Jump to content

Interest in pair of 1985 Cornwalls


PhilLar

Recommended Posts

Thanks all in advance. I'm a Klipsch owner with a pair of Heresy's I've had since 1976ish. I'm finally looking to upgrade and a pair of Cornwalls, circa 1985 caught my attention. The asking price is $1600.00 which I thought way to high but checking further, I'm seeing similar prices on eBay. I've made arrangements to see/hear them in person tomorrow and I'm betting they are in excellent condition. That said, is $1600.00 a realistic price to be asking these days?

Edited by PhilLar
Title changed from "Phil"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

it all depends on the condition -and do they sound good ------1600$ is 1/4 roughly of the cost of a new pair of speakers, and is fair ----------final question , if you owned a pair of 1985 Cornwalls --what would be your asking price  ?  given these speakers  cost quite a bit of money back in 1985  -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Long, long day. So, I woke up to a fresh fall of snow this morning and rushed to clear 7" snow before making the hour trip north. When finally there and inspected thoroughly, I found them, other than a small cigarette burn topside on one of the speakers (and stained dark walnut with gloss finish), in near perfect condition! I forgot to take any pictures and negotiated down to $1500.00, put down a deposit and weather permitting, will be picking them up tomorrow morning. Of course, they sound wonderful! The owner had them wired, sitting next to a set of way newer III Forte's and though the Forte's sounded Very Nice, the CW's really stole the show. Even my wife (loved size of the forte's) bowed to superior CW's! I'm not expecting much sleep tonight as anxious as I am to get these puppies home! Thank you for your input!  I hope to have pictures to share with you tomorrow! Cheers!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You won't be disappointed

Don't forget to ask the owner if the capacitors have been replaced.

It's about time, and something you can do yourself.

Yes post photos when you get them.

Add a location to your profile.....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The larger baffle makes the transition from woofer to midrange much smoother than with a Heresy. The baffle of the Corn is 24 inches, larger than the wavelength of the 600 Hz crossover point, so it supports loading very well. 

 

An interesting comparison is with the Klipschorn, whose width is just little wider than the wavelength of the first crossover of 450 Hz . The original crossover point of 400 Hz had a wavelength just little larger than the system's width. That difference is probably insignificant, and I suspect the crossover point was raised to reduce strain on the midrange. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, here we go! The speakers are home and hooked up. The exterior is not bad! Most all damage is to the base and not the cabinet. The finish is high gloss and not applied with care but this doesn't concern me as I prefer a satin finish, planning to do this summer. I like a lighter color stain but the wife likes the darker walnut.... But inside is more concerning. As my luck would have it, I immediately identified a dead tweeter !!!  I am certain it worked yesterday - fortunately, I have a spare pair of original K-77's and crossovers from last years Criter upgrade to my Heresy's. (This upgrade was the reason I went for the CW's as there was a negligible improvement).  I've now swapped tweeters and the sound is improved but I'm not quite as impressed as I was yesterday..... Maybe it's the room. I'm sure that weighs heavily as I have hardwood floors, lots of windows and tall ceilings. The listening room yesterday was a finished basement with carpeted floors and a lower, maybe tile ceiling.  Way smaller room for sure. Anyways, since I have the cabinet backs removed, I grabbed the multimeter to ohm test the speaker resistance but my luck struck again and the meter 9 volt battery spewed it's sauce and destroyed the multimeter!  While I wait for a meter replacement, can anyone tell me the speaker ohm specs and the age of these speakers. In the brief time I've been a member here, I've seen this information but for the life of me, I can't re locate any of it today!  

 

Model  C-BR 

Serial 18S608 & 9

 

I've got multiple pictures to share but need to figure how to downsize picture files hopefully soon!

IMG_20210208_140054946.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another Day.....Another Project

The unit is old enough, just recap it YMMV

 

Carpet....yes everything matters

 

A thick one in the middle of the room works....

You want a dead room, not live walls and floors

There is a reason the walls in theaters are carpeted.....

