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1985 Cornwall issue


rodcad

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Hi all,

New to this forum, had a few iterations of Klipsch's over the years.

 

I recently purchased a pair of 1985 Cornwall's. Sounded great when I demo'd them and for the first couple of weeks I was in heaven. Now however as I listen more carefully, it's obvious one speaker is louder than the other. I think it's the midrange that sounds more subdued. I switched speaker cables around and no change.

 

What say you? Is it new crossover time perhaps?

Edited by rodcad
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Being that age, getting the crossovers recapped couldn't hurt at all. Kits are available from www.critesspeakers.com and it's something you can do yourself.

 

If it were a bad midrange, it would most likely just need a new diaphragm. Available from the same website. But those are going to cost more probably. Again, you can put them in yourself.

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Are those Cornwall IIs?

I acquired a pair of Cornwall IIs last year (circa 1986) and rebuilt the crossovers as a matter of maintenance. I found a solder joint that was pretty questionable, so I’m glad I did. I guess you could start troubleshooting and pull a lead from every driver except the squawker, and with a pink noise signal  at a constant spl and an spl meter at s fixed close distance, see what you find. If you keep the variables as close to the same as possible and one squwaker is louder you can then troubleshoot further to see if it’s a diaphragm issue or a crossover issue. 

There are a lot of smart guys on this board who will probably chime in with a better test but that’s one way. 

Here are what my crossovers looked like after I rebuilt them

2D050EB2-4BFE-4BE9-A5A1-C5400AC37A4A.jpeg

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I actually did try swapping the speakers and there was "maybe" a marginal improvement. I'll probably end up opening up the one speaker after I move next month and see what I can see. I'm not equipped nor have the time to fix much of anything myself. I'm in the Denver area and believe there is a good speaker repair shop here.

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When you do open them up, open both.  Go to the crossover terminal strip and loosen all of the screws.  Spray a little electrical cleaner on the screws, make sure all of the wires are securely connected, nothing touching another, then tighten the screws back again.  Cheap and easy troubleshooting.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103-Quick-Dry-Electronic-Cleaner-11-Wt-Oz/16817418?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1378&adid=22222222227009475209&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42535874672&wl4=pla-81197605832&wl5=9016254&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16817418&wl13=1378&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjszhBRDgARIsAH8KgvekyvwTaBSI0Hmjp4wNdsWEWBeZdov4aGu_ZBxQeLNYxOawVkrKpdsaAuGBEALw_wcB

 

If that doesn't work, new caps/crossovers are probably in order.  Replace in both speakers.

 

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36 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

When you do open them up, open both.  Go to the crossover terminal strip and loosen all of the screws.  Spray a little electrical cleaner on the screws, make sure all of the wires are securely connected, nothing touching another, then tighten the screws back again.  Cheap and easy troubleshooting.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103-Quick-Dry-Electronic-Cleaner-11-Wt-Oz/16817418?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1378&adid=22222222227009475209&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42535874672&wl4=pla-81197605832&wl5=9016254&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16817418&wl13=1378&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjszhBRDgARIsAH8KgvekyvwTaBSI0Hmjp4wNdsWEWBeZdov4aGu_ZBxQeLNYxOawVkrKpdsaAuGBEALw_wcB

 

If that doesn't work, new caps/crossovers are probably in order.  Replace in both speakers.

 

Jimbo, if he has Cornwall IIs he won’t have terminal strips. He’ll see this...

9018A376-334A-46AE-B446-2DAD02A04939.jpeg

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just do a simple ear test to see if the tweeter or midrange is working. put on some music at low volume and put your hand over the midrange and put your ear up to the tweeter. can you hear it working. same thing with the midrange.

if you take the grills off stuff a towel in the midrange horn to block it off and hear if the tweeter is working. remove it and put it over the tweeter to hear that working

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I listen to new to me sets of speakers whenever I get them in for glaring problems. I also order a set of new caps because I am always going to rebuild crossovers that old. Last weekend i was working on three KI102's since the new caps had come in. The capacitance values were OK but the ESR was as high as .358. New ones have ESR that I can't even measure or less than .005 typically. What Jim said is great advice to as many speakers I get in have loose screws on the barrier strips and loose spade end connections at the speakers.  I have also found some borderline solder joints too.

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While you are figuring this out, I would replace the tweeter diaphragms with the crites titaniums (#CD76TiM)  I just replaced them in my C2's and the difference was staggering.  Replaced one and listed to them and it was clear as soon as I plugged the new one in.  Replaced all of them in my 250's as well and it's well worth the money.  

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