jimmytamp Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Hi guys, Just want to ask, if you have to choose between Cornwall I or II, which one you prefer & why? Is it true that the CW I is easier to work with because all drivers are mounted from the back while CW II is front mounted? Both seller said they are in good working condition, so no need to upgrade Caps/Xover anytime soon, but I will do the upgrade anyway. Cosmetically, the CW I has few dings here & there and does't seat on riser while the CW II is excellent (from the pictures). I'm in a position that can not audition both CWs. Any suggestions & advices much appreciated. Thanks, Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I would get the 1s. Having the back come off is really nice. I think the resale would be better also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I've never heard the Cornwall II's but I did own a pair of the originals for a short time. In my honest opinion my Chorus II's blew the doors off the Cornwalls hand down. The Chorus II's were smoother sounding by far-- those metal horns in the Cornwall's went plenty loud but cover your ears and run at anything over mid volume. Also, the bass absolutely SUCKED with the Cornwall's unless they were pressed tight to the inside corners of the room, away from the wall at all and the bass just disappeared. So I would say go for the II's but I'm sure others will offer different advice as the Cornwall's seem to have a massive following for some unknown (to me) reason. Good luck with whatever you choose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I've never heard the Cornwall II's but I did own a pair of the originals for a short time. In my honest opinion my Chorus II's blew the doors off the Cornwalls hand down. The Chorus II's were smoother sounding by far-- those metal horns in the Cornwall's went plenty loud but cover your ears and run at anything over mid volume. Also, the bass absolutely SUCKED with the Cornwall's unless they were pressed tight to the inside corners of the room, away from the wall at all and the bass just disappeared. So I would say go for the II's but I'm sure others will offer different advice as the Cornwall's seem to have a massive following for some unknown (to me) reason. Good luck with whatever you choose! The cornwall 1 have more bass then any speaker I have ever heard. I think these metal horns sound amazing. I owned the quartet that I think has the same horns in it as the chorus? For my taste I like the corns sound better. But the quartet sounded good for what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I have just owned CW II's and was vey pleased with them. So much I wish I would have never sold them. I think the updated X-over and tweeter may be worth getting the II's, but I can't actually compare sound similarities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmytamp Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Thanks, Gents for the advices. Look forward to hear some others who have worked on CW II, is more difficult to change the Xover compare to CW I (front mounted vs rear mounted)? Cheers, Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 (edited) hey Jimmy, i'm a cornwall 1 junkie ( owned about 10 - 12 sets - all from the 70's ) and never owned or heard the 2's. had 4 cornwall 3's for about 5 yrs. you can disregard anything jjptkd said, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Cornwalls will thump you Edited June 30, 2014 by Budman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm84 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I own Cornwalls and heard Cornwall II many years ago. The IIs sounded great. One in each room, each room about 15'x15'. Awesome. My Is have new crites crossovers and all original components. Off the wall by about 2 feet and there is a ton of bass. Every Cornwall I've heard had big bass. Also remember that whether I or II the speakers work either in a corner or on the wall. Thus the name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khornukopia Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Just want to ask, if you have to choose between Cornwall I or II, which one you prefer & why? Is it true that the CW I is easier to work with because all drivers are mounted from the back while CW II is front mounted? Both seller said they are in good working condition, so no need to upgrade Caps/Xover anytime soon, but I will do the upgrade anyway. Cosmetically, the CW I has few dings here & there and does't seat on riser while the CW II is excellent (from the pictures). The Cornwall I and Cornwall II are both good sounding speakers, so based on your current choices I would pick the one that is in excellent condition. Also, be aware that there is an early version of the C II and a later version of the C II. The early version is physically more similar to the Cornwall. The later version (1986-1990) has the flush surface mounted mid horn and tweeter horn and the crossover is attached to the rectangular speaker wire cup on the back of the speaker, which is easy to remove. If you plan to buy a larger style high end crossover for a later version C II, you will need to remove the woofer to install the bigger board and to snip and splice some wires, then re-install the woofer. https://2d73e25b29782b6d6766-9c8af5cbfef16739445bc76457060528.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/CW_Time_Line_MK_070522_635120773187750000.pdf Any listeners with lack of bass from Cornwalls may have a speaker wire polarity problem between the amp and speaker, or between the internal crossover and the woofer, or possibly a room acoustics condition. I like my Cornwall II's. Later version Cornwall II pictured below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 My Cornwall 1 has absolutely no problem with bass, in fact being in the center I was thinking of some way to tone down the bass in the voices. There are some issues on the FM station I listen to when the music plays the voices are just fine, more subdued level wise but when the announcer cuts in his voice gets rather bassy. That's in the PLC II position but everything in the 7.1 position is just fine. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm84 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Also, having refurbed mine, I like the Is for the back panel access. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmytamp Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 (edited) Just want to ask, if you have to choose between Cornwall I or II, which one you prefer & why? Is it true that the CW I is easier to work with because all drivers are mounted from the back while CW II is front mounted? Both seller said they are in good working condition, so no need to upgrade Caps/Xover anytime soon, but I will do the upgrade anyway. Cosmetically, the CW I has few dings here & there and does't seat on riser while the CW II is excellent (from the pictures). The Cornwall I and Cornwall II are both good sounding speakers, so based on your current choices I would pick the one that is in excellent condition. Also, be aware that there is an early version of the C II and a later version of the C II. The early version is physically more similar to the Cornwall. The later version (1986-1990) has the flush surface mounted mid horn and tweeter horn and the crossover is attached to the rectangular speaker wire cup on the back of the speaker, which is easy to remove. If you plan to buy a larger style high end crossover for a later version C II, you will need to remove the woofer to install the bigger board and to snip and splice some wires, then re-install the woofer. https://2d73e25b29782b6d6766-9c8af5cbfef16739445bc76457060528.