Tarheel

Looks like plans have changed on the new speakers. Have been advised to use 811b Altecs with the 902 drivers rather than the 511b. Can I audition the new horn (811) and driver by sitting them on top of the cabinet and hooking them up to the BEC crossovers that crossover at 400hz. Was told that the LaScala woofer will go higher and to cross at 700hz or in other words "you do not need to cross over so low that you need a 511 horn". Do I need to make any adjustments to the xover? Chuck

Thanks Michael.....I would love to see pictures of the LaScala with the 511 in place if anyone out there has done this. I will take some photos as we move from the bass bins (relatively straightforward) to the horn and tweeter cabinet since this is where the creative juices will flow. This is new territory so all imput is appeciated. Any suggestions on the xovers? Chuck

Bluesboy has these same components in his modded khorns and they sound great. Has anyone done this with LaScalas? The 511 horn will only have 3/8" clearance on each side and must be front mounted and the Beymas will have their own little box and sit on top. Work has started on the bass bin assembly while I get the rest of the parts. I have the horns and woofers but need everything else (Beymas, xovers, 902 drivers). Any suggestions or leads on parts will be appreciated. BTW...What would we call this hybrid? Chuck

My plans are to build a pair of superscalas if I can sell my existing 2 year old LaScala clones built by forum member Bluesboy. Bob Crites crossovers and unblemished birch cabinets with numerous coats of tung oil. I would prefer to sell intact and not part them out. Will deliver within 100 mile radius of Wilmington, NC otherwise pickup only. $1200. Will not be near a computer most of the weekend so I may not answer inquires befor monday. Bluesboy may be available on this thread to answer technical questions. Chuck

Just went to Audiogon.com....There is a new Jolida mini mod by Underwood for $950 and two Rega Apollos for $745 and $749. If you are not familiar with that site just type in Audiogon.com and you will get to the home page. Click on digital players and scroll down to "classifieds". Wait a few days and you can probably pick up the Jolida at a good price. BTW it is built like a tank. Good timing cjgeraci. Great minds think alike! Chuck

Depending on your price range its' hard to beat the tubed output Jolida 100. I have one as does Duke Spinner. I think if you look hard you can find one on Audiogon.com for about $700 or new for $900. Bluesboy calls mine the best sounding cd player he has heard. I bought mine from Hotrodaudio.com and they threw in the mini mod (better tubes, sound deadning, iso feet) for free. I also hear good things about the Rega Apollo but have never heard one. Go to Stereophile.com and look up reviews under archives. The Jolida review sold me. Good luck! Chuck

Just wanted to move this up in case anyone looking for a record vac missed this. Chuck

Surgery will require alcohol. Are you bringing the scotch? Chuck

Great review William and congratulations on the CWs. I had never heard them until your review. I bet they are a great match with that Quicksilver gear. Enjoy! Chuck

Thanks for the comments Al and Bruce. We will see how steady Bluesboy's hand is on that precise cut. Chuck

Jay...let me know what you think. Bluesboy may want to get one too. Glad to help. Chuck

AL....I am assuming that I can mount the horns to the cabinets with the flange concealing the rough cut. Since the hornes will remain exposed are they finished or do I finish with a clear product, or paint them? Care to weigh in on the Altec woofer I am using and if I am loosing any bass by not using the k-33? Chuck

Making plans to mod the lascalas with the trachorn. Will make a template and use a router to make the opening larger. Has anyone made this mod? Any tips to pass along? There is not a lot of room between the top of the horn and the bottom of the tweeter and not much room for error. I will be using the horn only...not the grille/adaptor. I think the horn has a flange for mounting to the cabinet. I will have to use an adaptor to use the LS drivers and ALK has those. Chuck

