My Cornscala / Hornwall Project - Goals & Design

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Hello:

I am new to the forum as a registered member but really not knew in terms of reading and following a lot of posts & threads. I want to first thank all the members for sharing their Klipsch experiences and providing a lot of knowledge and help to other members. I have been resisting joining any audio forums for years, but I would like to share my Cornscala (or Hornwall as I would like to call it since its physical form is similar to that of Klipschorn rather than La Scala) experience and hence here I am.

I wanted to build a custom cabinet for my Heresys to extend the bass response. That’s when I contacted Bob Crites for his suggestions. He instead suggested that I build a Cornscala. I went through his project and also JWC’s work posted in the Klipsch forum. Thus my Cornscala project started.I have attached here documents that show my objective and goals.

Hornwall_Ver1.1.pdf

Hornwall_Ver1.1.pdf

[Guest David H]

More Cornscala's sweet.....Welcome to the forums.

Dave

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Thanks Dave. I accidently ran into your website yesterday. You seem to have a lot of interesting options there. Keep it going.

Regards

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Attached here is a pdf with my cornscala & cornsey expereince.

Please note that whatever impressions I have given are purely my subjective experience based on my own preferences. I do recognize and respect the fact that others have different experience and preferences and that you may not agree with my experiences.

MyCornscalaExperience.pdf

MyCornscalaExperience.pdf

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Front View - The speaker is yet to be cosmetically finished.

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Rear View.

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Bass Bin Inside.

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Top Section

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Early Stage of Cabinet in progress

[jwc]

Attached here is a pdf with my cornscala & cornsey expereince.

Please note that whatever impressions I have given are purely my subjective experience based on my own preferences. I do recognize and respect the fact that others have different experience and preferences and that you may not agree with my experiences.

Nice write up. I read your pdf.

Under your pros and cons section...cornscala or not.......my opinion here

The reason for Cornscala over the Cornwall is to use a different horn other than the K600. Yes you could just sit a different mid horn on top of the Cornwall. My primary goal was not to change the XO point of the mids necessarily.....just to get a better mid horn to start with. Infact, you can see on my intitial setup....I started with an XO of 600Hz. Now there are a kajillion options with all the tractrix upgrades around here.

The reason for the Cornscala over the La scala. Purely for low bass extension if one is feeling they need more low end with the same parts (modified crossover). Yep you could argue an increase in distortion and other stuff.

I never really compared heresy in the mix....that was pretty cool...

This cornscala concept has expanded so much since 2004-2005. I'm sure the pros and cons could have changed since then.

nice write up and nice build.

jc

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JWC:

Thanks for your feedback. Your Cornscala project is yours and whatever choices you made as long as your are convinced, it is justified no mater what I think.

In any case, my conclusion that Cornscala may sound different but not necessarily better, is not just based on my subjective preference. It is also based on objective and scientific aspects that I have put forth in my pdf. Besides, my measurements (although I have to admit, my measurement tools are rather basic and far from being professional) did not show anything to the contrary nor have I seen any objective and scientific proof from anyone so far showing why Cornscala is better than Cornwall. If anyone would provide one and enlighten me with objective & scientific proof why a K55/K400 mated to a Cornwall bass bin, is better than a K53/K701 or a K52/K601, I will be happy to correct myself and accept that my impression is purely based on my subjective preferences alone.

Anyway, while BEC provided me the inspiration it was your project and your cs4.pdf that actaully motivated me and made me beleive I can actually build something like this and if not for your project I doubt if I would have dared embark on this.

As far as Cornscala over La Scala - I am already in agreement with you in my conclusions I have already posted.

Thanks & Cheers

[IB Slammin]

Radiogram,

I too read your PDF and was impressed with the work put into it. I must say that you take first place in having a different approach to the subject.

Measurements are a must, but I do beleve that the final test for a speaker is the ear. And as I understand it, so does Klipsch. Having traveled down the Cornwall modification road for some years, (Alcorns, Cornscala, Cornscala dbb, etc) at times I have neglected to end a statment with "in my opinion or to my ear". Much of this comes down to taste, music listened to, and spl. I have loved the Cornwall for "out of the box, bang for the buck" since 1973. I can't prove to you with measurements how nasty the K600 is at 110db. I can only do that with the contents of my closet. At volume, the K600 would chew the legs off my trousers. (smile) It comes down to what you like. With reflex speakers my ear tells me to keep the LF in the bass bin and the mids/hf in the horns. I want vocals thru a compression driver and horn, so I cross low. But thats just me.

Welcome to this place and keep doing what you are doing. Different is interesting.

tc

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IB Slammin:

If you look at my original post under Experiences, you will see the following statement from me:

“Please note that whatever impressions I have given are purely my subjective experience based on my preference. I do recognize and respect that fact that others have different experience and preferences and that you may not agree with my experiences."

I do recognize that everyone has his/her own preference and rightfully so and also as you said that at times one may not be able to really explain objectively why so. Ultimately the proof is in the pudding and it does not really matter why. However, many of us have this academic curiosity as to understand why, in such situations. And then there are even times when I am not fully confident of my ears, I look for a scientific reason to see if I can use it to help decide.

So it is mainly in this light of such academic curiosity that I have pondered upon my questions on “To Cornscala or Not” and it is mostly on objective issues only and as we know only objective issues can be discussed or argued meaningfully. Being in this hobby myself, with my own opinions and preferences, there is no way I can throw stones from a glass house by questioning or criticizing others choices. I hereby clarify that it is not my intent.

When I prefer something over the other, I try to find out 'why so' objectively, sometimes I succeed, sometimes not, sometimes do not know what to or how to measure and sometimes I see if others have an answer. Similarly when many people seem to have a consistent preference of one over another, I would like to know if there is any objective explanation for that to appease my academic curiosity only to understand and learn and clearly not a demand for justification. I recall similarly JWC at some point asking why is the Cornwall III better when somebody reported so. If one can come up with an objective reasoning – great – it is an added bonus for me and can serve to educate me further – If not and one says I am unable to explain, but this is what I prefer – Fair Enough - as I am no exception to this myself in certain cases! Nevertheless, I may continue to probe to see if someone else has an answer.

( If you ask me scientific explanation why is it that the Yamaha preamp does primary duty in my system and not the NAD - My answer - “Can’t explain”!! This unanswered curiosity has nagged me for quite some time. At times I wonder if it is all only in my head ).

Thanks for your feedback & Cheers

BTW: 110 dB!! Wow! I doubt if I ever exceed 100dB.

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Al:

I went thru your website after some hiatus due to some other posts that led me to download you DOS Filter software. I was quite surprised with your updated website that talks abour Cornscala and advocating use of crossover higher than 400Hz (600-700Hz) since the K33 or its clone by themselves can easily handle those frequecies. This is surprisingly in line with my expereicnes in the PDF I had posted about "Whether to Cornscala or not"where I had questioned the need for a a K55/K400/401 that can go down as low as 400Hz when a Cornwall Bass Bin can well go up to 700H and my personal experience in preferring a higher crossover for the woofer and using a K53/K701 instead of K55/K400 at 400z.