Klipsch Cornwall 2's In Tampa

[ka7niq]

Most of my customers completely replace that crossover. Some rebuild it on the same board using lots better caps than those on the board. And most of those cheap little blue caps test pretty bad by now for ESR at least.

Most also opt for the titanium tweeter diaphragms to liven up the tweeters. They are smoother and extend higher.

Bob Crites

Bob, WHY would one replace the whole crossovers ?

I mean inductors dont go bad, right ?

Why NOT replace just the Caps, am I missing something ?

No, they don't generally go bad. Some additional gain in performance might be achieved by having all new and higher quality parts all the way through but most of the improvement would be from the better caps.

Bob

OK Bob, I will order the titanium diapraghms for the K 79 tweeters from you.

For the sake of this thread, I ordered all the caps to re do my Cornwall II crossovers from ERSE.

I met Jim Thiel in Seattle years ago.

He used the ERSE coils and Caps.

I have had good luck with their coils and capacitors, over the years.

Thiel uses Erse Poly Caps in the Thiel 3.7 !!!

I have used these ERSE Poly caps on Speaker Factory Corner Horns, and on several pairs of Advents I have re capped, with excellent results.

ERSE had every exact value for the Cornwall 2's, all from one company.

Even had the 68 mfd bottom crossover cap too!

Total price to redo BOTH Cornwall II Crossover Capacitors completely was 48.99 shipped, leaving "room in the budget" for some new titanium diapraghms from you!

When you see a pay pal order come through from Chris Tucker Bob, that would be me.

If ya can ship them soon, maybe I can get everything singing between xmas and new years ?

Thanks for everything Bob, and when and IF you get better diapraghms for the Cornwall 2 midrange driver, put me down for a pair!

Dear chris tucker,

Thank you for shopping at ERSE Audio.

Your order no. 225-58731 has been received.

Order Summary:

Item Qty Description Options Rate Amount 1.5µF 250Vdc PulseX Cap 4 1.50μF 250v PulseX - Metallized Polypropylene Film Capacitor $1.19 $4.76 3µF 250Vdc PulseX Cap 2 3.00μF 250v PulseX - Metallized Polypropylene Film Capacitor $1.79 $3.58 68µF 250Vdc PulseX Cap 2 68.0μF 250v PulseX - Metallized Polypropylene Film Capacitor $15.06 $30.12 Subtotal $38.46 Shipping $6.97 Tax 0.00 Total $45.43

Erse PulseX Capacitors



ERSE’s Pulse X caps are an audiophile grade capacitor designed for quick transient response and ultimate musical performance.

Every attention to detail was put into the PulseX capacitor line to insure excellent performance. A premium grade of “defect free” aluminum metallized polypropylene film was chosen from an industry leading film supplier. Specially designed German winding machines with tension feedback control allow for precision repeatability during manufacturing. This industry first technique allows us to virtually eliminate mircrophonics and obtain a tight ±3% tolerance, with virtually no scrap.

PulseX quality continues; all leads are lead free (RHOS Compliant), oxygen free 99.99% pure copper. Each lead is attached to the body of the capacitor with ultrasonic welding. To further reduce equivalent series resistance and improve long term reliability , the leads are then soldered with lead free silver solder. PulseX caps are then wrapped in flame proof polyester tape and the ends are epoxy filled. Before final packing, each PulseX cap is tested with certified premium quality Wayne Kerr capacitance bridges to insure a ±3% tolerance centered on the nominal value.

Total harmonic and IMD distortion and phase distortion are virtually immeasurable, while all losses are near zero in every aspect.

Features:

• Short body – quick transient design
• Welded and hand soldered leads
• Very Low Dielectric absorption factor
• Very Low dissipation factor
• Very Low ESR
• Very Low Inductance
• Very High Insulation Resistance
• Excellent Reliability
• Excellent handling of high current audio pulses
• RoHS Compliant

Construction:

• Dielectric: High purity polypropylene film
• Construction: Short body quick transient design
• Coating: Polyester tape wrapped with high dielectric epoxy fill
• Electrodes: High purity aluminum vacuum deposited
• Winding: Bifilar metallized film
• Leads: Lead free tin plated oxygen free pure copper
• RHOS compliant

Specifications:

• Tolerance: +/- 3% centered on nominal value
• Dissipation Factor: .001 to .0001 (see details)
• ESR: Very Low
• Dielectric Absorption Factor: <= 100,000 MÙ
• Temperature Range: -25C to 85C
• Rated Voltage:
  MPT25 = 250Vdc/150Vac
  MPT40 = 400Vdc/250Vac
  MPT63 = 630Vdc/400Vac
• Dielectric Thickness:
  MPT25 = 4µm
  MPT40 = 5µm
  MPT63 = 6µm
• Metal Layer Thickness:
  MPT25 = .03µm
  MPT40 = .04µm
  MPT63 = .02µm

Are the performance differences of these caps measureable?

There are a lot of ways that caps are measured beyond capacitance, and many of these are easily and routinely measured. Some common measurements are dielectric constant, ESR, DF, self inductance and temperature ratings. Less tested but other known differences might include the thickness of the dielectric, the thickness of the conductive film, composition of the material used as the dielectric and the film, termination methods and materials used.

It the standard measured areas, the Erse PulseX caps very quite well, but this is not where the main audible differences lie.

Two caps might measure very much the same in many ways, but one might use Tin foil while the other uses Aluminum foil as the conductive material, and they might have a considerable different character to their sound.

Why use a 'by-pass cap'?

