KT88

I googled the values and they are in the owners manual as posted here. But 1.5 K ohm for the pre out is way too high in my opinion.

If the LaScala is set up right, I mean right for your taste as far as the xover is concerned, then it is one of the best speakers I know. I only have a handful of speakers: a small LS3/5a, a medium-sized LS3/6, both BBC speakers. Then a big Tannoy Canterbury with a 15’ Alnico, two pairs of Quad 57 ESLs, a 1977 LaScala and a 1973 Klipschorn. Of course, I know a lot of speakers that I don't have myself. The LaScala is an exceptionally good speaker. I wouldn't trade it for a speaker that combines a conventional bass with midrange and tweeter horns. On the amp side I have two Mcintosh power amps, a MC 275 and a MC2102, a C22CE pre amp, old Quad tube amps, old Leak tube amps, and several young only 35 to 40 year old Quad transistor pre and power amps and a Marantz 2270 that I inherited from my uncle and that has been restored by a specialist. A few other devices as well. The LaScala sounds awesome with most amps. The Marantz does it brilliantly and so do the Quad transistors. There is hardly a speaker like the LaScala that allows delicacy and a fantastic transition from the midrange horn to the bass horn to sound so seamless and natural. It is, absurdly, as good as the BBC speaker in this respect. The only difference is that the LaScala are powerful when the BBC speakers are out of breath. If I had to give everything away and could only keep two speakers, the LaScala would be one of them; the other one is the small LS3/5a, which can't reproduce low bass either. Personally, I'm less and less of a low bass fanatic. It could be my age, but I'm more in the middle of the frequency range. The LaScala conjures up such a fantastic sound in the room in the frequencies where it can play. If your LaScala is gone, it's gone and you'll cry, in a week or in four weeks.

On top of that, there is another massive problem. We have an excessive bureaucracy. Everything technical is checked at customs. Even used items. A buddy had ordered a Weber speaker in the US for his guitar amp. It was rejected by customs because a ‘German manual’ was missing. A German manual for a chassis that you simply screw into and solder to your guitar amp! How stupid is that! A few months ago, my SIL ordered brand new BBC speakers in the UK from Stirling Broadcast. The background is that SB is closing his one man company due to retirement and all speakers are being sold for half the price. They arrived here, missing the German operating instructions, the CE mark and the RoHS certificate. The speakers were returned to the UK or destroyed. My SIL had the choice. It's medieval bullying. So it can be difficult, even with a bass coil from a country that doesn't belong to the EU... What times! My SIL has now had the BBC SB speakers sent to a friend in Switzerland. Switzerland is not part of the EU. The speakers arrived easily and were even delivered by customs to his doorstep. My SIL is smuggling them from Switzerland into Germany in his car this weekend via a ‘small town border’ without packaging as a loan of a friend.

Thank you very much for your answers. That's very kind of you. The only problem is that shipping from the USA to Germany has become very expensive, plus customs and import sales tax. I assume that you all live in the USA? So my question is, are there new off-the-shelf coils that match the 2133 in all or most parameters, which I can buy e.g. from Mouser (they do not take shipping costs and tax for shipments to Germany if it is more than 50€).? If you think there aren't any, then I'll come back to your offer and write a PM to one of you guys.

I still have my old original type AA xover from my 1977 LaScala, I had reported, most importantly I have the original T2a, and also the small coil in the high freq. section. But unfortunately the original coil for the bass was lost when I replaced it with an air choke 20 years ago, which was a big mistake in terms of sound. I soon realised that. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the original coil for 20 years after a move. I have been using a bass coil from a Crites AA crossover since 2006. But to be honest, I've purchased a 1973 Khorn with it’s original type AA since six months. When I tried that one in the LaScala, the bass sounded much nicer and the overall balance between bass and treble is nicer. Question, is there a good quality coil available from Mouser, for example, that not only has the right induction values, but also has all the other parameters that are very similar to the original coil? The iron core, the thickness of the wire, the ESR etc.? Any help is very welcome.

Before I would remove the drivers one by one I would just disconnect them one by one. At first I would see if a screw of the drivers fixing is perhaps loose. Also a loosen screw of a mid horn can vibrate with the bass waves. The tip about the spider in the post above is also a sensible possibility. If it goes not so good a voice coil could be scratchy as well. To identify this as a cause turn the music off and move the woofer slowly and gently with your fingers forwards and letting it come back. You would hear a scratchy sound just when moving the cone.

