Islander

It seems to me that the more capable tweeter would be the better choice, since it would be more likely to be operating in its most linear range. Since it would be operating with less strain, it would be more likely to be able to provide accurate reproduction of the signal it gets.

Yes, please take lots of pictures. Some of us are way too far away to come, sadly.

The stock RZ tires are definitely too narrow. IIRC, I fitted a 110 on the front and a 120 on the rear on my RZs, a 1983 and a 1984 model. The wider front tire made the steering less twitchy and the bike feel more planted. And I added one of the now-generic Kawasaki steering dampers. Also, the once-popular clubman/drop handlebars. I used stock bars the second year, but that was a mistake. The clubman bars let me stay close to the tank at all times, for that "I'm part of the bike" feeling, which is especially important when racing. The competition for the RZs were the Kawasaki GPZ550s, the Suzuki GS550 (only one or two of those), and in 750 class, the GPZ750s, the Honda 750 Interceptors (lots of them), and a Suzuki GS750 or two. The small bikes were in the 600 class, and the big bikes were in the 750 class. However, we were allowed to race up to three classes, if our bikes were legal for each class. Most of us with small bikes entered 600 GP (racing against TZ250s and other actual race bikes), 600 Production, and 750 Production. The more track time, the quicker you learned. At that time, Shannonville (located about 2 hours east of Toronto, off Hwy 401) was a tight and twisty track, with the track absolute record being around 49 seconds, by Art Robbins on a TZ750. By the end of the 1983 season, we Amateurs on RZ350s were lapping in the high 53-second bracket, so you can see how both GPZ550s and GPZ750s had to work hard to stay ahead of the nimble RZs. While they gave up a little on straight-line speed, the RZs' lighter weight meant later braking and higher cornering speeds. This also meant that they didn't crash as hard, getting less damage. Handlebars are cheap (I always brought 2 or 3), and quick to change, while a GPZ's bent forks or frame could mean an early end to your weekend. Enough bench racing for now.

You sold a thing of beauty like that? And with 50k miles of memories? Money is only money but a Kenny Roberts RZ, and a record holder? Maybe you hadn't ridden it in a while, but how long was it since you caressed its tank? I'm sure you really had some mixed feelings that day. I'm curious. What was the class and speed of your record? I set a lap record at Shannonville during a heat race, and that really made my day. Is that an R6 brake caliper I see? The stock brakes on the RZs were pretty good, even in racing conditions. The second year I raced one, in 1984, I installed Teflon/stainless steel brake hoses, but it turned out to be a mistake. Now the brakes were a bit sudden, causing me to fall on my face once or twice. I regretted selling my two R5s and two RD400s in 2001, but I was moving from Toronto to Victoria, and the injuries from my second-last crash make riding impractical. Sometimes life takes unexpected turns. I did keep my FZ750/1000, though, just because every time I look at it, it puts a smile on my face. As for the Adler MB200, the German grandfather of Yamaha bikes (its rear brake pedal looks like it was straight off an early Yamaha 250), it went to a private museum of significant bikes, where it could get better care than I could give it.

This is called a false dichotomy. It presents a complex situation as an either/or choice, which is totally misleading. Your country and mine each have enough money to help their own citizens while also helping the people of Ukraine during this terrible invasion. It's not an either/or choice. Memes with this kind of message pop up often on Facebook and other social media, but often originate overseas, like from Russia or China. They serve only to stir up hate and disagreement among us, so they should never be shared. There's a low-level cyberwar going on, with things like this being generated daily, by actual foreign cyber soldiers. Memes that sow discord among us should be thought of as little weapons against democracy, propelled only by people who share them, because they're innocent enough to think the memes are harmless, amusing, or worse, a good idea. Sure, most memes are amusing or entertaining, but don't share the ones that are meant to stir up arguments and nasty feelings. They hurt our countries and our people, all of us.

One time, at a meeting of world leaders, the Mexican leader was in conversation with the Irish leader. The Mexican leader asked, "What's the Irish word that's equivalent to mañana?" The Irish leader replied, "We don't have a word that conveys that sense of urgency."

In Barrie, a town 80 km/50 miles north of Toronto, ice fishing is very popular. Once the lake (Lake Simcoe) freezes deeply enough to be safe, the town drags an old car onto the ice not far from the docks. Then the ice fishing season begins. It lasts until the Spring, when the ice thins and softens, and the old car falls through the ice. That marks the end of ice fishing season. People can actually be heard asking, "Did the car fall through yet?", since it marks the unofficial start to Spring. That's how I remember it from many years ago. Anyone from Barrie who knows whether that info is out of date is welcome to correct me.

