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Cornwall I with upgrades


Brock63

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Been looking for pair of Forte I or II loudspeakers but everything is 10 hours or more drive from my home in South Carolina.  One guy did a sound video for me and was very receptive but his prices seemed high even with the Crites upgrades and VERY GOOD/EXCELLENT condition. He wanted over $1200...while most others are $750-950 with similar condition and upgrades.

 

Then I found a pair of Cornwall I locally that are listed for $1500 with Crites capacitor and wire upgrades but original drivers also in mint condition.

 

Here is my question...how do the Cornwall I compare to Forte I or II if both have Crites upgrades internally?  What is a fair price for the Cornwall I speakers given are local and I can go demo them and wont have to deal with long drives or shipping?

 

Would you also recommend going ahead and upgrading the crossovers as well if only capacitors were done.....or play them for a while to get a reference and go from there?

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14 hours ago, Brock63 said:

 

Would you also recommend going ahead and upgrading the crossovers as well if only capacitors were done.....or play them for a while to get a reference and go from there?

 

IMO, one should first get familiar with a set of speakers before doing anything to them.

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Okay, went and demo'd the Cornwall I speakers...loved them with solid state, tubes, digital or vinyl.  Ended up paying $1300.  They have new capacitors and wiring...and brand new custom cane speaker covers.  They were the raw birch cabinets that were finished and sealed very well and no visible wear or chips...few light impressions from things being sat on top over decades of use but looked great.  Original speaker stickers, consecutive, original drivers...just wiring and capacitors upgraded...and owner built a set of bananna plug adapters for the spade connectors on rear.  Will pick them up this weekend or early next week.  He had them in small room...and toed in sharply at my seating position....the soundstage was much wider than the speaker physical locations.  I thought they were really balanced over all. Cant wait to put in my larger room up against wall and put on some Steely Dan Aja, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Bob James Obsession or other albums to really hear them...

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Edited by Brock63
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14 minutes ago, Brock63 said:

Okay, went and demo'd the Cornwall I speakers...loved them with solid state, tubes, digital or vinyl.  Ended up paying $1300.  They have new capacitors and wiring...and brand new custom cane speaker covers.  They were the raw birch cabinets that were finished and sealed very well and no visible wear or chips...few light impressions from things being sat on top over decades of use but looked great.  Original speaker stickers, consecutive, original drivers...just wiring and capacitors upgraded...and owner built a set of bananna plug adapters for the spade connectors on rear.  Will pick them up this weekend or early next week.  He had them in small room...and toed in sharply at my seating position....the soundstage was much wider than the speaker physical locations.  I thought they were really balanced over all. Cant wait to put in my larger room up against wall and put on some Steely Dan Aja, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Bob James Obsession or other albums to really hear them...

 

excellent decision ,  the fact that these speakers are MINT --------is the money saver , here , since it is very expensive to repair this type of speaker and in the end you end up with a repair job , rather than a pristine pair of speakers which these are and they have been very well taken for , in this case , you have new grilles , new crossovers ---that is 600$ in parts alone , how can you lose ----in the contrary ------

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They look awesome! Nice score. I would build some risers for them, (stock height/size.) On there risers they sound so much more complete, better mids, highs, and bass integration. Eventually I would upgrade the capacitors in the crossover.

 

Greg

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On 5/2/2020 at 1:19 PM, Kreg said:

They look awesome! Nice score. I would build some risers for them, (stock height/size.) On there risers they sound so much more complete, better mids, highs, and bass integration. Eventually I would upgrade the capacitors in the crossover.

 

Greg

all capacitors have been upgraded...wiring replaced...and new vented dust covers installed on woofers in addition to the cane grills.

Edited by Brock63
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/4/2020 at 7:12 AM, Brock63 said:

all capacitors have been upgraded...wiring replaced...and new vented dust covers installed on subwoofers in addition to the cane grills.

There are no sub woofers in a Cornwall only woofers these speakers only reproduce well to about 39 - 40 Hz. then roll of at 24 db per octave. So far as I am aware the stock woofer (K33) was not fitted with a vented dust cap and doing so will throw the tuning a little off as it lets air leak out of the cabinet. Not going to be a huge deal but probably noticeable if you could do an A/B comparison. Never the less a very nice looking set of upgraded Cornwall loudspeakers. Enjoy.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/19/2020 at 1:06 PM, moray james said:

There are no sub woofers in a Cornwall only woofers these speakers only reproduce well to about 39 - 40 Hz. then roll of at 24 db per octave. So far as I am aware the stock woofer (K33) was not fitted with a vented dust cap and doing so will throw the tuning a little off as it lets air leak out of the cabinet. Not going to be a huge deal but probably noticeable if you could do an A/B comparison. Never the less a very nice looking set of upgraded Cornwall loudspeakers. Enjoy.

yeah I knew that...not sure why hell I said it. Maybe too many years with home theater systems instead of my vintage setup. ;) The woofer does not move much if at all even when driving pretty good.  The previous owner runs a vintage audio repair and sales shop and felt it would help it stay a bit cooler while still keeping dust out.  All the modifications came before I took receipt except the risers mounted to bottom after I got them home. Bass sounds pretty tight to me depending on album and quality of engineering....

