the truth shall set you free

[JCturboT]

Clipped,

I know exactly what you mean when you talk about your Cornwalls not sounding so good with so-so recordings.Sometimes I listen to some of my early 80s cds and they do sound awful-tinny & lacking any staginging what-so-ever on the Cornwalls.I guess thats the price you pay for such revealing speakers.

I knew I kept the 'Vegas for some reason!

Jeff

[Jolly Roger]

I dont mean to jump on the end here but what the hay. I haven't decided on if cables make a difference. I have never a/b'd any. It's very possible that even though these cables may have been different that they produce similar results. Its possible that if the cheap cables where broke in better they could have even sounded better. All the vairables are not consistant. More cables of different build quality would need to be tested to say for sure as a whole. But its a fun topic.

I did do a a/b on fiber optic and coax once. My buddy had a optical and coax and used the f/o in his system. We where at his house and he did the switching. I never even saw the two. I could tell a difference though not hugh. The one I picked he said was the optical. What did this tell me? A cheap fiber optical cable may sound better than a cheap coax. I went and bought a better coax the next day.

[Clipped and Shorn]

I was reminded that simply using an equalizer in conjunction with the Cornwalls and the compromised recordings might be an option here.

Anyone have experience with equalizers in this context?

-blanked and blanked

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Cornwalls

currently upgrading

to all tube components

[Allan Songer]

I've been noticing that you seem to be less than enthralled about the sound coming from your Cornwalls. You've asked about caulking and ALK mods and all I can tell you is that if you really don't like the way the Cornwalls sound in "stock" form, I doubt you could tweak them enough to ever make you happy with them. The Cornwall is an aggressive, in-your-face speaker and about as "revealing" as anything you could name. It really needs top notch (TUBE!) amplification and sources to sound its best, but even then and with all the mods you could dream up, it will NEVER bee "liquid" or "smooth." Crisp and clean, yes, but never "smooth." I have caulked the squaker and this DOES tame the beast a tad, but it's STILL a Conrwall! Sounds like you need to go another direction perhaps.

[Clipped and Shorn]

Allan,

I have the makings of an Altec System and with mdeneen's guidence and some additional pointers from fini's carpentry skills I will probaby investigate that direction also.

I will still continue to work on the the system with the Cornwalls with the eventuality that they could be used in another space somewhere here on my spread. The Cornwalls sound great to me, but only with the very best recordings and I am sure they will be even better when the tube pre and amp are finally tweaked to the max which was the plan.

But you are correct, as the all around system for the wide range of things I listen to (and practice to) the Cornwalls are not the answer.

I have been practicing live Vibes along with my favorite records through the Cornwalls and it is this situation with the Cornwalls pumped up that is not meshing for my ears. The edge on the Corwall mids and highs is not so good in this unusual application.

I realize this is not really such a fair evaluation, it is a specialized situation. The live edge of my harder mallets hitting metal combined with the Cornwalls edge is too much for my ears.

But thank you for the frank telling like it is. I appreciate that. Problem is I forked out so heavily for the Cornwalls I am stubborn about keeping them.

When I was shopping for Cornwalls, I had an opportunity to compare them with a bunch of other speakers at The SoundWell including Polks.The Cornwalls were so dramatically superior that I was convinced at that point. Now that I have them at home I have been picky picky. I am going to at least give them the benefit of the doubt until I get the best tube amps I can on them.

-Piked and Tjadered

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Cornwalls

currently upgrading

to all tube components

[mace]

It's funny, the talk about the Cornwalls being anything but smooth. I would beg to differ. When I compare them to my KLF-30's I find the CornWalls very smooth, especially in mids in highs. And this with an entry level type NAD 40 W integrated amp.

One other thing I've noticed is that the Cornwalls sound rather rounded. I don't know how to explain it in words but it's sort of like a wah-wah pedal. Or, a snare drum is not so much a 'thwak' but rather a 'tonk'.

As far as cranking up any system and getting grating highs don't discount the room as part of the culprit. The room's acoustical properties are so amazingly important in the overall sound of any system.

