New woofers for 1977 Cornwalls?

[efhjr]

I have the itch to upgrade. My '77 Cornwalls still have their original woofers (K-33-Es, I guess). Tweeters and crossovers were both replaced with Crites parts about twelve years ago.

Would I benefit from a fresh pair of Crites CW1526C woofers?

And heck, may as well refresh the wiring while I'm in there. I'm currently using DNM single-core copper; maybe I'll give some silver a try.

 

[Jenkster]

If your woofers are functioning correctly, I doubt you would hear much of a difference. The Crites woofers are made by Eminence who makes woofers for the current crop of Klipsch Heritage speakers. As far as I know they are made to the same specs as the originals. Sometimes it's good to have the peace of mind that they are new and likely wouldn't fail for many years to come. I do know from experience that they need some time to break in. If you do buy a pair, swap one new one and see if there's much difference between the two.

 

[Coytee]

If you want to realllllllllllly scratch that itch.... what if you converted them into a 2-way speaker, actively biamped and slapped a 2" horn on top?

I can pretty much guarantee that the above setup will be worlds and worlds more significant than just swapping out a new woofer.

It will also make the sound more coherent since you would be losing a crossover point.

Set the driver on top.... later, if you decide to sell, take it off and viola, the Cornwall is intact. (just disconnect the wires inside while biamped)

Food for thought. Oh, and the horn in question would be the Klipsch K510 with the K69 driver attached.

 

[rebellovw]

I'm running those along with his tweeters - I've been extremely happy with the setup for the last few years. I didn't get a chance to before and after them though. You will have to use different screws.

 

[mkane]

For a more balanced sound. Kappa-15C. https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/tags/forums/LaScala+Woofer+Swap+Kappa+15c/

 

[twiiii]

The big difference in speakers of the same model from yester year and today is the quality of the adhesives used. A K-33 of today can easily handle 3 to 4 times the power of the originals. And I bet there have been other changes to help improve the performance of the woofers. Can you hear the difference? I would hope so! Especially if your older Klipsch has Alinco magnets and the new drivers would have ceramic. Some folks will kill for Alnico magnet speakers, others prefer ceramic. Its up to your ear. I like the tonal balance of the Alnico and the speed of the ceramic. I have stuck with the alnico, though I have Ceramics for the center front and rear center woofers. Things like changes in formers, coil wire type and design, magnetic gap and structure can offer improvements easily measure but not easily heard. The materials and binders that make up the cone have surly changed over the years for the better. I can remember when JBL woofers all had over 30 % distortion working at 10 db below maximum out put. While to day the distortion is below 2%. That's a lot of difference. PS. They are using Mcintosh painted shorting collar Mac used on the woofers since the XR250 and XR290.

 

[efhjr]

Food for thought. Oh, and the horn in question would be the Klipsch K510 with the K69 driver attached.

Well, I do sometimes think about having some Cornscalas built. That would most probably scratch my itch.

 

[mkane]

I also recently installed a pair of Bobs ct120 tweeters and ALK universal crossovers bought smartly 2nd hand (thanks RuralTom) They still sound like Cornwalls, a better Cornwall. The dynamic range is amazing. I think the top's attenuated a bit which blends in well with the entire system.

 

[Coytee]

Well, I do sometimes think about having some Cornscalas built. That would most probably scratch my itch.

Over the years, I've read one/three other people saying (with no disrespect intended) that the Cornscala is the worst of both worlds rather than the best of both worlds. The point they were trying to make is, the LaScala bass bin is the best part of that speaker and the Cornwall mid/tweeter are the best part of that speaker.

The CornScala takes the woofer of the Cornwall (direct radiator) and the K400 of the LaScala and mates them together. There are a number of people who feel the K400 can easily be bested. To that comment, I think Bob now has several options and one of them totally gets away from the K400 and, might even be a 2-way.

If you can go 2-way with a 2" format horn on top, you will get a huge jump in sound quality.

As for the earlier above comments.... I think some people just like bass horns over direct radiators so there might be a bit of a bias in that comment. (it wasn't my original comment however, I do like horn bass bins)