Stu Pidass

New technologies? What new technologies? You mean new catch phrases. Air is moved to make sound and this will never change. I saw a recent purchase of Heitage klipsch from 1959. They are in perfect working order and far from falling apart. Where will the new line be in say 40 or 50 years? They will, for the most part, almost certainly be landfill material. The flagship Klipschorn dates back to the 50's or earlier and remains basically unchanged. They are still considered one of the best speakers on the market regardless of price. Now that's quality! They will sound poor when the laws of physics change. As for the new line of Klipsch not being readily available on bulletin boards? The heritage lines out number them by a very very wide margin. Again the new lines are fine speakers but the standards have changed over the decades. There is no question about that.

Easy Rob. The Ears is capable of defending himself. I'm sure he'll take what I said with a grain of salt. Calling Corwalls CornBreadWalls without even hearing them deserves a good flaming. Believe me it's not the first time he's got flamed and it probably won't be the last. Having said that he makes a good, no great, contibution to the board. 1500+ posts says it all. In fairness to the new line of Klipsch they are fine speakers in their own right. Just not the "quality" of the Heritage line. Time will prove this as Heritage prices continue to rise and 20 years from now where will the new lines be? Will they elicit the passion of the Heritage line? No offence ears. I'm looking forward to your report after listening to well set up pair of Cornwalls. Please give us the deatils on amplification and music source along with the year of manufacture. The crossovers vary as do the drivers according to the year built. Regards, Stu

I had a girlfriend once that was always flapping her lips and never made much sense. She moved to Montreal some time ago. Could it be that she is "TheEars". No can't be (she could spell). Change your handle to TheMouth(s) now TheMouths. Trade my Cornwalls for mass made particle board and glue??? Sure, as soon as a pig flies out of my ***.

For pure tonal match it's hard to beat Heresy's of the same vintage. However, they do weigh in at about 50 pounds. I have found that tonal match for surrounds is not as important as it is for the front speakers. Afeter all they only provide ambient sound in most movies and in some movies there is next to nothing for surround effects. That being said the KSP-S6 would be an excellant choice. They provide wide dispersion and flexible placement options. I'm not sure but they may now be discontinued so finding a pair (used or new) may be a challenge.

Bass, treble and midrange should be bone flat or bypassed altogether. I use the direct mode for this on the Marantz SR-8000. Not sure what Sony offers in that regard, if anything. The key is you don't want any "colour" added (at least I don't). That way you'll be getting the pure sound as intended.

There have not been any modifications as I am the original and only owner. The first time the backs were off was to take these photos. Any other ideas anyone? Regards, Stu

OK so I took off the back and am posting photos. They are slightly different from the photo that mobile posted but indicate "Type B" on the edge of the crossover. There is an emobossed "2T" beside that and it's only visible on close inspection. Can anyone verify if this is a Type B or Type B2T? Hope the photos work. Regards, Stu

Well I'm still not sure what crossover the '81 Cornwalls had. Guess I'll have to pull the back off one and have a look myself. Thanks everyone for your attempts to answer. Regards, Stu

Thanks for the info Colin. Mine are W's so definitely '81 and now I know the B2 crossover. A pair of '78 Corns recently sold on Ebay for $1850 USD!!! It's my understanding that the B2 crossover is highly saught after in the Cornwall. Combine that with a lack of production and prices on heritage Klipsch are rising quickly. Doesn't matter to me cause I aint selling.

I concur with both previous posters regarding the year ('76) and that the original Raw Birch has been stained. They likely have a type B2 crossover and therefore are sought after. I personally prefer the non-designer types with grille covers but to each his own. An unfinished 1978 pair with risers recently went for $1,850. However, the seller paid shipping costs exceeding $70 and I'd expect that could be $250 to $500 depending on where they were shipped. I'm not suggesting you should consider paying that much but with the Heritage line no longer inproduction, demand is increasing rapidly as will prices of these beauties.

Thanks for the info Sprocket. I still don't know what '81 Corns had though. Anybody??? Regards, Stu

Textf>I have a pair of 1981 Cornwalls and am interested in finding out what crossover they use. Can anyone advise what years the B2 crossovers were used vs. the B3? Regards, Stu

Regardless of Outlaw's chosen mode of distribution and ignoring the profit margin they do produce a quality product at a very competetive "Who makes more?" or How is it distibuted?". Yes they cut out the "middle man". Some hate everything they stand for because it represents a personal threat (they are the middle man). All that aside, Outlaw is a SERIOUS contender. End of story!!!!

Despite owing an extensive collection of vinyl (many audiophile series), I listen exclusivley to CD's. I must admit to necer owing a "Good" Cartridge etc. so maybe that's why I saw CD's as a giant step, no leap, forward.

Textf> Most receivers will process the sound using different modes (fake surround if you will). There are some DVD audio that are truly encoded in surround and these do sound very decent. For my money surround music is a bunch of hooey. Give straight on dynamic two channel audio any day. This is where music really comes alive.

Cornwalls have been out of production for over a decade. They have quickly become a very saught after speaker and for good reason. The new Klipsch speakers are fine indeed but once you've heard the Heritage line, there's just no going back.

I must concur with Colin and suggest you use your current speakers as surrounds. Pick up a pair of heritage Heresys for your mains. If budget is a real problem you can stay there for awhile. The Heresy's will nicely create a phantom centre channel. Then purchase another Heresy for your center. It would be a great system on a shoe string budget. The surrounds will provide mainly ambient sound so their tonal match with the Heresys will not be an issue.

