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1979 CW as a Center Speaker. Woohoo.


Squishman

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I had been using a KP201 for a center between my 1975 La Scalas, but changed to a 1979 Cornwall. It was pretty beat up, but I got it for $375 and a 5 hour round trip to get it. Anyways, it's all original and all drivers work. Sounds great. I played some mono Beatles and mono Otis Redding before I set it up as a center. And I was plenty happy! It had a formica counter-top type fake veneer on it. I have the grill, which is great. Needs new grill cloth. I used a heat gun and a plastic scraper and removed the formica and it came off pretty easily. That revealed the serial number so I could determine the year. Also, VERY pleased to find the sticker stuck on the formica. Yep, they even put that crap on the back! I was hoping like heck it was there. I applied Goo Gone and after about 20 minutes, carefully removed it (intact and very readable) with a razor blade. I will be re-attaching it later on. This spring I will be sanding off the adhesive and painting the front and back black and a friend will be helping me apply real veneer. I'll try to find one that matches my LS' darkened birch (I think it's birch). I have nice 14 g wire and gold fork terminals and also banana jacks to install. I was shocked that Klipsch used actual screws to mount the screw terminals and that those screws are the actual conductors! Dang! Maybe that was ok when new, but those 44 year old screws had to go! Even when new, it can't be a primo connection. But that's just my opinion I suppose. I won't be installing the banana jacks until after I finish the back, so in the meantime, I just crimped the wires to my speaker wire. Now that's a good connection! I am looking forward to getting it all done. I have decided to not touch the xover, other than the new connectors and wiring of course. It sounds pretty darn great as is. And as a center, it blows me away. I had an RC62, the KP201 and an Academy. None of them came close to the clarity of dialog when watching movies as this CW. And also every other sound in the center channel is vastly better. Attached is a picture of me listening to it :) I have a period correct badge to attach to it too that someone sent me for free. Super nice!. The pedestal or 2" base is structurally sound, but one edge on the front was beat up, so I found 2" trim material and glued and nailed it to just the front and will veneer that later on too. This is dream come true for me. I had Forte II's a couple years ago and thought I'd eventually get LS' or CW's. Ha! I did not envision both! 

1675078968632.png

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12 hours ago, Squishman said:

I had been using a KP201 for a center between my 1975 La Scalas, but changed to a 1979 Cornwall. It was pretty beat up, but I got it for $375 and a 5 hour round trip to get it. Anyways, it's all original and all drivers work. Sounds great. I played some mono Beatles and mono Otis Redding before I set it up as a center. And I was plenty happy! It had a formica counter-top type fake veneer on it. I have the grill, which is great. Needs new grill cloth. I used a heat gun and a plastic scraper and removed the formica and it came off pretty easily. That revealed the serial number so I could determine the year. Also, VERY pleased to find the sticker stuck on the formica. Yep, they even put that crap on the back! I was hoping like heck it was there. I applied Goo Gone and after about 20 minutes, carefully removed it (intact and very readable) with a razor blade. I will be re-attaching it later on. This spring I will be sanding off the adhesive and painting the front and back black and a friend will be helping me apply real veneer. I'll try to find one that matches my LS' darkened birch (I think it's birch). I have nice 14 g wire and gold fork terminals and also banana jacks to install. I was shocked that Klipsch used actual screws to mount the screw terminals and that those screws are the actual conductors! Dang! Maybe that was ok when new, but those 44 year old screws had to go! Even when new, it can't be a primo connection. But that's just my opinion I suppose. I won't be installing the banana jacks until after I finish the back, so in the meantime, I just crimped the wires to my speaker wire. Now that's a good connection! I am looking forward to getting it all done. I have decided to not touch the xover, other than the new connectors and wiring of course. It sounds pretty darn great as is. And as a center, it blows me away. I had an RC62, the KP201 and an Academy. None of them came close to the clarity of dialog when watching movies as this CW. And also every other sound in the center channel is vastly better. Attached is a picture of me listening to it :) I have a period correct badge to attach to it too that someone sent me for free. Super nice!. The pedestal or 2" base is structurally sound, but one edge on the front was beat up, so I found 2" trim material and glued and nailed it to just the front and will veneer that later on too. This is dream come true for me. I had Forte II's a couple years ago and thought I'd eventually get LS' or CW's. Ha! I did not envision both! 

 

Sounds like a good plan. Will want to see a pic, if you want to. Either now or later. If want to... Nothing like getting the blown away treatment. 

You may consider wanting to match the birch on LaScala.

 

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14 hours ago, Squishman said:

 I was shocked that Klipsch used actual screws to mount the screw terminals and that those screws are the actual conductors! Dang! Maybe that was ok when new, but those 44 year old screws had to go! Even when new, it can't be a primo connection. But that's just my opinion I suppose.  

