Vandersteen 2C vs. Klipsch Cornwall

I've heard both speakers a grand total of once each. Walked away from the Vandies saying I could live with these and walked away from the Cornwalls saying yuck, no way. For what its worth.

"- so color means boxy, as opposed to open and airy?"

Correct.

"- why is this, what causes it?"

I am not a designer, perhaps others will weigh in. It may be due to the larger baffle and the reflections within the horn throat though.

"- on a different note, do you have any preference between a 300B, 2A3, 45, or EL34, or other amp design with Klipsch's?"

Yes, I do, but I will not go into that. One of the best things about high eff speakers is that they free you to try any of these types of amps and still get good SPLs in a real world room. Paul Klipsch always said what the world needed was a good two watt amp. He liked the Brook push-pull 2A3 amps. I have heard them and they sounded just great, but they are beyond my financial resources. Way beyond. One nice thing is that, if you like the sound, you won't really need a very expensive amp. Even a Dyna 70 will get you there.

"What would you guess would be the real world hearable differences between the two on the low end?"

Room interaction is so unpredictable that I could not begin to guess.

Brownsfan and the other posters bring up a good point, you need to listen to these speakers, as they are certainly not for everyone. Do use a tube amp though. My experience has been that they don't sound very good with SS. Though I have not tried every type of SS amp with them.

"Descriptions like 'open and airy' will be gone from your vocabulary. The band will be in your living room."

- Jaybo, that's pretty interesting; this whole thing almost seems not just counter-intuitive, but counter to everything I've trained myself to believe about hifi; kind of like switching from being a democrat to a republican or vice versa :)

In hifi, with electrostats the open and airy sound (a long with great 3D imaging and lots of definition and detail) has been one of the sounds I've enjoyed the most. Having said that, when I go to hear live music I never hear open and airy. In fact, expecially with rock n roll, when I go to hear live music I look around at the amps and speakers and neither the gear or the sound seems much like my system or any good hifi system I've heard. So, your comment that the band will be your room might just be a good realization.

" "- on a different note, do you have any preference between a 300B, 2A3, 45, or EL34, or other amp design with Klipsch's?"

Yes, I do, but I will not go into that. "

- Come on Veridian, don't hold anything back - your insight has been excellent - tells us about your thinking on the amp designs. Thx

Well, it Viridian with three "i"s, and actually it would tell you more about my choice of music than anything. I'll leave it at that.

I think that most competently designed amps will get you there. I do notice that you left out EL84/6BQ5 from your list, and this is one of the best tubes on planet earth and cheap to boot. It works well in push-pull as in the Music Reference RM-10 as well as single ended as in the Zen amps. Don't discount this excellent tube. The 6L6 or 807 is an excellent tube as well. Just because it shows up in guitar amps doesn't mean that it is not extremely linear when used in the correct circuit. High efficiency speakers make these, and many other, tubes viable. We're all here to have fun.