The Matching Mole

Those are gorgeous speakers. Who is WPM Speaker Design? I'm in San Antonio and would like to know more.

It's been sold. Thanks for looking, folks.

Correct. It is an external phono stage, so if your receiver or preamp doesn't have one, you use this. You plug your tonearm into the Tercel, plug the Tercel into the receiver, pour yourself some Scotch, then listen to records!

This is the first model of the Juicy Music Tercel. It has two phono inputs: one for MM, and one for MC, which uses Jensen step-up transformers. I am the second owner; I bought it from the fellow who built it. He used a custom transformer cover which really cleans up the look of the unit. Tube complement: RCA 12x4 Amperex 12AX7 Mullard 12AT7 x 2 These are fine tubes, and I'll include them and the Herbie's tube dampers if you pay the full price. I'll ship it FedEx Ground. Buyer pays PayPal fees, shipping, and insurance, if desired. $550

I'm thinking about asking a local speaker builder to upgrade my 1977 Cornwalls. If I wanted to buy the parts today, where would I do it? Which horns and crossovers would I buy? Definitely do: Buy the bigger midrange horns Make cutouts and install (flush?) them Install new crossovers Maybe do: Replace all internal wire Replace woofers Brace cabinet

Thanks, boom3. That helps a lot.

I intend to replace the wiring inside my 1977 Cornwalls. About how many meters of wire per speaker do I need?

I used a Wright Sound phono amp for a while -- the WPL10V. In my system, I found it rather uninvolving and uninteresting. I haven't heard a WPP200C. In my system, the Tercel's sound quality trounces it. I wish I'd have bought it first.

A few years ago I wired my Cornwalls straight to the crossovers. I ended up losing a few of the screws which held the original flimsy binding posts on the back of the speakers. I'd like to replace these with something better. I'm using straight unterminated wire, so I don't need posts for bananas. Anybody have a good recommendation?

The Zu Oxyfuels are copper (you can get the details here: http://www.zuaudio.com/oxyfuel.asp). I found them more open than the DNMs, with better resolution and tighter highs and lows. I've been buying them from Zu off of eBay for about $40 a pair, and that's a price that can't be beat. And their connectors work very well with my Juicymusic components.

My Cornwalls are currently wired with DNM Reson single-core copper wires. I also have DNM Reson speaker cable that goes straight to the crossovers from my amps. I currently have the urge to replace this wire, as I have ground a bit tired of the DNM's very laid back sound. I have replaced DNM Reson interconnects with Zu Oxyfuels and am quite happy with the improvement. I've been considering some Anti-Cable speaker wire for amp to crossover, but what about the internal wiring? What are you folks using? Silver or copper?

How much did the cable cost? I honestly don't remember. But I do remember buying some DNM speaker wire off of eBay for a song once.

...by the North American distributor of DNM cables, too. Yep, the Funks got me hooked on DNM too. I think replacing the old lamp cord with the DNM made a *huge* difference. I've also done other tweaks to my Cornwalls: see here for details. But my speakers were 28 years old when it was done. I have no idea how it would affect new speakers. But the copper Reson cables have an amazing ability to get out of the way and let the music through, and I'm willing to bet they're *different* than the cabling that's already in the speakers.

OK, I'll bite. What is that woofer? Details, please.

I'm glad my post and pictures are helping you folks out. I'm just trying to give a little back to the forum. Thanks for the tip about the fingernail polish. No, I didn't put any caulk on the tweeters. It's a good idea, though. Next time I have the cabinets open I'll do it.

"Rebuilding the tweeters" really means replacing the diaphraghms. After 28-odd years, the thin copper leads on the diaphragms in the tweeters became frail, and two of them broke, making one of the tweeters nonfunctional. So I bought new diaphraghms from Bob Crites, followed his online directions, removed and disassembled the tweeters, soldered in new diaphraghms, put them back in the Cornwalls, and grinned in amazement at the new high frequencies coming out. Easy to do.

CABLING: Throughout my system I use DNM copper solid-core cables made by Denis N. Morecroft's company, DNM Design. DNM's cables and components have received some good press lately, from Art Dudley in particular. They're giant killers, IMO, and are perfect for Klipsch speakers and tube amps. Not crazy expensive, either. A lot of people rave about pure silver cabling with tubes and high-efficiency speakers, but I find them a bit bright and fatiguing. I just love solid-core copper, and Morecroft is someone I really respect. He really thinks outside of the audiophool box. If you're really interested in DNM, contact Concert Sound in San Antonio (the sole distributor of DNM in the US, I believe) and tell them I sent you. It's a good shop and they're friends of mine. They're the ones who convinced me that wiring straight to the crossovers and replacing all the internal wiring with DNM Reson was a good idea, and they were right. (And no, I'm not making any money off of this. I just wish more people knew about DNM.) CAULKING: It's funny you guys are asking about caulk -- I learned about the whole caulking trick from this forum (do a search on "rope caulk," you'll find several discussions). I used about $20 worth of caulk, I think. The whole job took about an hour. I used two layers of caulk on the squakers, and one layer on the woofers (though there's a little bit of overlap here and there). I winged it, really, but it didn't hurt and helped in a number of ways. The caulk tightened the woofer a little bit, but it really added focus to the squawkers. That, combined with rebuilt tweeters, really enabled the Cornwalls to radiate the upper-frequency energy they're capable of. And if you don't like the caulk, you just pull it off. THE BENEFITS: I made all the changes in stages, so I could gauge which worked the best. Here's a list in order of best improvements, but they're not in the order I did performed them: Rebuilt crossovers. They provided more bass energy and tighter bass, which means better soundstaging and imaging, and faster sound. Rebuilt tweeters and caulked squawkers. More upper frequency energy and tighter midrange made the speakers more alive, made more of the human come out of the recording. It was after numbers 1 and 2 that I really realized that I didn't need to spend $4000 to get the sound I wanted. My Cornwalls are now 95% as good as the Rethm Thirds I babysat for a while. The caulk on the woofers added a little focus to the bass, just enough to be noticeable but not huge. BTW, the credit for the presentation goes to Adobe Photoshop, not me. I just fed the program a few digital photos and ran the create Web gallery plugin. Nothing to it.

