finallygotmyheresies Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I am trying to decide to what to do. I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of Cornwall 2's locally for $700 but I have also considered building a pair of Cornscalas. I have never built speakers before but with all of the information available here as well as having access to the necessary tools I am not afraid of tackling that project. What I am weary of is would my DIY speakers really sound better than a professionally built and designed speaker. Cost is also a concern, for the cornscalas I would only need to purchase wood, woofers and crossovers as I have K-55's, K-77's and a pair of GotHover's Fastrac Horns. If I went with the C2's I could sell the parts I have to help offset the cost. Any suggestions? Should I tackle the DIY Cornscala or just buy the used Cornwall 2's? BTW I have owned both Cornwall 1's and 3's and I loved them both. I never wanted to sell the CW1's but the 3's were sold out of necessity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtie Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I helped build a pair of cornscala from my old la scala parts for a friend of mine and they sound great, I think if you have the space do it, I bet they would sound awesome with the fastrack horns. It is a fairly easy speaker to build, and I think getting pair of CII would be a stepdown in the midrange from the fastracks. I vote cornscalas. Also on a side note, I don't know where in Michigan you are located but if it's anywhere near the tri-cities you're more then welcome to check out my pair of jubescala's(k402,ported bassbin, crite's castframe woofer, crown xti's) and while I can't talk for him Bob in Baycity was more then happy to let me listen to his jubilees, which let me down this path to begin with. Oh boy now I sound like Coytee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 A pair of used Cornwall IIs are going to be a LOT cheaper than a "scratch" build of Cornscalas. The CWs also won't sound as good as the Cornscalas. Earlier this year I sold my VERY customized La Scalas and set about building a pair of Cornscalas. Somewhere during the build I snagged a pair of Cornwall IIs locally. I was able to swap both pairs in and out of my system. Final verdict... Even with crossover and tweeter diaphragm upgrades to the CW IIs they ended up getting sold and I'm still living with the Cornscalas. Here's the link to my build: http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/148721.aspx I love them and they get daily play. Some days 14 to 16 hours of play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Best bang for the buck will be the used Cornwalls. Get them listen for a while and restore the crossovers to factory spec. The real cost of a scratch build is way more expensive. If you do get inspired to build some different cabs, you've pretty much got the parts you'd need for a cornscala project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 The $700 range will also get you La Scalas. A pair of La Scala with a good sub is hard to beat, and as I am sure you know, there are a host of upgrades/tweaks for them as well. It would be fun to build your own though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtie Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Not sure if everyone caught the fact he already has spare fastracks, k55's, and k77s. Really he is looking at $300ish bucks for a new woofer or less for used, $200 for crossovers, then plywood and time, sure veneer can get pricey but he could just as easily finish the speakers in black. I mean given the fact you could sell those parts and have dang near a free cornwall thats soemthing to consider, but I really think you'll love a cornscala, plus it's a nice thing to sit and listen to speaker you built yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallygotmyheresies Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Not sure if everyone caught the fact he already has spare fastracks, k55's, and k77s. Really he is looking at $300ish bucks for a new woofer or less for used, $200 for crossovers, then plywood and time, sure veneer can get pricey but he could just as easily finish the speakers in black. I mean given the fact you could sell those parts and have dang near a free cornwall thats soemthing to consider, but I really think you'll love a cornscala, plus it's a nice thing to sit and listen to speaker you built yourself. You pretty much nailed where my head is in this. I could have Corns free and clear tomorrow and within a couple of weeks have sold my parts to bring my total out-of-pocket to around $300 if all sales went well. Or I could spend an additional $600~700(just a guess) to have cornscalas. Jhoak, your build is inspiring. I have also admired builds by JWC(wacorns and dbb's, Robi, Rudi(dbb's), hlinker, Dave Harris and the list goes on.... These guys are the real reason I think about building my own. I do know this though, if I build something I will critique the living hell out of every single detail. With that said I think it will be easier for me to live with a pair of used speakers as I will have less of an expectation for them to look pristine. My old Cornwal I's were a $300 craigslist, meth-head, special. They got delivered to me in the back of a 20 yr old toyota pickup and they were all sorts of gouged up. Man did I enjoy the hell out of them. This is truly a dilema for me. I want to make something that looks great and sounds great as well but I am concerned about not living up to my expectations. [*-)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotusmark Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Where are you located in MI? I have LaScala's, owned Cornwalls and now have Cornscala's. Go Cornscala and you'll never look back and say I should have done this or that. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finallygotmyheresies Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I live 60 miles east of saginaw, in the "thumb". The desision has been made to build a pair of speakers. I have a couple of designs in mind, I will post which ones I am considering to get feedback as to pro or cons to each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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