Klipsch Cornwall Altec 511b mod

Last weekend it was sposta rain,

and on Sunday it did,

for like 5 minutes.

Regardless of the amount of wetness,

I had an in-house project waiting.

These Klipsch Cornwall speakers thump.

Letting go of two pairs of Fortes wasn't fun,

but space and money are ruthless.

Klipsch speakers are made for hot rodding.

They are very modular,

and the cabinets are made for tinkering.

Such a simple design.

Many listeners upgrade the crossover,

which has possibly degraded over 37 years.

Maybe later.

This weekend was about making a monster.

The stock midrange horn is small,

and it sounds obviously thin.

Compared to iPod speakers maybe not.

I just need any excuse to rip these apart.

The key ingredients are Altec 511B horns,

and a bolt-on to screw-on adapter.

I made big gaskets out of cardboard,

and rings out of cork material.

Foam plugs wedged into the old horn,

keeping them air tight.

New longer wire was needed,

and strategic holes hidden in the junction,

kept any cabinet mids low key.

Fatter speaker wire is in order too.

Now for the real test.

Are the speakers taller 

than your youngest child?

Check.

Skateboard wheels are sufficient stands.

Definitely temporary permanent.

Now this is a proper home system.

Wow.

The upgrade was an upgrade.

The original horn went down to 600hz,

the altec is tuned to 500 hz,

so it's really similar.

They just open up the sound more.

There's not as direct sweet spot either,

which is better for general listening.

So we go to watch Star Wars 7.

When your used to theater grade sound,

realized AMC needs to step up there chit!

No replacement for displacement.

TP