Think of a capacitor as an energy storage device. Capacitors will store and release energy and are often used for that very reason. In the loudspeaker application though we are wanting to use them for the capacitive effects and not their energy storage capabilities.

The larger the cap the more energy it can store. Also larger caps take longer to charge and to discharge this stored energy. Different types of caps store and release energy at different rates too. For instance electrolytic caps are more known as being fairly slow to charge and discharge compared to other types of caps. However they are much less expensive and are often used in loudspeakers especially if large values are needed. Polypropylene caps like those used in many speakers are a faster cap. Not all poly caps are the same though. The really good ones (Erse, Sonicap) are considerably more expensive than the more commonly used types.

When an audio signal is sent through a cap there is a small amount of lag time from change to discharge. Often with larger caps, even after they are discharged there is still a small charge that is left as it did not completely discharge. The smaller values typically used in speakers like AV123's x-ls are not too bad. But there is still always some signature to the caps in the signal path. The audible effect is a smearing of the music. Notes will have a little trailing edge to them that blend into the next note. Again the larger the cap value the greater this effect.

By-passing the caps on the board with a fast discharging cap like 0.1uF (really small value) Sonicap Gen II will effectively short the larger cap out. The capacitance is hardly changed but shorting the larger cap with the small one will discharge it very quickly.

What is does to the sound is reduce smearing. Music is cleaner with more dead space between notes. Many audiophiles refer to this as Blacker Blacks. Upper level detail and resolution is notably better as well.

I THINK I "messed up" LOL, at myself.

Erse makes 3 different voltage rating poly caps availiable.

Stupid me , I did not SEE that the thicker dielectric 650 volt caps are mere pennies more then the 250 VDC Caps I ordered.

I emailed ERSE and prayed my order did not ship yet!

I asked them to please give me the higher voltage caps, and send me a pay pal bill for the difference in price.

I do not know if the thicker dielectric has any sonic advantages, but I have noticed the Red Clarity Caps have a thicker dielectric then the lower priced blue clarity caps.

Maybe ERSE will allow me to change the order, but aint gonna loose sleep over it.

Certainly any new poly cap is got to be better then the old stock caps in the Cornwall 2's ?

[ka7niq]

Christians aint going to like this

, but listen, it sounds great on the Cornwall 2's with the new titanium diapraghms in the tweeters from Bob Crites,

The band is 009 Sound System, I own the CD !

[ka7niq]

Christians aint going to like this

, but listen, it sounds great on the Cornwall 2's with the new titanium diapraghms in the tweeters from Bob Crites,

The band is 009 Sound System, I own the CD !

Boy, the titanium tweeter diapraghms sure sound good !!

I dont have the new crossover caps yet, but I stuck the new titanium diapraghms in anyway ?

The synthesizer fundamental and overtones in this song really reveal the smoothness of the new diapraghms.

Sweet Titanium in harmony with it's horn

Some Bag Pipe recordings sounded great too!

Best 60 bucks i ever spent!

[ka7niq]

Well, it is day 2 with the new crites titanium tweeter diapraghms.

I watched a football game, and noticed an airier overall sound, with less S sounds sibilance on speech.

The new diapraghms are both more extended, and smoother too!

Imaging on the Cornwall 2's is improved too, as the soundstage benefits greatly from this extra air.

The titanium button looks cool in the horn too, in a "day the earth stood still movie" kind of way.

I would suggest Bob Crites consider relocating the positive indicator on the terminal, making it easier to see when the new dome is installed on the magnet ?

It is childs play to replace the tweeter domes, no reason to fear this operation.

My tweeter screws were god awful tight on my Cornwall II's, almost stripped em taking the screws out.

I did not solder the connections, but I will!

I also intend to loctite the tweeter diapraghm bolts.

The nuts were loose on my tweeters, I undid them by hand!

This indicates to me that over time the screws may loosen ?

I can't see going back into the tweeters again, I think Bob has done what he could with this tweeter.

The tweeters still are not as good as my B&W Matrix 801 series 2 non ferrofluid tweeters.

But the much heralded Magnepan MG 3A's ribbon tweeters were not as good as B&W's splendid tweeter either!

As far as an audiophile speaker goes, the Cornwall 2 can't equal my B&W Matrix 801's, except for playing louder, but my Cornwall 2's still have those old caps in there.

But the Cornwall 2's are a lot of fun, and certainly have their moments!

I enjoy them.

Unfortunately, I am in a huge room, with large, powerful subwoofers, and the Matrix 801's just simply can't play as loud as I like to scare the funk out of people with the subwoofers, nor for dance/party music either.

My Soultion ?

Keep the Cornwall 2's for the big room, and put the Matrix 801's in the smaller room.

Best of both worlds.

The new ERSE Caps to re do the Cornwall 2 Crossovers shold be arriving from ERSE shortly, and I will update this thread once I get them in the Cornwall 2's.

Food for thought - This midrange driver in the Cornwall 2's may benefit for bettter diapraghms ?

Bob Crites said he has tried to get some titanium ones made, until those become reality, any better diapraghms anyone has slapped in these compression drivers ?

I find the new titanium tweeter diapraghms to sound faster then the stock ones.

This really makes the Cornwall 2's midrange driver seem to slightly "lag behind" the revised tweeter.

Perhaps it is the high ESR of the old stock caps, we shall see ?

[OO1]

Curious about  this thread that was done about 6 years ago - the OP was using ERSE caps versus the Sonicaps in a Cornwall 2 crossover upgrade , can the OP enlighten us whether the ERSE are still up to the job -