then it should be good for decades as far as the main electrical issues. Oxidation on the controls, a bad tube, burned out lights, those are the type of things that may very well need attention and, like being able to set up a new cartridge on a turntable, is easily learned and can/should be handled by the owner of the piece.

That said, if you can find a local tech whom you trust, not a bad idea to keep them on retainer. Just in case.

 

Agreed 100%.

 

Member @KT88 has a Dynaco Stereo 70 tube amplifer in the Equipment FS section, it is in nice condition and Bill is only asking $500.



It should work well with the Cornwalls. These are nice sounding amps and would work well with the Cornwall's.

 

I don't have many problems with my vintage equipment - and I have a lot of it. When I acquire a new piece of vintage equipment that hasn't been serviced recently, I just plan on taking to my tech to check out. I usually have him replace any capacitors and resistors that may cause a problem in the future. I also replace questionable tubes with high quality NOS tubes or "lightly used & test as new" quality tubes made usually between the 1950s and 1970s. After that, I don't typically experience any problems for many years to come. I've been doing this for decades and it works for me. I haven't experienced tubes burning out frequently like so many have mentioned. Maybe that's because I buy old quality tubes from reliable sources. They are worth the extra $$ to me.

Also, I don't feel a need to have a lot of spare equipment for breakdowns, although I do have some just because I've collected a lot of gear over the years. As @action pact mentioned, it helps to be able to do some of the maintenance yourself. Fortunately for me, I have a high quality tube tester and a fairly large collection of spare tubes. I also know how to clean pots (potentiometers), switches, tube pins, and tube sockets with contact cleaner. I also know how to match tubes and adjust tube bias settings. I don't see any of these thing as being a big deal and they certainly don't make me an expert, it's just stuff I picked up over many years in the hobby. My tech is an expert, but if I had to run equipment to him constantly for minor problems instead of being able to fix most of them myself, I probably would just give up on vintage gear. But I'm not going to do that. I enjoy vintage gear too much - including working on it and problem solving.

 

C'mon! Either it was Behringer or you had a bad mood at the time...