jhoak Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 OK... Didn't really "bring me"... more like I drove 3 hours (round trip) to pick them up. Before anyone says it I know that the LAST thing I should be doing right now is buying more speakers. I mean I JUST sold my La Scalas AND I have a pair of Cornscalas under construction. WHAT was I thinking? [*-)] Anyway an ad appeared on CraigsList a few days ago for some "mystery" Klipsch speakers about 90 minutes from me. One of the lines in the ad said 15" but the pictures were just awful. I emailed the seller and asked a few questions to find out what they were. Sure enough... Cornwalls. The original purchaser no less. I light of everything that's going on in my life right now I had pretty much decided that I wasn't going to buy them. I was however going to make the drive to check them out. You never know. On top of that I've had enough CL buyers make an appointment to see something and then not show that I simply won't do that to someone else. I had a conversation with the owner's son (who placed the ad) and he asked me "what is up with old Klipsch speakers? I've had hundreds of emails about these and some just stupid high offers sight unseen. You were the first responder so you get first refusal on them even if it means Dad doesn't get as much out of them as he could." Nice!!! Not many folks like that left around. So I make the drive up to Longwood this morning. I had set an 11:00 AM appointment and pulled in the driveway exactly at 11:00 on the dot. I knocked on the door and was met by a very nice elderly gentleman who immediately directed me to the speakers. I asked him if I could look at the backs? Sure... No problem. Well crap... No label. I went to the other one and its label is intact. "C II - OK" with 87XXX serial numbers. A pair of 87 Cornwall IIs in oiled oak. Let's just say it was all over in that moment. I pulled a large wad of $20 bills out of my pocket and consumated the deal. I'm sure that there are a lot of them around but these are the very first oak Cornwalls that I have ever seen in person. I've seen a lot and owned a pair of walnut but I really like the oak. They're not "perfect" or "pristine" but they're very VERY nice. There is one 1/8" x 3" piece of veneer missing from a front edge, a couple of light stains on top and one of the grills is in need of some attention but overall very good condition. Oh yea... They sound spectacular. They're currently belting out a little Dire Straits and the power needles on my old Onkyo/Integra amp are JUST bumping up against the 1 watt mark. Nice. Pictures? Pictures you say... Well of course... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Jeff, Great score. How did you squeeze your way through my defenses? I must have been napping. I had a conversation with the owner's son (who placed the ad) and he asked me "what is up with old Klipsch speakers? I've had hundreds of emails about these and some just stupid high offers sight unseen. You were the first responder so you get first refusal on them even if it means Dad doesn't get as much out of them as he could." Nice!!! I had a similar situation when I bought the (5) pairs of speakers(Heresys,RB-5's,RB-35's,RS-35's,RC-3,RC-35) from the son of a man in Georgia who had just passed away. He placed the c-list ad and within 30 minutes of posting I emailed him with my phone number. He called me back within a couple of hours and we talked for about an hour. He told me that he had several emails offering 3-4 times the amount he had them all listed. I told him that they were worth at least that much but he decided that he wanted me to have them all for the insane price of the listing. I was honored by his promise to me. These Klipsch speakers(Heresy, RB-5) were dear to his dad and he would have wanted them to go to a good home. I promised him I would not ever sell the Heresys or the RB-5's. He told me not to make that promise but if I ever do sell them, make sure they go to someone that appreciates them. Not many folks like that left around. You are so very right about that. He expressed to me that he knew they were worth more but never intended to profit off of his father's death. What an honorable man to imitate. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Great score. How did you squeeze your way through my defenses? I must have been napping. Don't know what to say dude. They were on the Orlando CL. I'm pretty sure that like me you look at it several times a day. I've been working this deal for pretty close to a week now. Like I said in the original post... They're the first oak Cornwalls I've ever seen in person. Had they been walnut I probably would have come home empty handed. As soon as I saw them... well it was all over. You've seen the digs here. You know that there's a LOT of oak in my house. It's just what I like I guess. Turns out that I need to perform a bit of surgery. Looks like I've got a tweeter out in one and a squawker out in the other. Both woofers are good though. I'll hook up with Mr. Crites on the best course of action. Most likely a crossover "refresh" and a couple of pairs of diaphragms. Really not in the budget at the moment but not too awfully painful either. I think that they're "keepers". Now... What do I do with the Cornscala project? