Vertical Cornwalls

[Rivernuggets]

Managed to buy these last weekend. The speaker collection is busting at the seams, but I haven't heard Cornwalls yet. So....

Just ordered a pair of paper dust caps from Parts Express. Soon we'll see what's under the paint. Corners are dinged and rounded pretty good. There are staples around the motorboard perimeter, like someone installed their own cloth grilles.

[Rivernuggets]

They sound very good as is. If I turn things up the dust caps buzz. Soon they'll be replaced.

Wanted to hear them with the highs toward the center. This orientation was recommended in the archives. Definately narrowed the image. Not sure which I like better yet.

[Budman]

congrats, i always put my verticals with the tweeters on the outside.

[Brac]

Silly me, I thought you were supposed to lay them down.

[DizRotus]

From reviewing the seller's thread, I'd say you both did well. A good deal all around.

[Rivernuggets]

From reviewing the seller's thread, I'd say you both did well. A good deal all around.

For easy reference to others, Here is the For Sale thread. Yeah Diz, I thought it was a good transaction for the books. We both drove away content.

[runninshine]

Silly me, I thought you were supposed to lay them down.

I did too. Whats the difference between the vertical and regular CW besides the obvious, was there a specific purpose for that style?

[CaptnBob]

I actually asked Mr, Klipsch that very question. He said the idea was they could go either way, while keeping the tweeters as high as possible and near ear level - the older vertical Cornwalls actually have arrows on the back telling you which way was up. He envisioned people putting them under windows or built in bookcases. In fact, the width of the Heresy was determined by the average space between the top of a door and the ceiling. But I digress. Mr. Klipsch found out after a few years that hardly anyone was using them horizontally - not surprising, since the literature refers to the "preferred vertical position." He adopted the totem pole configuration so he wouldn't need to build, stock and ship the speakers in pairs, and wouldn't need to flip the front panels during construction.

My vertical Cornwalls came with steel gliders hammered into the bottom, so the decision was pretty much made for me. The fir plywood used in those days was not all that pretty - lots of plugs and all - so that I would up painting them black. They're still pretty striking.

The tweeters to the inside is to minimize early reflections from the side walls. If your speakers are away from the walls, it's not so much of an issue.

Boy, I'm glad I got to go to those seminars Mr. Klipsch used to host. Really down to earth, and things presented to even I could understand them.

p.s. It appears yours were made in 1973 - a year before mine.

[DizRotus]

"Boy, I'm glad I got to go to those seminars Mr. Klipsch used to host. Really down to earth, and things presented to even I could understand them."

Was a 3 channel system demonstrated at the seminars you went to? It was at one I attended in approximately 1976. Meeting PWK was a real treat.

[CaptnBob]

I believe it was, although I recall a lot of time was spent on the Bose 901. Bose had recently published a book of warranty cards from people who had traded in their Klipschorns, VOTTs, Concert Grands and so on for 901s, along with letters from customers who had "placed the 901s on top of the (your speaker here) and the 901s were clearly superior..." You can see why Mr. Klipsch would consider this a "causus belli."

No one ever seemed to ask how you could have a fair test of a speaker needing to be in the corner with one designed to be in the middle of the room if one was sitting on the other. But that was just me...

Bob A.

[neo33]

Silly me, I thought you were supposed to lay them down.

My thought, too ... for a center channel that is.

[mungkiman]

- the older vertical Cornwalls actually have arrows on the back telling you which way was up -