Hello. I purchased a set of ‘84 Cornwalls. They had been “tinkered” with prior to me purchasing them. There was an issue with the crossovers. I ended up purchasing the Crites/ALK Universal crossovers. I also installed the SMAHLS tweeters. I’m now wanting to pair these beauties up with an amplifier. To those of you using Cornwall 1’s, or in my case Cornwall “1.5’s”, what are you pairing yours with? Solid state? Tubes? I’ve tried a Glow Amp 2. It’s 15wpc. It sounded decent but I was turning it up to 2 ‘o clock on the volume dial and the amp was getting super hot.
Amp for my Cornwalls
- Thread starter Cambo5150
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Nyjblbob
Hooked on Horn's and Tubes. Go big or go home
Cambo, You should realize that most of the Power going to any Mid/High horn speakers
goes to the Woofers.. The fact that your amp is overheating, is a tell tale sign, it is a bit stressed.
Or maybe it needs new power supply caps.
A bigger powered amp would be worth a try if you need higher SPL's
have you measured your wall voltage? My quick suggestion is put your amp on a Variac at 117 Volts,
and get some Bi-amped powered Subs. you might also look inside your cornwalls.
Take the woofers out. Put some stiffening ribs in them and dampen them with fiberfill.
goes to the Woofers.. The fact that your amp is overheating, is a tell tale sign, it is a bit stressed.
Or maybe it needs new power supply caps.
A bigger powered amp would be worth a try if you need higher SPL's
have you measured your wall voltage? My quick suggestion is put your amp on a Variac at 117 Volts,
and get some Bi-amped powered Subs. you might also look inside your cornwalls.
Take the woofers out. Put some stiffening ribs in them and dampen them with fiberfill.
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A tube amp getting hot is not indicative of power supply caps that are old or not working.
Cambo - If you like louder listening volumes, then 15WPC is not going to do it. Give us more info about how you typically listen to music and we can give you a better recommendation.
No need to add braces or extra damping material (yet). If they sound good to you but need extra power, focus on that first.
Cambo - If you like louder listening volumes, then 15WPC is not going to do it. Give us more info about how you typically listen to music and we can give you a better recommendation.
No need to add braces or extra damping material (yet). If they sound good to you but need extra power, focus on that first.
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What were you driving the Amp Two with?
Jarred555
Active Member
I the last year with my cornwall I's I've used a ST70 with a pas3 a set of mark4s a QRX5500 a Luxman L-31 and now currently a denon poa1500 with a custom made pas pre and all of them did very well , but the headroom with the poa-1500 has been really nice and IMO has sounded the best
I had a pair of 1974 Cornwalls with Crites crossovers. They did not pair well with my restored Harman Kardon A230 (EL84) amp. It too got really hot. I think that 15”, 4 ohm woofer really stresses these amps. My HK A-500 did fine.
BilboBaggins
Addicted Member
I have a pair of 81 stock Cornwalls and I used them with a McIntosh MC2205. Interestingly, while my MC2205 was being looked at, I was using the power amp stage of a McIntosh MA-6200. The 6200 could drive the Cornwalls, but not with the authority of the MC2205. We could hear the difference.
So although the Cornwalls will sound good with 100 watts, they will sound better with 200 quality watts. Not that you should ever try to do that! It is all about the headroom in my opinion.
So although the Cornwalls will sound good with 100 watts, they will sound better with 200 quality watts. Not that you should ever try to do that! It is all about the headroom in my opinion.
More likely the lower damping factor than more unused power.
Schroedinger
Cars and Guitars
There’s nothing about properly functioning Cornwalls that makes the amp work harder than any other speakers. The size of the woofer has nothing to do with it. I’ve been through 7 or 8 different amps for mine, both tubes and solid state. They all sounded good at reasonable volumes, even the 2 watt single ended amp that I tried. My favorite until recently was a Fisher X-100 tube amp pushing about 17 watts. I’ve switched to a Schitt Ragnarok 2 solid state amp with about 60 watts and it sounds very slightly better, and has a remote control which is nice.