John, that all sounds very good and I would do the same. In my case, when I had my 1977 LaScala restored in a similar way, it has the same drivers for midrange horn, Atlas K55V, and the same K77 Alnico, my needs for change were slightly different. I had sent the K77 to a good speaker shop with the request to a) remagnetize the magnet and b) have the diaphragm changed. They remagnetized the magnets, which resulted in 1.5 dB more output and a correspondingly higher frequency, approx. 16 Khz. But they tested the original diaphragms and they wholeheartedly recommended that I continue to use the old diaphragms. The new ones I had supplied were of much poorer quality. They had tested and listened to one and removed it again. However, I recently saw here in the forum that meanwhile original K77 diaphragms from Klipsch are available again. But I have forgotten the thread. Others can help. But if the sound is good as is, I wouldn't change them. I would also not necessarily remagnetize if it sounds good as it is. I've had 1973 Khorns since June 2024 and the K77 Alnico sound very nice and I haven't changed a thing. What made a difference to my ears are new all-original diaphragms for the Atlas K55V (beside the new midrange gaskets). The old diaphragms had become somewhat harder and more brittle after almost 50 years. It's not the big world but it sounds a bit softer and fuller. Two more points that are perhaps a little subtle but which contributed to the overall listening pleasure. Firstly, I have kept all the original wiring. Roy Delgado from Klipsch had recommended it to maintain the overall impedance of the network. It's a very manageable Xover, but the original components should be kept as much as possible, especially the coils and the autoformer. Secondly, I shortened all the cables by about 3 mm and re-soldered the cable lugs. I also removed all the soldering points on the Xover, e.g. on the autoformer, and re-soldered them. That really opened up the sound, I think 50 year old soldering points can be renewed for good contact. Also on the woofer. I would leave the K77s as they are or only heat them very briefly to re-solder them. TBH this whole contact measurements could make a more significant difference than buying new binding posts. But that is only me.

The 3636 is not the right transformer/autoformer for the AA xover and the subsequent K400/401. I read somewhere here that the original T2a is available to buy new again? I had a Crites xover in my old LaScala for many years. Two years ago I found an original T2a Autoformer in a cellar box. A striking difference in sound, not a bit different but fundamentally better, no more tinny sound. Before you spend money on the wrong Autoformer, please check here in the forum to see if you can find an old or new T2a.

It is his first post and he is slowly feeling his way into the modern era. BTW welcome to the forum, Dave.

James, I understand your vision very well from your point of view. It is a great emotional thing if your friend has built you new cabinets and if the electrical components are original from your old LaScala. But wouldn't it be better if you left it at the photos of the serial number of the original cabinets? Because, contrary to your very probably really good and honestly meant motivation, it has a certain taste if the rebuilt cabinets get an original Klipsch serial label. Or you could mark the newly printed labels as “facsimile”, for example.

Can't you just buy such a topping device from Amazon and send it back after a few days if you don't like it? BTW I have just looked up Topping MX5. If I enter a German address then I get some reviews from customers, good but also not so good about the device. If I enter a US address these critical reviews do not appear. The reviews are less about the sound and more about the reliability. Maybe it will work for you, here is the US page of Amazon without visible reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Auinshifiman-MX5-Amplifier-Bluetooth-Headhpone/dp/B0DCZFP7NB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=158CGXMZCMQT0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZmGhxPbuyucelwWEZV3wKePbZmadiVCyTv1ftDjti9H_CgUNcq9MMyKZDVdCgao-Zo9zWR-efpHgpdvJ5xhm7V5A12Pd_W7INC6ym363_xr2nDngdps10XCxaJCmJfaPUWix2Y3qQDpAuLm0Osiwa1QIZ9Je_3s8By2AOU9YPL4qZJiCk4Lq-DEVF_oiHSGIzM8gs97RHSYgEWlu0WNAk8-2YkKZ8phdRvkDC2Oq33I.AFgT99O1M4Rm3-PBRlwLDn9p9OlXPWfB-jR9iFvmWb0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Topping%2BMX5&qid=1737012770&sprefix=topping%2Bmx5%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1&th=1 And here is the German page although the reviews are not from Germany: https://www.amazon.de/product-reviews/B09NZGDXC9/ref=cm_cr_unknown?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=two_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&claim_type=EmailAddress&new_account=1&pageNumber=1 Strangely, I couldn't recover the page with the reviews when retyping in Chrome but I still had it in my iPad memory.

In my view, it's not just a question of whether you have a contact and hear something or not. It is also the sound quality if the solder contacts are far too old. So you kill two birds with one stone if you re-solder all the solder points.

Congrats to your 1971 Klipschorns, same Model as my 1973 ones.

@What-watt Playing around with your tubes is certainly part of the hobby. But honestly, as others have said, stick with the tubes your amp is made for. If you don't like the sound after two months, then change the tubes very carefully, only the tubes of one function at a time, not several at the same time. In the meantime, you can learn which other tubes are electrically suitable and which are not. The line between fine tuning and disaster can be very thin.

I can only tell you what I am very happy with in Europe. The LaSacla, mine is from 1977, works very well with Quad II tubes, MC275 Mcintosh, but also Leak Stereo 20. I think the LaScala is very good-natured. The Klipschorn is more demanding with the lower impedance in the bass. But what surprises me most is how well the LaScala copes with the small Quad combination preamp 34 and power amp 306 from the 80s and 90s. The Quad 306s have two benefits. Firstly, it is the quietest amp I know of in terms of inherent noise and secondly, it is totally free of distortion at much less than one watt due to its unique current dumping circuit, where a small class A amp of 400 mW takes over the control of the large power transistors zhere no almost no crossover distortion. For the last 4 years I have only been listening to the 306 on the LaScala and its big brother the 606 (for the Klipschorn). But the 306 sounds even sweeter, almost like a SET with muscles.