Here's what I've done to my 1977 Klipsch Cornwalls. Click here for pictures. Rebuilt the tweeters myself with diaphragms from Bob Crites. Wrapped the squakers and woofer cages with rope caulk. Removed the terminals (the wire travels straight from the amp to the crossover) and replaced all wiring with DNM Reson. Installed crossovers rebuilt by Bob Crites. What this got me: pure magic and much more music. Speakers that play any kind of music well, get out of the way, and will last forever. They sound great with whatever amp I power them with: Dynaco ST70, McIntosh MC2505, or McIntosh MC30s. I listen to music and movies with them, with SACD, CD, DVD-A, and vinyl. It's all good! Probably the best improvement came with he fresh crossovers -- the speakers produce much more bass, and bass that's tighter than I ever imagined. (Here's a public tip of the hat to Bob Crites for a fine job on the crossovers.) I currently have the speakers sitting on corrugated cardboard, which has tightened the bass a hair, too, as my listening room has a parquet floor. There have been no other mods. Other than a slight tear in one of the woofer centers, I can't imagine doing anything else to these beauties.

I have a pair of 1977 Cornwalls, with the Type B crossover. I was just inside the cabinets caulking the squawkers and decided the crossover parts look pretty old, so I'd like to replace them. I'm not planning on anything fancy, just removing the four old parts and putting in four new ones. I'd appreciate some advice on good replacement parts and where to buy them. Also, FWIW, the speakers are currently rewired with DNM Reson straight to the terminals (I removed the binding posts), but the wiring on the crossovers is original.

Gotcha, thanks for the input. I think it's time to start rolling signal tubes in my amps and pre-amp. Good thing I only have ten of them .

The tweeters in my 1977 Cornwalls are sounding pretty shrill at the topmost upper frequencies, and hissing when the amps are on but there's no music playing. Is it time to replace the diaphragms? Or should I replace the entire tweeter assemblies?

Those look great. What do you have them sitting on? It looks like plywood -- does it help the sound?

Thanks for the warm welcome, folks (and I apologize for the double post -- I'm sure our intrepid moderators will delete one for us). I've spent a lot of time at SteveHoffman.tv and AudioAsylum.com, but I figured this was the best place to get tips and info about Cornwalls.

I am now the proud owner of a pair of 1977 Klipsch Cornwalls. I've had them for about a week and am very happy to be an Official Klipsch Nut. I have a choice of amplifiers: two McIntosh MC-30s or a Dynaco ST-70. Cabling is all DNM Reson. My sources are a Music Hall MMF-5 turntable and a Sony SCD-SE775 modified by SACDMods.com. Preamp is Wright-Sound WPL-10V -- tubes all the way! I play my DVD player through the tubes, too. Movies have never sounded so real. I bought the Cornwalls to replace a pair of Magnepan 1.6QRs. While the Maggies are great speakers, they just don't make the kind of magic the Cornwalls do with my tubes. There's just more music, air, and human coming out of the Cornwalls. And they make my wife and I dance more often, too. There's nothing like an old Ray Charles LP played through tubes and Cornwalls to get your feet moving. I know understand perfectly why so many people rave about their vintage Klipsch speakers. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the Cornwalls.

I am now the proud owner of a pair of 1977 Klipsch Cornwalls. I've had them for about a week and am very happy to be an Official Klipsch Nut. I have a choice of amplifiers: two McIntosh MC-30s or a Dynaco ST-70. Cabling is all DNM Reson. My sources are a Music Hall MMF-5 turntable and a Sony SCD-SE775 modified by SACDMods.com. Preamp is Wright-Sound WPL-10V -- tubes all the way! I play my DVD player through the tubes, too. Movies have never sounded so real. I bought the Cornwalls to replace a pair of Magnepan 1.6QRs. While the Maggies are great speakers, they just don't make the kind of magic the Cornwalls do with my tubes. There's just more music, air, and human coming out of the Cornwalls. And they make my wife and I dance more often, too. There's nothing like an old Ray Charles LP played through tubes and Cornwalls to get your feet moving. I know understand perfectly why so many people rave about their vintage Klipsch speakers. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the Cornwalls.