Islander

Any differences/improvements will be more noticeable if you go up in size at least two steps, for example 18 gauge to 14, 16 gauge to 12, 14 gauge to 10 gauge, etc. It's less obvious when going up just one size. If you think of the speaker cable as a bottleneck between the amp and the speakers, wouldn't you want the least restriction possible? Besides, speaker cable is generally one of the least expensive parts of the system, so not much is saved by cheaping out there.

Since the name Heresy has already been used, should the Palladium speaker be renamed the Apostasy?

Hmm, I could save on electricity by printing out those patterns, framing them and hanging them on the wall. Colour or B&W, I'd have a choice of two channels. And I wouldn't miss anything during a bathroom break...

What kind of connectors are you using? If you're using bare wire, the bigger gauges can be hard to work with, but the connectors are all the same size at the business end.

As Sam Tellig wrote in his review of the La Scala II in Stereophile, "To get dynamics like this elsewhere, you might be looking at a very expensive pair of speakers -- $20,000 or $30,000 a pair, or more -- plus equally expensive, heroic, high-power amplification." The accurate reproduction of the dynamics of music is one of the most noticeable ways to distinguish between a system that sounds like a good hi-fi and a system that sounds like live music. That's why efficiency (or sensitivity, as it's called nowadays) of the speakers was one of PWK's priorities. As for expensive exotic cables, it could be that they're mostly bought by people who have already spent a great deal on their systems and are actually trying to spend more money but are running out of ideas for upgrades.

Why would you want to have your first impressions coloured by preconceptions based on other people's opinions? In particular, a big build-up usually leads to disappointment. Most Heresy owners like them a lot and you'll probably like yours a lot, too. Of course you're eager to get them, but it won't be much longer until you can hear them for yourself.

Yeah, that show with the Indian. And sometimes that show where it's always a blizzard. Mostly real late at night...

That's a pretty guitar, Bruce! I see what you mean about the height of the strings, plus the neck seems very wide.

Thanks for the tips. I just had a listen again a few minutes ago and noticed that the sound is more like a mid-pitched buzz than a hum, and it can be heard even when the volume is muted. Does that narrow it down at all?

Do you mean ground the cases to the building ground, or to each other?

Why not, Jeff Healey plays a regular guitar like a lap steel. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Healey By himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRov2XscQJc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJh3KaIKDAw&feature=related With Stevie Ray Vaughan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqU9RZqvFKY&feature=related

I'm using an AV receiver as a pre-amp, connected to a stereo power amp to drive my main speakers, while the receiver powers the center and surround speakers. Both units have 12V trigger connections, so I got a mono mini-plug to mini-plug cable at The Source (formerly Radio Shack) because nobody else seemed to carry them. It's convenient to have the receiver turn the power amp on and off, but I get a very noticeable hum from the midrange horn. The hum only occurs when the trigger cable is connected. When I tried moving the cable around, I was able to make the hum worse, but not better. It does not vary with the volume, so it's much less noticeable when the music is playing. I don't know whether the noise is interference or a ground loop. Should these cables be shielded, like an interconnect? Has anyone seen a shielded trigger cable and who sells them?

I've tried several sizes of speaker cable and in every instance the bigger cable sounded better, with crisper transients, better detail and stronger bass. The sizes were 16 gauge, 14 gauge, 12 gauge and now 8 gauge. The cable size may not be crucial when playing test tones, but to properly reproduce the spiky peaks of music, it's necessary to allow for sudden demands of many more watts than the average listening levels would call for.

About as well as two black boxes the size of washing machines can. [] Seriously, though, with most recordings they definitely do disappear. I'm still impressed with the way some of the performers can appear at various heights, sometimes at double the height of the speakers, which is a pretty good trick of audioacoustic engineering, if you ask me.

Thanks, Peter, but that photo is months old. You certainly were right about moving the speakers further apart. It really opened up the soundstage and actually added detail to the sound. However, just last week, I moved them even further apart, to 12 feet center-to-center (with a listening distance of 13 feet) and noticed even more improvement in imaging and detail. As well, I added the high-power Yamaha amp in May and and replaced the Paradigm center with a Heresy II two weeks ago. That made everything really click. I put the electronics in a new stand yesterday, from Skylan in Calgary (http://www.skylanstands.com/racks.htm) and the room looks less cluttered (or more organized) now. I'll post a picture soon.

Which model is your Technics deck? If it's in decent shape and working properly, maybe a cartridge upgrade will give you the improvement you're looking for. On my SL-1400MK2, going from a low-end Audiotechnica to a Shure M97xE transformed it and showed me how good vinyl can sound.

When you're designing your wall unit, you may want to keep in mind that the speakers will sound best if they're toed in towards the listening position. At least a few inches out from the wall is good, too. Depending on the space you have available, it would be ideal to have them as far apart as you are away from them, like if you're ten feet away, they should be around ten feet apart, measured center-to-center. Those are just starting points, of course. It can be fun experimenting with speaker placement and hearing the changes in sound, better and worse, subtle and obvious.

First, your speakers are 1975 models. LS-BB indicates La Scala, Black Birch. If they wobble on your floor, definitely find something to level them with. You wouldn't want the cabinets to begin to warp. As well, they won't sound their best if they're unstable. As for grille cloth, there are a couple of ways to go. You can make up a frame and attach cloth to it for a late-model stock appearance, or remove the midrange horns and attach grille cloth from the back and then re-install the horns. Putting grille cloth over the tweeters can give a muffled sound. Lots of owners change the appearance of their speakers and are happy with the results. As for your girlfriend's grumbles, La Scalas, especially black ones, seem to get smaller over time. They continue to sound great, but become less obtrusive. It's not just me, other forum members have said the same thing. When watching a movie with the lights dimmed, they almost disappear. As for updates and mods, replacing the old (and no longer top-performing) capacitors is a fairly simple soldering job and is not too expensive. Replacing the tweeters with BEC's CT125s will improve clarity as well, but if they sound fine to you now, there's no need to rush out and buy new parts. Enjoy the music!

Sounds logical, but can you actually hear a difference between tweeters that are mounted from the front or from the back? Particularly when you're listening from an on-axis position, with the speakers facing directly at you?

Thanks, that was interesting. I wonder if the writer actually heard them, considering that he made almost no reference to the sound of the speakers.

Haven't heard about Sarah Jane, but Torchwood has been on the air for a couple of months. It's a spinoff set in Cardiff, Wales, about a secret group, led by an American (who has some Time Lord characteristics), who fight aliens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torchwood http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/10/17/25634.shtml

I find that nearly all speakers can benefit from the help of a sub. In my bedroom system, the main speakers each have a pair of 10-inch bass/mid drivers, so you'd expect them to have adequate bass response. When I first turn on the system, the two subs are off. If the news or a talk program is on and a woman is speaking, the subs don't turn on, but a male voice will cause them to turn on and the voice immediately sounds more full and realistic. To my ears at least, subs aren't just needed for music with lots of bass, they help almost all music and some vocals. Even mid-range sounds can have some bass content.

This came up recently in another thread. You need mini-spades. You may find them at a car audio shop. If you use slightly oversize spades and squeeze them to be narrower, don't forget to flatten them with a vice or big pliers.

Just read that Alice Cooper may appear on Doctor Who. That would rock! http://entertainment1.sympatico.msn.ca/Alice+Cooper+to+star+on+Doctor+Who/TV_Guide/TVNews/Articles/071112_AliceCooperDrWho_LT.htm?isfa=1