klipsch cornwall iv upgraded crossovers

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.

larryi, hearing the inside of the horn is a different matter entirely than what I am talking about. My favorite speakers are horns, but a too large of a horn, based on my listening position, will often lead to " hearing inside the horn ", which is another characteristic I am sensitive to. I cannot get used to it....that echo you speak of. Listen, I am not questioning your listening capability, nor your enjoyment. I prefer a " dead " material for a horn ( or I will deaden it ), and I truly prefer a horn that gets me further away from hearing that inside of a horn sound. Always, and my best, MrD.

mrdecibel,

I generally agree with you on horn coloration.  I was just pointing out some examples which don’t, in my opinion, fit the pattern.  While I would not pick the 16A as my horn, even if I had a room big enough, hearing it was an interesting experience.  
The big problem with currently available horn systems is the compression driver.  I don’t know of many that I like, as compared to vintage drivers, that are not crazy expensive.  I am not saying that modern horn/compression driver combinations are not good sounding, I just don’t find them as good as some 1930-70 drivers.  I particularly like Western Electric, YL, and IPC drivers from the past.

I feel like a little kid again playing that game. Remember you whisper into the person next to you after someone tells you something and boom it morphs into something else . What happen to Cornwell IV's crossovers ? I'm happy to see that a post from a year ago, has finally caught on. Thanks