 

I don't know the ranges for the resistance on the various drivers

Check the wires for dry rot, I had to replace them

The woofers can be turned upside down, gravity....

The gaskets on the mid range drivers are almost certainly dry rotted and need replacing

 

I prefer the screw terminals, just soldered some thin spade connectors on my wires to my Heresys instead of bare wire, which worked fine.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was fortunate to visit the Electovoice test room in my twenties! All walls and ceiling were covered solid in side by side, long, conical foam forms, all pointing toward the center of the room. The lights were turned off and everyone was told to hold their breath and be silent. It was astonishing clear,  hearing your very own heart beat. You could not only hear it but then you felt it!!! You only heard your own and not others. Not loud but loud enough. Similar feeling is listening to a good speaker, volume up, where you can feel the pulse in your chest! Loved every minute!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recap YMMV?

Wires - good + new

Upside Woofers? news to me....

Gaskets - one I do have on the list

Thank you!

 

Awesome site!

 

Snowing nicely now, sharing a nice bourbon to some BS&T, horns coming thru real nice!

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are never going to get sound from an open floor plan type room that you can get in a very good basement or other dedicated room.

 

That said, it sounds like your room is quite lively and could use some attention. Some treatment will go a long way.

 

Congrats on the speakers. 
 

Shakey

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2021 at 7:55 AM, boom3 said:

The larger baffle makes the transition from woofer to midrange much smoother than with a Heresy. The baffle of the Corn is 24 inches, larger than the wavelength of the 600 Hz crossover point, so it supports loading very well. 

 

An interesting comparison is with the Klipschorn, whose width is just little wider than the wavelength of the first crossover of 450 Hz . The original crossover point of 400 Hz had a wavelength just little larger than the system's width. That difference is probably insignificant, and I suspect the crossover point was raised to reduce strain on the midrange. 

I measured the Cornwall midrange down to an actual 500 Hz. from 1 meter with the woofer and tweeter disconnected. Mine are from the late 70's, but I'm guessing since they came with no tags, but are clearly Klipsh factory Birch, which were called KCBR at the time, methinks. As to the "strain on the midrange" I disagree. The K55/Atals driver is designed to go down to about 100 Hz. in a bullhorn application.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/9/2021 at 12:14 PM, ClaudeJ1 said:

I measured the Cornwall midrange down to an actual 500 Hz. from 1 meter with the woofer and tweeter disconnected. Mine are from the late 70's, but I'm guessing since they came with no tags, but are clearly Klipsh factory Birch, which were called KCBR at the time, methinks. As to the "strain on the midrange" I disagree. The K55/Atals driver is designed to go down to about 100 Hz. in a bullhorn application.

Yep, the midrange does not cleanly cut off at 600 Hz-no DSP here.:rolleyes:

Yeah, the PV-5D will go down to 100 Hz in a "bullhorn", but bullhorns accept levels of distortion that we can't accept in hi-fi. A bullhorn or any other voice PA is designed for intelligibility, not fidelity. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, boom3 said:

Yep, the midrange does not cleanly cut off at 600 Hz-no DSP here.:rolleyes:

Yeah, the PV-5D will go down to 100 Hz in a "bullhorn", but bullhorns accept levels of distortion that we can't accept in hi-fi. A bullhorn or any other voice PA is designed for intelligibility, not fidelity. 

The K-55 was patterned after the WE555 driver by Western Electric. Jim Hunter told me it was the Atlas driver was patterned after that device which still holds up almost 100 years later. The fact that the K-55V goes down to 100 Hertz doesn't mean you ever cross it there. Using it at 400-700 Hz. depending on which PWK Heritage Horn it was screwed into still meant if was a low distortion application. A 2-3 octave higher crossover point away from cutoff and at way reduced amplitude takes care of the  theoretical "distortion" you speak of. The way it's been used by PWK bespeaks to the wisdom of his driver selection based on Performance in HiFi applications. My point still remains.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...