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1981 Klipsch Cornwall I oddities


jebartist

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I recently picked up a nice pair of Klipsch Cornwall I's with Crites B-2 crossovers installed, but came with the original crossovers as well. There's a few oddities with this pair of Cornwalls and I wonder if anyone here could identify these.

 

Original stickers on the rear are long gone, but the serial stamping dates these to 1981 and cabinets are in walnut oil finish.

 

Story was the original owner was a Klipsch sales rep in the Arkansas area and they had ordered these this way.

 

I wonder if these left the factory like this or just someone's additions done to these at some point in history after their creation.

 

List of oddities:

 

PWK logo painted onto the woofer dust caps. No evidence the dust caps have been replaced and certainly not a sticker.

Motor/Baffle board is veneered and stained. The staple holes are evident on the front, but the original velcro is gone.

Crossover networks are type B2, but actually stamped B2T. Was that normal? If not, what does it mean?

Black spray paint overspray on inside of cabinets. I assume this is not an oddity, but just from painting the edges around the speaker openings. I've seen pictures of other Cornwall's that did not have this overspray, hence why I mentioned it. 

Cornwall inside1.PNG

Cornwall.PNG

Cornwall crossover B2T.jpg

Edited by jebartist
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1 hour ago, jebartist said:

I recently picked up a nice pair of Klipsch Cornwall I's with Crites B-2 crossovers installed, but came with the original crossovers as well. There's a few oddities with this pair of Cornwalls and I wonder if anyone here could identify these.

 

Original stickers on the rear are long gone, but the serial stamping dates these to 1981 and cabinets are in walnut oil finish.

 

Story was the original owner was a Klipsch sales rep in the Arkansas area and they had ordered these this way.

 

I wonder if these left the factory like this or just someone's additions done to these at some point in history after their creation.

 

List of oddities:

 

PWK logo painted onto the woofer dust caps. No evidence the dust caps have been replaced and certainly not a sticker.

Motor/Baffle board is veneered and stained. The staple holes are evident on the front, but the original velcro is gone.

Crossover networks are type B2, but actually stamped B2T. Was that normal? If not, what does it mean?

Black spray paint overspray on inside of cabinets. I assume this is not an oddity, but just from painting the edges around the speaker openings. I've seen pictures of other Cornwall's that did not have this overspray, hence why I mentioned it

 

 

PWK logo painted onto the woofer dust caps. No evidence the dust caps have been replaced and certainly not a sticker.

 

the woofers may have been reconed and they used a klipsch dust cap    or the dust cap was replaced , and you cant tell the difference  given the work is well done by a Pro -

 

Motor/Baffle board is veneered and stained. The staple holes are evident on the front, but the original velcro is gone.

the motorboard was veneered at a later date , since it is  usually painted black unless they are Decorator Cornwalls in Raw Birch ( no grilles )

 

Crossover networks are type B2, but actually stamped B2T. Was that normal? If not, what does it mean?   ---   nothing unusual , a batch number perhaps -

 

Black spray paint overspray on inside of cabinets. I assume this is not an oddity, but just from painting the edges around the speaker openings. I've seen pictures of other Cornwall's that did not have this overspray, hence why I mentioned it. 

this actually confirms  that the motorboard was painted black when it left the factory 

 

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I agree with RandyH on all but the B2T.  I have not seen batch numbers used on networks.  The B2T could be a transitional designation between the B2 and B3.  I am not familiar with it (or forgot!). 

It is clear from the pic that these Cornwalls have had some work done, as the woofer and squawker both have "circle R" red stamps, indicating replacements.  

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I was primary lead builder of ALL the Cornwalls when these were manufactured.  I did not build any like these, myself...with the walnut-veneered motor-boards.  So tese were either built when I was on vacation or taking a day off, OR standard birch veneer plywood used for the standard motor-board asbeen replaced of re-hveneered or whatever.  I figure this was done AFTER it left the factory.  Here is why:  The black paint you see on the inside edges of the top, sides, and bottom panels around the motor-board was shot AFTER the installation of the motor-board.  So there are two possibilities here...either replacement walnut-veneered motor-boards were installed sometime after the speakers were purchased, OR a pair of slightly damaged K-horn walnut-veneered front panels were trimmed to fit and used for an in-house "employee special" build for an employee...but I didn't do it!  If these are "employee specials", then check the serial umbers stamped into the panel rear edge...if they are consecutive numbers, one ending in 99 with the other ending in 00...or one in 00 and the other in 01....then start looking at the rear edge of the panels again and see if a First and Last name were also stamped in one of these rear edges.  This was a courtesy thing for employees, but it was not a guaranteed thing, because many employees who bought speakers, optioned not to have this done, because they intended to sell them after keeping them for one year.

 

Foot-note:  If I had been the one who built these, then there would be no noticeable sign in the front panels of the staples used to secure the front...why?  Because I would have stapled them thru the glue blocks behind the motor-board, instead.  And I would have added horizontal glue block to the top of the port shelf so that the motor-board COULD be secured by staples from the rear along there, so it is what it is...some people pay more attention to detail when building "employee specials" than others do!

 

I always bjuilt "employee specials" during lunch break...just because it takes more time to do a "special" job for the employees...and due to that, it would eat into regular production time daily totals if I built them during regular production time!

 

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I didn't notice the 'circle R' till you all pointed it out, but it is definitely there and makes sense.

 

The rear edge serial numbers end in 58 and 59. Only other stamping I can find on the rear edge is USA

 

The front veneered motor-board has staples through it. That is the part that throws me off about the front motor-board.

Edited by jebartist
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  • 4 months later...

Crites said that the B2T were a short lived production run. I was told to replace my original B2T crossovers with the B2 version. Has anyone done this and what is experience with the sound change? 

The two are defiantly different. 

 

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 4.22.58 PM.png

Ssscreen Shot 2022-01-19 at 4.31.20 PM.png

Screen Shot 2022-01-19 at 4.35.21 PM.png

Edited by Shanercdn
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@Shanercdn -- i would think that is good advice, particularly since there is essentially no mention of a b2t crossover that i could find.

 

if you look at your b2t crossovers vs the crites b2 crossover, they are essentially the same -- there is an autoformer, two inductors, and three capacitors (those cans on your crossover are capacitors).  the one difference is the fourth capacitor on your crossover that appears to the connected in parallel to the oil cap is the bottom left. not sure why that is there -- it could have been added later or represents a factory capacitance change that was most easily achieved by adding the capacitor on top.

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I am not completely clear on this, but I think the B2T was used with the very brief appearance of the K-55-G (essentially a ceramic magnet version of the Atlas Alnico K-55-V).  Changing a network without using the designed-for driver is "at your own risk".  However, I suspect the K-55-G is a pretty rare duck.

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On 1/25/2022 at 11:42 AM, Toz said:

My B-2T networks came with 15uF across the woofer. There is a 3uF oil can paralleled with a 12uF film cap for a total capacitance of 15uF in the woofer shunt.

The B2 has 20uF in this position. 

 

can  You post a Picture of the Klipsch B-2T  to confirm .tx

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