The Matching Mole Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Here's what I've done to my 1977 Klipsch Cornwalls. Click here for pictures. Rebuilt the tweeters myself with diaphragms from Bob Crites. Wrapped the squakers and woofer cages with rope caulk. Removed the terminals (the wire travels straight from the amp to the crossover) and replaced all wiring with DNM Reson. Installed crossovers rebuilt by Bob Crites. What this got me: pure magic and much more music. Speakers that play any kind of music well, get out of the way, and will last forever. They sound great with whatever amp I power them with: Dynaco ST70, McIntosh MC2505, or McIntosh MC30s. I listen to music and movies with them, with SACD, CD, DVD-A, and vinyl. It's all good! Probably the best improvement came with he fresh crossovers -- the speakers produce much more bass, and bass that's tighter than I ever imagined. (Here's a public tip of the hat to Bob Crites for a fine job on the crossovers.) I currently have the speakers sitting on corrugated cardboard, which has tightened the bass a hair, too, as my listening room has a parquet floor. There have been no other mods. Other than a slight tear in one of the woofer centers, I can't imagine doing anything else to these beauties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 I used to think that caulking the woofer frame was a bit too far to go, but I'm beginning to embrace the concept. Looks like a nice job all the way around! Also liked the pic presentation. Keep up the good work and welcome aboard! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Nice work. Crossovers look good, too. I'm not familiar with the wiring material. Could you say more about that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 "Other than a slight tear in one of the woofer centers, I can't imagine doing anything else to these beauties" How about a "P" trap to remove the 9KHz blip in the K-77? OOPS!!!K-55!!! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 I thought the 9khz glip was on the K55? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 It is on the K55V without the two port phase plug thingy. The glitch also appears on the PD5V's, but doesn't the ALK B wipe out that nasty thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 You should try a P-trap on that K-55-V Atlas driver. Made a difference in my '79 Corns. I also did the new caps and caulk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 I think I'd rather roll it off before it gets to 9KHZ, but that could get real expensive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 ---------------- On 6/2/2005 6:07:50 PM D-MAN wrote: I used to think that caulking the woofer frame was a bit too far to go, but I'm beginning to embrace the concept. DM ---------------- I'd really like to hear more about this, what are the benifits, what are the theories behind doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmjrt Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Some questions: How much caulk did it take to do that the way that you have? Are there layers of caulk on the horn or just one layer with some overlaps? Did you make all of the changes at once or one at a time so you know how much each item changed the sound? What is DNM Reson? Thanks. I have a pair of Corns that I want to play with/improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capo72 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 I'm also interested in the rope caulk mod for my Corns. How much did it take, and what is the theory behind this? Dampening I assume. I'm thinking hard about networks also. Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Matching Mole Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 CABLING: Throughout my system I use DNM copper solid-core cables made by Denis N. Morecroft's company, DNM Design. DNM's cables and components have received some good press lately, from Art Dudley in particular. They're giant killers, IMO, and are perfect for Klipsch speakers and tube amps. Not crazy expensive, either. A lot of people rave about pure silver cabling with tubes and high-efficiency speakers, but I find them a bit bright and fatiguing. I just love solid-core copper, and Morecroft is someone I really respect. He really thinks outside of the audiophool box. If you're really interested in DNM, contact Concert Sound in San Antonio (the sole distributor of DNM in the US, I believe) and tell them I sent you. It's a good shop and they're friends of mine. They're the ones who convinced me that wiring straight to the crossovers and replacing all the internal wiring with DNM Reson was a good idea, and they were right. (And no, I'm not making any money off of this. I just wish more people knew about DNM.) CAULKING: It's funny you guys are asking about caulk -- I learned about the whole caulking trick from this forum (do a search on "rope caulk," you'll find several discussions). I used about $20 worth of caulk, I think. The whole job took about an hour. I used two layers of caulk on the squakers, and one layer on the woofers (though there's a little bit of overlap here and there). I winged it, really, but it didn't hurt and helped in a number of ways. The caulk tightened the woofer a little bit, but it really added focus to the squawkers. That, combined with rebuilt tweeters, really enabled the Cornwalls to radiate the upper-frequency energy they're capable of. And if you don't like the caulk, you just pull it off. THE BENEFITS: I made all the changes in stages, so I could gauge which worked the best. Here's a list in order of best improvements, but they're not in the order I did performed them: Rebuilt crossovers. They provided more bass energy and tighter bass, which means better soundstaging and imaging, and faster sound. Rebuilt tweeters and caulked squawkers. More upper frequency energy and tighter midrange made the speakers more alive, made more of the human come out of the recording. It was after numbers 1 and 2 that I really realized that I didn't need to spend $4000 to get the sound I wanted. My Cornwalls are now 95% as good as the Rethm Thirds I babysat for a while. The caulk on the woofers added a little focus to the bass, just enough to be noticeable but not huge. BTW, the credit for the presentation goes to Adobe Photoshop, not me. I just fed the program a few digital photos and ran the create Web gallery plugin. Nothing to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capo72 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Thanx for the good info, Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmjrt Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 efh, thanks for the info. I'm planning on the XO upgrade but I'm pretty sure that I'll do the rope caulk too. It's good to hear that it does work and that it's such an economical change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 ---------------- On 6/3/2005 8:34:50 AM efhjr wrote: CAULKING: It's funny you guys are asking about caulk -- I learned about the whole caulking trick from this forum (do a search on "rope caulk," you'll find several discussions). ---------------- True, but this is the first I've seen of anyone cauling their woofer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Really? http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=31414 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 ---------------- On 6/3/2005 11:02:04 AM DeanG wrote: Really? http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=31414 ---------------- Oh cool! I didn't see that post in the past. That was some two years ago, I was not even thinking cornwalls then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 ---------------- On 6/2/2005 10:28:49 PM m00n wrote: ---------------- On 6/2/2005 6:07:50 PM D-MAN wrote: I used to think that caulking the woofer frame was a bit too far to go, but I'm beginning to embrace the concept. DM ---------------- I'd really like to hear more about this, what are the benifits, what are the theories behind doing this? ---------------- Moon, this mod is particular to the modern K33E which uses a VERY thin stamped steel frame. The frame used is of a "lesser quality" than one might reasonably expect on a commercial woofer, clearly a cost-cutting decision. It is therefore assumed that it is subject to vibration more than others, and any vibration that is transfered to the frame is "lost". It can also reflect vibration back through the cone, so the less it vibrates, the better. Adding a stiffening application will reduce the transfer of vibration, and render an expectedly "cleaner" bass response. I have not done this mod myself, but I can see why someone would want to do it. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 D-Man, thank you for that precise and clear explanation. I've not had a chance to review that long thread yet that Dean provided. I will read it first chance I get as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Short of altering the ports, I have performed all known Cornwall mods(and then some). IMHO,dampening the woofer basket, dampening the tweeter,and replacing the Xover wiring were the three things that resulted in the least improvement. If any. Upgraded crossover, bracing the back and sides, and dampening the K-600 were great improvements. two-cent Terry EDIT: the woofer basket thing sounds reasonable, I just couldn't hear a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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