Welcome aboard Werner! Chuck

Jay....if you haven't made a decision yet please look into this. It may save you some money. I just got AudioAdvisor in the mail and thumbing through I saw what looked like my Nitty Gritty record vac but it turned out to be a clone made by Nitty Gritty for AudioAdvisor. This unit is completely manual..like mine. They say it is a Stereophile recommended product and comes with a brush and 4 oz fluid. Now here is the great news. Its' only $229 and shipping is free!!! Contact info as follows: 1-800-942-0220 www.audioadvisor.com Audio Advisor, Inc. 3427 Kraft SE Grand Rapids, MI 49512

Thanks Carl,,,,that sounds like good advice. Bluesboy at this point wants to pull the Altecs out just out of curiosity. He doesn't think the difference in woofers/bass will be significant. My speakers are wedged in pretty tight in the corners and I really don't know if I want to wrestle them out and remove the bottom hatch, remove the solder to the leads, change out the woofers, reassemble, put them back in place just to find little difference. I may opt for the trachorns or wait to build another set with 1inch mdf, trachorns, k-33s, better tweeters. Chuck

Bluesboy has a set of k-33s....Maybe we can try one and do a comparison as you suggest. The harshness that I am referring to is not a matter of balance but more like I have heard it described before....a ringing. Maybe sound deadner on the horn would help if I have room to get in that section. I talked with ALK yesterday and he suggested I may want to try the trachorn before I change x-overs. I think I would have to enlarge the opening. There are so many modifications now it is overwhelming, Better tweeters, trachorns, crossovers, 1 inch mdf. All in the quest for better sound. Thanks for your caution and I will proceed slowly.

Hacking is the last thing I want but you guys all seem to agree that I have the wrong woofer. Here I was thinking that my midrange sounded a bit harsh and looking into ALK universals and/or trachorns. I guess my tweeter and cabinets are okay! It sure gets expensive paying for mistakes. If I decide to live with the Altec how will that effect the Alk x-overs? Thanks to all who responded. I value your opinions. Chuck

These are my lascalas were talking about so I have a couple of questions. Has anyone heard this combination before (416 8A) with the other components being stock lascala parts? What is the audible effect or what am I missing by not using the K-33s? Please speak in laymans terms since I probably won't know what you are talking about if you don't. I welcome all imput prior to doing invasive surgery on these 1 year old speakers. Al are you out there? Chuck

Welcome Stringmun1.....I have horn monos as well as the Full Function Preamp pushing a pair of LaScalas. Hope you read the Stereophile magazine review on the horn monos.....very complimentary. Go to Quicksilver Audio and follow the link to the review if you haven't done so. Chuck

OK, I'll bite since I don't know -- what's a "full feature" preamp? Thanks -- LarryC.......The Full Function Preamp is the name of Quicksilver Audios tubed preamp. Duke can probably fill you in better than I can but I think it may be 5 years old. My preamp is #504 and I don't know what the total run was. I believe it has now been replaced with a line stage preamp. Chuck

See the thread 3 below on "Paypal and VPI record cleaner". There is much discussion on the VPI and record cleaning in general. Chuck

As I recall it was $25 for 1oz. and that makes 1 gallon. A gallon will last me a loooong time. I went through the 4oz bottle of cleaner that came with the Nitty Gritty in no time and was looking for a lower cost option. Chuck

I know you are all tired of the hand wringing about tube compatability so I have settled on JJ KT-77s, a copy of the Marconi-Osram tube when they were part of GEC. Doug said that all his NYC customers are dropping their EL-34s in favor of this tube in their Marantz 8s and Dynacos. Not being able to hear them first I am going on his reccommendation. Thanks Craig for hooking me up with this tube dealer.

I think rubbing alcohol is the one alcohol you want to stay away from. Lanolin is often added to rubbing alcohol to condition the skin during a body rub and can leave a residue on records. See if your pharmacy or chemical supply house has some 97% pure isoprophyl. I recently bought a small bottle of record cleaner concentrate from AcousticSounds.com. I think VPI made it and 1 ounce makes a gallon of cleaner when mixed with distilled water. I use that with a Nitty Gritty Record Vac. Works okay though water beads a lot.