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Klipsch Cornwall


Steve G

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New to the forum and I am about to buy a pair of 1985 Klipsch Cornwalls and had a couple of questions. 1) Is 1985 the last production year of the Cornwall I? 2) What does the CII-BR indicate. I was told the BR indicates birch raw and the CII indicates the crossover type. Is this correct?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve G

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I thought so. The interesting thing is I was told this by someone at Klipsch. He also said they didn't begin construction on the Cornwall II until 1986. The serial number on the back of the speakers is 8561841. Sorry to be contradictory. Just trying to figure out exactly what I'm buying.

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I have a pair of 1985 Cornwall II's.. the kind without the removable backs.. mine also have the woofer and horns mounted in front of the motorboard, and have a K-57 midrange driver and K-79 tweeter driver instead of the k-55/k-77 combo.. They are the nicest sounding speakers I have owned.. I cannot see myself ever getting rid of them, they sound that nice, and I have been around the block with Klipsch speakers. If you are thinking about getting them, I would highly recommend them.. They have everything you need a speaker system: Deep strong bass, a midrange that few can compare with, highs that sparkle just the right amount, a very well balanced crossover and very good efficiency. What more can you ask for?

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I'm definitely getting them. According to your timeline these are Cornwall 1's. The guy I spoke with from Klipsch told me the first two digits of the serial number denotes the year they were produced. I gave him the number and he said they were built in February of 1985. He also said the CII-BR on the back panel tag indicated crossover model and the BR stood for birch raw. I haven't seen these yet and have a friend in Atlanta picking them up for me, but the owner indicated this was a plywood model. I have had Totem speakers in the past but didn't get the same exhilaration I got from vintage speakers of my youth. I'll be running a Blue Circle DAR integrated to power them. Tube preamp stage/solid state output.

Edited by Steve G
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I'm definitely getting them. According to your timeline these are Cornwall 1's. The guy I spoke with from Klipsch told me the first two digits of the serial number denotes the year they were produced. I gave him the number and he said they were built in February of 1985. He also said the CII-BR on the back panel tag indicated crossover model and the BR stood for birch raw. I haven't seen these yet and have a friend in Atlanta picking them up for me, but the owner indicated this was a plywood model. I have had Totem speakers in the past but didn't get the same exhilaration I got from vintage speakers of my youth. I'll be running a Blue Circle DAR integrated to power them. Tube preamp stage/solid state output.

 

if the label says C11-BR the speakers are cornwall 2's and not cornwall 1's

the guy at klipsch doesn't know what he's talking about, well mabe half

the C stands for Cornwall and the 11 stands for the 2nd generation and he's right about the BR for Birch Raw

 

until we see pictures anything is possible coming from the factory. could be cornwall 1's with cornwall 2 labels

Edited by Budman
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My buddy sent me a picture of the binding posts and It indicates Cornwall II. He also said they were solid plywood. I'll have them in a week and can investigate further. He has been looking for speakers and the owner let him hear them and he relayed his Impressions. He basically said if we weren't friends he would keep them himself. He was really impressed with the sound and he had just heard a pair of PMC twenty 23's which are fabulous speakers.

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There is no acoustic foam or insulation inside the CII cabinet (the C1 ones were loaded with it) they will resonate at higher volumes best to put some foam panels on the three non opposing sides.  The crossover networks in them also look like they were assembled by playschool might want to update those at point. 

 

That said they sound great right out of the box but with a little tweaking they can be stellar.  The easiest way to distinguish the 1's from the later 2's is the drivers that are all flush mounted to the motorboard.

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It really is pretty simple.  If the back is removable it is a Cornwall I (all drivers installed from the back).  If the back is not removable (all drivers installed from the front ) it is a Cornwall II (not to be confused with the much earlier Cornwall II from the sixties).  Your serial number is also stamped which they did not start doing until after 1984 (it was handwritten prior to that time).  

 

If I had to guess you have a very early production Cornwall II.  The serial number is missing a digit but if we assume that they simply dropped the leading zero in front of the 6 then it could be read as produced in 1985 "85", the sixth week of the year, second week in February "06 or 6" number "1841".  Otherwise the number does not make sense since there are not 61 weeks in the year and the last 4 digits are supposed to be the speaker number.

 

I don't know if that helps or not :)

 

Laters,

Jeff

Edited by eq_shadimar
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The Cornwalls are one of my favorite speakers.  They can be very musical if you get everything else right.  I have not heard the Blue Circle amp that you have but Cornwalls go well with good tube amps.  If you get the chance, you may want to try experimenting with an all-tube setup (pre and power).  I've powered Cornwalls with 2.5 Watt amps and was very pleased.  In the meantime, you're current amp will probably do very well.

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