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So after a year in the Klipsch family I made what I am considering an upgrade. I finally came across a pair of Cornwalls that were both, in really nice condition and at what I thought was a fair, perhaps even, a good deal. The only downside would be that they are II's from 86. From my understanding the build quality on the II's internal networks were a bit less than the I's. That said however thus far I am Really happy with them! I cant get over how well they image, with the right material they are halographic.

I am currently running them with a adcom gfa 2535 at 60w per side and a emotiva umc-1. The room is a good size 15' x 21' speakers are placed on the short wall about 9' apart from center to center. listening position is at about 14'.

Anyway I wanted to see if anyone had thoughts or opinions on a couple of things......

1st) I am getting a slight buzz from the tweeters when the amp is on with no signal. Is this a dirty pot? Just what to expect with cornwalls? Cornwalls and ss amps?

2nd) I am planning to replace the crossovers any thoughts on either the crites or ALK crossovers are welcomed. I've read that the crites are replacements where as the ALK's are upgrades. Anyone with experience getting inside a pair of II's with any tips or words of wisdom please share.

3rd) i am also planning to replace the tweeter diaphrams with new titanium ones from crites. Have any of you done this? Impressions? and how difficult was the operation? Any tips?

Overall I am really really happy with these speakers I am anxious to see what they are really capable of.

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I replaced the x over and the tweets on my 1s. They sound more refined but still have the same sound. I have not done much research on the 2s so not sure what is available on those.

As far as the hiss/static that is probably an amp issue. With the high sensitivity of the corns it is going to be more present.

Edited by reference_head
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I have Cornwall 1s that I recently refinished, including crossovers. I run them with either my denon avr or my adcom. I get a hum thru the speakers with my adcom and no noise whatsoever with the denon. Adcom seems to be the issue here. I simply swapped original crossover with crites. Easy as pie. However, you may only need caps. So if you've got any soldering ability, you can buy just those and remove the originals.

Probably don't need new crossovers.

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i am pretty sure mine from 85 are 2's. but either way yeah i ordered the rebuild kit and rebuilt them myself. i did one at a time to see if there was a huge difference. there was not. but crossovers could be worse i guess depending on use of the previous owner? could be wrong though. as far as opening them up just be careful with the screws. don't round anything out. i also did the crites tweeters. i did them one at a time as well. again, not a night and day difference. not that i am used to them the best thing for me to do would proxy be to swap the old ones back in to see if they are worse now. but right now i am having some issues with my old pioneer buzzing out of one channel. i need to order the cleaning stuff i need and do a deep clean on it. id say they aren't much more capable than what you have now unless you really plan on doing some heavy mods.

you could go the cornscala route and swap the mid horn for a larger one and do a better driver in the mid. as well as the crates tweeter, then upgrade to the crates woofer as i hear it has a slight more on the low end, and then lastly the all crossovers with those. but then you are talking an extra 2,000$ for probably only a marginally better speaker.

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So after a year in the Klipsch family I made what I am considering an upgrade. I finally came across a pair of Cornwalls...

1st) I am getting a slight buzz from the tweeters when the amp is on with no signal. Is this a dirty pot? Just what to expect with cornwalls? Cornwalls and ss amps?

2nd) I am planning to replace the crossovers any thoughts on either the crites or ALK crossovers are welcomed. I've read that the crites are replacements where as the ALK's are upgrades. Anyone with experience getting inside a pair of II's with any tips or words of wisdom please share.

3rd) i am also planning to replace the tweeter diaphrams with new titanium ones from crites. Have any of you done this? Impressions? and how difficult was the operation? Any tips?

1-this could be a few things... one of which is merely be the alternating current +/-... because they are so efficient, my cornwalls also did the same thing until I added a filtered power source and I can replicate the buzzing by plugging my amp directly into the wall outlet. Now that I use a filtered power, I have an extremely black floor in my system with superb separation and spacial qualities.

2-as others have stated, crites is an OEM type cross over replacement... so if that is what you are looking for, go that way(they are also more reasonably priced). if you want to upgrade your cross over components, an ALK designed unit is a really good way to go... as are the cross overs that aletheia audio builds.

3-crites CT-125's are a fairly inexpensive replacement for the Klipsch tweeter if you feel the need.

as far as the cornwall and solid state goes... don't let anyone tell you it's not a good match up. it's simply not true, it's just different... and in some cases, not that much different.

Edited by Schu
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As I was getting ready to click "Post" I had second thoughts about using such a subjective term. I thought somebody might call me on it!

In the end, I am a nut for tubes and find them to give me the most "real" sound that is most likely to make me feel that I have been transported to the live performance. As much as I love the Yamaha CR2020 or CA2010 or the Pioneer SX they just don't move me quite as much as the VRDs.

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Hey guys, thanks for all your responses. Im fairly certain that the first mods I'll make are the tweeters and crossovers. I did have some correspondence with Bob Crites, whom I do consider an expert, he did say that the crossovers were good for about 20 years. That said I'm probably a bit overdue. I am curious if anyone with experience with or that has heard both the crites and the ALK crossovers had any insights.

As far as the amp goes, Ive been pretty happy with the adcom gfa 2535 but it too is getting along in years. I originally went through 2 newer yamaha avr's with my RF 82's before settling on the Adcom, it was night and day. The yamaha's were really fatiguing to the point where my ears just hurt. I know that the tube vs ss is a hot topic but I believe the GFA 2535 was one of the amps that Nelson Pass designed for adcom and I've really enjoyed getting to know about his approach and views on music production, to me it makes sense. I would love to hear the Cornwalls matched up with some tubes though, I'd love to hear the difference. The buzz/hiss I mentioned is present within in one meter but not from my listening position but it does make me wonder if Im losing anything in quality. If anyone knows of any good info on cleaning older ss amps please pass along or if you've had experience with the gfa 2535 or other adcom amps of this era i'd love to hear from you.

Again Im loving these guys! If anyone in the chicago area would be interested in a really nice pair of RF 82's Im thinking about letting mine go.

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