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Muffled sounding Cornwalls need work. Please help.


JetCityRocker

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UPDATE

Hello and Thanks for responding for my call for help last week.

I did indeed engage Bob Crites and procured and installed new crossovers and new tweeters in my wonderful, mega-bad-***, Klipsch Cornwalls.

They sound mighty good.

I wonder if Bob C's tweeter are as good as the original Cornwall tweeters. I did ask "the man" on the phone and he said that the tweeters would sound a tad different. I am very happy with his product so far and it has only been 2 days.

The "acid test" was playing very loudly the following song. Lady Gaga latest LP and the track name is "Bloody Mary". Crank this tune on the Cornwalls and you will be impressed with the performance!!!!. The bass definitely pounds and there are very good vocals here.

This board helped me a great deal. Eight days after I posted a message on this board, my Cornwalls were fixed for a total of $350

Thanks.

Don Bushell,

Auburn, WA, which is south of Seattle by 30 miles. Does anyone near me own Cornwalls?

UPDATE

Thank you for assisting me. You gave me the motivation to dig into the speakers.

I tightened the screws on the crossovers as was suggested. I hoped this would do the trick, but there was no change in the sound.

So I tried hooking up the speaker wire directly to the tweeter, and I got good sound!

I then "rigged it" to send the speaker signal straight to the tweeter, midrange and woofer, bypassing the crossover altogether.

"No crossover sound" sounds really good at low volumes. And this is a monumental improvement over what the speakers were sounding like. So, for the short term, I am a happy camper.

But when I "crank the volume" it does not sound very good, so I will get new crossovers as soon as possible. Any suggestions? Bob Crites?

One of the tweeters is "out'. No sound whatsoever. Should I get a new tweeter or rebuild what I have?"

Thank you for helping me. I love my Klipsch speakers.

Klipsch1.jpg

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My Cornwalls were purchased in 1979 at Jerry's Audio in Tucson, AZ, from a good friend, Dave Carter, who managed the business. They were an excellent investment indeed.

About 10 years ago, one of the speakers started sounding flat and I thought one of the tweeters was bad. However the other speaker kept sounding good so the pair was still sounding good.

However, about 5 years ago, the "good Cornwall" would go flat about once a week. I could wake it up out of its stupor by momentarily jacking up the volume, and the cobwebs would clear and the speaker would sound good again.

Except now, I cannot get that speaker to respond to the power spikes, and now both speakers sound like garbage.

I do not believe that a blown tweeter is the problem because the bass is lacking punch. I am thinking that whatever is feeding the tweeter, midrange, and bass, is feeding garbage to these components.

I am hoping someone one this board could tell me what parts to buy in order to refurbish the speakers.

Thank you

Don B.

Auburn, WA

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One thing you can do first... although a bit of a pain, is to open up each cabinet (I thinkon yours, the backs come off... lots of screws...). Loosen and then re-tighten all of the connections on the crossover terminals. If the drivers have the little spade connections on them, work them loose and the reconnect. You could use some deoxit on the connections while you are at it.

Try that before doing anythin more drastic.

... then, since thiese have been around awhile, you may want to get the crossover caps replaced. You can get the caps from Bob Crites if you feel you can do it yourself, of pull the crossovers out and send them to him for refurbing. Either way, he will treat you right.

Bruce

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Guest David H

One thing you can do first... although a bit of a pain, is to open up each cabinet (I thinkon yours, the backs come off... lots of screws...). Loosen and then re-tighten all of the connections on the crossover terminals. If the drivers have the little spade connections on them, work them loose and the reconnect. You could use some deoxit on the connections while you are at it.

Try that before doing anythin more drastic.

... then, since thiese have been around awhile, you may want to get the crossover caps replaced. You can get the caps from Bob Crites if you feel you can do it yourself, of pull the crossovers out and send them to him for refurbing. Either way, he will treat you right.

Bruce

Perfect.
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I just swapped out my 1984 box caps on a B3 board for some Dayton caps out of PE. Gotta say it was well worth the $20 or so for both speakers I spent. Granted Crites is probably the way to go, but I'm a broke bloke lately. "You might even get a sound difference by just re-tightening all the crossover screws." That actually made a difference on one speaker and inspired the re-cap project.

The all important results were night and day I spent the whole day just listening to one upgraded before finishing, it was like the horns were off I did not replace coils or the 70uf, perhaps another time. Also I had a tough time finding a Axial non polarized 5uf so I just put a 1uf and a 4uf to get 5 paralleled whole job shouldn't take 30min with a hot iron or crimps.

Do it today don't look back.
Here is my parts list: (for B3 crossover)

http://www.parts-express.com

  • Part #:027-214 - Dayton PMPC-2.0 2.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor. $2.41
  • Part #:027-210 - Dayton PMPC-1.0 1.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor $2.03
  • Part #:027-226 - Dayton PMPC-4.0 4.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor $3.97
  • Part #:080-512 - Cable Tie Screw Mount 10 Pcs. $2.65
  • Part #:080-926 - Cable Ties 4" Natural 100 Pcs. $0.75

Total of $20.22 WO shipping
--------------------------------------
OPTIONAL
Part #:020-654 - Ruby Gold 70uF 350V Axial Capacitor $7.70

I also wiped all contact points with De-Oxit seeing I don't plan on opening them again for years.

Also see this link for schematics for most of the Klipsch crossovers.http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/130178.aspx?PageIndex=1

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Arrg, Nooo! Don't bypass the crossover.

Your tweeters & mids aren't designed to run like that. The crossover filters (Protects) your horns from low notes that they can't handle and mid notes the tweeters can't handle. your best bet is to wait till you replace the caps before playing again. replacement diaphragms for your blown tweeter can be had from Bob Crites. http://www.critesspeakers.com/klipsch_tweeters.html Looks like a "B' crosssover check those caps to be sure for 4uf & 2uf then if that's correct I already listed those caps and they are cheap and non-polarized so you can't put em in wrong. Go to Crites or Parts express today and order those fresh caps.

Parts list: (for B crossover)

http://www.parts-express.com

  • Part #:027-214 - Dayton PMPC-2.0 2.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor. $2.41ea
  • Part #:027-226 - Dayton PMPC-4.0 4.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor $3.97ea
  • Part #:080-512 - Cable Tie Screw Mount 10 Pcs. $2.65
  • Part #:080-926 - Cable Ties 4" Natural 100 Pcs. $0.75
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