Years ago, I ordered a Heresy III upgrade kit for one of my Heresy IIs from Klipsch US with no problem. However, I can't say whether that's still possible. Try it and see what they say.

Since those mono amps are almost always sold as a pair, and they're not all that large and heavy (are they very heavy?), you'd wonder why they don't pack two in a single box, so they don't get separated. That way, you'd get either two channels or no channels, instead of the frustration of having one unit and not much to do with it. It's great to hear that you had a happy ending. Years ago, I temporarily hooked up one of my 500 w/channel Yamaha amps to the Heresy IIs, and they sounded great, with improved detail retrieval as well as improved punch. The better the signal, the better Heresys can sound. They're worthy of anything you power them with.

My headphone setup is much more simple: a pair of AudioQuest NightOwl headphones, driven by an AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC/amplifier. The sound is really good. With the DragonFly Red and, later, the DragonFly Cobalt, I get the cool sensation of punchy headphones. It has to be an aural illusion, but with some recordings I get the sensation of being hit by speaker-type sound waves. While the system is not exactly desktop, it's usually plugged into my iPad or MacBook Pro, so it's almost always stationary. The DragonFlys plug into a USB port and bypass the DAC in the source unit. The difference between plugging Into the headphone socket (using the source unit's DAC) and plugging into a USB port (using the DragonFly's high quality DAC), combined with the extra power from the DragonFly's amplifier, makes a really good pair of headphones into a great pair. With your setup, how many pucks are you using, three or four? Using three tends to diminish any wobbles due to variations in the surface of the desktop, the bottom of the unit resting on the pucks, and the pucks themselves. Of course, whichever arrangement sounds the best is the right one. And as for your comment that you didn't go high end by any means, I'd suggest that your stack of Schiit is some premium s**t. I'm sure that it gives you a really fine listening experience.

La Scalas can be powered and sound good with almost any high quality QUIET amplifier producing between 5 and 500 watts. I emphasize quiet because these speakers are very sensitive, in the sense of very efficient. That's how they can produce high volume with even a low-powered amplifier. It also means that if the amplifier makes any noises of its own, like hissing or buzzing, it will be audible with your La Scalas. One of the great things about your speakers is that they can reveal the finest details in the music in your recordings. It also means any sounds that your system makes will also be audible. That said, this is more of a factor in a quiet carpeted listening room with just one or two people carefully listening. In your games room, the typical sound level will likely be loud enough for any system sounds to be inaudible. It looks like you have an excellent games room. I hope you can find good spots for your Scalas. As you said, the industrial BG models are the most prized, and also the sturdiest of all the La Scala models. There's a small thing to be careful with. The anodizing on the aluminum edge guards is not very thick, so when cleaning them, avoid abrasive cleaners and use a light touch. Here's a funny thing about black La Scalas: they appear to get smaller over time, as they become part of the landscape of the room. They gradually go from humungous to pretty big, to just big, as the months and years go by. As for amplifier power, whatever you have will work, assuming some common sense with the volume control. If the speakers start making funny noises, like an odd buzzing, turn down the volume immediately! To be fair, that applies to all speakers, of all brands and types. Keep the drunk away from the volume control! If he tries to see how loud your speakers will go, bad things can happen. A very high-powered amp can blow things, but a low-powered amp can also do damage, by going into a state called "clipping", when the volume is WAY too high. When that happens, the overloaded amplifier will put out a kind of distortion that's very damaging, especially to tweeters. I don't mean to scare you. Things like that only happen at extreme volume levels, likely when it's so loud that everyone sober is covering their ears. This is just my way of saying that these are special speakers, so treat them with the respect that they deserve, and you'll be putting them in your will for the next generation. The Klipsch Heritage Series factory is in Hope, Arkansas, where Klipsch speakers have been built by hand since 1947, and it's not very big. Wm. Bradford, who tested your speakers, also tested my 1974 La Scalas. Others who are more familiar with Industrial La Scalas will likely chip in with more accurate guesses, or even certainties. Your serial numbers are a big help, of course. Thanks for that. As for me, I can only guess mid 1970s to mid 1980s, or maybe even 1990. The thing is, your actual speaker parts, the drivers, should be in fine condition. The woofers, in particular, last indefinitely, as in a really long time. This is because their surrounds are made of doped paper, unlike the much more popular foam, which starts to disintegrate after 20 years or so. The capacitors in the crossovers do need to be replaced every 30 years or so, but if your speakers sound fine, there's no need to worry. Congrats on acquiring a fine pair of speakers, and welcome to the Forum!