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 If you have a meter check the offending diaphragms to see if they are good but before that clean all the contacts and torque themd all down tight again as that is often all that is wrong when one stops working just a dirty contact. Nice catch they look like they belong in your living room. Best regards Moray James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Oh yea... The trusty old Fluke DVOM is the very first thing I drag out when faced with inoperable drivers. As it turns out the tweeter diaphragm in question is toast. The squawker diaphragm on the other hand tests good so the problem must be elsewhere. No matter. I've ordered a pair of new diaphragms for both along with the parts to refresh/rebuild the crossovers. In just a couple of days they'll be "good as new" sound wise (perhaps better) and then I'll take on the very minor cosmetic issues. I'm pretty pleased with how they look here. Of couse I won't be completely satisfied until they're "perfect" but that's the OCD that I live with every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 I drove 2 hours to pickup my third pair of cornwalls. They are not in pristine cosmetic condition but I paid only $300 and they're well worth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Very nice!!! and you thought you would calm down a bit after selling the LS's!! LOL!!! [H] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 These are the ones I was talking to you about last Friday. Purchased from the original owner. He said they hadn't been moved from where they were since he bought them new in 88. Based on the layer of dust in the input cups I believe him. I know I shouldn't have done it $$ wise and I probably paid more than I should have but when I saw that they were oak I couldn't stop myself. I've got some replacement diaphragms and caps coming from BEC. They'll be here Wednesday or Thursday. They sound good as is but I'm anxious to get them back 100%. I got the errant squawker working. The connection was corroded. A couple of minutes with sandpaper and a wire brush and all is good again. I still have one tweeter not work though. Come on USPS!!! I need to replace one section of edge-banding in order to fix some missing veneer. I'm going to have to experiment with oils and stains to try to get the color matched as closely as possible. Today's project is to reglue the backsides of the grills where the material is pulling away from the board. I'll also replace all of the velcro while I'm at it. I'm going to post the question about coloring in the "Updates & Modifications" section to see if anyone has a oil/stain "recipe" that is known to come close color wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Strip the old oil off first; use lacquer thinner and wipe with clean cotton rags until they are wiping clean. Then start with "golden oak" mixed about 50/50 with min spirits on the repair piece until it's as close as you are going to get. The easier way is after removing the oil, orbital sand the whole cabinets with 400+. That'll break the surface on the original veneer just into the wood that has not changed color from sunlight, etc. Then simply re-oil them. The trick to matching is really clean veneer and very diluted stain (the mineral spirits gets the stain into the grain). [H] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 HMMMM... I was really hoping to color just the new edgeband section and NOT refinish the entire cabinets. Sounds like it might be unavoidable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Here's two more pictures with the re-glued and cleaned up (as best I can) grills in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Nice! Longwood is right around the corner from me. I don't check CL very often as I'm not really in the market for anything, but you know how that goes. :-) I had a pair of Oiled Oak Cornwall II's in my system for years. I was using them for rears when I had my La Scala's. Since getting the Khorns I replaced them with a matching veneer set of Heresy's. Congrats again! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwilson55 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Nice! Those are beautiful! I like the Oak too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennie Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Congratulations! Those are good lookin' Speakers! [<)] Dennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 HMMMM... I was really hoping to color just the new edgeband section and NOT refinish the entire cabinets. Sounds like it might be unavoidable. If...... you can get the whole edgeband strip off both speakers, then you will be able to match very easily. Even if it's slightly off, you'll never notice it because of the angle the light hits the front. Just use a very sharp 1" chisel and work your way all around. Don't worry about the glue residue, it's very, very thin and if you use contact cement on the new banding, it'll stick just perfectly! [H] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 I think I'm going to try to just replace the just the edge banding. Are you sure about Klipsch using contact cement? I re-edged a pair of Quartets (or was it Forte's) a while back and was able to remove the old banding with a heat gun and a putty knife. You don't think I could get away with replacing just one section? I'm pretty confident that I could do the miter cleanly. It's matching the color I'm unsure of BTW... Check out my Cornscala thread over in Upgrades & Modifications. I finally got the veneer on Cornscala #1. Number 2 is tomorrow's project. With any luck at all I'll have them playing by the weekend. Well... Let's see... I've been working at the Cornscala since early this morning and I haven't had any medication in almost 72 hours. HMMMM... Sounds like beer-thirty to me. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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