Nix Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 First, hello to all and thanks for the great forum! I recently acquired a pair of beautiful Cornwalls, S/N 21T 759, 21T 760 respectively, and was curious if anyone could help with the manufacturing date. Second, I was considering shelf bracing the cabinets and damping the interior surfaces with Black Hole 2 (in Parts Express catalog) because the cabinets seem to have quite a bit of resonance. I was also considering rewiring with solid silver conductors. I did attempt using the search function for Cornwall mods before posting this, but the forum search engine told me that there were no matches. I even tried the word "the" to no avail. Also, I was wondering about upgrading/experimenting with some different crossover/horn combos. Any consensus as to the most popular? I'm not looking to get too radical, but I highly value any practical advice that any of you have to offer. Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I believe those are 1979. Here's the decoder ring: http://home.earthlink.net/~ivol/klipsch_cornwall/klipsch_date_codes.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Welcome, Congratulations on the Cornwalls. I would suggest not placing any material inside the cabinet. A mat will actually have very little effect on dampening the low freqs and other material (eg batting, fill etc) is not a good idea since the cabinet was designed to function "as is". Crossovers are a favorite topic around here and options can range from replacing capacitors (which may deteriorate over time, so they say) to a full re-design. Personally, I would simply listen to the speakers for the next several months and get to know them. As for swapping horns, this is also a big step. I think you would need to be very clear about what it is that you like and do not like about the sound before you do this. Cornwalls are pretty good in their current configuration. As for silver conductors, this is voodoo. My friendly suggestion would be simply to listen to the cabinets for several months. In the mean time, bigger gains will be achieved by careful tweaking of the speaker / listening chair location & geometry and experimenting with the set up. This experimentation could also include simple steps at modifying the room: carpet (in or out or with or without a pad) drapes, wall hangings to help diffuse sound etc. These will give real differences, much larger than some of the other things you mentioned Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggerIsBetter Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 The first mod should be to nail the backs on. I have done lots of mods, including new horns and I'm not really sure they even sound better. I would have to do a back to back to be sure, which is obviously impossible. I know everyone is sure all their mods have made great changes, but I wonder how many have done carful listening test versus those that just want to hear a positive change to justify the effort/cost. Ditto, leave them alone and listen to them for at least a few month. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Darn...mine says "drink your Ovaltine!..." Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 nail the backs on? whassupwiddat? screws are better than nails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nix Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 I love Ovaltine I have had these beauties for about a month, and I have noticed that the bass is becoming deeper and tighter. The previous owner (who sold me the pair for $250!!!!) said that he only played classical music through them, and at moderate volumes so it seems to me that the woofers aren't fully broken in. I was considering taking the backs off and employing t-nuts with hex bolts (in place of the wood screws) and gasketing the back panel. Opinions? My largest complaint is the midrange, it seems to have 1.6Khz range over emphasis(some distorted guitar tones sound overly nasal,harsh, and metallic for example Steve Stevens' tone on the Bozzio Levin Stevens "Black Light Syndrome" in particular the track "Chaos Control"), and some low frequencies really seem to make the cabinets vibrate, which is why I was considering dampening the walls of the cabinets. Will damping the mid horn itself help with this? I have some experience building and testing PA subwoofers/mains, and know from both measurements and ear tests that bracing and damping cabinet walls can have a profound impact on the accuracy and transient response of both sealed and assisted resonance type enclosures. Unfortunately my current listening room kinda sucks (19' 6' W x 12' D, with speakers in corners of long wall per placement instructions in the owner's packets that were still stapled to the backs) and spousal restrictions somewhat limit my placement options. I'm fairly certain that my cheesy Sony receiver isn't helping the situation, but damping materials are way cheaper than a nice 50W/CH Class A tube amp at this point, soooo.... I'm not trying to second guess anyone, and these are my first real pair of Klipsch speakers. From what I've read so far PWK got them right the first time. But being that I'm a hopeless geek and I like to modify stuff, I won't be satisfied til my ears are... Thanks for all the suggestions so far, and keep 'em coming! Especially those regarding an appropriate receiver that can be had from Ebay for a reasonable fee. Thanks, Jesse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Nix, you mentioned "....some distorted guitar tones sound overly nasal,harsh, and metallic..." As much as I enjoy Cornwalls, I have also found this to be the case. I think it is even more prominent with certain brass instruments. Although I find the Cornwall 2s to be less objectionable in this regard. The differences between Cornwalls and Cornwall 2s are tricky because there are a number of production changes within both series. Let me know if you are able to solve this problem. However, I am not optimistic regarding some of your proposed solutions. Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggerIsBetter Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 The objective of nailing the backs on is to keep you out of there for awhile. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkot Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 congrats on the corns!!! i bought mine new in 79 and have tried more than a few reciever/amp combos i ended up with nad power and audioquest wiring (that combo smoothed out the mids some and sounds great!) the nad power envelope amps have the dynamics to match the corns and will get louder than you can stand wile still playing softly when you need them to. look for the 2400/2600 amps on ebay see my profile jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nix Posted January 11, 2006 Author Share Posted January 11, 2006 tkot, that is one heck of a system! I do have one humble suggestion, get a Crown MacroTech(NOT Micro or K series!!!)for your subs. I have A/Bd the Macro(2402 and 3600vz) against several amps including the Peavey K series and the only thing that came close was the Crest CA9, unless of course you have the dough for an I-Tech(which has yet to justify its cost with long term reliability unlike the Macro). With those subs and a 3600vz you can forget about needing prophylactics!!! Then again with 146 dB on tap.... Did you rewire the internals w/audioquest or is that what you use for interconnects? I would like to avoid tri-amping and active eq/xovers to notch out 1.6K, so has anyone had any success with different horns, or different drivers on the stock horns that can help the mids some? Hopefully without any radical surgical procedures, though I do have a friend that has been building cabinets of all shapes and sizes for the last 10-15 years so I'm not too worried about that. I would just prefer not to have any drivers/horn throats on the outside of the cabinet. There is no question that my current power section has got to go, which I'm sure will help. I'm not a big fan of solid state, with the exception of the power section of my bass guitar rig (Aguilar DB659 pre, Crown xs900 power soon to be Crest CA9, AccuGroove Bill Dickens 212, '92 Warwick Thumb 5, '89 Thumb 6 w/Barts). Anyone have suggestions for a reasonably priced tube pre/power combo? Thanks again for all the suggestions thus far! Jesse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Warwick bass, very nice. I played a fretless one with on board electronics back in the 80's once - very nice, wish I'd bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 congrats on the Corns, (sounds like a steal) instead of bracing(or nailing) you could try some thin weather stripping to seal/damp the backs.(I havent needed to do this) The k600 horn for your midrange is not the greatest IMO. I know what your talking about with nasaly midrange. Start out by swapping out the 2 and 4 uf caps on the networks with some polypropelyne caps. that should make an improvement. I also wonder how much your room is contributing to the cabinet resonances? Member IB slammin has braced his Cornwall Cabinets and swears by it. So he would how to guy. take a read through this thread for an idea of different mods specifically mounting an Altec 511b horn atop for midrange http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/640707/ShowPost.aspx oh and welcome to the Klipsch forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Jesse, Welcome, and congrats. You have a PM. Regards, Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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