Cornwall I's

[twins0649]

Hello all,

I have a set of Cornwall I's Serial # 3L007 and 3L008. They currently have a Klipsch riser attached to the speaker bottoms. If I removed the riser, would there be any sound quality problem by laying them over on one side?

Thank you for your information in advance,,

twins0649

[Budman]

the L makes them 1973 and yes you can remove the riser and lay them on their sides with no problems

put all screws in a baggie and tape it to the riser for future use.

[CapZark]

Some people lay them on their side and I even new one guy that had them mounted to a bracket that way for so long he though that was the norm. He drilled a hole in the side for the bracket and he insisted it was the bottom of the speaker cabinet. Oh well, they sound great either way.

[WMcD]

I'm not familiar with whether the screw actually goes through to the interior of the box. You should probe the holes with a toothpick or paper clip to make sure the hole is "blind". The blind means that it doesn't go all the way through.

The reasoning here is that you do want the box to be sealed except for the port opening. If the toothpick goes through I would seal the hole with putty or bath tub caulk.

There were earlier versions of the Cornwall. To talk about the difference, we have to imagine the Cornwall box with its long axis vertical or "tall". And we have to realize that the mid horn and tweeter each have a long axis because the mouth (big end) of them is not square -- rather a rectangle.

In a typical early version. The mid and tweeter horns had their long axis vertical (when the Cornwall was in its tall position). Also the mid and tweeter were offset from the vertical center line. These are sometimes called "vertical mids" Cornwalls.

Which is yours? Hard to tell. I'm relying a bit on the excellent source of data: http://www.klipschcorner.com/heritage/CornwallTimeline There was a year of transition and you're close. But the site just says the "horizontal version" was phased out.

I believe the reference on that website to the horizontal version pertains to the CW with the mid and tweeter vertical and offset from center. Klipsch foresaw that it could be turned with the long axis of the box horizontal. There were typically arrows on the back of the box so that the tweeter and mid would wind up higher off the floor when you turn it horizontal.

In order to resolve the factual issue: You should be able to see the round woofer and smaller rectangles of the mid horn and tweeter through the grill cloth. If you have the early version, you can see that the tweeter and mid are closer to one long side of the box. You definitely want them at a high elevation when you turn the box on its side. Not close to the floor.

Even with the mid and tweeter near the top, you might want to tilt the box to direct the sound toward you ear. This is done with risers for the Hersey's of recent years

- - - -

At the risk of muddying the issue: there is a nice review of the Cornwall on the main website from 1969 http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/news/reviews-and-press/klipsch-model-cornwall-ii-speaker-system-details/

It refers to the 1969 CW as the CW II. My guess is that the "II" was used that year because of a change in the woofer vent. The pre 1969 might have used a slot in the back. Then, I infer, Klipsch went to a port in the front and called it the II. The "II" nomenclature was dropped at some point and I think quickly -- but the 1969 to 1974 probably had the offset mid and tweeter. Then post 1974 the mid and tweeter were moved to the centerline of the tall version.

Many years later, in 1986, Klipsch changed to plastic horns and MDF and callled it the CW II which can be seen at http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/cornwall-ii-1-specifications/ The photo there shows the typical symmetry of woofer, mid and tweeter.

I stand to be corrected by others here with more knowledge, of course.

Wm McD

[neo33]

Just open the back of the speaker and take a look inside.

I'm not familiar with whether the screw actually goes through to the interior of the box. You should probe the holes with a toothpick or paper clip to make sure the hole is "blind". The blind means that it doesn't go all the way through.