Mace

[HornEd]

Clipped and Shorn, in deference to your great service to this forum, in general, and Afro-Cuban music, in particular, I would be willing to lend you a better quality equalizer for an extended test of how it would affect your Cornwalls in conjunction with your live music. (Whew, that was a long sentence even for me!)

If you are interested, drop an email to me eddennis@msn.com -HornEd

[Allan Songer]

Vibes are one of the things that sound GREAT on Cornwalls to me! I just spent the morning listening to Victor Feldman's "With Mallets A For Thought," Milt Jackson with Ray Brown and Teddy Edwards "Live in Japan" and "Hamp Meets Getz." These are three GREAT Vibe LPs and the Conrwalls sounded PERFECT.

Good Luck!

[Clipped and Shorn]

Allan,

Yes, the recorded sound of the Vibraphone sounds great on the Cornwalls. What I was talking about was my actual set of Musser Piper Vibes set up in front of the Cornwalls with me playing along to records that I am listening to through the Cornwalls.

If I am practicing with some very bright mallets, like a set of "Good Vibes #236" along with an old LP of Charanga music coming through the Cornwalls, the combination of piercing flute sounds or trumpets coming through the Cornwalls in addition to and on top of my own live playing is a problem and one I did not have with other speakers in the past. In this particular sense and setting, the "illusion of live music" as presented by the Cornwalls is actually not quite the same as actual live music or other simulations through other speakers which I have found to be more conducive to this particular application.

This application of recorded music is not as trivial as it might first appear. The history of jazz has been part and parcel connected to the phenomenon and industry of recorded music. Musicians have always learned partly by playing along with this technology. First with aspiring pianists learning directly from player pianos, then later musicians playing along to records ( 78s and then LPs and now CDs) and of course being influenced by the tradition as documented in recorded music one way or another.

As a serious jazz fan you may have already heard those interesting rare recordings of Charlie Parker playing along with some Swing records ('Avalon' by Bennie Goodman etc.) so he could see how his concept would fit onto those structures. Check out "Birth of Bebop" (?) on the Stash label.

Now, Jamey Abersold and others have developed a booming cottage industry of study books and CDs for aspiring soloists to practice to. I am auditioning one such publication as I write this. It is the CD whch comes with one of the nearly 100 books by Abersold, in this case Vol. 69 "Bird Goes Latin" which provides the charts in all keys as well a play along CD with piano, bass, and drums of nearly a dozen Bird tunes including, believe it or not, "Moose The Mooche" as a Mambo of all things. The student then adds his own horn or whatever to the equation. The question of which kind of stereo system and speakers are best for this kind of activity is a serious pursuit if one is spending a lot of time at this. It could actually be a different solution depending on what instrument one is practicing.

With most modern CDs the Cornwalls are just dandy if the volume is not overly cranked up. It is those handful of old LPs which are a problem, and I think I will take up HornEds offer to explore the possibility of equalizing out just those spikes which may be the problem for my aging ears.

Most of these practice CDs sound fine through the Cornwalls. It is when I grab some of those old Tico label mambo era recordings to play along with that I run into the problem with this harsh combination of live Vibes to mambo era trumpet sections. See my discography of Tico recordings at http://www.bsnpubs.com/tico.html

One reason I use some old LPs to practice along with, besides liking the music, is that my turntable has a speed control so I can tweak the speed to be actually in tune. Many older recordings are put out with speed alterations so when you sit down to a normally tuned piano the recording does not match anything and you cannot trascribe the material. By adjusting the turntable speed one is able to find the actual key that the original material was recorded in.

Michael Cuscuna in many of his reissue projects often makes these kinds of corrections to botched up material from the past, thus returning the material to its intended state and ellminating the annoying alterations done by the old record labels for who knows what reasons in the first place.

-To Be or Not to Bop

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Cornwalls

currently upgrading

to all tube components

This message has been edited by Clipped and Shorn on 04-06-2002 at 02:34 PM