Did some CF-3 v1 come with black horns?

[Marshall R]

I was lucky enough recently to acquire a pair of CF-3’s that are supposed to be v1. Longer ports. Serials start with 24249. Cable inside is clear. Only thing worrying me is the horns seem pretty much black to me, and not the dark gray color that I see mentioned and in some photos. I have a pair of v3 in the same room, same lighting, and both horns look the same shade of black. The v1 sound a lot better, but they have been dampened and braced, while the v3 have not, so that makes sense.

Is it possible some v1 speakers came with darker horns? Anything more specific I can check to clear this up? I’ve attached a photo of one of the crossovers, in case that is helpful.

Thanks!

Marshall

 

[avguytx]

Typically it's just based on the serial numbers and I would imagine you're good to go with v1's. I don't know why everyone gets so hung up on the different versions....they all sounded great. I owned a pair of the v3's and I would buy another pair without hesitation. Most people would never be able to hear the differences in them anyway plus any iteration use woofers you'll probably never come across again if they go bad. Same goes with the HF driver. But occasionally. I updates the caps and resistors on mine and they had more parts than what yours shows in the pics. There should be a 2 level crossover board.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. What I would do is pull the woofers out of each and check the glue on the back panel of both speakers. They were notorious for not getting enough glue in the channels where the back panel attaches to the sides, top, and bottom and anytime reasonable bass played through them, you would hear a loud "thwack" from the backs. I had to fix both on my CF-3's and also on the KLF-30's I had.

 

[mimalmo]

I've owned both V1 & V3 and had time to do back to back comparisons. The difference is there but it's very slight. If I was offered a clean pair of CF4 V3 at a fair price I wouldn't hesitate.

As for the difference in horn color....? Who knows, upload a picture.

 

[Coytee]

Who cares?

I painted my 510 nice & bright red!!

 

[Marshall R]

Typically it's just based on the serial numbers and I would imagine you're good to go with v1's. I don't know why everyone gets so hung up on the different versions....they all sounded great. I owned a pair of the v3's and I would buy another pair without hesitation. Most people would never be able to hear the differences in them anyway plus any iteration use woofers you'll probably never come across again if they go bad. Same goes with the HF driver. But occasionally. I updates the caps and resistors on mine and they had more parts than what yours shows in the pics. There should be a 2 level crossover board.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. What I would do is pull the woofers out of each and check the glue on the back panel of both speakers. They were notorious for not getting enough glue in the channels where the back panel attaches to the sides, top, and bottom and anytime reasonable bass played through them, you would hear a loud "thwack" from the backs. I had to fix both on my CF-3's and also on the KLF-30's I had.

Yeah, thanks, I’m not too hung up on it. Both pairs sound great. The v1’s do sound better, but it’s not a life altering difference on my setup at least (bi-amped off a Yamaha Aventage at 90 wpc). Maybe with beefier amps, the difference would be more obvious.

It’s more of a curiosity thing, because I was expecting the grayish horns based on other postings by people more knowledgeable about them than I am. It’s interesting to learn the history of these speakers and get to compare the two versions side by side.

One other difference I noticed is the spikes. These v1’s have simpler screw in spikes. The v3’s have spikes you can raise or lower and which have covers over them for solid floor use. Not sure if they came with these spikes new, but that’s what they have now.