klipschorns & cornwalls/ alk crossovers

If you like the sound of your amps with the Khorns they shouldn't really be night and day difference over the Cornwalls since they use the same drivers, albeit in an entirely different housing and crossover. Still, the sonic signatures in those examples I've heard side by side are pretty similar, with the Khorns having far more full-body and authority when done right. The Khorns, if placed well (in your room in the corners), are not going to be equalled by the Cornwalls in terms of how they sound overall and the balance of the acoustic spectrum. As far as X-overs, the wiring stuff should be pretty self-evident if anything is loose or worn. In terms of actual testing of the individual components you'll have to consult someone who knows better than I. I'm sure you'd just need a digital multimeter to do it. Obvious things to check for are oil leaking from the capacitors (those big mettalic towers on the X-over). If leaking you might see an oil stain beneath them on the wood. Rebuilding them with original parts may be difficult as some of the parts are no longer available and you'd have to find substitutes. There are threads on the Klipsch forum that address those substitutions and folks there who could help for sure. Other than that you could always keep an eye out for a pair on eBay, but that could be hit or miss too. AlK does provide plans for building his crossover....they may be on his website. I think the Klipsch forum will garner more information than you may get here on such a specific Klipsch question.

Also, this could be an entirely room-related problem. You did not mention whether these are in two different systems, or are you comparing them side-by-side in the same room. The room itself can make a whole world of difference in how a system sounds and could certainly account for the discrepencies. Just a thought.

Good luck Joe!

Marco

Horns & tubes rule, my friend. I once had Mac solid state (sand)amps on my K-horns & Cornwalls... not bad, but a bit harsh like you described.

Remember w/ K-horns, the first watt is the most important, actually the milliwatts leading up to the first watt. Solid state amps specifications are rated at full power & not very low output levels. That's where they suffer.

I would check out low powered triode amps for the ultimate sound for your horns.

I wouldn't go the ALK x-over route. Bob Crites makes awesome original crossovers (Type A & AA) from Paul W. Klipsch orginal specifications. I just hooked up a pair & they sound very, very good.

Good Luck, have fun & enjoy!

i took the advice & went to the klipsch forum,wow what a mess it is there,if you want to get your system trashed by a bunch of guys who dream of 1 day owning a optonica or a bose wave radio its the place to go but i wont be going back,i looked around in other area's of the klipsch site & its pretty sad,everybody throwing insults around & questions being answered by people who dont know when to be serious & when not to be,as much sweat as we all put into our gear its hard to believe that even a fool would behave the way they do,that kind of site might be fun for some but it isnt even in the same league as audiogon!

Haven't been there in a long while BigJoe, but last time I was there there were plenty of folks who knew of what they spoke. Sorry to hear it may have gone downhill since then. A scenario as you describe would send me running for friendly grounds too. I've still puzzled over your midrange woes (at least I think that is what you are saying), and have come up with no better answers than I've already suggested. Again, I've never heard horns sound good with SS, but that's not to say that it cannot sound great to someone else. Perhaps the AlK would help, but that's an expensive experiment if it does not. If you build them yourself perhaps you could break even.

Good luck....let us know what you figure out.

Best,

Marco

hello jax2, i took your last advice & concentrated on the xovers,i couldnt see any thing wrong then i remembered that i had a old hammered pair of cornwall cabinets in the basement with the xovers still intact,i swapped the xovers & there was a HUGE improvement in all areas espically the mids,i run my system in quad with the cornwalls & khorns all powered by mac ss amps & i couldnt figure out why the khorns sounded so much better in the a b test,now i know,i think that the crossovers in most cornwalls may be part of why they get a bad rap from alot of others due to factory placement of the xovers i think they may take a beating from the music,i also built a little shelf in the cabs & installed the xovers on a isolation mat to keep them flat,i toiled with this for a long time & thank god its fixed now i can pull the rest of my hair out thinkin about other stuff,thanks again.

mike.