kvsound

An easy problem to fix - when you die just leave your password to your wife or kids and Apple will never know!

Fair enough! It's worked perfect on my build but you may be assuming that my cabinet is made from ply which is better than mdf for taking screws. As my cabinet is built with mdf, l just don't trust the suitability of screws long term hence my use of bolts and nylock nuts which will never loosen. I might be wrong though! What is the reason why you strongly advise against nuts and bolts?

Once the woofer hole is cut in the baffle, place the woofer in position and use a drill bit of the same diameter as the mounting holes on the woofer. Drill one hole and insert bolt and tighten nut (l use black bolts with a cylindrical head that takes an allen key with nylock nuts). Do the same on the opposite side of the woofer. The woofer is now fixed and won't move so you can now drill the rest of the holes. As long as you use a drill bit the same size as the woofer mounting holes, you can't go wrong!

I've been listening to this speaker config for the last year and it gets a big thumbs up from me. I built the Cornwall box and originally went 3 way with the Selenium D405 mid & HM-4750 horn and D220Ti tweeter and baby cheek horn with Crites woofer & crossover. That sounded good but could be a bit harsh at time in the high's. The first change was going 2 way with a pair of Faital HF 200 drivers bolted on to the Selenium fibreglass horn with ALK AP12-500 crossovers. This was really good and a step up from the Selenium 3 way but that high freq harshness occasionally could be heard. I then took out the Selenium horns and installed a pair of Eliptrac 400's - OMG what a step up this was! The harshness was gone, replaced by smooth non fatiguing high's, just a very musical sound that l can listen to for hours on end, the best upgrade I've made to my setup! This is such a simple build with an outstanding result! One question l have - has anyone heard both the Faital HF-200's and the B & C DE85's? How would you describe the sound of each compared to each other? I'm not asking which is better because that's subjective, only wondering if the two are similar sounding or quite different and what sort of sound preference would lead you to choosing one over the other?

Thankyou all for your input. Because 300B or 2A3 amps are not commonly available in stores to demo, I'll probably need to buy one without hearing it first so my main question is to do with whether or not there are major sound differences between the two. As I'm keeping my Wyred 4 Sound amp, limitless power is covered by that so what I want is a tube amp that will excel with 'air' between instuments, something that has a deep soundstage, 'midrange magic' so to speak, and power rating isn't a concern, just sound quality! Also, I've read on here that some people say a push pull 2A3 may be the ticket ? At this stage, I'll go with an integrated and maybe one day go with separates if I fall in love with the sound. There's a guy local to me who hand builds high quality tube amps (Weston Acoustics) but he only builds to order so I can't actually audition and these may be a bit pricey at this point so I'm thinking of (God forbid) a Chinese amp but not sure if that's a good idea. The best choice may come down to the availability of good quality tubes at a reasonable price!

Hi Folks, I have no experience with tube amps so I would like some advice. My speakers are DIY Cornscalas and my current amp is a Wyred 4 Sound STi-1000 integrated which is fantastic and is staying in my system. I'm looking to get a tube amp to add to my set up for those times in which I don't feel like blowing the roof off or late night listening so what I want is something that will be superb in the midrange for acoustic and vocal type music. I would want it to be an integrated amp with pre out for running subs. I'm thinking 2A3 or 300B unless there is better options with Klipsch so to those who know, how would you descibe the sound differences between the 2A3 and 300B? Thanks in advance. John

Yes it is but I'm not sure if it could be used with the Faital or maybe it could with minor tweaking, would have to check with ALK. I'm pretty sure that crossover was designed before the existence of the Faital driver was known about as not many mid range drivers can go that high so generally no need for such a design in most cases however I would love to try the elliptical Faital tweeter horn and driver in conjunction with the Elliptrac 400/HF200. On paper, that looks like an interesting combination. One of the Faital 1" tweeters has a pretty flat response above 10000Hz so it could work really well - just a theory at this stage though!

I'm wondering if using the Faital HF200 as part of a 3-way would mean that you could use it up to about 9000Hz then crossover to a Faital tweeter, say the HF104 with the Faital STH100 elliptical tweeter horn. ALK makes a 9000Hz crossover though I've no idea if it could be used as I've described here. I like the idea of a combined 2 and 3-way.

Can anyone tell me why my post appears as one long paragraph when I typed it as several paragraphs with a blank line in between? John

Very interesting thread this one. I'm very close to building myself a pair of Cornscalas and I have all the parts at hand, just not the time to build them yet. I have a pair of Eliptrac 400's and Faital HF200 and and ALK AP12-500 crossovers, also the Crites woofers. I've also got an existing pair of Cornscalas I built for my dad which I'm going to veneer before handing them over which are 3-ways with Selenium D405 and D220ti drivers with Selenium horns and Bob's crossover so lots of options to play around with! Dave, the conical tweeter horn looks very interesting! How long have you had this for and what is the cost? Also, much difference between the Eminence and Crites woofers? Would a cheaper ALK mid to tweeter crossover change the sound much? Justin, why the switch for selectable 2 or 3 way operation - does 2 way or 3 way suit some music better? Right now, I'm running the AP12-500 and Faital drivers with Selenium 4750 horn in the existing Cornscala as a 2-way and like what I hear but I'm yet to try the Eliptrac. The 3-ways sound great and the 2 ways as well though maybe not as big a sound stage but more detail perhaps. I shall switch back to the all Selenium 3-way and that should clarify the differences as I've been running it as a 2-way for a few weeks now. So many choices, all good it would seem. John

Thanks Moray for some great ideas! I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this upcoming build and do some experimenting before the final build. I'll build myself a cheap mdf test box first ala Bob Crites and experiment with different internal volumes and port configurations as well as driver heights. Trial and error and my ears will tell me when the right sound has arrived! I can build these things but an engineer I'm not! Presently, I have at hand a pair of 3-way Selenium Cornscalas which I've built for my dad which will be my reference point. These have the D405 mid and HM4750 horn with the woofer in a Cornwall sized enclosure and the D220 tweeter in its own top enclosure. When my ALK crossovers arrive next week, I'll try these with the Faital Pro's at the end of the HM4750 Selenium horn which is gonna be a very interesting comparison with the 3-way. I'll then build the test box and bring Dave's oval horn into the picture! I'll post my observations as I move along this very interesting path. To complete my set-up, I've just taken delivery of a pair of GR-Research 12" sub drivers and a Rythmik Servo plate amp for a dual driver sub build. I might even spring for a pair of dual driver subs eventually. I think I'm gonna end up with some seriously great sound at the end of all this - fun times ahead! Cheers, John

Hi All, First post here but long time reader of this forum - many thanks for an endless supply of great information! I'm about to start building my third pair of Cornscalas and this time, I'll be building the 2-way version in a Cornwall sized box. I'll be using a pair of Crites woofers and Faital drivers with a pair of Dave's Elliptrac 400 horns and the crossover will be ALK's AP12-500. Because of only 2 drivers being used, there is a good degree of flexibility in terms of moving up or down, the woofer and horn on the motorboard. So my question is: Does driver position matter, or just go with what looks good? Also, does cabinet material have any effect on the sound? I'm thinking of using either MDF or Ply or maybe even a sandwich panel of MDF inside and Ply on the outside. Thanks, John