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Klipsch Cornwall I Upgrades

(1963 - 1986 With Horizontally Oriented Midrange Horns)

The Cornwall upgrades that I offer are not put together into a package nearly as well as the Khorn and Belle upgrades.  Since the Cornwall needs to have the cabinet modified for installation, and the cost of the upgrades are relatively high for the relatively low-cost Cornwall speaker, the number of upgrade packages I sell for Cornwalls is quite low.  So frankly, doing the work necessary to develop an easy-to-install package for the Cornwall upgrades has not been high on my priority list!  But I know there are a few of you out there who really like the Cornwall format, and are willing to spend the money to make them the very best they can be.  I have some options for you, but keep in mind that they are not low-cost options, and they will require that you be able to do some basic carpentry skills to modify the cabinets, or to find someone local to you who can do the work.  If you're interested in upgrading your Cornwall speakers, please send me an email and we can talk about it.

What has prompted me to work on this project, is the interest that Klipsch enthusiasts seem to have with the Klipsch Cornwall and also with the CornScala hybrid speaker.  

The ported bass design used in the Klipsch Cornwall offers bass extension that rivals the Khorn, in a cabinet design that is smaller and has more flexibility in placement.  However, the midrange horn is small, and is really not up to the high standards that many audiophiles want in their speakers.  A few years ago, someone came up with the idea of using a La Scala midrange horn with the Cornwall bass, and thus was born the CornScala.

But the La Scala midrange horn will not fit inside the Cornwall cabinet, which is why Cornscalas are always built with new cabinets that allow for the depth of the LS midrange horn, but with the overall volume needed to provide the Cornwall bass.

I thought it would be a great idea to use what I had learned about building the Khorn V-Trac horns, to build a 2"-throat horn for my own Klipsch Cornwall speakers.  The idea being that if I could build a midrange horn that fit in the Cornwall cabinet, I would not need to build new cabinets to enjoy the Cornscala sound.  In fact, the idea of using that aweful sounding metal, long-constricted-throat, midrange horn from a La Scala just wasn't very interesting to me, and I was quite sure that I could find a way to provide much higher performance than the average Cornscala.  I also knew that it would be very helpful and cost-effective for Cornwall owners, if they had an option to have CornScala performance without having to go to the expense of building new cabinets.  So this is how my "Super Cornwall" project was born.  What I learned as I developed the midrange horn and crossover networks, and tested different drivers, has been condensed down into a group of components that offer the very best sound available from the Cornwall format.




These are pictures of my "Super Cornwall" speakers, which were
the test mules for developing the Volti Audio Cornwall Upgrades.



Cornwall I's in Cherry veneer.   I replaced the old K33 drivers with new Crites 1526C cast-frame woofers.

I made new midrange horns that are wooden tractrix horns and put the BMS4592-Mid drivers on them.

I listened to a dozen different tweeters during the course of this project.   The Crites CT-125 is the only drop-in replacement, but my favorite was the new Ciare 1.26Nd, which would need to be cut-in to the motorboard.

This is the first pair of custom crossovers I built for them.  Eventually I used my active crossover system, as well as bread-boarding passive components to do the final voicing and crossover design.

I mounted a barrier strip on the outside of the cabinet and wired in the crossover so midrange output attenuation could be done without taking the backs off the cabinets.  I also mounted the tweeter attenuator so that it could be changed easily.

So, I have new midrange horns available, adapters for the K55 drivers, BMS drivers with 2" outlet, custom crossover networks, replacement woofers, replacement tweeters, and new wiring.  Everything you need to modify your Cornwall cabinets into great sounding Cornscala speakers.






Example Of Complete Upgrade Package For Cornwalls

$1,939

  • Crites 1526C Woofers
  • Crites CT-125 Tweeters
  • Volti Cornwall Crossover Networks
  • Cornwall V-Trac horns
  • V-120 Adapters

This package will substantially upgrade every part of the Cornwall experience.   The Crites woofers provide slightly higher efficiency for a little more bass and the Crites tweeters definately smooth out the high end compared to the stock K77's.  The Cornwall V-Trac horns replace the original small metal midrange horns to really open up the midrange.  The new Volti Cornwall crossover networks change the crossover point between the midrange and the woofer, transferring critical mid-bass sound from the woofer to the big midrange horn.  Very high quality parts are used in these networks, and they have been carefully "voiced" to work with the other upgraded components.   The V-120 adapters "re-voice" the K55 drivers to mate up with the V-Trac and still leave the option open for adding the larger and higher quality 2"-outlet midrange drivers later on.

This is a great way to turn your Cornwall speakers into "Cornscalas", and avoid the hassle of having to build new cabinets.  If you love that deep Cornwall bass, but wished for better sound quality through the midrange and high end, this is the package you want.


Volti Audio - Klipsch Khorn V-Trac Upgrades and Restoration