Chris Garrett

Here's a buddy selling a pair of Cornwalls on Audiongon. Just a heads up. Chrishttp://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrfull&1026693323&2&3&4& ------------------ My Systems

Wes and HD, I've got a seemingly original pair of "M" (988/989)Cornwalls with vertically mounted K-77s/K-55Vs horns and my 'pie shaped' logos are in the upper left corners. Since I've had the backs off, I've noticed that it would be very difficult to refabric these speakers and they don't seem to have been fixed. My woofers are K-33Ps, btw. Chris ------------------ My Systems

Just a note on your Amperex tubes. I have some of the Orange Globe and yours is an ECC88, which is European equivalent to the 6DJ8 (GA top line, C is probably revision 3) and have the steel pins as opposed to the gold pins found on the 6922s (E88CC) and the 7308s (E188CC). The second line contains a Delta A, for the Heerlen, Holland Philips plant. Next is the year, in this case 1968. This tube was introduced in '58-'59. Next is the letter code for the month--H, so August and the next number is the week of that month. The Orange Globe tubes are quite nice, but many are pulls from electronic instruments, so people should be wary of an 'nos' designation. Any of the 6DJ8s, 6922s or 7308s can be better than the other and it just comes down mostly to what specific type and what flavor you prefer. Since this tube, especially the 6DJ8s, can be very microphonic, so be careful. As for one of the other fellows suggesting Richardson Electronics, also be careful. Richardson bought the name Amperex and can basically use the Bugle Boy, Orange Globe & PQ logo on any tube they happen to have. This includes a lot of Eastern Block garbage. Many new production tubes are flooding EBAY with 'classic names' attached. I'd hate to pay $75 for a Amperex While label PQ, only to find out in was made in Yugoslavia, or China. Good luck, Chris ------------------ My Systems

I believe that the operative word, here, is OVERKILL. Chris ------------------ My Systems

Soundbug1 knew what he had as he sold me my '74s a week or so earlier. He asked me to post a heads up but they sold before I could do so. The man has the goods. Chris ------------------ My Systems

Mike, I've been testing the Cornwalls out with JVC and XRCD-2 discs and they generally are lovely recordings. However, some of these discs bought through Amazon and local retailers are above $26 and as high as $35 per title. IMO, the XRCD, XRCD-2s and JVC K2 Japanese masters show that on a nice Redbook playback system, CDs can sound quite nice when attention to detail is rendered throughout the mastering process. When you hear some of the Japanese SACDs on a nice SACD player, you'll realize that there IS 'better' than Redbook. To the original poster, I don't have any HDCDs but from what I've read, a lot of the differences are due to the players attenuating the CD signal by 6db, thereby making the HDCDs play louder and as PsychoAccoustitians will tell you, many people perceive something as 'better' sounding when all it is is actually LOUDER. This is why level matching is so critical when evaluating gear. Chris ------------------ My Systems

Olaf, My CD path went like this. 1985: REVOX B-225 that never did work, but was the most expensive consumer deck at the time, a Rolls Royce lemon. Sometime in '91 I bought a Denon DCD 920. Very nice and served me well for eight years. Maybe a bit flat or two dimensional sounding and maybe a tad on the brighter side of neutral, but decent. We then come to '99 and the upgrade sickness took hold. I picked up a Cambridge Audio CD-6 and ran that for a bit with an MSB Link DAC II and Monarchy Audio DIP mkII jitter box. The player had techincal faults and I sent it back while at the same time buying an Ah! Tjoeb '99. I got the replacement CD-6 and it was a refurbished unit, complete with Tony Bennett UNPLUGGED cd inside and a bunch of PCB screws missing. I sent that back and kept the Tjoeb for a bit. I then came across the Electrocompaniet EMC-1 and ran that for a year when I sold it to buy the Sony SCD-1 SACD player, which I'm very happy with. Both of these are out of your price range, but quite nice in their own rights. I can't recommend the Cambridge units based on the lack of quality control I had with 2 units. The first one sounded quite musical when it worked, but hey...it didn't really do so. The newer D-500/D-300 might fair better, but I can't say. I have heard the newer Tjoeb 4000 at the US Importer's house, with a Cary 300B I.A. tube amp and AvantGarde UNOs and while it wasn't broken in, for $600, it seemed to be more detailed than my Tjoeb and a worthy contender for the money spent. You can tube roll the Tjoebs and get a sound that suits your tastes. Good luck, Chris ------------------ My Systems

Sorry, didn't work. Moderator, if there's no link at the end, as my signature, please delete. Chris ------------------ My Systems

Mike and Wes, Yes, I'm happy it's working and we'll see if I need to match up the other one, but so far, so good. Mike, I'm testing my ability to provide a title to the link to my systems on AA's page. We'll see if I was successful. Thanks Chris This message has been edited by Chris Garrett on 11-15-2001 at 07:53 PM

