klipsch cornwall iv upgraded crossovers

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2350554

I’m not sure why one would consider posting frequency response curves as the work of a charlatan...it’s literally measured data. I mean, I’m not making a purchasing decision based solely off data, but hey...that’s just me.

For me, blind tests sound cool...but like...I only have so much time in the day. I’m cool with DSP, not spending boatloads on cables, and focusing on engineering. Is it psychoacoustics if I like some thing better than another? Possible. But I’m gonna do what I want, and would love to blind test stuff some day...but I’m not upending my life for it. Too much crap  to do.

And if a guy who builds/designs stereo equipment for a living says a cap is crap, I’m going to believe them. Also, I would tend to trust caps with different (exotic) materials with tighter manufacturing tolerances over ones made in China. FYI, I have a set of Genesis Technologies monitors and those have RelCaps in the crossover. The same caps Audio Research uses in a lot of their equipment. Are those two companies full of charlatans? I’d say no, but everyone has an opinion.

Also, those Genesis Technologies monitors sound damn fantastic (for a number of different reasons). Oh, and my Vandersteen high pass filters have Teflon caps in them. EIther RelCaps or Mundorf, I can’t remember off hand.

@larryi funny enough, I was at the local Klipsch Heritage dealer in town and he swears the Cornwalls sound better with solid state gear. He has his powered by a rebuild/refurbished Marantz 2330 receiver. Different strokes for different folks (I mean, I love my ProAcs with an SET amp), but I would have thought tubes would have been the ticket (although Marantz is known for their warm house sound).

As I said before, these modifications tune the speaker to fit the owner’s particular taste and system, and as such, the changes can be unfavorable.  A local dealer in my area makes custom speaker systems (mostly horn-based) and tuning involves trying external damping of the horn, applying thin felt strips to the inside of the horn, changing the type and amount of damping to the sides of the cabinet, changing crossover parts based on a prospective buyer’s preference, etc.  I get to hear these changes, and any one of them can result in dramatic changes.

The issue I have with the kind of modifications mentioned in the video is that a lot of people assume that certain types of changes are always better—more damping is better, more expensive caps are better than cheap ones, etc.  Additional cabinet damping might make the bass tighter, which one person may like, but someone else might find the sound to be too dry and lifeless.  The type and brand of caps that sound good is likewise subjective.  The custom builder I mentioned above thoroughly hates Mundorf caps in any of his speaker or electronic builds.

If you ever heard the effect of even a tiny change in the level of the midrange and tweeter, you will appreciate the value of L-pad attenuators controlling such drivers.  I don’t understand how manufacturers expect their designs to be optimized to the particular buyer’s taste and room acoustics such that such basic adjustment is not necessary.  The removal of such controls has to be among the worse modern design trends; reversing this by adding back controls would probably be the best modification one can try.

@larryi well said. Changes are not guaranteed to be improvements and there certainly seems to be a tendency towards more is better. That’s kind of where I was going with bringing cognitive dissonance into the conversation, it provides a behavioral explanation as to why a rational person might go down that path and then vehemently justify their choices.
@rajugsw’s video is a perfect illustration. He took a wonderful sounding speaker, dampened it every way imaginable, and then rebuilt the crossovers that were recently updated for that generation. Fortunately the dampening is reversible, and if the upgraded crossover parts are the same spec as the oem design I don’t think there’s any harm done. If anything the durability should be improved. Would still love to hear a demo since the dampening effects should be apparent on YT audio.

Personally I tend to “trust the chef” but I get why people like to tinker and modify, it’s a fun part of the hobby. Every room is different so it’s not like you can expect everything to be optimized straight from the factory. My mods tend to come through positioning and amplification. I don’t even like to use tone controls, but I see value in them along w advanced room correcting software.  Mostly though I get annoyed when industry people overstate the value of these mods and the assumption that they will result in a noticeable improvement.  

Sorry to chime in late wasn't able to post because my address wasn't on file. But I dampen my IV's a year ago. I used Dynamat 1/4 inch tape .The sound  improvement was clear and very obvious Warmer less squawking much easier to listen to I used to get tired of listening and yawning after 20 mins. The first thing I noticed, was I could listen for an hour without squirming. I stopped yawning and enjoyed favorite cuts with new enthusiasm. Damping involves 35$ and 2 hours of work .It's easy to do and I highly recommend it. And best of all if you don't like, it takes 20 mins. to reverse. I've seen the negativity on some post a lot goes in to good sound. Equipment decent wires room size and acoustics. But  above all quality of recordings.  Naysayers can say what they want but my IV's sound like Six's now.

I looked into the upgraded crossovers . There's a store on ebay with good reviews. The problem was you had to take your crossovers out and ship them to him. He also had a long turnaround do to backlog of work. If I could have bought them outright, I would have taken a chance. But without the original  crossovers to go back to NO.