Mycroft

Might you share with us which Lowthers you are thinking of using? Front or rear loaded design? Is there a published design? Very recently I put Altec 511bs on top of my La Scala cabinets and think it's a HUGE improvement over the K400 (this combined with genuine ALK networks). Now I'm thinking of what else I might do, particularly on the highs. Please share. Thanks!

I just hooked up a pair of Altech 511Bs to my La Scalas and I have to say I am thrilled. They are so much more open and effortless than the K400s. My only question is how are you guys attaching the K-55-V drivers to the horns? Given that I'm now in the, uh, experimental phase, I used (and it worked!) zip ties. I can get some bar stock and threaded pipe and weld up some, but if there is something that exists already I'd consider that option. I have the 808-A drivers that came with them. Has any one tried those? I should mention the 'Scalas are stock except for ALK crossovers. http://www.anticlockwise.com/gallery/album102 (yes, they are really dirty. I bought them for an art project out in the desert and haven't yet taken an air compressor to clean them...)

Sold! Well, very likely. Please call my cell phone! 408.504.8030. I live in SF.

Ok, so last night I swapped in my K55Vs in place of the K52Ks, which I believe creates what was one of the slightly eariler Cornwall I configurations, right? I'm thinking that mine must be very late because they also had the B-3 networks in them. Anyway, I dropped 'em both in (had to remove a small amount of padding behind the driver to make it fit) and had a listen. I didn't have a lot of time to listen to them, but they didn't sound _that_ much different than the K52Ks, certainly not as they did in the khorns themselves. Which has me thinking.... why? I don't recall the khorn cross over frequencies right off the top of my head, but are they using a different portion of the spectrum in each of the speakers? Can the size of the horn have such a huge impact? A lister here has graciously invited me over to his house sometime this week so I'll be able to give another pair a listen (I think both of pair of I's and II's even!) so I'll have a report then. While I love the bottom end of the Corns, I'm starting to think about La Scalas...

I'll have to keep this short. I checked the speakers tonight and make absolutely sure that all connections are correct, and they were. I even had someone who is not color blind (unlike me) verify :-) I also checked both mid drivers, and they are definately K52K's. Here's a large, poor quality picture: http://www.anticlockwise.com/gallery/misc/mid.jpg I have another picture with a better flash. This one looked ok on the camera and laptop when I first downloaded it, but looks pretty dreadful on my monitor. Still you can clearly see the markings. So, are these the right drivers or not?? I might have a chance to call Klipsch proper and see tomorrow. Will

ok all, I _think_ I may have found a problem. Tonight, I opened them up again and took a good look at the drivers. Here's what I found: K33E K52K K77M From all the searching I've done on google, I've found that the K52K is from the Cornwall _II_. Is this truly so? The serial of this one is 8412252. Was this near the change over to the II and this driver was used in some late model I's? The horn that the K52K is on is marked K600. Now according to this page - http://www.belgaudio.com/kccompon.htm - the mid driver I "should" have is the K55V, same as my khorns! (it also notes the woofer as a K33B, not a K33E as it looks to be marked). OK, so I just went out and dropped one of my K55Vs into the cornwall. It didn't fit! Well, it was close enough, but I could tell that it was hitting the back of the cabinet. I didn't put all the screws in and did only a half arsed listening test. The results are inconclusive, since I didn't do both speakers, only played a few short pieces, and my room is pretty active right now so it was pretty hard to be sure what was different. It seemed better, but that could have been my imagination too. Just to make things clear, I do hear all the frequencies that I should... it's not like the sound of muffled or severely distorted. It's just that these speakers don't sound horn loaded and seem to be far slower and less detailed then the khorns, in that they seem to be very ordinary sounding speakers and not the wonderful dynamics I've been used to. Before, performers stood 10ft tall right in front of me which would practically give me goosebumps on a good recording, and now they seem pretty far away and bored. The bass is plentiful and tight though. I have never thought for a second though that these speakers sounded harsh even on some recordings that some people would have said that about on my khorns. This suggests to me I'm hearing something _very_ different from other cornwalls. How would La Scala's compare to the cornwall and the khorns? I understand they use the same mid horn and driver as the khorns, right? I'm thinking I may be happier with them (and could still use my existing ALK's from my khorns). So, lemme know about the driver thing. Will

My main listening room has recently been turned around 180 degrees to orient the room properly for a projector I will purchase before too long. This meant that my lovely Klipschorns (and false corners) could no longer be used in this configuration (no, they are not for sale). To compensate for this loss, I've purchased a gorgeous pair of cornwall I's in fantastic condition. I have now been listening to them for a few weeks and have been less than thrilled with their mid and high range performance. It's as if I have gone from "front row center" to somewhere in the back... with a blanket on my head! There's tons of tight bass... too much at times such that upper bass seems to be very rolled off. The mids though is what I really care about and where the khorns excelled and I thought the cornwall would be somewhat similar. Well, I got frustrated enough that last night I hooked up one of the khorns in a temp sort of way just to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. WOW!! _effortless_ dynamics and tons of detail I had forgotten about. I could suddenly hear the breath of the preformer, the light sound of fingers across guitar strings that were lost on the cornwalls. I had one speaker khorn and the other cornwall so I could go back and forth and sit in front of each and compare and it was no contest.The cornwalls are so much _slower_ and less detailed that I found it hard to believe I had been missing out on so much the last few weeks and not noticed it sooner. Now, I know many of you will say the obvious - get a pair of ALKs. Well, I have them, in both already! I know that Al's networks may still have some breaking in todo, so perhaps this isn't fair to judge so soon, but the difference between the two speakers is far more than any network can make up for. Dropping in Al's network (both built by him, BTW) certainly was an improvement. The bass was a bit tigher and the mids were certainly smoother... but the general lack of musicality of the cornwall still wasn't what I was after. Now, all this said, my first conclusion is that something is wrong with the cornwalls themselves. So, tonight I took the back off of one to make sure that the drivers themselves were not messed with (perhaps by someone who does not appreicate the crisp dynamics that I do?), but I have to say that everything looked bone stock. I have triple checked all my connections and all is in order. I'm really at a loss to explain how the mids and highs can sound so different with such similar configurations, even if the mid horn is a bit smaller. Is this really how a cornwall I is supposed to sound? Would I be happier with a La Scala?? I'd love to hear other opinions. I'd be happy to repeat the experiment for anyone in the SF bay area who would like to happen by. Mycroft (aka Will) PS. I should mention these are 1974 khorns and post 1980 Cornwall I's (as evidenced by label on back) This message has been edited by Mycroft on 11-07-2001 at 03:27 AM

I'm changing my room around and no longer have the right space for my K-horns (no, I'm not selling them ;-) and want to find a nice pair of Cornwalls. Are Cornwall I's or II's more desireable? I'll entertain either. Prefer SF Bay area. thanks! wfrancis@anticlockwise.com