T.H.E. Droid

You want to see if there are voltages between components that shouldn't be there. Get one of those reasonably priced volt/ohm/amp meters. Start on the volts setting first and connect the leads between the grounds on the two units. (For example, between the metal cases.) If you get a large voltage reading (over 40 volts) there is a potential shock hazard. Another place to check for stray voltages is between the signal pins (center on an RCA-style jack) of the two units. For all these checks, the units should be powered up but not otherwise connected to each other. You can also check between signal pins and grounds on each unit and between the two units. Any voltage readings signify problems. You might have a wire inside a case touching something it shouldn't, so if you see voltages, get the units checked out by a technician. Good luck.

I'm doing some guessing here but smoke implies some current flow where it shouldn't be, and given that you're running one on your 220v mains and the other through a converter transformer, I'm thinking you've got a grounding/floating voltage problem that's causing current flow through a signal lead. Since this could represent a safety hazard, you might want to get it checked out by a qualified tech person.

He already did that... I was addressing my remarks to FranzJ, the original poster, who obviously has not done these mods.

I have to wonder if what you are hearing has more to do with room modes than the Lascala design. Sometimes the mods I see here are a bit extreme for what can be gained, and other mods seem to be aimed at making these speakers do things they were not designed to do. Not to slam what you're trying to do, after all, they're your speakers and I enjoy fiddling with mine too, but the Lascalas are a very capable system if you don't expect them to operate outside their design envelope. Perhaps a simpler mod might be to double up on the Lascala side panels and add a tie bar across the front. That should stiffen them quite a bit where the wood is most likely to flex and if you use screws and no glue, you can remove the mods and putty the screw holes..

If you want to reduce your equipment count at the same time (which always seems to please "She who must be obeyed") you might want to consider some of the all-in-ones which also have the CD player in the receiver unit. Marantz has one and if you want something more upscale, the Arcam Solo is available in black or silver and is a good sounding unit, and quite compact. I believe Denon also has an all-in-one and there might be others. I've driven my Heresy's with my tube amp, a Sansui 5000 vintage receiver, a Harmon Kardon receiver, and even my retired A/V receiver. The Heresy seems to be pretty easy to drive.

That kind of sums up what I've always suspected about the popularity of MP3's. They became popular because it is so easy to steal music, and lower quality is an acceptible compromise for the "something for nothing" crowd. It is sad when people who should know better actually seem to be proud of being thieves.

If your TV has live audio outputs for running an unamplified sound bar, you can try those. The Cornwalls are very efficient and should sound pretty good unless there is an extreme impredence mismatch. Alternately, there are a number of low cost (under $200) 2-channel receivers on the market that can be connected to the TV audio out jacks on the TV. If you also want to use your current setup, you need to add an A-B speaker selector switch to the Cornwalls to allow you to pick between the TV and main speaker outputs.

When the laws of physics conmflict with Fields* law, Fields always wins. * "Never give a sucker an even break."

Amen to that. A few years back when I was thinking about getting a SACD player, all I could find for source material was rereleased old stuff like Dark Side of the Moon. I just concluded that the music I want to hear wasn't available on SACD.

It seems to be prudent to take Khorn mods step by step to get the best results, so I recommend you get a recap kit from Bob Crites and rebuild them. (Bob can do the whole job for you if you want.) Most likely that will be all you need.

The problem is that too much liberty is taken with the remastering of many of the classics. Many of those artists have passed away. Is that any way to honor the memory of a great artist, or pay tribute to a masterpiece? Another problem is that he is talking about the deterioration of the industry quality not declaring war and boycotting it. Frankly, I don't find your statements quite as provocative as you think. You seem to me to be the type of person who tosses his milkshake on the floor and stands back and watches to see how others react. It does stimulate a reaction, but sooner or later people discover what you are up to, and the focus turns right square back at you. I wonder how many more "remasters" of Dark Side of the Moon we need. Much of the problem is that for some people, music is art, and for others, it is a commodoty to be bought and sold. Music publishers have been pushing poorly mastered drek for more decades than I can remember. Some have higher standards. I think in Neil Young's case, he needs to make sure the quality of his works in published form meet his standards. That's about all he can do. Ultimately, the market decides, and there is still a market for carefully recorded music. As for your personal attack, that says more about your character than mine.

Most people get into trouble with too little power, not too much. With too little power, amps start to clip, which overpowers your tweeters and causes them to burn out. If you like to listen to source material that is extremely high in bass content and you really like to crank it up, listen for popping oir cracking sounds from your low frequency speakers during heavy bass impulses. That would indicate overdriving. If you run into that kind of problem, add a subwoofer to produce the heavy bass and you should be just fine. I think in the upper bass through HF area your 82's can drive you out of the room without working too hard.