 

  the Lascala use a terminal strip , instead of  binding posts , and the Cornwall uses a mini-terminal strip , so not a dime worth of difference   :lol:

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4 hours ago, billybob said:

Sounds like a good plan. Will want to see a pic, if you want to. Either now or later. If want to... Nothing like getting the blown away treatment. 

You may consider wanting to match the birch on LaScala.

 

My LS's are sort of a mahagony stain. They look good. So you suggest sanding the CW and finding a stain that is close? My thought is to find a veneer that is close. I can really get the CW to look fabulous this spring. And up to snuff wiring-wise too. Here are a couple of shots of when I brought it home and then stripped off the fake veneer. When I brought it home, the first thing I did was carefully pop out the pushed-in dust cover with a vacuum cleaner. 

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332012132_512701861033876_822197627854559766_n.jpg

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4 hours ago, OO1 said:

  the Lascala use a terminal strip , instead of  binding posts , and the Cornwall uses a mini-terminal strip , so not a dime worth of difference   :lol:

Are you kidding me? Huge diff. The LS input is on the xover inputs. The CW xover input wires go to mounting screws in the inside of the back board, then on the outside you have two screw terminals. If you look close, you see two studs exposed below the screw terminals. Those are the conductors! Have you ever taken the back off? If you do, you won't like what you see. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is far from optimal. 

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There is another issue with leaving the birch or staining. This speaker has 9 screw holes in various places in the birch and about 4 in the motor board. I can fill the motor board holes, thats no biggie, but the birch is another issue. So, veneer is likely the way to go. Why screw holes? No idea! On the motorboard, they did it to secure the grill. I will be using velcro. 

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2 hours ago, Squishman said:

  Are you kidding me? Huge diff. The LS input is on the xover inputs. The CW xover input wires go to mounting screws in the inside of the back board, then on the outside you have two screw terminals. I

the  barrier strip   on the  rear door panel   acts just like a set of binding posts ,  no difference whatsoever ,   except being screwed versus being hand tightened  :rolleyes:

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1 hour ago, OO1 said:

guess who ? designed these conductors between the speaker wire and the input leads  

 

 

Paul W. Klipsch – Klipsch Canada

You really want your speaker signal going through 44 year old screws? Ha! It's a terrible design. Maybe it was the cat's *** of it's time, but it isn't now. Someone else pipe in here and give your comment. Did you change your lame screw terminals that use mounting screws (NOT WIRES!) as conductors too? 

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2 hours ago, Squishman said:

You really want your speaker signal going through 44 year old screws? Ha! It's a terrible design. Maybe it was the cat's *** of it's time, but it isn't now. Someone else pipe in here and give your comment. Did you change your lame screw terminals that use mounting screws (NOT WIRES!) as conductors too? 


No, and all of my speakers sound fantastic.

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I do not understand how PWK designed or signed off on that connection design. Can someone here who worked there or knew him explain? Or am I wrong that a screw should be a fine conductor? Perhaps it is zinc plated and that is as good as copper.... no clue here. But that could be it. If that were the case, then I would imagine you should clean up 44 y.o. screws or get new ones. 

 

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On 2/19/2023 at 8:26 PM, Squishman said:

...  None of them came close to the clarity of dialog when watching movies as this CW. And also every other sound in the center channel is vastly better. Attached is a picture of me listening to it :) I have a period correct badge to attach to it too that someone

1675078968632.png

Well, always liked the JBL Century ads... still a nice thought. 😜

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2 hours ago, Squishman said:

I do not understand how PWK designed or signed off on that connection design. Can someone here who worked there or knew him explain? Or am I wrong that a screw should be a fine conductor? Perhaps it is zinc plated and that is as good as copper.... no clue here. But that could be it. If that were the case, then I would imagine you should clean up 44 y.o. screws or get new ones. 

 

I think the barrier strip is the conductor. Screws just hold it together. 

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6 hours ago, CWOReilly said:

I think the barrier strip is the conductor. Screws just hold it together. 

The input leads are terminated with tiny ring terminals that attach to those screws inside. On the outside, you see the stud coming through. 

 

Good point 001 about PWK designing (or at the very least signing off) the connectors. Anyway, I am slightly giddy about this CW as my center speaker. Ok, more than slightly. 

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3 hours ago, Squishman said:

The input leads are terminated with tiny ring terminals that attach to those screws inside. On the outside, you see the stud coming through. 

 

Good point 001 about PWK designing (or at the very least signing off) the connectors. Anyway, I am slightly giddy about this CW as my center speaker. Ok, more than slightly. 

Ohhh. Now I get it! I hadn’t ever taken one apart. Cost effective reliable solution. 

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