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/CW_Time_Line_MK_070522_635120773187750000.pdf Any listeners with lack of bass from Cornwalls may have a speaker wire polarity problem between the amp and speaker, or between the internal crossover and the woofer, or possibly a room acoustics condition. I like my Cornwall II's. Later version Cornwall II pictured below. @Khornukopia, If you have to do some works on the CW II, can you open the whole front panel/have you opened it before or you have to remove each of the component (woofer/mid horn)? Just to add some infos, the CW I is from 1981 & the II's from 1988. The II is exactly the same with the pict you attached. Cheers, Jimmy Edited July 1, 2014 by jimmytamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khornukopia Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 The later version Cornwall II does not have removable wood panels. To install new capacitors on my crossovers, I unscrewed the rear speaker wire terminal cup, pulled it and the attached crossover out and replaced the caps, then re-installed the cup. If you will be installing a bigger modified crossover board, then you will need to remove the woofer from the front to give you a 350 mm access hole. The mid horn and tweeter also are directly accessed from the front panel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmytamp Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 The later version Cornwall II does not have removable wood panels. To install new capacitors on my crossovers, I unscrewed the rear speaker wire terminal cup, pulled it and the attached crossover out and replaced the caps, then re-installed the cup. If you will be installing a bigger modified crossover board, then you will need to remove the woofer from the front to give you a 350 mm access hole. The mid horn and tweeter also are directly accessed from the front panel. So, it looks like for the later CW II is a bit hazle to do some works on. Alright, i'll keep update for the decission. Thanks, alot... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 why don't you consider building from the ground up and improve on everything rather than reworking an old speaker with out of date parts? take a look at The Bob Crites two way Cornscala if you want a user friendly high quality monitor. These should handily eat any of the three Cornwall speakers. Better drivers better horn and you can build a better cabinet. Best regards Moray James. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Just want to ask, if you have to choose between Cornwall I or II, which one you prefer & why? Is it true that the CW I is easier to work with because all drivers are mounted from the back while CW II is front mounted? Both seller said they are in good working condition, so no need to upgrade Caps/Xover anytime soon, but I will do the upgrade anyway. Cosmetically, the CW I has few dings here & there and does't seat on riser while the CW II is excellent (from the pictures). The Cornwall I and Cornwall II are both good sounding speakers, so based on your current choices I would pick the one that is in excellent condition. Also, be aware that there is an early version of the C II and a later version of the C II. The early version is physically more similar to the Cornwall. The later version (1986-1990) has the flush surface mounted mid horn and tweeter horn and the crossover is attached to the rectangular speaker wire cup on the back of the speaker, which is easy to remove. If you plan to buy a larger style high end crossover for a later version C II, you will need to remove the woofer to install the bigger board and to snip and splice some wires, then re-install the woofer. https://2d73e25b29782b6d6766-9c8af5cbfef16739445bc76457060528.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/CW_Time_Line_MK_070522_635120773187750000.pdf Any listeners with lack of bass from Cornwalls may have a speaker wire polarity problem between the amp and speaker, or between the internal crossover and the woofer, or possibly a room acoustics condition. I like my Cornwall II's. Later version Cornwall II pictured below. @Khornukopia, If you have to do some works on the CW II, can you open the whole front panel/have you opened it before or you have to remove each of the component (woofer/mid horn)? Just to add some infos, the CW I is from 1981 & the II's from 1988. The II is exactly the same with the pict you attached. Cheers, Jimmy Hard to explain but you know your listening to something special with cornwalls. My set are from 81 also. The build is top notch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dloc13 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 why don't you consider building from the ground up and improve on everything rather than reworking an old speaker with out of date parts? take a look at The Bob Crites two way Cornscala if you want a user friendly high quality monitor. These should handily eat any of the three Cornwall speakers. Better drivers better horn and you can build a better cabinet. Best regards Moray James. this would be fantastic, but $1700 + shipping is outta my league Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 My Cornwall II pair is from 1967. At that vintage, the II designated a vertical mid-horn orientation in the upright position, and a horizontal orientation when on their "sides". Same build as the Cornwall I, other than that pairs were mirror images of each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 why don't you consider building from the ground up and improve on everything rather than reworking an old speaker with out of date parts? take a look at The Bob Crites two way Cornscala if you want a user friendly high quality monitor. These should handily eat any of the three Cornwall speakers. Better drivers better horn and you can build a better cabinet. Best regards Moray James. this would be fantastic, but $1700 + shipping is outta my league well there is diy. you could buy a set of baffles and then parts over time to install in a CW of your choice, the old parts can be sold to off set costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmytamp Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 (edited) why don't you consider building from the ground up and improve on everything rather than reworking an old speaker with out of date parts? take a look at The Bob Crites two way Cornscala if you want a user friendly high quality monitor. These should handily eat any of the three Cornwall speakers. Better drivers better horn and you can build a better cabinet. Best regards Moray James.Hi Moray,Thanks for the advice and yes i thought about that but at this time, I think it's better for me to get something that a lot cheaper & in goodworking condition and later on, slowly, I will rebuild the CW to my liking. The problem for me right now is the shipping, so at ths time I will spend most on the shipping. Cheers, Jimmy Edited July 1, 2014 by jimmytamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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