Those are standard settings for a parametric-type equalizer. Here's what they mean: Band/gain (I'm not sure that they refer to with gain) band will be the spread or width of the eq action, usually it is in octaves. A higher setting makes the control operate across a wider frequency band. Frequency/gain (again, not sure about the gain part) Frequency will be the center frequency of the band. For instance, if you want to affect primarily the 10Khz area in a fairly narrow band, set frequency to 10khz and band to 1 octave. That will affect frequencies of about 1/2 octave on either side of 10Khs, with the stongest action at 10khz. Q will affect the strength and roll-off rate of the filter. A high setting makes the filter active at the frequency setting and the effect roll off strongly and quickly going higher or lower in frequency. A low setting will still make the filter active at the frequency setting but roll off will be more gentle. Hope that will help you get some insight into how the settings should work. I tried to look at the A3000 manual online but Yamaha doesn't want to let people do that unless they give up their information. (unlike most manufacturers, who WANT potential customers to be able to see operator manuals.)

....except I have to equalize all my Klipsch speakers to get the best sound. If anything, they all have too much midrange and HF output. Since Klipsch refrained from putting level controls on his heritage lines, I have to do it in the amplification chain. Ironically, my JBL Summits (which tend to be more valuable than Khorns) have mid and HF level controls so I find them easy to balance without adding EQ. I think one of the most common complaints from those new to Klipsch is that the upper mid and highs are too much or harsh.

I would assume that someone of Neil Young's stature would have control over his own music, so he's certainly free to not allow anything other than CD's and vinyl LP's to be published of his own music. Apparently he's willing to take the cash for those shxx MP3's of his songs so where is the real problem?

Ah, I remember the good old days when the test equipment you needed cost five figures. Now so much of it can be packed into a hand-held unit for a few hundred dollars. Add some speaker design and analysis software and you can design 'em too. Now if they could just get those CNC wood cutting systems down to a few hundred dollars....

The RHCP example is a good one of album done right and album done wrong. You aren't going to find examples of the same songs on both albums because this is how they are releasing the albums. You don't have a choice or loudness on or off. The trend isn't just hip hop artist nor is this where it started but this practice spreads the spectrum of popular music. If it is expected to be played on the radio chances are the album will be enhanced. There are exceptions like artist who care about the quality of their albums and are more involved in the album production. Like I said most independent or indie labels don't buy into this method of production either. In other words, you're speculating and can't offer any kind of convincing proof other than hearsay and opinion, no surprise there.

Adding a port to a horn driver is like taking the keel out of a boat to make it lighter. The sealed driver box is a fundamental part of the design and the acoustical impedance is important to achieve high efficiency. Trying to use the back energy for more bass would likely destroy the efficiency of the horn and end up being a complicated nightmare with no benefit. Far easier to simply add a subwoofer if you want even more bass. You can then simply dial up a good sub system until your viscera turns to goo and your genitals drop off.

Grab a copy of Red Hot Chili Peppers blood sugar sex magic and californication.. Blood Sugar Sex Magic is produced mastered very well but Californication is a prime example of loudness war cd. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war I'm pretty sure I'm not willing to spend a dime on RHCP, but we're going right back to what I said in the first place. What songs appear on BOTH albums where you can show a before/after example of this clipping? If the current trend is for hip hop artists is to highly compress their dynamic range to boost the average energy level, I'm not sure how that affects those of us who don't even consider that genre to be music. Is there a chance that hip hop producers are going to completely take over the music industry and insist on doing the same to classical, jazz and vocal artists? I doubt it.

There's no such thing as an invisible plug. I love my Kreg too, as I love my dovetailer, but as I said, no joinery technique is universal. That's why there are so many techniques. I'd be more positive if there won't so many people on the forums giving bad advice.

I sure can't think of where I'd get a sheet of solid core 3/4" plywood (of the quality you'd need to create something comparable to what is already on the Cornwall) for $20. Let me know where you get it, I'd like to buy a few dozen sheets. I will concede that the Cornwall can be a collectible speaker in the sense that people keep them long after most speakers end up in the dumpster.

Didn't see ANY factual information at all, just a trumped up example. If you actually bother to listen to the narrator, he says "if this track had been released in 2006, someone would probably have insisted it was this loud." I didn't see where there was an example of "before" and "after", simply a blanket claim that this is the industry standard at this time. Just another example of just how gullible audio enthusiasts have become.

Except biscuit joining does't leave a line of ugly, ragged holes in one of the pieces. There's a time and place for any type of joinery, and no single techique is universal.

Actually, best practice is to not waste time and money duplicating something that has no real value to a potential purchaser, especially when any minor changes like adding terminal strips can be reversed with a little bit of wood putty, sandpaper and paint. Original drivers, crossovers and hard to replace parts like grilles in original cane fabric are a different story. You're a lot better off putting your money into things you can hear like replacing the caps on the crossovers.

Used Cornwalls aren't particularly valuable or collectible, so unless you have some very special custom models, I wouldn't worry about modifications. Generally people interested in Klipsch heritage models are knowledgable about Klipsch and are primarily interested in the sound, so updates that improve performance (such as rebuilding crossovers and adding braces) only increase the value. Renewing cabinet veneers and grilles never hurts either, although beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and I've seen some cosmetic updates here on the forums that I personally didn't find very attractive. So my advice there would be to stay on the conservative side unless you never plan to resell them. If you are experimenting with drivers, you can bring out the driver connections to a second terminal strip on the back, and add a third strip for the drivers inside the cabinet. You can then make jumper wires to connect the internal drivers to the crossover or pull them and connect external drivers.