klipsch cornwall iv upgraded crossovers

@larryi , I am extremely sensitive to these nasties I speak of. I am interested to learn about what you have heard, that were made right. My best, MrD.

I am a fan of the vast array of horns made by Yoshimura Laboratories (YL) when coupled to their compression drivers.  They made metal horns, wood horns and some kind of resin; the horns come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, including horns almost the size of Western Electric 15A horns.  But regardless of shape and size and configuration of the throat, they are consistently free of gross horn coloration—not nasal sounding nor shouty—and they sound smooth and relaxed (no sharp peaks).

I also like a number of Western Electric horns and compression drivers.  Some that sound good to me, like the 15A, are not very practical, but horns like the 32A, are nice sounding compact horns.  I also like Western Electric compression drivers and the currently manufactured replicas by G.I.P. Laboratories.

My own horns are Western Electric 12025 sectoral horns driven by Western Electric 713b drivers.  Those drivers are very hard to find in matched pairs.  My horns are metallic, but I have left them untreated.  They are relatively compact but they are very heavy and the thick metal does not ring much.

Thank you. Does not ring much ? Exactly my point. 

Shame Al K. is retired. He made me a Universal xover for my 82 Corns. & installed them outside the cabinets. He worked with me & I went with, Altec 511s w/ the 55v driver. Did the dynamat trick to the baskets & new gaskets all around, braced the front baffle & sides, but never did the brace to the rear panel. To me they’re outstanding. Also, I’ve been dealing with Don Sachs for sometime now & I also respect his opinion. Sorry I can’t help you out with who to go to. You can try the Klipsh forum, maybe someone there can help.

Mrdecibel,

While it is hard to separate out the sonic influences of other aspects of a horn’s design, I’ve heard replicas of classic designs where the primary difference was the material used, which means the big difference is resonance behavior.  I recently heard a wooden replica of a Western Electric 22A horn that I liked more than the original and other replicas I’ve heard.  
 

What has been hard for me to understand are the notable exceptions where the horn rings like mad yet sound very good.  The Western Electric 16A is such a horn.  It is spectacularly massive and made of huge, thin metal parts (you can walk into the opening by crouching just a little bit).  When the music stops playing, you hear a distinct echo that takes more than a second to fade away.  Despite the echo, the sound is not muddy or distorted and the sense of ease (lack of strain) and the large scale of the image is unmatched.  It took me quite a few listening sessions to overcome my initial prejudice from hearing that loud echo.