maiz

No I don't. Err what is ESR? Anyway, I spent quite a bit of time listening to vinyl tonite. I was really impressed with the sound. I heard stuff on the Modest Mouse lp Good News for People Who Love Bad News that I haven't heard before. The White Stripes were sounding pretty good also. I then put on the soundtrack from Black Orpheus an original mono recording that sounded just fantastic. I pretty stoked for $50 in parts. I don't know if bypassing the Solens did anything but since I had the Daytons laying around, I figured that I would throw them in there. Maiz

I finally got around to replacing the capacitors in my Cornwalls this last weekend. I have the B-3 crossover. I used Solens and I bypassed the woofer and midhorn with Dayton film and foils. The most notable improvement is in the bass. Seems to be tighter and more defined. I figure if I am getting this in the bass then I must also be getting the same results in the mids and highs. I just don't think it is as noticeable. The speakers sound damn good. I measured the capacitance of the old caps and they are dead on. Which must mean that the Solens are a better capacitor? The old ones are a big old Aerovox film type for the woofer and little square ones for the mid and tweeter. Since these old ones measure good, could they be used in some other application? Thanks for any responses. Maiz

OK, it sounds like I'll just get some same rated Caps and change them out. I notice I can only get a 68uf Solen for the big one, does it pay to use a higher quality bypass cap to get me up to the required rating? Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Hi, I'd like to redo the capacitors in my cornwalls. These are '84s with the type B-3 crossover. For now I'd like to just replace the capacitors and nothing else. I would like some recommendations for capacitors that will improve the sound without breaking the bank. Solens? Gracias mucho.

I sure hate to see you just give up on the tube gear. That is some fine sounding equipment with good clean power. The balanced power would help the solid state stuff a lot also. It is the way to go. I will preach no more.

I would really investigate balanced power. It isn't hard to do and IMO should be done before any of the above suggestions. The problem is, that the above solutions are filtering (or trying to) the AC noise right at your equipment. Balanced power eliminates all of this noise at the balanced power transformer. The noise doesn't have to get near your equipment. I use a transformer very similar to this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4665&item=3841823666&rd=1 I have mine sitting on the floor next to the dryer. Apparently you can hook your tv up to this also and get a clearer picture. However, if you want to hook up too much equipment, you need a bigger transformer. Something around 5 kVA. 3 kVA is plenty to run your stereo equipment. My transformer is 2 kVA and I run the same amp as you and a cd player and a turntable and a small turntable light off of it. Here's what you do: 1. Get the above transformer or ask your local electrical contractor if they have an old one laying around which would probably make it cheaper. No shipping. I found my transformer in an old outbuilding here on the farm. It hadn't been used in 40 years. Except for having to clean out mouse****, it works fine. 2. Go to Home Depot and get at least a 16 guage three prong extension cord and get a plug that will plug into the 220 volt outlet of your dryer or oven or hot water heater. This part cost me $13. 3. You cut the extension cord and wire it to the transformer and discard the plug end and install the dryer/oven/220v plug so that you will have 220v going into the transformer and 120v coming out of the outlet end of your extension cord. You run this to your equipment and plug it in. What you get it 2 legs of 60v coming out of your plug. These two legs are out of phase and you get common mode cancellation of the noise on your AC line. Instead of a 120v leg and a neutral leg which your normal household outlet is giving you. 4. This way you can try it and if you like it, then move the transformer or run 220v to the living room (this is what I am going to do). I can almost guarantee it will astound you. I too, live in an old 2 prong outlet house. The place where you have a ground is the 3 prong outlet of your dryer or oven or heater. Feel free to contact me if you would like to go this way. It is cheaper and a lot less hassle than soldering in stuff to your amp. I used to hardly ever listen to my cd's. They just sounded terrible next to the vinyl. Now the cd's sound pretty darn good and I find myself listening to them a lot more. It makes the vinyl sound even better. I highly recommend it!

The best thing you could do is run balanced power to your equipment. This cancels out all noise and does away with the need for "filters" and "conditioners". As a matter of fact, this is what a lot of those expensive "conditioners" do. While also providing some surge protection and filtering. The balanced power can be done quite cheaply. As in under $100. Go to Jon Rischs' website for more info. I was able to find and old suitable transformer for this application and would not run my equipment without it.

Hi folks, I am wondering what to use to clean the cabinets before oiling with Boiled Linseed. I scrubbed a corner with sponge and water and it cleaned up pretty nice. They are not filthy dirty. I'd like to use something that would cut the old oily dirt layer on them. Maybe lemon oil? Don't want to use steel wool. A sponge? I got these speakers a few weeks ago. I have been messing with placement and have them pretty good. I rope caulked the woofer and mid-horn. Made a pretty big difference. Much cleaner. Do I really need to put on a second layer of caulk on the mid? What about the tweeter horn? What about a rope caulk gasket where the horn screws to the cabinet? Can anyone tell me the values of the capacitors in the crossover? It is a type b-3. Any recommendations on drop in replacements? Without breaking the bank. These speakers sound real good. Thanks

Thanks for the replies. Yes Colterphoto you are correct that this is a two channel system. My HT system consists of a 13" tv sitting on a countertop I know that everyone suggests putting them on the long wall but my room is not set up for this. It also seems to me that if they were on the long wall, I would be sitting way too close to them. Although I would be able to spread them out further. Maybe someday I'll try this but for now I am going to concentrate on getting the best sound out of them where they are.

Hello folks. I just last week got my first pair of Cornwalls S/N 8449608, 8449609. The seller told me he bought them new in '83 or '84. They are in pretty good shape. I want to put spikes in them in order to anchor them better to my floor (carpet over wood). Should I remove the little stand thingys that the speakers sit on and mount the spikes directly through the bottom of the cabinet or mount the spikes into the stand? I've also got some rope caulk and from what I read here, I should soon smother the tweeter and mid horn with the stuff. I will listen to them stock for a while though before I do this. I am wondering about toe-in. Any suggestions? My room is 14x26x9. Right now I have speakers about 10' apart and 4' out from back wall. Listening chair is about 15' away. Should I have horns pointing directly at me? I like the bigness of the sound so far but I feel that I should be able to get a lot more out of these speakers. To me, the sound is a bit muddy right now. I realize that alot of this probably has been talked about but I have searched the archives and haven't been able to find a whole lot. Thanks