Klipsch Cornwall IV

Yes to mods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other things besides changing caps and resistors that can be done that will transform the speaker:

1. Change all coils in the mids and highs to large gauge air core coils......foil sounds best. Go into the inside of the coil and out the outside for best sound. Klipsch uses all iron core coils.....not good.

2. Get rid of all connections. Hardwire the wires from the xover to the tabs on the mid and high drivers and hardwire directly to the voice coil wire on the woof. Do my binding post bypass system on the input of the speaker...see http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/EVS_1200_amplifier.html for large pic. Do not use the stock speaker terminal jumpers.....bi wire for best sound or use cryoed OFC wire for jumper. You always want your speaker wire to go directly to the mid high terminal for most transparent sound.

3. Damp the midrange and tweeter horns. There is a video online of someone doing this and the sonic benefits.

For those wild types.....how about time aligning.....Remove the mid and tweeter horn from the speaker.....turn the speaker upside down so the woofer is on the top and stack the mid and tweeter horns on top of the box and line up the voice coils of all three drivers.....use felt to keep the tweeter output from bouncing off the mids. The crossover was designed for non time aligning so it may have to be tweaked......this would be a big boy mod. Many of the big horn speakers time align their drivers.

Of course, there are speaker box beefing mods, adding Ground Enhancers directly to the speaker ground terminals....etc. etc. to infinity.

Don Sachs,
How does the modded Cornwall now compare to the Miflex capped Spatial X5 you have?   Wait till you do more!!!!!

lrdrootman said:
"The only klipsch speakers that can give Cornwall IV run is KLIPSCH EPIC CF4 but it was made through 1994-1996"

I don't know that to be a fact, because I have never heard the Cornwall IV, but they are the best speakers that I have ever owned, and easily showed the door to a pair of JBL Array 1400's that I bought when they came out. I plan on having the crossovers redone later this year. 

OK, I installed the 30 ohm and 8 ohm pathaudio resistors.  I am done and never opening that speaker again!

First off, I understand the concepts of confirmation bias and controlled experiments.  I have a PhD and have analyzed tons of data.   I have also built at least a thousand pieces of tube equipment.  I have my ways of evaluating changes with the same 30-40 test tracks.  I listen for very specific things in all of them.   Yes, the proper experiment would be to have two pairs of Cornwall IV speakers, one modded, one stock. Both connected at the same time and toggle between them.  Better yet, have a blindfold on and have someone else toggle for you.  Or a mono signal and one speaker modded and one stock or something along those lines.  Yeah sure.  Who among us can afford two pairs of the same speaker for such an experiment?  Who has the room for that sort of experiment in their living room?   

The pathaudio resistors are not quite as big a change as going to the VCap ODAM caps, but the change is quite audible and almost as large.   Same things, a little more 3D imaging, but the slightly bright character of the original sand resistor is apparent upon removing it!   The pathaudio resistors sound more natural, no brightness, just music. Definitely more clarity and again, no brightness to achieve that clarity.  So like the cap change, the speaker is more natural sounding, images slightly better, and there is not a hint of brightness.  Just insane levels of detail and punch.  You would not really think the stock speaker is bright until you change the caps and resistors in the crossover.  I could never go back.  I am not changing inductors.  First I don't know the values, second the speaker is voiced with that sort of inductor and they all sound different.  Honestly, the speaker is amazingly good right now and I have no desire to fool with it again.   If you really want to go for it, change the speaker terminals and improve the contact between the wiring and the terminals.  You could play with inductors if you were inclined, but I am not.   This speaker is a FAR better speaker than the stock one to my ear.  Not even close.  It retains all of the things you like about the stock one, but it sounds so much more like music.  

The Spatial Audio X5 speakers I have also have a VCap ODAM that replaced the Miflex.   They are wonderful.   I will eventually put them back in the system and evaluate the difference again, but the Cornwalls need another 100 hours or more to be certain the woofers are completely run in and the ODAM caps take 100-200 hours to really run in as well. Again see my comments earlier in the thread.  Different speakers for people seeking different things.  This last mod with the pathaudio resistors just pushed the Cornwall IV way in how realistic the presentation of instruments and voices are.  That is the strength of the X5, so the comparison will be interesting.

Again, I am NOT telling you to modify your crossovers.  You will certainly void your warranty.  I cannot possibly go back to stock though....  Let's just say if the people who have published reviews of the Cornwall IV had modded the crossovers their jaws would have dropped.....  The guys on the Klipsh forum who attacked me for even wanting the schematic and considering messing with their "perfect speakers"... well they can listen to theirs and I can listen to mine.   If you could flip a switch on theirs and turn the into these I seriously doubt any of them would go back.....unless they are deaf

I have to respectfully disagree about the CF4 being close to the Cornwall...  I owned a pair of CF 4, they were a fun speaker but the CW IV is better in every parameter.   In fact I am going to be so bold to say that my Forte IV sound so much better than the CF 4 that its not even a contest.