I politely disagree. While the nominal impedance is 8 ohm, the amp is looking at that 4 ohm woofer. My HK A230 is rated 8-16 ohms and it did not cope well with the Cornwalls. The little amp is one of my favorites and drives my NAS Squires that have a 8 ohm woofer nicely. The squires have an atlas mid and an electro voice tweeter same as the Corns. Just offering my experience.
Schroedinger
Cars and Guitars
Thanks for clarifying- that's reasonable. It's probably more clear to say that there's nothing about Cornwalls that should stress any amp that's able to push a 4 ohm load. That said, I was pushing mine with the 8 ohm tap from my Fisher X-100 and I never had any issues with heat or sound quality.
WELLLL....
I have a pair of unmolested 1976 Cornwalls that I drive with an 11 wpc Sansui BA-202 tube amp and it's PLENTY of power. I never have the amp higher than about 25-30% and the pre never more than about the same. I have a fairly large room and have turned it up to uncomfortable volumes before just to see what would happen.
I have tried both tubes and SS previously, Fisher, Scott, McIntosh, others. I agree with the assessment that Cornwalls are tube friendly but I disagree that they sound any better with more WPC. Not in my experience.
I have a pair of unmolested 1976 Cornwalls that I drive with an 11 wpc Sansui BA-202 tube amp and it's PLENTY of power. I never have the amp higher than about 25-30% and the pre never more than about the same. I have a fairly large room and have turned it up to uncomfortable volumes before just to see what would happen.
I have tried both tubes and SS previously, Fisher, Scott, McIntosh, others. I agree with the assessment that Cornwalls are tube friendly but I disagree that they sound any better with more WPC. Not in my experience.
How do you quantify "really hot" vs "normal hot"? Did you actually take temperature readings with a infrared thermometer or some other type of temperature sensing device?
jayvis
Addicted Member
My limited experience with tube amps is that they ALL get hot. An amp rated at 15 wpc @ 4 or 8 Ohms like yours should be enough to drive Cornwalls, but I've found them to be better with more power. All of my buddies who have different models of Cornwalls have moved to solid state amps to drive them.
I was just adding my experience driving Cornwalls with a specific tube amplifier. My experience puzzled me as well. The amp ran hotter and distorted, that is sounded fizzy to me just as my guitar amp once sounded when I under estimated its power for a gig. My only contribution to the discussion is to offer the experience that I found Cornwalls to be difficult for some amps.
twiiii
Lunatic Member
If you want a smooth high end you should either choose NAD with their soft clipping and other features or tube amplifiers that perform extremely well around the 1 to 5 watt area. If you want well controlled bass then you want diect coupled SS amps. Something with a high damping factor but yet is not to austere on the high end. If you want both then I would choose Mcintosh SS amps that are direct coupled with out autoformers. They have better woofer control and nice sweet upper bass and midrange and the highs are well defined and yet not irritable. What ever you buy arrange an audition in your home first. I would look for a pre-owned MC 754 or MC 7100. Both would have to have a guarantee. But then I am that way no matter what I buy new or pre-owned. Something newer. MC 162. Something current, a MC 152 SS or the famous MC 275 tube amplifier.
There are also integrated units to consider. MA 6200 for instance all SS or the rare MA 2275 Hybrid with tube outputs. NAD makes some fine integrated that I used with my HT M&K loud speakers in my RV's. Not a fan of Yamaha and Denon, But that was 10 years ago when I was last shopping for an AVR.
There are also integrated units to consider. MA 6200 for instance all SS or the rare MA 2275 Hybrid with tube outputs. NAD makes some fine integrated that I used with my HT M&K loud speakers in my RV's. Not a fan of Yamaha and Denon, But that was 10 years ago when I was last shopping for an AVR.
Were you using a preamp into the Glow?