edmjm

actually the cabinet is exact dimensions of a cornwall 1. t he only changes are different mid horn & extra internal bracing

corner braces

some more pics

I switched out my winged c el34’s for electro harmonix 6ca7’s in my audio space as3i amp to cornwall 1’s I’m very surprised by the difference in sound quality from changing power tubes. first thing I noticed is they use less juice (had to turn them down a full 0.1mv to bias) I immediately noticed a wider soundstage, bass is tighter with a bit more oomph. mids & highs are cleaner & crisper. it’s almost like the winged c’s were just a touch out of focus where the eh 6ca7’s are dialed right in on everything. a word of warning though, I think someone with younger, better ears might find the mids with stock horns a touch sharp or maybe fatiguing (damping the horn might take care of that) overall I’m very impressed & will be keeping these. although I shouldn’t be that surprised cause I’m using eh gold pin 12au7’s in the pre section (& love them) & a vintage telefunken short ribbed plate in the output section

the plywood is same thickness as originals. I had the builder copy exactly the cornwall 1. just added extra bracing & woofer & mid horn are front mounted.

I chose 3 way just cause I prefer that sound with my system in my space. the veneer is birch finished with 5 layers of auto clear coat to replicate a 12 layer piano lacquer finish.

it’s hard to tell from that pic, I’ll get one of the inside. started with a hybrid plwood, core is thin laminates sandwiched by layer of mdf then another layer of laminate topped of with birch finish. on factory cornwalls the strips of wood that hold the motorboard & back board are just glued & stapled in place. mine are datoed into top, bottom & sides almost 1/4” to create a full frame brace for front & back of cabinet, then they are joined by corner braces to reinforce the mitred corner joints. then between woofer & mid horn cutouts is a full brace attached to motorboard & sides. the motorboard is a hard maple that will be stronger than the birch ply cause of all the cutouts.

it was almost 9 months ago a friend lent me his cornwall 1’s to compare to my focal 826w’s & I was instantly bitten by the horn bug. then we started experimenting with different drivers & horns & crossover mods to ring out every extra ounce of performance. I sold the focals to kick start building my own ultimate cornwalls & I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. the guy building the cabinets for me is also an audio guy so he knew exactly how & where to add extra bracing & support.

I replaced the k55 with a55g in my cornwall & found them a little less in volume (loudness). I guess something to due with them being more effecient & smoother. I didn’t make any changes to crossover

I have mine in a comparitvly small room. 11’ wide. they are about 16” away from side walls & about the same off front wall. very slight toe in 10* individual results may vary so I totally agree with the others to try different placements until you find the presentation YOU like best

that will be neat colour. I’m doing the same kind of overkill with my cabinets too. why not, it’s only a few extra piecs & screws to extra brace & reinforce. those kappas will shake a cabinet apart. do all the things you wish the factory did plus a few more. the end results will sound spectacular

right on. keep the pics coming. what are you going to use for a crossover?

for my build & I think would work great in your project is the eminence kappa 15c woofer

I found a clone of the faital horn with the screw on driver adapter on ebay. $30 each I figured why not. good quality product, definitely not factory seconds or rejects. crites a55g screws on & seats perfectly. I set them on top of the cabinets & put my k55’s back on the stock horns to keep the cabinets sealed. so my cw’s have stock woofers, recapped xovers, fastrac hf horn with b&c de120 drivers & now the 9”x14” eliptical mid horn with crites a55g drivers the sound.... all I can say is, completely blown away. crystal clear holographic sound with enormous soundstage & added depth. soft & smooth yet punch & impact too. not the slightest hint of sharpness or fatigue. the way they reveal the music to you reminds me of magnepans (but with lots of bass)

definitely long, ribbed plate

hi Mark. sorry to hear about your mom. good wishes to her so she can kick cancers ***. a friend & I are both in the middle of building cornscallas which originated from wanting to make his 1977 cornwall 1’s “improved”. I have the fastlane hf horns with b&c de120 drivers & they are great. very laid back, huge detail & great soundstage. my friend has the baby buttcheek horns with jbl driver. superdetailed, a little too bright & overpowering for the cornwall mids (but is stunning with his lascallas). I have the crites a55g drivers with original cast horns. they are a great match with the fastrac hf/b&c. listen all day with no fatigue. I would highly recommend if you want to keep stock mid horns. because we’re building from scratch we’re both going with larger horns & 2” drivers (fastrac, volti, jbl) not sure which yet, same story with drivers (which also means new crossovers) as for the crossovers if you stay with original mids maybe just new caps & maybe add a resistor to the tweeter. if you go larger horns & 2” drivers I’d look at the alk cornscalla crossover keep us updated when you get them & what you decide to do with them

that’s right. you don’t have to wait until there’s a problem to replace your caps. I don’t know why but it seems people detect something is “off” with their sound & the caps are usually the whipping boy that gets blamed. why is that? my belief is that we all know that’s where most companies will cheap out to keep the cost down. caps, like tubes have a signature sound & therfore opinions will vary from person to person as which cap sounds best. I do seem to see many more people saying they had to replace their xover caps. not sure why, but why not. if you’re not happy with how they sound, tweaking the xover is alot cheaper than buying new speakers

you don’t have to change caps just because they’re old or leaking. changing the caps can make huge differences to your soundstage & presentation. possibly the single biggest mod you can do to your components. I changed the caps in my dac to jupiter foil & beeswax & it was the best thing I’ve evr done to my system I highly recommend reading capacitor shoot out at humble home made hi-fi

I see the heritage grills aren’t a 1”x1” frame style but rather a board with cut outs where the speakers are. what kind of material is this board made of? it’s too light to be wood but also seems to dense to be a cardboard product

by the way, those heresys’ are stunning. if they were mine I’d do away with that little crossover & see if I could replace it with an ALK or crites crossover & get new speaker connecters that could let you use spade or bananna plug cables

patience was the key for me thaddeus. I too chose the jupiters for my dac & was stunned by the price. but I was determined so I saved up & waited. about 4 months later partsconnection had them 25% off & that’s when I jumped. so glad I did because they are everything described & more. brought my dac to a whole new level. I think they set me back $200 & they’re worth every penny

I don’t recommend purchasing caps soley based on cost. I spent considerable time on humble homemade hi-fi reading thru all of his reviews to find the caps that fit the sound signatures I wanted from my speakers. then widdled down that list by finding reviews on different forums from people who have used those particular caps. at the end there was 2-3 contenders, then it was about price and availability

I guess I went overkill then. for the super b’s in my cornscalla’s I bought rike audio s caps

friend of mine has early 80’s lascalla’s. he really liked his musical paradise mp501 but was blown away by the musicality & seeminly perfect match with a totally modded dynaco st70

1979 cornwall. stock woofer, stock mid horn