solarcarl

I agree that my listening space may be comprimising the effects of that bass mod but it would be more comprimising to take them outside mainly due to the neighbors. I'll wait till I move to a new house with more space and then revisit this experiment. Here is a pic of my current listening room which has the roof coming down at a 45 degree angle, kinda screwy for any speaker. I recently tried some Magnepan's and I must say they blew the Klipsch away in certain aspects of the listening experience. Carl

I'm happy to keep experimenting with that mod but I need some suggestions as to where to go with it. I would guess a lot of the trick is in tuning the ports. Also this could be another case where the computer modelling looks good on paper and just doesnt deliver in real world. Carl

First let me address the tweeter question. I tried the tweeters in both vertical and horizontal orientation and horizontal seemed to carry a wider sweet spot and also with the brackets I made I can angle them up or down as desired so it was the better way to orient them. The bass port mod; I wish I could say I'd never go back but I thought they detracted from the bottom end. One thing I've come to appreciate about Klipsch folded horn woofers is that low notes sound like faithful representations of the instruments and with cheap speakers all the low details wash out and any lows just end up sounding like"duff,duff". Well some of that fine detailing in the midbass seemed to go away when I put the bass bins under the speakers and my original reason for doing that mod was to get lower and punchier bass and that never emerged with this mod. I also have Vandersteens and at times I like their low end punch but I also hear them make floppy bass sounds lacking detail and find myself missing the La Scalas. I had a sub-woofer that I used to run but couldnt stand what it did to music. A kick drum shouldnt sound like the same kind of rumble you get from a bass string rattling. I used these plans that someone had posted on this forum earlier and used the bass tubes as recommended which are 4" diameter and 7" long. Actually Parts Express had some that were very close to that size and had flared mouths, part number 260-480. They call the 7 5/8 long x 3 3/4s but the taper of the tube goes from that to 4 1/4 at the mouth and averaged 4". The length came out almost exactly 7". The cabinets were 1/2" MDF. The lumberyard only had that or 1" and I didnt think it would make a huge difference but 3/4" would have been my preference.They were loosly filled with fiberglass batting insulation. I just didnt find any improvement other than when you were sitting on the couch in front of them you could feel more of the bass hitting your body but they didnt sound any deeper and if anything weaker. If there are some tweeks anyone can recommend, I'd be happy to try them. I did think of cutting the opening where they match the doghouse to allow me to point the ports out the back and see if that helped.

That pic was of a dog some guy was giving away because his wife didnt like it. She claimed it would always follow her into the bathroom and stare at her while she showered and that was creeping her out. The La Scalas just rested on the bass boxes with sealing tape between them so it was easy to A/B them and now put them in storage. The speakers sound brilliant and the comment I read somewhere that the tweeters actually breakin may be true because my first reaction was the highs were a bit annoying and them after a few CDs they sounded smoother. If I did want to dampen the tweeters a bit to keep with the crossovers ability to lower the squawkers therefore bringing out more of the bass would it be reasonable to use L-pads in the tweeter path or what is the correct way to do that? Carl

Here is the finished setup. Too bad the bass ports didnt do any good. Much better sounding with the stock base which I added floor spikes to.

View of the Audioquest Bedrock cable going bi-wired into the ALK Universal networks. Not sure if there is a way to do that with AA networks.

Here is the simple way I dealt with mounting the tweeter. I like the fact I can angle it. Carl