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Still no regrets on price on this end.  Cabinets are tight and solid, grills are tight and no sagging or vibrating....speakers produce crisp clean and vibrant music with good sound stage dispersion. I have listened hours on end and not experienced any nagging squawkbox horn tones...everything has been balanced and as expected.  The only big surprise is how distinct sounds are no matter volume. Not sure how much is my old amp and how much is speaker but I like how they sound for sure.  Been streaming with BT adapter into amp direct...may have to pick up a NAD or Marantz CD Player to put on rack since I have about 300+ discs.......but then I want a second system in my home office and trying decide between vintage Pioneer integrated amp and component tuner that matches.......or dip my toe into the tube world of debauchery and temptation and get one of the well reviewed import amps like the Reisong A10...find some old Heresy or JBL speakers with high efficiencty and see what it can do for me.....if I love it could be a problem....if I dont get goose bumps and a hard on then will get a vintage Pioneer, Sansui or Akai receiver or integrated amp setup later.  decisions decisions.

 

HOpe you all have a great weekend....cheers!

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On 6/5/2020 at 7:17 PM, Brock63 said:

Still no regrets on price on this end.  Cabinets are tight and solid, grills are tight and no sagging or vibrating....speakers produce crisp clean and vibrant music with good sound stage dispersion. I have listened hours on end and not experienced any nagging squawkbox horn tones...everything has been balanced and as expected.  The only big surprise is how distinct sounds are no matter volume. Not sure how much is my old amp and how much is speaker but I like how they sound for sure.  Been streaming with BT adapter into amp direct...may have to pick up a NAD or Marantz CD Player to put on rack since I have about 300+ discs.......but then I want a second system in my home office and trying decide between vintage Pioneer integrated amp and component tuner that matches.......or dip my toe into the tube world of debauchery and temptation and get one of the well reviewed import amps like the Reisong A10...find some old Heresy or JBL speakers with high efficiencty and see what it can do for me.....if I love it could be a problem....if I dont get goose bumps and a hard on then will get a vintage Pioneer, Sansui or Akai receiver or integrated amp setup later.  decisions decisions.

 

HOpe you all have a great weekend....cheers!

Hope you can try the point-to-point A10. After two weeks of listening to it with Cornwall IIIs, I'm very impressed. Sometimes the sounds in the recordings startle me with the detail and realism. Cheaper to run than exotic tubes too.

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  • 5 months later...

Been a few months and still loving these things.    Took some more pics when I added the Crites risers just to catalog the inside condition as well....no real surprises for me other than how nice the baffling material seems to be still....definitely were well cared for by previous owner.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

My wife is gonna Explode. I have been able to, last year, quietly purchase a pair of Heresy i and silently add them into the Cluster.F of my jumbled of a mancave (connected to her Girlcave in a spare old doublewide trailer out back of our 4 acres).  A few months later, quietly grabbed a clean pair of Klipsch KG-4s.  She still hasn't noticed..... but I have 3-4 different setups of listening areas. Too many vintage receivers.

I've been JONESING hard for some Cornwalls for a very long time.

She works and I'm a retired old fart. 

Just today nabbed a fairly clean pair of Cornwall i speakers on Ebay. $1800 and change with tax & shipping from Montana to North TX. I don't think I have anywhere to "silently" ease these big *** boxes into the mancave.....but I'm gonna try. Just hope they roll in off the delivery truck during her teaching hours...!!???

I've always heard that Full and Open Communication is key to a great relationship.......But....who said WHEN you are supposed to communicate stuff??

Edited by Txsasquatch
minor clarification wording
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On 11/13/2020 at 11:07 AM, Brock63 said:

Been a few months and still loving these things.    Took some more pics when I added the Crites risers just to catalog the inside condition as well....no real surprises for me other than how nice the baffling material seems to be still....definitely were well cared for by previous owner.

 

 

 

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Those Crites risers are really nice. They actually tighten up the bass, which is probably why modern Klipsch speakers have the same type of risers.

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