Islander

Clearly you've suffered too much music in your face... I like your explanation though Listening to my JubScalas ain't suffering, I tell you what... [][]

One claim asserting the superiority of OFC copper is that the clumps of oxygen (technical term) in the cable act as little transistors or other electrical components, which messes up the sound. I don't know how far-fetched that is, and I don't really believe it, but I've read it more than once.

"In your face" is a perception by certain people, in audio terms anyway. Would you agree that this description of speakers is usually used by entry-level listeners and reviewers? I've seen speaker "shootouts" where the Klipsch speaker was described as "too revealing". Have you ever heard of a TV picture being described as "too clear"? Only in the case of ugly faces on the screen, of course. Normally, clearer and more revealing is what you want. However, not everyone wants the sensation of live performers and instruments in their room. They want "nice sounds of music" to relax by, or to accompany whatever they're doing. The sound of real drums, for instance, can be pretty harsh, and is not what some folks find pleasant. Real music fans want to feel that they are in the same room as the performers, able to hear the sounds of fingers on strings, spit in saxophones, along with every detail of a singer's voice. Those fans may be a minority of audio buyers, with most buyers preferring "smooth sound". That's my take on it, anyway.

Most speaker manufacturers nowadays recommend using an amplifier that is rated to put out twice what the speakers are rated for. That way, the amp will always be putting out clean power, which is less dangerous to speakers than a low-powered amp that goes into clipping because it's asked to put out too much power.

Very bright blue power lights were commented on a few times in the Canadian magazine UHF (Ultra High Fidelity) in that they found some were nearly bright enough to read by and were annoying. With the 12V trigger cable connected, do you hear a relay click-in in your Rotel as it powers up? If so, you should also be able to hear it click out when you turn off your Yamaha and it signals the Rotel to shut down. Just a suggestion. As for not connecting the power amp to the back of the receiver, that's good advice, since those switched power sockets are usually rated for only 100 watts, and your amp may draw more than that.

In most cases, going up or down two sizes (18awg to 14awg, for example) will give an audible difference, although with the higher sensitivity of Klipsch speakers, it may not be obvious unless you go up or down three sizes of cable.

Just beware of buyers or sellers that show up with a pistol in their pocket: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/110857.aspx I hope all of America isn't like that and all Americans don't think like that...

I agree with seti. I don't listen to loud music that often, but I've turned up my Scalas to deafening volume a few times and the other listeners were always impressed by the amazing clarity and lack of distortion when they were played really loud. However, I am using a good sub with them. It really helps for the bottom couple of octaves.

Hey, why not? That way you'll know there is no excess resistance in your speaker cables. BTW, I'm using 8 gauge for my woofers and 10 gauge for my tweeters in a bi-amped setup. Sounds good to me. Because of the weight of those cables, you'll want to support them somehow, so they're not tugging on the connectors. I looped mine around the support bracket of the K400 horn to take the weight off the connectors. Let us know if you can hear the difference. Drumbeats and handclaps and those kinds of transient sounds would be where the low resistance is most noticeable.

Yeah, some amps are musical and some are not, some make you want to tap your toes and some don't. At least, that's what some hi-fi writers say. I guess I just haven't heard enough different gear yet to fully grasp that.

So do you think it would fit into a LS top if the top cut out was modified? The LS top section is 10" high inside, so a 510 horn would fit, but it's 15" wide, rather than the approx. 16" of the K400, so you have to do something about the extra width of the opening in the cabinet. If you did install the 510/K-69 in a La Scala HF section, you'd have a cool "sleeper" JubScala that looked almost like a factory model. I thought about doing that, but found that I liked the added height of the tweeter on top of the cabinet. If you go ahead with making JubScalas, you can try both ways temporarily and see which sounds best to you.

More likely they're enjoying the heat from those tubes.

You mean that "euphonious distortion" that makes music sound nicer than it really is?

The K-69A driver may be available from its manufacturer, but as far as I know, the K510 horn is a Klipsch proprietary design, by Roy Delgado, the head engineer who co-designed the Jubilee with PWK. It's described as a modified tractix horn.

When I first got the Scalas, I put a grille cloth over the midrange horn because I thought it looked and sounded better. Now the original mid horn and tweeter are disconnected, along with the original AA crossover. The tweeter is connected directly to the treble power amp and the woofer is connected directly to the bass power amp. Both amps are connected to the outputs from the Electro-Voice Dx38 processor, which is connected to the Pre Outs from the receiver. The 510 does have a 2" throat and behind it is a Klipsch K-69A driver. It's a tweeter that's able to go low enough into the midrange to meet the woofer, so there's only one crossover point to deal with, around 475Hz. Here's a side view of the 510/K-69. You can also see the K-55V original midrange driver in the cabinet and how much smaller it is than the K-69A. The 510 is resting on a block of Styrofoam that I used to hold up its front end until I was able to have some proper stands made up. The stands were needed because the 510s are meant to be bolted down onto the bass bin in a theatre application, but I preferred not to drill any holes in the lids of my La Scala cabinets.

Don't worry and keep looking. There are a lot of La Scalas in circulation, since they almost never die. I'm enjoying the sound of my 1974 models right now.

The opening is 9" tall and 15" wide, measured to the outer edge of the flange and the front-to-back measurement is around 5".

I recently had a staff member at a lumber yard cut some plywood for me. I wanted some 15" wide pieces with a nice straight cut. When I got them home and took a closer look, I soon saw that I had a bunch of 14-7/8" pieces with a wavy cut that were basically scrap. Don't expect any kind of precision for your $2...

The La Scala (or JubScala) bass bin sure looks like a folded horn to me:

For most types of music, La Scalas really benefit from the help of a subwoofer, but then so do most other speakers. You don't need to put La Scalas in the corners. That's one of their advantages. There is a bass reflex mod that you can search for on the forum, but it doesn't give the same performance as an actual sub.

Very cool!

Here's a JubScala with the 402 horn. It looks extra top-heavy since it's a La Scala bass bin only, not a full LS cabinet, which would be a foot taller. It's the one on the left, while that's a Jubilee on the right, also with the 402 horn, which looks about right on its much larger bass bin.

JubScalas can have either the K510 tweeter horn or the K402 tweeter horn, each with the K-69A driver. The 402 horn has a larger sweet spot and is reputed to have better sound, but it's actually bigger than a La Scala cabinet and has to sit sideways on top of it. Here's a picture of a 510 JubScala. It's the right one, so I offset the tweeter to the right side of the LS cabinet. The left one is of course offset to the left side of its LS cabinet. The sound is a great leap above a regular La Scala, but that's not just because of the speaker upgrade, the bi-amping and digital time-alignment help, too.

Yamaha makes 3 stereo receivers, each with better THD and damping factor specs than the comparable 7.1 channel AV receivers. Info at: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/stereoreceivers.html?CTID=5000500 3-way comparison: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/compare/Detail.html?compitem1=200028&compitem2=200029&compitem3=200030&CTID=5000600&VNM=LIVE&comp_items=200028&comp_items=200029&comp_items=200030&B_compare.x=28&B_compare.y=7 If you don't need a tuner, they also make 2-channel amps, integrated or straight power amps: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/separate/integratedamp.html?CTID=5002300

I'm using a 7.1 receiver with 5 speakers and a sub. Depending on the program, I may listen in DTS Neo 6 Music (most of the time), 5 Channel Stereo (for sporting events for the open-air feel) or Straight (2-Channel) when music is playing. Can you run the speaker outs from your TV to your current 2-channel music system? Are your main speakers on the same wall as the TV? That's all it takes.