I just have to pipe in here. I'll do you a big favor and take those big old horns off your hands. Just kidding. You'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding speaker anywhere near it's price. Like all vintage horns, these babies are unapologetically accurate. The basic "garbage in garbage out" is true for Cornwalls. Firstly they need to be driven by amplification that's a good match. Do a search on the BB and you'll find a wealth of previous discussion on this. Another very big and often overlooked thing is speaker placement. As noted above corner placement will increase bass, however, it's been my experience that this comes at the expense of imaging and depth of soundstage. I prefer mine in from the corners and away from the back wall. They should not be closer to each other than the listener is from the midpoint between them. For example; if the speakers are 10 feet apart, the listener should be more than 10 feet from the midpoint between the two speakers. This will give you th ebest possible soundstage and imaging. There are modifications you can do that are relatively easy, very cheap and are reversible. Wrapping the mid and tweeter with rope caulk is a favorite trick and also replacing the caps is another. I personally would not recommend messing with the crossover and definitely would not swap any drivers. I did, however come accross an interesting tid bit from another post. Sounds like it might be just what you need to tighten up and boost that bass. Here it is as follows: "15 years ago the Cornwall still had screw terminals on the back.The entire speaker is wired with lampwire. I would recommend you cut off all the spade terminals that hook on to the crossover network. Strip them back 1/2" and tin. Bend this into a hook and then screw back onto the crossover. The problem is most likely in the ring terminals on the inside back of the speaker. Remove the two screws going through the back panel. Go to a hardware store and buy the same screw in brass. Scuff the head of the brass screw with a file.Tin it with solder. Do not tin the threads.Screw the tinned brass screw through the back panel into the input terminal.Cut off the ring terminals from the wire that goes from the back to the crossover network. Strip and tin it. Solder it to the heads of the brass screws. The impedance of a Cornwall is over 50 ohms in the midrange and most of the high end. A couple of ohms resistance from an oxidized screw and ring terminal will not be noticed here. The DCR of the woofer is around 3.5 ohms, a couple of ohms in series with this will cause a severe loss of bass. There is one other thing that could cause a loss of bass but this fix must be tried first. On an inflamatory note(putting out fire with gasoline): when you re-wire one of these speakers with 'monster' type cable 95% of the improvement in sound is due to the elimination of these bad connections."

If all you can do is mount them 4 to 5 feet above the listener then you'll just have to work with that. You definitely want to angle them down towards the listening area. As for mounting on the side or slightly behind, that's really a personal preference. Experiment with placement and agle before you do anything permanent. There's just no magic solution.

Sorry I can't comment on the different sounds of the Cornwall vs Cornwall ll. I can tell you these when driven by the right equipment are one sweet sounding speaker. I think the Harmon Kardon, although I've never heard one, is a fairly warm sounding amp and therefore well suited for your Cornwalls. If that's the case it will in fact sound great and be free of the harsh mids/highs that some people tweek to get rid of. Some replace the caps and wrap the horns with rope caulk to dampen the harshness. Others replace the crossover with the ALK crossover. If your amp/speaker match is correct, you shouldn't have any need to tweek anything. Leave them stock and enjoy! For home theatre I'm running Cornwalls with Heresy center and surrounds. You can easily find Heresys used and cheap. Try to find Heresys of the same vintage to guarantee a good tonal match. A good sub can come later. I'd personally recommend the Paradigm PW2200. Excellant dynamics for HT down to 18hz yet very musical. Nothing in it's price range even comes close.

Cornwalls as their name suggests can be placed in the CORNer or on a WALL (CORN-WALL). I have experimented with placement in an effort to achieve the best imaging and depth of soundstage possible. I don't worry about bass as a Paradigm PW2200 looks after that quite nicely. Although it's true corners = more bass, I've found better soundstage and imaging when the speakers are moved in from the corners and into th elistening area from the rear wall. The directional nature of Horns always sound best when aimed at the listener and toeing in is a necessity wether in the corner or on a wall. Of course the size and shape of the room will effect things. My room is 18' by 36'. The distance between the listener and midway between the speakers should not be greater than the distance between the speakers. In other words the speakers should be closer to each other than the listener is to midawy between them. 80% is a good rule but this has some play. If the speakers are 12 feet apart, the listener should be about 15 feet from the midpoint between them. Again just a rule of thumb and not cast in stone. That's what I've found. Experiment with your own listening environment and have fun.

Try auditioning a Paradigm PW2200. Very excellant sub at a reasonable price. I have one mated with a pair of 1981 Cornwalls. The sub is noted for being "very musical" whatever that means. I connected it to the same binding posts as my Cornwalls, adjusted the crossover to it's lowest point (50 hz) and then played with the volume until it was just right. Sounds like majic to my ears but let yours be the judge. PS - Make sure it's broken in before passing judgement. Good luck.

Rear projection TV's don't suffer from magnetic interferance to the same extent that tubes do. I have a Heresy center channel sitting on top of my RP Hitachi with no problems whatsoever. Basically if you can't see a problem there is no problem.

Take a serious look at the Paradigm PW2200. I'm using one with Cornwall mains. Very punchy (16hz) and known for being very musical. They do, however, take some time to break in (up to 4 months). I think they run in the $700 to $800 USD range.

Check out the Paradigm PW2200. Very musical and one sweet deal. It utilizes a 12" driver in a vented enclosure. Adjustable crossover and it's own 250 watt amp and volume control. I'm driving one with a pair of Cornwalls and love it. If possible test one at home prior to purchase or at least know you can exchange it if it's not to your liking (too big). There is one problem with that theory. I'm not sure why but this sub takes up to 4 months to break in and then it really sings. WOW! If you like it out of the box you'll love it as time goes on.