Cornwall rebuild or mod?

Madman1

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I have a friend that is giving me a set of Cornwall 1, he has robbed the mid and highs out of them so I’ll be getting the cabinets, k33 woofers and the b2 crossovers. I’m looking for opinions on what I should do from here. Do I just put some oem Klipsch mid and highs. Do I use some upgrades from crites or fastrac or do I go off the rails and build some Corscalas out of them...maybe Ds? Also these are black birch so not as collectible and not as necessary to keep all original. I’d appreciate your opinions.
Thanks,
Mark
 
I'd think it will mostly depend on your ears and your wallet.

If I were in that position, I would probably scour ebay for original parts so you have a good baseline of what they were originally supposed to be/sound like. Then, if you decide to upgrade, pick and choose what you want to change. You will then have original parts to sell if you decide to do so.
 
I’m kinda leaning that way. It’s just that the cornscala is very interesting to me but it would also cost me a chunk of cash to build those and once the motorboards are cut up there is no going back. And I’ve never even heard any. Thanks for your input.

Mark
 
From what I've heard Bob Crites is waiting on the new casting of the K600 horn to be done but not sure when that will be. Getting those cabinets like that is kind of a bonus, in a way, as you could put the CT120 tweeters in and potentially the A-55 mid drivers and have a great sounding set of speakers. And rebuild the crossovers, of course. All depends on how much you want to pay to play. I bought all new drivers when I built a set of Belle's as none ever came up around me for reasonable (see signature). So, new K-33's, CT-120's and A-55's were bought and I built the cabinets.

If you're being "given" a set of cabinets, you're already ahead of the game. Get the parts you need to enjoy them for awhile and go from there. K-55 mids can be bought for cheaper on auction site or the Klipsch Forum and horns come up every so often, too. Just my $.02.
 
Agree with AVguytx. I'm building a set of Cs from scratch for a friend using 3/4" BB 17 ply plywood. He wants all Klipsch stuff (he has the components I'm just building the cabinets with cherry veneer). My preference would be to replace the mid horn with a larger horn (I've used PE 8" x 12" horn in another redo) and I think the mids were smooth with better dispersion. You have room on the motorboard to install bigger horn. You can find parts on the Klipsch forum or go with Bob's components and won't go wrong. Sand/strip off the black paint and veneer and you're in business!!
 
I'd get a K33, active crossover, K510 (which is a 2" throat) and make them a 2-way killer.

The 2" K510 horn, and going 2-way will be a substantial improvement in sound, intelligibility and yes....perhaps expense.

You're in Georgia? Do you ever get into Tennessee? If so, you are welcome to hear a 510 (I only have one as it's intended for center channel use).
 
I have a TAD-4002 for it but, neither one are currently in use. The (empty) LaScala cabinet is sitting in my garage, waiting for some work to make it fit.
 
Well, there's this fiery hoop in finding a cinema dealer and paying their asking price for them; which I have a tough time doing. ;) I can buy pretty much any new Klipsch speakers at employee purchase price but not cinema. I had deliberated on doing the 510 route, too, with my Belle clone build. I ultimately went 3-way with new K-33 woofers and Crites A-55 mids and CT120 tweeters and building a new pair of Type AA crossovers with new autoformers, etc.
 
So where does one go to buy a 510 horn?

As avguy said.... a cinema dealer. You can't buy the horn lens itself, it comes with a driver (the current replacement to the K69). I don't know the cost per se', but I think it's about $750/each (horn + driver).

They have come up on the used market but then again, (realistically) they are far & few between. There is evidently a guy in Florida (I think) that has some K402's mated WITH the K510, both with drivers and passive crossover....I think he is asking around $1,100 for a pair. If I understand it correctly, that would be a pair of K402's, a pair of K510's, drivers for all AND a passive crossover.

If that is accurate, that is essentially a steal....someone could buy a pair and split them up to recoup some of their costs.

I don't know if he's still selling them or not. I heard he had a bunch. I think also, they are the older versions which is a different material and the K510's don't have the "mumps" that the newest version has. (personally, I think that's a minor detail but still....something to be aware)
 
$750 each really isn't worth it. The current replacement for the K69 is the K-691, which is the B&C 75 and go for $277 on Parts Express. The Klipsch version has mylar surrounds on the diaphragms which further increases the cost but not that much.
 
I agree. That would be more than I've got in my complete set of Belles I built with all new drivers. Or darn close to it.
 
The hard part is going to be finding the original midrange horn once thats done you have many choices. You can use an Atlas driver or choose between the original hand selected Alnico or ceramic midrange drivers from klipsch with either bakelite or metal diaphragms. Tweeters you really should only consider current drivers from Klipsch or those from Crites. Depending on which drivers you end up with then consult with Crites as to which crossover to use and which settings on the mid and tweeter autoformers to use for your sound preferences .
 
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