Islander

You can upgrade a system in small steps or big steps. A few big steps are much cheaper than many small steps, plus the improvements are more obvious, so you'll feel your money is well spent.

Who mentioned B***? Of course, longer cables will be needed in some cases. I just questioned the assumption that sub cables are always over 25 feet long.

Not all SS electronics sound the same. If you didn't like the pre-amp you tried, another brand might sound better with the Belles.

Since you mentioned efficiency (or sensitivity as it's more often called), the Jubilees and JubScalas rate 108dB or more when used with the active crossover. They sound great at low volume, but can produce very high volume with ease.

The JubScala (sometimes spelled JubeScala) is a La Scala, or just a La Scala bass bin, with a Jubilee tweeter. The Jubilee tweeter is a K-69A, used with either the 510 (small) or 402 (very large) horn. It's a 2-way design, rather than the LS 3-way design, but manages to sound much better. Ther are many advantages to going that way. The Jubilee tweeters are a design that's about 40 years newer than the LS tweeters and squawkers, with a smoother and clearer sound. The Jubilee bass bin is better than an LS bass bin, but at 41 inches wide, it's bigger than many folks are comfortable with, so an LS bass bin and subwoofer give a reasonable approximation of the Jubilee sound. The Jubilee is delivered without crossovers, since it's optimized for use with an electronic crossover in a bi-amped configuration. The recommended unit is the EV Dx38, which allows for a degree of precision in equalizing that's not possible with passive crossovers. As well, it has several built-in adjustable delay units, allowing the woofer and tweeter to be time-aligned at the push of a button. It's also easy to tweak the sound to suit your personal preference and revert to original settings if it's not to your liking. Not to be overlooked, this way you'd actually be buying something from Klipsch (the tweeters), who designed and build these great speakers and provide this very helpful forum. There's lots of info on the forum about JubScalas, but you could start here: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/100243.aspx

All reports on the La Scala II fit and finish indicate that they are well put together and couldn't be called "utility finish", unlike some of the first series La Scalas. If you're building from scratch, you might want to consider JubScalas. They'll very noticeably outperform even modified La Scalas, plus you'd only have to build the bass bins, then order the woofers and tweeters (no squawkers). Then you need the amps and crossover, but it really is worth it. That's what I've found. If you went with one-inch MDF and followed the LS II specs, you'd have JubScala IIs. Those would sound excellent! As for the tweeters, whether they used the 510 horns or 402 horns, you could get creative and build enclosures for them that would give the finished look you're after.

If the Pioneer is a typical AV receiver, all its pre outs will be RCA (unbalanced) type. You can get RCA-to-XLR (unbalanced-to-balanced) interconnects, but you may run into grounding issues. Even so, it can be done. I'm using RCA-to-XLR cables to run from my Yamaha AV receiver to the EV Dx38 digital processor, since it has only XLR connections for input and output. The output is no problem, since the Yamaha power amps have both RCA and XLR inputs, so XLR-to-XLR (balanced) cables work fine for that part of the system.

Back around 1980, I saw Timothy Leary doing a routine at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto. It wasn't exactly comedy and he wasn't exactly lucid, but it was interesting to see him in person.

The comic came out years before the song. Actually, the song is about another person called Iron Man, at least according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man_%28song%29

Or, how to make an expensive and beautiful turntable more expensive and more beautiful:

KD-BR means Klipschorn Decorator - Birch Raw. Not that rare, but that laboratory-industrial description makes a good sales pitch. Oh, other than being not true. They look to be in decent shape, at least.

A more powerful amp might sound better, but you should be fine if you keep the volume below the point of distortion. When receivers and amps had volume knobs that went from 0 to 10, it was often suggested to never turn the volume past 7, or sometimes 5, to keep the amp in its safe operating area.

It's odd how the other surfers look pretty casual as the enormous shark passes within a few feet of them. A cool video, all the same.

La Scalas can really benefit from the help of a sub. You might want to consider an amplifier with a sub out, or some other way of sending a signal to a sub. Replacing the caps and maybe the tweeters is also a good idea. I bought both from BEC (Bob Crites), Sonicaps and CT125 tweeters, and both were obvious improvements over the "as-found" sound of my 1974 La Scalas.

The honourable doctor deserved a Nobel prize, considering the impact of his discovery on 20th century culture.

It's "Oi!", not "Oy!" People in New York say "Oy", usually followed by "vey!".

Based on my experience with updating my La Scalas with new Sonicaps and BEC's CT125 tweeters, the clarity will be noticeably improved and the timbre will change little. YMMV, of course.

Why would subs need longer cables? Aren't they best located between the main speakers, where the rest of the music is coming from? I've got a 2-metre cable on my sub and 4.5 metre cables on my mains. Are the longer cables for those who put their subs behind the sofa to "feel the bass"?

Thanks for not dumbing down your humour, Ray!

So have you had a listen to your new unit yet? Since it's a long-throw design, aiming at a wall or ceiling might help spread out the sound for a wider sweet spot, so that's a good idea. I'd recommend you try it out before the party, to save any embarrassment if it has any problems.

Yeah, an original Heresy, 1957-1985 series. Latest "digital" technology, or what?

Seven young brothers were so poor that they had to share one bed, with some at one end, some at the other end. Even worse, three of them were bed-wetters. One of the "dry" brothers asked another one, "Which end will you sleep in tonight?" "The shallow end!", he answered.

I heard of Americans doing that over twenty years ago, but I don't rmember in which state. As for hanging onto bumpers in the winter, we used to do that when I lived in Quebec. We called it "ski-botte", since we were skiing in our bottes, or boots. We worried about hitting a patch of bare pavement, but in Quebec in mid-winter, you could go months without seeing bare pavement.

It's amazing how so many companies come out with "new" ideas and engineering and assume that their customers are so ignorant that they will never have seen all this classic technology before. It is to laugh...

Why? Shouldn't a sub be described by what it does, not by what it looks like? Also, it's great that there are subs that go down to 16Hz, but they are pretty expensive and not needed to reproduce most music. If a sub can just go below 30Hz, it won't win any bragging contests, but it may well reproduce the sound of any bass instrument other than a large organ pipe. For me, at least, "bass" is the sound of a bass musical instrument, it's not a substance or thing by itself that can be produced in amazingly large amounts to give the listener some kind of impactful physical sensation. That was really cool when I was in my twenties, but it's not what it's all about anymore. Back then, no-one had a stereo with bass response anywhere near what you'd hear at a concert, but now lots of us do. It's no longer amazing. Now we can get back to listening to music the way it really sounds, with bass drums and bass guitars that move the room like at a concert, but not like they're an earthquake. Of course, if you like the earthquake feeling all the time, go for it! It's your money. Just don't move in next door to me, please.