If you can do it, I’d be looking at a different amplifier, one with Sub Outs. You don’t need to have two systems for good sound. A multi-channel system can work fine when playing 2-channel music. Just turn off the unneeded channels if necessary, or just play your music straight. The speakers that aren’t getting any signals won’t have any effect on the two speakers that are working. BTW, the combination of La Scala IIs and good subs makes for some of the best sound in the whole Heritage line. Of course, the Heritage Jubilees are in a class of their own, but a system of LS2s and good subs gives Klipschorns a run for their money.

2 subs are definitely the way to go. Here’s my story: first, the main speakers are JubScala IIs (La Scala IIs modded to 2-way bi-amped with K402 Jubilee tweeters). For years I had a 400 watt 10” Paradigm sub that was okay, but it didn’t go all that deep (23 Hz spec). In 2020, I bought a new Paradigm 850 watt 10” aluminum-bodied sub with an 18Hz spec. Both subs have sealed front-firing housings. I could immediately hear the fuller depth and power, but after a while it seemed that my usual Net Radio station had really turned up the bass. After checking around the room, it became apparent that there was a severe (+20 dB) bass peak in front of the sofa. I had planned on getting a second sub anyway, so I did that, and the bass peak was gone. The bass response is now acceptably even throughout the room. With the Yamaha RX-A2060 AVR, there are two Sub Outs, so that was easy. Just so you know, in many cases the subwoofer info in the music is mono, like in a 5.1 mix, so going to trouble to separate the sub channels will likely make no difference. I think both of my Sub Outs are on the same channel. After a few months, I noticed that the bass seemed a bit overpowering sometimes, which surprised me, because I’d carefully balanced the levels of all the speakers, including the subs, using a Radio Shack SPL. Then I remembered that I had not accounted for the effect of adding a second sub on the total volume in the room. I think the second sub adds 6 dB, so I lowered the level on each sub by 2.5 dB, and now the sub level seems right. So that’s my situation. I should add that my listening/living room is 18’ x 19’ with an 8’ ceiling. It opens on one side to the hallways and dining room, so calculating its total volume is a bit tricky. I don’t normally listen at high volume, mostly 60-80 dB, unless I’m showing off the system for a few minutes. 1700 watts of subwoofage seems fine for my application. As the saying goes, YMMV, and I believe that it’s good to have more power than necessary, because you can always turn it down, but if you don’t have enough power, you’re out of luck. Last thing: the La Scalas, OG or II model, start to roll off on the bottom end at 100 Hz, and by 50 Hz very little is happening. Accordingly, I set the subs’ hi-cut at 110 Hz or so, to allow for the subs’ top-end rolloff. That way, there’s no dip at the crossover point, as can happen if you set your subs’ to cut off at the speakers’ claimed low-end limit. To be sure of even bass response, you have to check every 10 Hz or so, from 140-150 or so on down to the subs’ actual bottom limit. I drew up a chart with pen and ruler, and then photocopied it to have enough to do quite a few test runs, in order to be able to set the subs for the most even bass response. You don’t have to do the testing at high volume. 65-70 dB is loud enough if you’re in a very quiet room, as you should be. Good luck with your quest for great full-range sound, and happy listening!

No, it's not just about law, and it may not apply to all East Asian cultures. Hmm, just realized that this may be seen as political. At that point I deleted the 120 lines or so that I had typed. If this is still too much, sincere apologies, and feel free to delete the post.

When you eliminated one crossover point by going from 3-way to 2-way, how did it sound different/better? Was the frequency range of the sound better integrated? Did the bass and treble sections of your speakers seem to work better together after the change, meaning did the mid-treble integration have beneficial effects further down the frequency range?

Keep checking the Garage Sale section here on the Forum, and check US Audio Mart, as well as other audio gear sites. They may be the top two sites for Klipsch Heritage speakers. Be patient, but have your cash ready, so you can jump when you spot a bargain in your area. Good luck with your quest, and welcome to the Forum!

