Allan Songer

The Ruby is a "specially selected" (lol) Chinese KT-88. Nothing special, but ther are few alternatives without spending $$$$$$$$$$$. Have you priced NOS GEC KT-88s lately? Have fun--I have heard very good things about your new amp!

I've had my Cornwalls for almost three decades and have had them in and out (usually in!) of my main system a few times. I've always gone back to them--sure there are other speakers that are more accurate, cleaner, etc. In fact I was able to audition a pair of Von Schweikert DB100 speakers last week ($6000/pair) and even though "more" information was getting through and even though they sounded incredibly clean and precise--they left me COLD. They're sterile, almost anteseptic when compared with my beloved Cornwalls! I dunno--maybe I'm full of crap, but the Cornwalls make my jazz LPs sound like live music (and I go listen to live jazz 3-6 times every month!!), rather than perfect sound in a freaking compression chamber! So I'm all for putting the Cornwall back into production, but I'm not sure there will be much demand for it. I imagine they would have to retail for at least $2500-$3000 a pair and there's alot competition in that price range. . .The Cornwall isn't sexy, it isn't "audiophile" and it will not get much "press" when re-introduced. But it IS the best speaker Klipsch ever made (other than the K-Horn that is!)--I've owned La Scalas and Belles and I prefer the Cornwall. Call me crazy . . . I have heard the "vertical" and "horizontal" side by side and the "vertical" sounds better--much better. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the horizontals were made in '82 and the verticals in '64, but the difference, especially in "imaging" and "soundstage" (I hate those auidophile terms!) was breathtaking. I would make the Cornwall as "fine furniture" if I put it into production--don't go crazy with too many options--it will just drive the price up. Cabinet replacementssound like a great idea--I can't tell you how many abused beat-to-death Cornwalls I've come across over the years. But I imagine a pair of cabinets would run at least $1200, right--if not more?

I wonder what one would have to sell a "new" set of Cornwalls for? If a mint original pair sells for $1000, I would doubt one could sell a "new" pair for more that $1500-$1800? Drivers would not be too much of a problem and X-overs wouldn't be a big deal either. And what would Klipsh think? Would they be OK with it? There seems to be great demand for the "early" vetical horn models, so if I were to begin building them, that's where I would start. If Klipsch would allow us to use the name "Cornwall" O might be interested in exploring this with you.

I've had lots of stuff destroyed by shippers. Just be sure to get big-time insurance. If you want the stuff to arrive in perfect condition, then I suggest FedEx, but get out your wallet!

You're right! For some lame reason I was thinking there were $300/pair complete. Ooops! They are NOT worth $600! By the way, they are the EV version of the Klipsh Rebel. And I thought they delivered a lot of bass for such a small speaker--but that was about 20 years ago and my mind isn't what it used to be!!!

I forgot the link!!!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1345191307

These are a steal for all four pieces at the "Buy it Now" price. I've heard these in perfect condition years ago and I remember them being really great. A horn loaded tri-ax! Anyway, someone here should buy these. I don't have the room for another pair in my garage!

They are from the 1920's and are worth whatever you might get for them on ebay--I would guess about 15 bucks for the lot.

Vibes are one of the things that sound GREAT on Cornwalls to me! I just spent the morning listening to Victor Feldman's "With Mallets A For Thought," Milt Jackson with Ray Brown and Teddy Edwards "Live in Japan" and "Hamp Meets Getz." These are three GREAT Vibe LPs and the Conrwalls sounded PERFECT. Good Luck!

I've been noticing that you seem to be less than enthralled about the sound coming from your Cornwalls. You've asked about caulking and ALK mods and all I can tell you is that if you really don't like the way the Cornwalls sound in "stock" form, I doubt you could tweak them enough to ever make you happy with them. The Cornwall is an aggressive, in-your-face speaker and about as "revealing" as anything you could name. It really needs top notch (TUBE!) amplification and sources to sound its best, but even then and with all the mods you could dream up, it will NEVER bee "liquid" or "smooth." Crisp and clean, yes, but never "smooth." I have caulked the squaker and this DOES tame the beast a tad, but it's STILL a Conrwall! Sounds like you need to go another direction perhaps.