I just picked up a pair from Mark Voigt (aka Soundbug1) and they are "M" series, so 1974, and they have vertically mounted horns, I guess making them one of the latest, initial model IIs. I just got my tweeter fixed today, that I took apart and broke last Wednesday and things are grand. While this new 'coil' has the flat copper hook up wires, as opposed to hair thin leads on the original coil, I can't hear a difference after a few hours between the two K-77 tweeters (EV T-35s.) Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner

Lyle, Great job on the fronts and I love the bevel you've given them...very classy, but are you going to finish the sides the same way? It looks like they're the original birch finish? Or in the least, a different shade of stain? Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner

Hello Chris, I did the BUY IT NOW option at EBAY and didn't bid on these. The price was $1150. I then paid $290 to cover PAYPAL and Packing/Shipping through local packers and then via Yellow Feight. The boxes that were fabricated are truly exceptional and the speakers arrived in five days unmolested. So $1440 out the door and needing to add the tweeter repair. Still competitive with other newer speakers. They sounded quite nice for the first seven hours of listening and I had the horns inwards. I was moving them around when I decided to kill the tweeter. I tried to solder the shortest of the two hair thin wires, but started charing the cardboard gasket tabs at 12:00/6:00 positions. I called and talked to a lovely lady at EV today who told me to send them in (I'm going to send the good one as well, to match them up) and they'd take care of it as long as I had that cardboard 'gasket.' That seems to be the lynch-pin, w/o it, one is screwed. She also gave me the name of the local EV repair guy here in Miami and I spoke to him today. He has some parts but isn't too organized and he wants me to bring it in so he can have a look. I may pull the other one and head over there in a few minutes just to see. But my head is telling me to just send it to EV and have them fix them--I mean, they did make the damn thing after all. I'm still kicking myself and even though there was a definite buzz in that tweeter and not the other, it could have been a grounding issue (probably not) and/or the CAPs or Xover components. Either way, it wasn't terribly offensive and I probably should have left well enough alone. Generally, though, it's in my nature to take things apart and a fair amount of times, I have parts leftover, LOL! Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner

Well, the Belles has a nice warm tone to it, but I've really only had the Hafler DH 220 and then not in this same system. I've had lots of experience with a McCormack DNA 1 and then this same amp with Revision A mods done by S.M. Speakers were Maggie 1.6QR and Innersound EROS. Other gear was SFCD-1, Sony 777, Accuphase DP-65, Kora Eclipse preamp and in different rooms at a friend's place. This was a nice amp that tended to be on the warmer side of neutral and lacked any tizzyness in the upper freqs, but it might be overkill for the Cornwalls. Just right for the demanding planars. I keep the Belles as a back up and I'd probably say that compared to the SLAMs running in Triode, it has better control of the Contour's bottom end--good for my electronic/reggae collection. However, the midrange is a bit lean and the trebles maybe not quite as smooth as the Cary amps. Well, getting back to the CWs, I could hear a bit of a buzz in one tweeter, so being the jerk that I am, I decided to pull off the end cap and it looks like the diaphram came with it, yanking off the hair thin wires going to the outer terms. Bummer. I called Klipsch but they had left for the day. Looks like I'll be sending her off for a quick repair job and hopefully, I'll get it back when the tube amp returns next week. Sometimes I just don't leave well enough alone. I tried to solder it, but I'm not that good. Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner

Thanks Malcolm, I guess as long as the cones/baskets/magnets are intact and working (and they are since I hooked them up at 3am Wednesday) I shouldn't be too concerned. I just haven't read anything here about the 33-P woofer? Bs, Es, etc., but nothing on the 33-P. I do get a slight hum out of the horns at idle, but with their efficiency, it probably should be expected and I don't hear it once the volume is turned up. My Foreplay preamp has about 8v of gain, so things are running hot. Kelly: Right now I'm running the Belles 150a Hot Rod 100wpc SS amp as I misinserted a 300B and popped some caps on one of the Mono 8s. The amp is at George's place right now being fixed and I'll install it as soon as it returns. Also, I bought my Nak new during the summer of '85, when I put my first Hi Fi system together. I just sold the Hafler kits I built and I was using the Italian ESB 7/08s as late as yesterday and they still look/sound nice for domes after 16+ years, but at 87db and 6 ohms, not a great match for 300Bs--hence the Cornwalls. I did get lucky as Mark's ad had a BUY IT NOW option and had been sitting there for two days w/o a single bid. You bought Robert Greene's speakers in Asheville? If so, I was in contact with him for a few days, but I didn't want something in black. My Dyns are black. They sounded like a nice example from what he wrote. Wes: I see the arrows, but thought that was just a shipping issue. I have the speakers in a small room and fairly close together (only 5' apart center to center) and the horns on the inside. I sit maybe 7' away and I'm pretty much on axis with the horns. I might flip them after a few days of listening, but my room is far from ideal and these speakers are massively present, both physically and sonically. Not the greatest match, but I'll not be here too much longer. Mike: I bought my Foreplay from a fellow Asylum moderator, Mr. Pig. He bought one along with a friend who assembled them both. Actually a very nice job using pure copper magnet wire ($2/ft) and with all the upgrades. The C-4 boards, better volume pots, yadda yadda yadda. He recently bought an Art Audio Diavalo SET tube amp and the Foreplay, with its 7-8v of gain (quite high) was just too much for the AA's .33v INPUT sensitivity. He couldn't keep the volume down low enough. I have this issue to a degree, as the volume pots are stepped and somewhat coarse. So far, the sound is lovely and I'm happy I bought her. I paid him $420 shipped as a reference and the thing was put together during the summer, so it's fairly new. It is one of the most 'ugly' pieces of gear that I've owned, so don't expect much (and he spruced this one up if you can believe it.) Currently I'm running the 5814A tubes, which are a variation (along with the 6955) of the 12AU7 9 pin dual triode. I'm somewhat of a tube collector and while the Foreplay is my first piece that uses the 12au7, I do have a few flavors to play with once I've stabilized everything. For an inexpensive preamp, this one is just what I was looking for. We'll see how it mates with the Mono 8s when the repaired one arrives next week. Well I hope I addressed everyone here. Email me with any other questions if you want. Thanks, Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner

