hklinker

Dan- Does the $600 budget include the tonearm, and cartridge? What kind of cartridge do you want, moving magnet or moving coil? Do you want to play 78's? This summer, I picked up a TD-124 with a Shure SME 3009 Series II unimproved arm and Ortofon SPU cartridge for $900 on eBay. There are several good sites I could direct you to: http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/td124page.html http://www.theanalogdept.com/thorens_history.htm http://stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/506listen/ There are good articles that differentiate between the better models and the not so good ones. A decent TD-124 will go for $500-$800 on eBay, many times this will include an arm and cartridge. Later models are more reasonable, consider the 125 or the 160 as alternatives. I would start with eBay to get a feel for the market, then depending on your locale hit the estate sales. Good luck! Herb

freddyi- Yeah, those are the Rat Shack ones Dave mentioned. He gave me the idea when I was trying to tame my overachieving K-77's. I have the option of mounting them there, or on the back of the speaker where I installed a binding post cap. Right now I stuck them in line on the board, using rubber gaskets and a little epoxy to fasten them. My APT-50's are not as "hot" as my K-77's so I have them cranked full (no attenuation). They are $20 apiece and are rated at 50W, a well built autoformer that does the job for me. Herb

Never mind, I just read the earlier post where you said you were going with the APT-50 driver, should sound fantastic!Herb

Horns! Horns! And more horns! Very nice job on the tweeter horn, what driver are you going with? Herb

Hi Dave! As I said above, I am loving the new Xovers. I think you hit a homerun with your design! I am hearing all kinds of sublteties I never heard before and I really like the 400/600 option, as well as the tweeter attenuator. I may have to back off the tweeter 3 db in fact as it really has jumped out with the new Xover. Not sure if the GenI/GenII pairing made the difference, but who cares as there is a BIG difference! ka7niq, Dave has designed both my crossovers and his suggestions have proven invaluable. There are several crossover "gurus" on this forum so I know that your will get your issues resolved. Herb

You might want to consider Sonicaps, which Bob Crites sells or you can buy direct from Sonicraft. They are more expensive than Jantzens or Daytons, but much less than Mundorfs and about half of Auricaps. If you go to the Sonicraft website they have an explanation of how their Gen I and Gen II caps can be bundled to produce a very smooth and balanced sound. I just replaced the crossovers in my Cornscalas with this configuration. You pair a larger value Gen I cap to a smaller value Gen II with the Gen II shorter lead (shield) upstream. I was very happy with the results. I have spent about a week now listening to them and find that there are three significant improvements. First, the image drift I noticed previously was gone. I don't know what caused it in my other Xovers but it was noticeable. Second, there was a big improvement in the tweeter, which I thought was acceptable, but not remarkable, previously. The CT-125's really stand out now. Finally, both the squawker and tweeter seemed more open and had a much greater clarity than before. Cymbals are crystal clear and crisp, percussion like woodblocks and cowbell have a much greater depth and resonance. Horns, particularly the tenor sax and muted trumpet, sound incredibly realistic. I really like what these caps have done to improve my Cornscalas. Check 'em out Herb

I second the motion![Y]

As an alternative you should check with GotHover about switching to his Fastrac horn. I changed mine out and what a difference! I thought it would be difficult changing the motorboard for the bigger opening, but he provided me with a template and it took literally 10 minutes to cut the hole and mount the horn. All you need is a router with a flush trim blade and a little black paint. It actually took longer to clean the sawdust out of the box!You can change the crossovers too, but it will set you back almost as much as the horns if you use good caps. For the money you will get the biggest bang for your buck by upgrading to a good squawker horn. Good Luck! Herb

Dan, I agree with Patrick and Randy that this is one of the best posts I've seen in the short time I have been on the forums. My question is: "Where have you been?" You obviously have been a major Klipschomaniac for many years,yet you are so new to the Community! All I can say is, "Welcome!" I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future. Keep 'em coming! Herb

Some people reverse the polarity on the squawkers. This puts them out of phase with the tweeter and woofer, but in phase with each other. This is done to compensate for the humps at the crossover points. Since you are using them for vocals this may not work for you, but it is an easy project to do and if it doesn't give you what you're looking for you can just switch them back.

Have you tried sealing the backboard using thin closed cell weatherstripping? They have it in brown at Lowe's and it really tightened up the bass on my 84 Cornscalas. A cheap, simple and quick upgrade IMHO. Herb

Go to Radio Shack and get a soldering accessory kit, which includes an aluminum heatsink. It works very well as I learned when I went to remove it immediately after soldering a new cap. As John Lennon said, " I got blisters on my fingers!"It's funny about the phase problem. I spent three months converting a pair of Cornwalls to Cornscalas and when I hooked them up they sounded like s**t. Man was I bummed. My 5 year old grandson loves to fiddle with my preamp and he walked over and flipped the phase switch to 180 and suddenly the mono Frank Sinatra album moved to the middle of the soundstage. It seems I had connected one of inputs backwards on the crossover, the very last connection I made. Boy did I feel dumb! Herb

Have you considered veneering it?

Hi Jason, welcome! I also picked up a pair of 84 Cornwall without tweeters. Converted them to Cornscala's with a minimum of modifications. I'm with Dave on the tweeters, Bob Crites CT-125 uses an Eminence APT-50 Supertweeter mounted on a special horn lens he designed to drop right into spot where the K-77 mounts. They have a much more extended high end and I think they are a smoother sounding tweeter than the stock K-77. It's the cheapest upgrade you can do, except maybe replacing the caps in the crossovers. Check with Bob on that too as he sells upgrade repair kits for the Cornwall. Enjoy those great speakers! Herb Klinker

Jeff, I'll send you a PM. Herb

Finished off the aught's by finishing and installing my new crossovers. Even with brand new caps they sound great with much better clarity and imaging! Thanks for your help, Gothover! On to a new decade of old speakers. Herb

Bliss is one lucky dog!

Check with Bob Crites (BEC). HK

If you order the grill cloth from Bob he will put the wire inside the tube and ship it to you at no extra charge. That's what he did for me. This is a no brainer! Herb

I know that Bob sells wire he uses for about $.50 per foot. I am not sure it makes that big a difference in such short runs. I just finished a set of Cornscala's and used Bob's wire. Now I am building a set of modified ALK Universals for them and picked up some Cardas wire to assemble them. Will be interested to see if I can hear any difference. I agree with the previous post that a bigger improvement would be change the wire running to the speakers. Parts Express had a set of 25 ft. AR master series wire for $38 that made a hugh difference in the clarity of the top end on my Cornscalas. What a coincidence, I will be visiting Charleston today! Herb

Welcome to the madness!!I agree with Rick, they don't look painted. It won't be long and you will be checking out Bob Crite's tweeters and replacing the caps... it's a slippery slope, but enjoy the ride!! Herb

Groom-avatall one for me! Herb

Dear Forum Friends, I want to reach out to all my good friends on the Klipsch forums to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. Your friendship is treasured and your counsel is most appreciated! I have learned so much from you over the past six months. May the new year bring you peace, joy, and much happiness. I hope Santa brings you more Klipsch toys to enjoy! Blessings to you and your family. Herb Klinker

Once one begins this journey, it is not about the the return on investment. Rather, it is the pursuit of something unattainable... perfection!

I agree with djk, the Crites tweeters will take you out way past the K-77. They should be crossed at 4500 Hz. The K-77 was so susceptible to blowing that they crossed it higher to protect it. But the APT 50 driver will go down to 3500, no problem. A much smoother sound too! [] Herb