No more "High End" for me...Back to Reality Audio

@rajugsw The exit from my roller coaster ride aligned with the decline of my quality of my hearing.  I became a much more tolerant of imperfection when I couldn't hear the difference anymore.  Now I have 8 cars, and less audio equiopment.  

Your posted resonated with me on many levels.

First, I wrote a long and passionate post about a week ago in defense of Bose 901s and Bose 901 owners.  I hope you had a chance to read it.  I also wrote a similar post recently in support of McIntosh.  I'm a bit of a speaker geek and received a patent for the Open Line Source speaker back in 1990.  I/we are currently involved in performance mods and had suprisingly good results with a pair of 901 S1s.  In addition to some serious "tweaks" the speakers, we also applied some "high end thinking" to the crossover.  If you'd like to compare notes at some point, I'll be happy to share our approach and results.

Cornwalls:  I have a strong emotional attachment to these speakers.  I become a Klipsch dealer in 1982. When unloading our first shipment off the truck, I was in the process of taking a Cornwall from the truck to the ground by myself when I felt a severe pain in my back.  My immediate impulse was to just let go and let them hit the asphalt.  Then, I remembered how much money I had in the speaker and gingerly took them safely to the ground.  In the coming days, I was in agony.  At the age of 31, it was my first realization of my mortality.  I had an injury that wasn't going heal on its own.  I have the Cornwalls to "thank" for this life lesson.  We continue to do Klipsch performance mods.  We know "stuff" about Klipsch speakers to make them sound better.  I know there are popular kits out there that do a good job.  But, I like the draw the analogy of spending $4k for a turbo upgrade on your car and driving around with the parking brake on.  We start by making sure the parking brake is disengaged.  If you want to compare notes on Klipsch performance, we can compared notes on this as well.

A few years ago, I removed my (really good sounding) modified "industrial look" separates and replaced them with amp/preamp brand that I had aspired to own to my entire life -- McIntosh.  I'm sure your M50s are a great choice to drive the Cornwalls.

I haven't messed with H-frame subs.  Sounds interesting.

Thanks for the post.  Got my wheels turning.

@rajugsw The exit from my roller coaster ride aligned with the decline of my quality of my hearing.  I became a much more tolerant of imperfection when I couldn't hear the difference anymore.  Now I have 8 cars, and less audio equiopment.  

Your posted resonated with me on many levels.

First, I wrote a long and passionate post about a week ago in defense of Bose 901s and Bose 901 owners.  I hope you had a chance to read it.  I also wrote a similar post recently in support of McIntosh.  I'm a bit of a speaker geek and received a patent for the Open Line Source speaker back in 1990.  I/we are currently involved in performance mods and had suprisingly good results with a pair of 901 S1s.  In addition to some serious "tweaks" the speakers, we also applied some "high end thinking" to the crossover.  If you'd like to compare notes at some point, I'll be happy to share our approach and results.

Cornwalls:  I have a strong emotional attachment to these speakers.  I become a Klipsch dealer in 1982. When unloading our first shipment off the truck, I was in the process of taking a Cornwall from the truck to the ground by myself when I felt a severe pain in my back.  My immediate impulse was to just let go and let them hit the asphalt.  Then, I remembered how much money I had in the speaker and gingerly took them safely to the ground.  In the coming days, I was in agony.  At the age of 31, it was my first realization of my mortality.  I had an injury that wasn't going heal on its own.  I have the Cornwalls to "thank" for this life lesson.  We continue to do Klipsch performance mods.  We know "stuff" about Klipsch speakers to make them sound better.  I know there are popular kits out there that do a good job.  But, I like the draw the analogy of spending $4k for a turbo upgrade on your car and driving around with the parking brake on.  We start by making sure the parking brake is disengaged.  If you want to compare notes on Klipsch performance, we can compared notes on this as well.

A few years ago, I removed my (really good sounding) modified "industrial look" separates and replaced them with amp/preamp brand that I had aspired to own to my entire life -- McIntosh.  I'm sure your M50s are a great choice to drive the Cornwalls.

I haven't messed with H-frame subs.  Sounds interesting.

Thanks for the post.  Got my wheels turning.

@gkr7007 

Absolutely on board with #1-6 related to your Cornwall performance mods. I like to add a few more:

7) replace all internal cabling with the same (or better) cabling used from the amplifier to speaker terminals.

8) bypass PC traces on crossover board  and replace with point-to-point wiring (same quality as above)

9) remove all crimped-on connectors/spades and direct silver-solder to raw driver lugs (preferably at the point where the tinsel lead connects to the lug) and input terminals.

This will allow the Cornwalls to take on more of the character of a "polite British loudspeaker" while actually increasing the dynamic impact that the "big Klipsch's" are famous for.