classic5

Thanks for all the help - I've learned a lot! Short version: Bach in Business - Thanx Forum Long Version: I put the perpetrator face down on the carpet and removed the back. All connections looked clean and no leakage at the "big silver cans" (hope that's not too technical) on the cross over 2mf - no PCBs. It's all stock and clean. I'm the third owner, I knew the second owners and they knew the first - so there is a good chain of custody all the way back to Hope. K-33-E's, just as John predicted, /K-55-v /k-77. I've got to remember to write down the serial no.s of the components left and write - but I was just trying to keep from dropping a screw or screwdriver through the woofer. I undid the leads and removed the woofer. The spider was intact (same resistance to light pressure forwards and back) and is much more substantial than I thought. The dust cap has a small "porthole" in it covered with cloth (voice coil vent?). The dust cap has what I can only describe as stess lines in it - barely visible creases where it looks like it wants to bend if it has too - and it is a lot more flexible than I would expect. I wonder if this has weakened due to the mass of that porthole's cloth and glue and the need to overcome it's inertia so rapidly. I noticed that more recent woofers don't have this. I thought I had found the problem when I saw that the magnet was cracked! Anybody else seen this before? The magnet is the ceramic/"mud" square style and there is a through crack top to bottom at the middle of one side. There was no debris in the cabinet or stuck to the magnet. I think this left the Factory (supplier) this way because the epoxy used on the endcap/pole piece flows in the crack and the dish out around it. I didn't think that playing would generate this much force - heat maybe - and there is no dings on the case to show that much force either. My best guess is that it cracked when the plates were torqued down on the wet epoxy during manufacture. I wondered if maybe this didn't matter if it passed inspection - I guess magnetic force can bridge the crack. I stitched everything back up as the wife and kids would be back shortly and figured I should place a bid on some K33s offered by a fellow forum member. I hooked the leads back up to the receiver and it seemed visually to be still happening. Lo and behold, when I sat down to listen - Boy Howdy! - everything was like my Heresies except moreso (Klipsch aficionados will understand). I HAD thought that these Cornwalls sounded good but were big and lazy. Now it's the same transient response all over the scale. What fixed what!?! I had fiddled with so many things that I can't isolate the cause for sure. I work on cars and PCs and this situation is frustrating because I like to get to the exact point where I can duplicate the error and make it be fixed/broke/fixed/broke... so you know you've got the culprit, but the great sound eases the pain. I really think the problem was in the receiver because I had moved the balance knob and backed the bass to zero and back (it normally stays flat) - I think this scrubbed the potentiometer clean. Klipsch vendicated. I think the amp was somehow boosting the base (one knob only so I can't figure why one channel and not the other). (Source was CD so no turntable feedback) The large excursion was probably clipping - but I didn't hear any problem in the high end. If you can imagine the low bass being overdriven while the mid and high aren't yet loud - that is what it sounded like. This matches with the situation user Woodog had. Now the woofer travel is within the 1/8th" I seem to remember was a spec. Thank Again Forum

I'm going to try to troubleshoot a bass problem with my '77 Cornwalls this weekend. I've had them about a month. I recently noticed that they sounded good together but not individually. One has too much bass and one has too little bass. I know I'm influenced by switching back and forth, but they seem to be over and under the correct sound I remember from other cornwalls (showroom and brother-in-laws). This unbalance destroyes the imaging because I have to adjust the balance and the total sound just begins to sound strained before it's gets "live sounding" loud. I don't think they are out of phase,because that would effect both, but each would sound ok by themselves, right? Proposed Methodology - Thoughts & comments welcomed: 1. Check Phase anyway. 2. switch positions left and right to rule out the amp. 3. switch woofers to check crossovers. 4. check x-overs for leaks (learned from other posts) 5. check terminals for corrosion. With regard to crossovers, does the full signal from the amp reach the woofers or does some filtering take place? What could make one be fat and one be thin? Do drivers usually fail all together or in stages? The fabric surrounds look undamaged - but can the spiders become unglued? Notes: There is some sound coming out of all 3 holes in each speaker (all 5 holes if you count the ports - haha). These are all stock. They have probably seen some loud playing of and on since '77. The "fat" sounding one has 2x or 3x the cone excursion of the other one. There are no rubs or crackles and the cones have the same "feel" when pressed on lightly. That's all the skattershot for now - Thanks in advance for any help!

I recently posted a question "Will this Work? - Cornwall Mod" on the Updating Older speakers Bulletin Board. Although my idea is just a reconfiguring of original parts, I got to thinking I probably should have posted here. (but after I saw some of the mods. you guys have come up with I was scared to "play in your sandbox! >)" Please take a look over there - I would appreciate your views. Thanks

My sister gave me a set of cornwalls recently. In my current house, they are very intrusive size-wise. I'm looking for a way to integrate then into a wall of built-in cabinets. The cabinets have countertops with doors below and bookshelves above. The house cabinets will take the cornwall cabinets on their side, at floor level. I came up with this idea and I wanted to run it past the forum. I have read a lot on this forum, but haven't researched this exhaustively. If this has already been covered, just point me there - thanks. Briefly about the speakers and me: The speakers are cornwalls birch raw with the flush fronts (no grills or grill recess) the cabinets are lined with the "tissue" padding and cotton cording and the woofers have the square magnets. Any ideas on what age ? (I can post the serial no.s later). I have been a Klipsch fan since the mid 70's. I ,off and on, delivered systems for the Klipsch dealer here. I have owned two sets of heresy models. I don't think I know anywhere near the math and physics that go into speaker design, but I'm basing this idea on some principles I think are sound - namely, bass frequencies are percieved as omnidirectional, the cabinets are designed mainly around the woofer (back air volume, resonance, porting etc.), a good stereo "stage" is set with speakers (high freq.) toed-in 45 deg., horns disperse better horizontally than vertically. My idea is to remove the squawker and tweeter assemblies from the cabinets, seal the enclosures with a block of plywood covering the horn cutouts from the back, pass the wires from the crossover through this board using terminals similar to the main terminal in the back, and run these leads to the horns mounted in a separate enclosure. This would allow me to place the cornwall units in the bottom part of the built-in cabinets and mount the horns above them in the book cases. This would make the cornwall disappear almost and hopefully the sound would still be much better than almost anything else I could buy. Notes, questions and Issues: - I read about people putting Altec voice of the theater in small rooms by having window seat-like bass enclosures and the horns higher up. - Khorns come in two pieces although they are bolted together when setup. - I would build the horn enclosures to look like a smaller versions of the Khorn top. - Would the signal degrade if the mid and high leads were 6-8 ft. from the cross over. - The cabinets would be on their side - ok for bass, right? - but that is why I want to move and "aim" the high end. - should I mount the crossover with the horns and run the bass lead to the cornwall boxes? - I can completely undo this "mod" if I get more space later. - will the abscence of the horns and compression drivers make a big difference air volume-wise? - Will this sound "worth a dern"? Thanks for reading - Please reply if you get a chance.