By the mid-70's McIntosh had figured out how to make a decent S/S preamp-- the C24 and C26 sound like fingernils on the blackboard when compared to the classic C22 that preceeded them. But the C28 is a darn fine preamp and still sound good today--plus its loaded with all those MAC features and has a good phono section as well. The amp is a classic, big blue meter S/S unit and is probably the best sounding 1970's S/S product. Holds it own today. The MR74 tuner is an AM/FM tuner and while it isn't in the same league as the MR78 that came a little later, it's a GREAT sounding tuner. Value? In Mint condition: Amp--$600 Preamp $450 Tuner $400 Khorns $2000 At least that's what I think they should be worth at RETAIL (or ebay) in today's market.

There are "Corwnall 2" and "Cornwall II" speakers! Yours are "Cornwall 2" which means "vertical horn." This was an option in the late 60's through '74 or so. I think all of the Cornwalls from the early 60's have vertical horns (at least every one I've seen does) and at some time in the mid'late 60's the standard Cornwall became the "horizontal horn" model and the "Cornwall 2" became a custom-order item. The Cornwall II was the last version, introduced in the 80's--has nothing to do with the "Cornwall 2." Hope this helps.

Jazman-- In a word-- "no." The only "good" vinyl jazz issued these days are reissues from Classic and Speaker's Corner. Unless you like Diana Krall and Jancintha (or whatever her name is!). I think they have new stuff on vinyl. Plus, I'm STILL trying to figure out Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell and Art Pepper and Ben Webster and Hampton Hawes and Johnny Hodges and Bill Perkins and John Lewis and Red Mitchell and Charles Mingus and Buddy Collette and Teddy Edwards and John Coltrane and Charlie Mariano and Jimmy Smith and Jackie McLean and Stan Getz and Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall and Bud Shank and Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis and Harold Land and and and and and and and . . . . Who the heck has time for Diana Krall for crying out loud!

Yes, this is VERY boring I agree. But, you CAN change people's minds and I am living proof. I used OEM junk interconnects and zipcord for 25 years and LAUGHED at Monster Cable from the day I saw it in my favorite Berkeley, CA hi-fi store almost 20 years ago. A few years ago I become friends with the owner of a "high end audio salon" in Newport Beach. We became pals because he was a customer of my wife's business and one day he gave me some $$$$$ speaker wire to try "for the hell of it." I hooked it up and my jaw dropped and I came to BELEIVE. Wire is NOT wire, no matter what the "data" tells us. WHen you talk to an E.E. he also can't explain why a 2-watt tube amp with measured high distortion sounds better than a 200 watt SS amp with almost ZERO measured distorion.

I listen to 95% vinyl, 99% jazz of which 90% was recorded between 1950 and 1980.

I've owned my Cornwalls since my days of living in a loft in San Francisco in the early 80's. They have been in and out of my main system a few times--once they were replaced by Quad ESL57s for over two years. WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!???!!! But I never sold them--never even considered it, really. I loved them from the minute I hooked them up. THe first year or so in that loft they were driven by a pair of Marantz 9's and the same McIntosh C-22 pre that I'm using today. I was broke one day in 1982 and needed a new transmission in my truck and sold the 9s for 2 grand. WHAT AN IDIOT!!! But I kept the C-22 and the Cornwalls! I didn't think about AL's X-Overs till he asked me to help him audition the prototypes. I said "no problem--always happy to help". I did some really intensive A/B comparisons and came to the conclusion that the lower mids and bottom end were a little less flabby--not much, but the improvement was there and therefore significant. Al gave me a nice deal on the prototypes once the evaluations were done and I never removed them. I also rewired the internals at the end of the evaluation process with Silver Sonic hookup wire. I think the ALK networks make the Cornwall better--not a lot better, but every little bit helps.

It is all a matter of opinion and I can see where some poeple get annoyed when opinios are stated as "gospel." Personally I have no problem with this--I have listened to more vintage tube equipment than 98% of the folks on this board and have formed my own opinions. One of them is that Cornwalls are my favorite speaker--not too many of you will put me down for that! Other notions include that Ortofon SPU cartridges are AWESOME and I'll use them until I can no longer hear and that McIntosh MC-30 amps are bestr for me and what I listen to. I know that others here hate McIntosh gear and I don't want to get in a pissing match arguing that the MC-30 sounds LIGHT YEARS better to me than the Eico integrated. Anyway, we're all here to have fun and worship Klipsch, right?

