I thought there was supposed to be a forum for "classic" Klipsche speakers, but I don't see one so, I'm posting this here.

I found a pair of what appear to be original Cornwall speakers; they had been set out for free, pending being thrown away, when a trailer park was closing and the owners had to move. I can understand why they left them - they weigh a ton!  I kick myself every day since then for not taking the entire set - there were 5 in total, 2 huge speakers, 2 medium and 1 small. The medium and small speakers were really beat up tho and I didn't think much about them at the time. The big ones, I figured I could at least use the cabinets! I had no clue who/what Klipsche was =)

So, now I'm wondering, are these trash or treasure?  I briefly powered them up and they do work, although I haven't examined them thoroughly to see if all of the components are working (I had to move from the same trailer park, so they've been packed up til recently.) They need a bit of cosmetic work at least, the veneer is pretty much ruined, and I think at some time, someone had replaced the front grills with some wire mesh (unless this is what they had on originally?) Any advice about refinishing the cabs?

 What I would like to know is if there are schematics, specs and user manual available for these?  The labels have this information:

 Klipsche Cornwall type: C-DBR (as far as I can make out, the red ink is very faded, it's hand-written on the label.) Serial numbers: 5M090 and 5M091. The serial numbers are also impressed on the top/back of each speaker.

 Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

Rosc,

Welcome to the Form.  You are the First (I know of), to get Free Cornwalls.  From what I know your speakers are 1974 Vintage.  Play them awhile and they will grow on you.  You have Really nice Treasure.................

Then Later on you can think about things like 1. New Capacitors or 2. Refinishing them..................Just some Ideas.

Enjoy them, and Post some Pictures when you can.  Regards Bill

Cornwall Decorator Birch Raw...NICE score!

Bill 

treasure indeed!

rosc2112:

I found a pair of what appear to be original Cornwall speakers..... when a trailer park was closing and the owners had to move. So, now I'm wondering, are these trash or treasure? 

Welcome to the Forum!! Since I've been "foruming"... I have learned to slow down and look at every trash pile and yard sale anywhere I see one lately.... Some of the stuff that folks have found for next to nothing is amazing!!! Have not found any Klipsch speakers yet, but did score an antique Grandma style high back hand carved oak porch chair.  Certainly you have current claim to the "Golden Trash To Treasure Award"!!! Just clean them up, and listen to them. Eventually change the capacitors out on the crossovers (unscrew the back and the crossovers should be screwed in on the left hand side). They should have the type "B" crossovers which are about the simplest ones to do. Contact Bob Crites (BEC of the Forum) ref a set of the "caps", and you will be really amazed at what they will sound like.

I found a page on klipsche.com's main site under "Cornwall Classic" or something like that, that had some brief specs, but I'm wondering if more info about this particular set is available? 

 I opened one of em up to take a look inside, and there's a "type B" crossover board, and it looks like the original tweeter was replaced with a "Realistic" brand at some point. The horn and woofer are the originals. Didn't look inside the other cab yet.  Aside from a bit of dustiness and outside wear & tear, they look to be in pretty good shape.

rosc2112:

I found a page on klipsche.com's main site under "Cornwall Classic" or something like that, that had some brief specs, but I'm wondering if more info about this particular set is available? 

 I opened one of em up to take a look inside, and there's a "type B" crossover board, and it looks like the original tweeter was replaced with a "Realistic" brand at some point. The horn and woofer are the originals. Didn't look inside the other cab yet.  Aside from a bit of dustiness and outside wear & tear, they look to be in pretty good shape.

You have quite a treasure there.  Do some listening and get used to them. You should eventually rebuild the crossovers (just replace the capacitors) and refinish the speakers.  The original tweeters are Electrovoice K77's.  If yours were switched out, I have a pair of K77's that I will sell for $50 plus shiping if you are interested.  Check around, this is a really low price for these tweeters.

Please post some photos of the speakers, drivers and crossovers.

PM sent to TWKh.

I'll get some snapshots for posting tomorrow hopefully (need full sun for the camera I have, it's pretty low res and does best in full light.)

Klipsche, eh?  Must be the European version of Klipsch?   

Whenever I buy or fiind by the side of the road(?) my Klipsche, I always open them and make sure there's not 25 lbs of contraband whatnot inside, especially when the owner vanishes from the trailer park (pronounced long prison sentence), and especially when the speakers lived through the seventies and ESPECIALLY since someone adorned them with chicken wire grille covers to keep out the down and out thrill seekers.  And that's not because I want the contraband, I just don't want to get busted for having somebody else's shite in my loudspeakers.

Seriously, how hard to you have to be livin to have this fall in your lap to help even up your karma?  Either that or you're a regular guy about to get hit by a metorite.  Good luck, enjoy the loudspeakers until you find out what happens next. 

I'd like to see a picture of these chicken wire grilles if you can at all swing it.  Draw a picture if you have to.

arrrrgggghhhh, this NEVER happens to ME!!

CDBR- very nice

Welcome to the Madness (why else am I up at 2:38 in the am) 

... especially when the owner vanishes from the trailer park (pronounced long prison sentence)

LOL - Well close, but the owner of the park actually did illegal evictions, under pretense of closing/selling the park. It was like a refugee camp and everyone was fleeing.

.... how hard to you have to be livin to have this fall in your lap to help even up your karma?

Given our lifelong bad luck, it's about friggen time something *good* happened to us. :P

I got some pics today, nice sunny day. I posted them here:

http://members.dandy.net/~fbn/klipsche/

And yeah, I just realized I spelled Klipsch wrong (or maybe Paul did? German(?) names usually end with an E? :)

The image "front-logo.jpg" shows the wire grill, and "metalgrill-gone.jpg" shows the front after taking off that stupid wire and picture frame junk. Although, now I have to worry about the cats using the grill cloth for a scratching post! I am glad to see the original WK logo plates are still on the speakers.

I could use some advice about replacing the capacitors (specifically, the proper specs/ratings. I can get caps pretty cheap from Mouser, $40 for 4 caps seems a bit much, but then again, I haven't priced caps yet.) I'm a computer admin, so not completely unfamiliar with electronics & soldering.

Advice about refinishing would be appreciated too. I'm leaning toward stripping the old veneer, seems like it would give better results and would be easier compared to cutting/splicing bits of veneer to fill the torn spots. The veneer is peeling pretty bad at the edges (Hubby just ripped it a bit more moving the speaker outside for the pictures, snagged it on the carpetting..) I'd really love to see these with a mahogany veneer, or some other type of veneer with a lot of glow & chatoyance. I'm going to give them a good cleaning with Murphy's oil soap, first, see what kind of results I can get that way.

I took a couple of broken chunks of veneer and cleaned one, to compare. "veneer1.jpg" & "veneer2.jpg" show the cleaned piece on the left, the current color on the right. There's also several layers of ugly paint on the top (red on top of green afaict.)

The more I research, the more excited I get about finding these :) (And that's usually when the bad luck kicks in - whenever I allow myself to get happy :P)

 Well and I thought I got a good deal, 25.00 set of Heresy. BUT You be the man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!