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Cornwall xover upgrade


davemac

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08/29/07

Hi everyone!

Dave here. I'm new to the forum but not so new to Klipsch. I bought my Cornwalls in the summer of '75 and have been dusting off the woofers with Mac power ever since. First with a 40watt receiver, then a MC2100, and nowadays a 2205.

Earlier today I was relating to Mike Coltin (Hi Mike!) how I've begun to upgrade my vinyl playback (don't have my Scout or Rega yet but gimme time) and now they're woofin' and tweetin' like never before. BUT....Some months ago my brother (who remains Klipsch-less, poor benighted soul) mentioned a crossover mod that I should look into. So I did some Googling and Yahooing (in that order), found and looked through your forum, nodded my head and said "Hmmm..." at the appropriate times, then e-mailed Klipsch to find out if y'all were full of crap. (No offense. Seems to me that a lot of posters on OTHER high-end audio forums have a serious case of Emperor's New Clothes when it comes to fixing what generally ain't broke.) But not in this case, no-no-no. Mike assured me that the crossover mod was the real deal and that every single one of you were the finest, most upstanding pillars of the anonymous e-mail community. Really.

So, here's the nut. Could one or more of you fine folks please clue me in to where and how I can buy the caps and such to upgrade my crossovers? ....(I said I'll be there in a minute! ...... Well then, another minute! Jeez, beanie-weenies and cole slaw -- big deal.)....Sorry. I've heard the name Bob Crites tossed around(?) He seems to be pretty well respected in this regard. Any contact info would be appreciated.

(Oh, I didn't look too deeply into all of the site details -- how do you send private messages? I don't post my e-mail address here do I? For instance, I hadn't noticed any contact info for Bob Crites earlier.

Gotta run. (Don't want the cole slaw to wilt.) I'll check back a little later.

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Dean Wescott, Deang on the forum, http://forums.klipsch.com/members/DeanG.aspx, I haven't tried this recently but, dgwescott@sbcglobal.net. Bob Crites info, http://forums.klipsch.com/members/BEC.aspx Both men do very good work, Bob has an inexpensive, well relatively, version with Sonicaps. Dean wiil do up several options. It really depends which caps you want and we all have different opinions. Hovlands are brighter, but great detail, Jensens are more mellow, rounded, great with tubes and McIntosh. The Sonicaps are a very good less expensive option. You could spend $50 each on caps as well, if you want.

Are you handy with a soldering iron? Then buy the caps yourself and do the work, or Bob offers a kit for a very reasonable cost.

If your caps are this old they should be replaced. With some burn in time you will notice a difference. At first they may sound harsh, but some time mellows them out and your ears. Run a SS tuner and amp through the system for three days at low volume and you will see a difference. Some will say you there is no difference, but I find a mellowing taking place.

Good luck.

Don

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Just redid my 1980 Cornwalls with everything, new wiring, spade lugs, caps, and coils. Got all the parts from Parts Express and with shipping it came to $92 total.

I typically buy the best caps like the Auricaps, but decided to give the 1% tolerance Dayton Premium caps a try since they are cheap. I used the iron core Erse coils and some nice 14ga Street Wires speaker wire.

If you can use a soldering iron and have a hot glue gun, wire strippers, and a crimper you are all set. Also when you are in there I would recommend replacing the rubber gaskets that go in-between the K-55 mid driver and the horn throat as they also deteriorate with age. You can get them from Bob Crites.

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08/30/07

Thanks for the tips, "Brrrrmont." It can't be THAT cold up there yet?!

I don't have anywhere near the electronic knowledge to pick and choose amongst the various quality components so I'll probably just get a kit from Bob Crites or Dean Wescott. (I'm not TOO spastic with a soldering iron.) I'll stick my head inside one this weekend and poke around a bit and take a look at the gaskets.

Mike Coltin sent me a peek at The House Of Klipsch. When I consider the dinky room my stuff is in, well, all I can say is, "I'm not worthy!"

Dave

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I have the same set of nets in my '73 vert corns as Jordan does. I had Dean build them with matched sets of Auricaps and the same inductors as Jordan has in those pics. It cost a couple of hundred dollars more for the networks than I paid for the speakers themselves originally. The only time I open the speakers now is to show the networks to people who can't believe how good the corns sound.

I highly recommend those networks. They are excellent. They are worth every penny if you put good components in them.

There is no comparison to recapping original Klipsch networks with any of the high end caps. That is not even close. I know because I tried it. It's nowhere near as good.

By the way Jordan....nice job....I'm sure you are enjoying those.

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I concur with the ALK B. Mine didn't have the "as" high end caps and sounded great. Worked well at several volume options.

If you like to push the gas........you could go for the Al Klappenberger ESN700t with ES5800. Done that one too. Will cost you over a grand. This is nutcase territory. I had this type of setup (except the budget version of the E5800) in my Cornscalas. I would goof around by placing a K700 with K55 on top and give a run. Sounded good with that horn too.

If you are a low volume listener....start by changing out some caps.

jc

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08/31/07

Wowie Zowie! I agree, nice job! I've already written to Dean and Chris Munson about what they can supply. I really want to go with complete networks rather than just the caps but I'll have to see how scary the dollars are. I am prepared to dig reasonably deep for "the boys" since we've pretty much grown up together and I plan on the three us sticking around for a while.

Thanks to everyone for the info and tips. I'm out for the long weekend. Have a good one!

Dave

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