Hello all, Well I guess a little bit of money and some luck can buy someone admission into a classic fraternity and I'm happy to gain entry. My 1974 'M' coded Cornwalls arrived at the Yellow Freight depot here in Miami on Tuesday morning. I picked them up that evening and they were professionally packed by Mark (aka Soundbug1) up in Providence, R.I. They came bundled on a palet and after getting them home last night, I only had the energy to open one up. Tonight, I opened the second box. Both look to be just fine and their oiled walnut veneers are in very good to excellent shape with only a few battle scars after 27 years of use. Both serial numbers check out--"3 M 988 and 3 M 989" as per the sticker on the back and the embossment on the top rear plank. I opened both up and found that all drivers and Xovers are intact as per the description and per the photos. The tweeters are K-77s with serial numbers of 20263 and 21763. The end cap is all metal. The midrange horns are some sort of cast black metal with driver K-55 Vs and serial numbers of 21762 and 21763. Again, metal endcaps. The woofers have bronze colored metal baskets and big square magnets. The model is K-33 P and the serial numbers are 20259 and 20263 with white printing on the squares themselves of 5815109 for both and then after that, 137 7210 and 137 7474. There is no indication of who made these drivers. I put a meter on the jacks on the back and get readings of a stable 4.0 ohms +/- a bit for #988 and a fluctuation of 4.0-8.0 ohms on #989. Kind of odd. Both Xovers are TYPE B with the metal plate nailed to the side of the mounting plank. All padding is pristine and all wires are white jacketed stuff of unknown composition. They all look 'as new.' These Cornwalls have the Mids and Tweeters vertically mounted near an upper corner with the woofers offset in the opposite lower corner. How should I orientate these? Horns on the inside/woofers facing outward, or vise versa? I'm not too sure. Both speakers have DUAL ports, not the triples. Their speaker terms are screws, just big enough for 18ga. Zip Cord or smallish spades. I have yet to hook them up as they really, really big Mother-#######!!! The grills look near impossible to remove, but are in excellent shape. Someone who saw the original ad on EBAY stated that they might be replacements, but honestly, I don't see how someone would replace these without doing a major demo job. I'm off of work Thursday and will rearrange the room and give them a listen. Any comments will be welcome and thanks, Chris ------------------ 2 Channel #1: Dynaudio Contour 3.0s in black ash veneer. Cary SLAM 100 monoblocs set to 95w Triode. Blue Circle Galatea tube preamp. Sony SCD-1 SACD player and ART DI/O DAC. Kuzma Stabi w/external PSU, Stogi Reference arm, Lyra Lydian B MC (.4mV) cart, SF Phono 1 SE tube stage. PP300 and Chang CLS 9600 ac conditioners. Stealth PGS ICs, Audio Note AN-VZ silver ICs, Vampire Wire ST-III copper spkr. cables and Shunyata Black Mamba & NBS AC III/Serpent II ac cords. 2 Channel #2 Wright Mono 8 300B monoblocs. Doc Bottlehead's full blown Foreplay tube preamp. Alesis Masterlink 9600 4.3g HD CD burner w/Dodson 217 mkII 'D v.1' DAC. 1974 Cornwall w/vertically arranged Alnico magnet drivers. Italian ESB 7/08 3-way floor standers w/1" silk dome tweeters, 2" silk dome Mids and 10" woofers. Restored Dynaco FM-1 w/stereo board tube tuner