OR, you could just keep saving for a few months and then get everything you want. You don't have to have a new sound system the day you move in. You've already got pretty good gear. Apply feet to ground for a bit. If you don't mind me saying.

I'd suggest that guessing is a bad idea when you'e talking about such large and expensive purchases. It could be worthwhile to visit Paducah Home Theatre and listen to the Heritage Jubilees in person. Depending on other people's impressions would only leave you doubting and second-guessing yourself. If you're still happy with big speakers, your Jubilee 535s would make excellent surround speakers, for a total setup that would be unequalled anywhere.

Back in 2006, I bought a pair of used La Scalas, speakers that I had aspired to own for many years. I found that the sound wasn’t quite what I expected, a bit too “shouty”, to be exact. I did a mod of my own that fixed that. A month later, I discovered the Forum, and that was a happy day! I read it almost daily, and still do, these many years later. Within two years, based on what I read on the Forum, I bought two pairs of Heresy IIs. A few years after that, I saw a pair of La Scala IIs for sale in the Garage Sale section, and happily travelled to the mainland to bring them home. That makes three pairs of speakers that I would have neither heard of nor been motivated to buy without the Forum. That may be a piddling amount of sales in the big picture, but not to me. Thanks to the Forum, a member saw my mention that one pair of Heresy IIs wasn’t getting any use, so I might sell them. A couple of weeks later, he was on his way back to his home farther north on Vancouver Island with his new acquisitions, and a few days later I got a message that he “was in Heaven when I listen to these speakers”. Of course, that’s just an anecdotal story. That’s only half the story. As I’ve described here more than once, I went on to put together a pair of JubScalas, a speaker configuration first put together by Roy himself. I’m listening to them as I type this, and they still put a smile on my face. If it wasn’t for the freewheeling discussions on here, they would likely never even happened in the first place, much less a pair end up in my living room. Yes, there are grey areas, and there sometimes are mentions of modded speakers that come across as “the way the speakers should have been built in the first place”, which certainly can’t go over well with Roy, after he has spent months or even years to get a model of speaker sounding really good, within the constraints of cost, build time and difficulty, and final price. Custom speakers that are built without those constraints are not a fair comparison with production speakers and should never be seen that way. Another point is the upgrade kits. These are a great idea that should get more publicity, since things like that, which increase an owner’s participation in his or her own speakers, can make a fan into a super-fan for life. Did the Forum veer so far from its original purpose that it was necessary to eliminate and prohibit any mention of 3rd party components? While it’s great to have Jem and Soldermeister providing the ability to restore vintage speakers to their original performance, did that suddenly make the small operations that provided parts and advice to Heritage owners completely redundant and unneeded? I’m not so sure. The enthusiasm they generated was as important as the speakers that they brought back to life, and that should be respected, not tossed aside now that KGI has its own subcontractors. This is just my opinion. I miss hearing from the members who felt driven away by the new policies. I don’t see the place as being improved, although that seems to be the intent of the new policies.

It turns out that the old Dark theme is still available, so we appear to have 2 choices of Dark theme. Cool!

I should point out that the 148 Hz peak in the La Scala bass horns is not a resonance issue, or it would have been eliminated by the stiffer and resonance-free La Scala II cabinets. Confirming this, Roy’s Dx38 settings are the same for the original La Scala and for the La Scala II bass horns. Instead, the peak is a quirk due to the shape of the bass horns. No matter, since it’s simple to not just lessen, but actually eliminate, that notorious bass peak if you’re using a digital processor to EQ the sound from your JubScalas. Also, I’ve never before, at least to my face, been accused of being eloquent, so thanks for that! I appreciate it.

Those Heresy Industrials are very sensitive/efficient, so they’ll play fairly loud with just 5 watts, but they’ll sound better with more power. I think the spec for max power is 100 watts, but if you use some common sense with the volume control, like turn it down if they start to sound strange or make funny noises, you can use even more power safely.

Each one of those tweeters is made of two parts: the compression driver and the horn, so they’re called a “horn-loaded compression driver”, and as the other member states, they certainly have some value. If they work, great. If not, they can be repaired, and I don’t think repairs are very expensive. If you have some Klipsch speakers, post pictures of them, and we can probably identify them for you.

Congrats and happy listening! Also, welcome to the Forum!

Nice! Black like I prefer, but somehow in a bathroom situation, the silver one looks like it's easier to keep clean and sanitary. Am I a picky shopper or what?