By the way Craig-- is your nom de plume a reference to a Big Block Mopar "on the bottle?" Just checking. Right out of high school I owned a '69 Super Bee with 426 Hemi, a 4-speed, bench seat, dog-dish hubcaps, no air, no power anything. It did have a heater and an AM radio. It was quite a ride, especially on those skinny bias-ply 70-series tires!! It was the fastest car in town by a long shot. Later I out-did the Super Bee with the ulitmate sleeper--a '64 Studebaker Lark Daytona with a factory Paxton-blown Stude 304, T-10, 4:55 Dana rear end, factory traction bars, etc. It was called a "Super Lark" and there were only a handful made. The engines were hand-assebled by Paxton and shipped to South Bend for intstallation I believe. I used to BLOW AWAY 454 Chevelles and the like. It turned low 11s with no sweat at 108-110 mph. What a car! It's the only car I wish I never sold, really. And it didn't even have a radio!

Sorry! Duane has a new URL: www.discdoc.com Welcome to the world of vinyl! I have about 1800-2000 LPs at this point--99% jazz from the 50's through the early 80's.

I have tried a whole buch of subs over they years in my two-channel Cornwall system. I hated all of them. UNTIL! A few months ago I picked up a Linn Sizmik sub (used-- perfect condition, a few months old) from a dealer/friend of mine and it's still in my system. I only notice it when it's not hooked up (tried this a few times) and that is the true test for me. All it does is clean up and tighten the bass--it doesn't slow anything down (like every other sub I've heard). This is a music sub--it probably sucks with home theater (but I wouldn't really know--just a guess). Try one--I think you'll be impressed.

I forgot to address the "how often" comment. Answer: Once! You have to get a good dry brush (Decca or AudioQuest) and make sure to brush before every play. And make sure you store your LP is GOOD sleeves (I like the VRP sleeves from DiscWasher) and handle them carefully! Never touch the surface of the record! Some REALLY nasty records might need 3 cleanings or more before they are really clean, however. And remember to clean NEW records too--there is a lot of crap in the grooves right from the pressing plant!

I am somewhat of a maniac when it comes to cleaning records. Here's what I do: I start with a good scrubbing with the Disc Doctor solution and brush--a good 2-3 minutes per side and a trip through the Nitty Gritty (I have the cheap, fully manual one and it works great--I'm on my second one, the first one lasted about 7-8 years!). I then give another scrubbing with an alcohol based cleaner and then another trip through the Nitty Gritty. Finally I scrub (again with the Disc Doctor pads--I've used a TON of different pads over the years and these are BY FAR the BEST!) with distilled water and then a final trip through the Nitty Gritty. I then air-dry the LP for about 15-20 minutes and ZAP it with a Zero-Stat and it's ready to go. If you dont want to spenda bunch of money on a Nitty Gritty or VPI machine, I can honestly say you'll get very good results with the Disc Doctor system alone. I can't say enough good things about the pads or the cleaner--they're by far the best. His stylus cleaner is great too, by the way. I clean my stylus between each LP. Disc Doctor is available from Duane Goldman at: Lagniappe Chemicals (314) 205-1388 www.discdoctor.com

Any big sporting goods store will have it. Anywhere that sells rifles. It usually comes in 4 oz bottles--enough to do a pair of K-Horns for sure.

No problem! Been using this stuff for YEARS and nothing beats it! Follow it up in a couple of weeks with some gun-stock wax.

I've used MC-30's on and off for over 25 years. They keep finding their way back into my main system and at this point it would be tough for me to give them up--I think they're the best sounding MAC vintage amp--if you want tube and cap advise, email me and I'll give you some advice if you want. Preamp? The ultimate preamp in my experience for these amps has been the C-22 McIntosh, but I've used Scott, Fisher and Marantz units as well. If you want a great preamp AND a great tuner in an all-in-one pacakage that is a STEAL on the MAC tube-gear market, look for the MX-110 preamp/FM tuner--a MINT one can be had for 5-6 hundred bucks and it really kicks ***--it's a great tuner, has a killer phono section and is a full function preamp in the MAC mode.