After spending time with my La Scala's fresh from a series of mods here is what I have to report. Tearing out the squawker horns, cutting into the cabinets and fitting the pair of Altec 511Bs with my original K-55 drivers was a great move. The mid range sounds a lot richer and took these speakers to a new level. Upgrading to Bob's new tweeters was another good move. Two thumbs up on those. I'm listening to some nice guitar picking music and finally hearing detail I never was getting before. Since the 511s took up the whole top of the cabinet I mounted the tweeters on aluminum brackets above the horns.The brackets bend with some force, allowing me to point them. I also upgraded the crossovers to Al's universal networks that I bought in kit form and assembled myself. That was pretty straightforward but somewhat tedious for someone that didnt grow up handling a soldering iron. I got the Hovland cap option, couldnt hurt. One thing I did was install two sets of 5-way jacks into the back of the speakers that I wired to the crossovers in bi-wire configuration. All of my other speakers are bi-wired and my cables are already set up for it and from what I've read some claim it improves the sound.I just did an A/B a few times which was easy by pulling the jumpers away and listen up all you naysayers, there was a noticeable difference. In bi-wire mode I noticed a lot more detailed sound and the mids and highs were more distinct. The ultimate test would be to see if my girlfriend could here the difference but I'm willing to bet I could sit any of you in front of my system and you would notice it. These suckers sound like new speakers. Since I did all the upgrades together I cant rave about one thing over the other but they sound a ton better from the top to the bottom. One thing I noticed and this is in spite of what Al had told me was that the speakers sounded better after they got a few hours on them and I can only attribute that to the caps and other crossover parts breaking in. As for bang for the buck, I had swapped a pair of nos american tubes into my amp tonight in place of the russian ones I had and that was a dramatic and suprising improvement and a lot cheaper than all these other mods. I saved the worst for last. I built some of the bass reflex bins to go under the La Scala's and would have to say that they actually made the bass sound worse. I have A/B'd them a few times and they seem to rob some of the mib-bass and loose whatever punchiness was there. I did notice that you could actually feel the bass on your stomach with the bass ports installed but that wasnt accompanied by any other desireable quality. Anyone in the Bay Area curious about this mod is welcome to borrow my bass boxes. I may flip them upside down and use them as pedestals to put the speakers up higher as I think there was some value in that. I wanted to post some pics but I dont see that option. Carl

Let me try that again and hopefully the pic appears.

I'm almost done with the mods on the La Scalas. Heres a pic of one of the speakers. Note The new Crite tweeter on top of the 511B. I still need to finish assembling the networks and then time for some listening . Carl

I'll glue some foam tape around the edge of the cutout and just set the speaker on top of the base with no screws. I just got my crossover kits today and its supposed to rain all week so I'll be doing some soldering and tinkering instead of working outside.Carl

Here's one more for having done the mod. I stuck with the plan that was posted in terms of dimensions. It took one sheept of MDF exactly and four ports that were flared and almost exactly 7" long.Unlike my usual style of A/B ing things I gutted the speakers and swapped out crossovers and horns and so whatever sound I get will be a sum of all the mods together. I can easily pull the bass bins away and slap the stock bottom covers back on for comparison but for the rest there is no turning back. I'd never have done all these crazy things to my speakers if it wasnt for you guys. I dont know what they sound like yet because I still have to put Als crossover kits together first.

Mine are due in tomorrow but I have to tell you guys, I was convinced this was the way to go and searched Ebay for a pair of K-77s and after the bid closed for $150 on them I contacted the guy that lost the bid and offered him mine for what he had bid the other ones for, $140 and essentially my pair of CTs has cost me $10. I sold my K-55s on Ebay for $250 which more than paid for my 511Bs and the grills that were no longer needed for $80.Same kind of story with the networks, making way for the new ALKs. The way I see it, upgrading, you cant loose. It pays for itself if you do it right. The point of no return has been crossed and I no longer have stock and probably wont fetch the highest resale value some day but I have La Scalas that will sound as good as possible and that is of higher value to me than stock. I tweek everything I own sooner or later but it rarely pays for itself like playing with something as desireable as Klipsch stuff. Carl

Okay, I promise not to do that to your new tweeters. Actually just tonight I got some Dynamat and slapped a bit on the 511s. After playing with that stuff I went to Ebay and bought myself 50 sq ft of it( I'm going to soundproof my diesel delivery truck, before I go too deaf to appreciate your tweeters) Carl

Okay, I'm too much of a newbie to get that one. Someone enlighten me? Carl