Islander

Perfect! Have you any other La Scalas in your system?

Congrats on your buy, jc! Happy listening!

Not a good sign, Roc. That ringing in your ears is your hearing pulling out of the station...

Doc, that sounds really far away, and La Scalas are not tall speakers. Many modern high-end speakers are 5 or 6 feet tall. Does that imply that the listener should be 30 or 40 feet away for best results? I'm not scoffing at what you say, it just sounds like most home audio speakers would not be at their best in a typical home. My Scalas are about 13 feet away and my ears are about level with the tweeters. Maybe I'll try sitting a bit behind the sofa and see if I can hear a difference. But then the sofa would mess up the sound. It never ends...

That logic applies to many things, like motorcycles and cars, for example. Average-looking gets an average price, but like-new is always worth top dollar. Trying to put something scruffy or average-looking into like-new condition is often nearly as expensive as buying new.

GWAR? That cracked me up! You are cool, and now you've got another cool story to tell.

Dread Zeppelin? Now that rocks! They had a good video on MuchMusic for a while. Makes me think of Bubba Ho-Tep. I've gotta rent that one of these days.

Thanks for the info, Michael! I'm sure I'm not the only one who was curious about that. But did anyone try one-and-a-half-inch plywood? That's not a silly question, I'm tossing around the idea of adding a second panel of 3/4-inch plywood to each side of my Scalas to stiffen them up. In the meantime, maybe I'll start saving up for some LSIIs and do it right when I can afford it.

There's a lot more to a La Scala II than different internals. The cabinet is 2-piece instead of 1-piece and the bass bin is made of 1-inch MDF instead of 3/4-inch plywood. The new parts would upgrade your La Scalas, but they still would not be La Scala IIs, in sound or looks. As well, the new networks/crossovers are optimized for the new cabinet with its improved bass response, so they wouldn't perform as designed if they were installed in an original La Scala. Sorry to shoot down your upgrade idea, but it would be pretty expensive and wouldn't convert your speakers to 2007 models. As you've noticed, your speakers already sound pretty good, but I'll suggest an update and an upgrade. If the capacitors in the networks are original, you'll want to replace them, since they'll be way past their prime. New caps don't cost much and you'll notice an immediate improvement in clarity. As well, a popular mod is Bob Crites' CT125 tweeters. They noticeably improve the sound over the standard K-77s, although one or two forum members prefer the K-77s. Bob Crites (BEC on the forum) has cap kits as well. Your Technics table should be fine if it's operating properly. If the cables are failing or you have a loose connection, that could cause the crackling. Unfortunately, the cables are attached deep inside the unit, so replacing them is a shop job in most cases. Even so, it's not too costly. I had the old cables on my SL-1400MK2 replaced with good quality WireWorld cables and a new Shure M97xE cartridge installed and the sound is good enough to make me happy for the next few years at least.

Hmm, is that pile of stuff resting on a probably non-functioning central A/C unit? Sort of like those types that put a working TV on top of a dead one and when the fresh one fails, stack a third one on top of it. "Why so many TVs?" "Just the top one works and it was too much trouble to take the other two outside."

Four LS and an H3? Sounds like an excellent setup!

If you send in a post and then wish you could change it, you can! Go back to your post and hit the "edit" button. A new window will open and you can make any changes you want and post it again. It will appear in the same spot with the new changes. This is a feature I haven't seen on other forums and it's really handy. It would probably explain why sometimes you see posts that are just a period. The poster thought better of it and deleted the whole thing. Hmm, wish I could do that in daily life sometimes...

Klipsch claim an improvment with the H3 and it uses MDF instead of plywood, yet the LS2 is MDF & plywood. Does plywood resonate more than MDF? Could horns just sound better with plywood instead of MDF, yet larger cones sound better with MDF? In the La Scala II, the plywood HF section contains and supports the squawker and tweeter horns, while the MDF bass bin is the woofer horn. Resonance and inertness are less significant in the case of the HF section, and plywood is definitely sturdier. In the case of the Heresy speakers, the cabinet has an influence on the sound of the woofer. However, the H2 and H3 both have MDF cabinets (most of the H2s, at least). There are other changes that account for the differences and improvements between the H2 and H3.

As time goes by, they start to look smaller. My La Scalas just look medium-sized to me now. And since they're black, many people don't even notice them the first time they enter the living room. "Like my speakers?" "Where?" "Over there and there." "Holy moly!"

hygog, that's a pretty big room that calls for pretty big speakers. La Scalas sound like the best candidates. My top-floor condo living room is 18' x 19', that opens out to the dining and hall area, so the area is more like 18' x 30' but the height is a more typical 8'. The La Scalas work very well and are definitely not too much for that space. La Scalas are heavy, but unless you're lifting them, they're not that hard to move. They slide around nicely on carpet, for example.

The La Scala II is an upgrade over the original La Scala as well as an update. The bass bin is made of 1-inch MDF because it's less resonant and much stiffer than the 3/4-inch plywood used in the original LS. This addresses the lack of bass bin sidewall stiffness that limits bass volume in the original LS. THe LS II is reputed to be noticeably improved in the bass area. The top section is still made of plywood. As well, the LS II is better looking, or at least less industrial looking, so much so that the Belle was discontinued, since the La Scala II is equally good-looking, but less expensive. Better sound and better looks? That's not a case of a manufacturer "cheaping out".

I can't say what the current market is like, but I paid $1200 Cdn for my "average condition" 1974 La Scalas last August in Victoria, BC. With the size and weight of these speakers, location/shipping is an important factor, so when I saw and heard a pair only 10 minutes drive from my place, they seemed like more of a bargain than some less expensive ones a long distance away. I'm sure you were glad you were able to hear yours before buying and to take them safely home yourself.

First, congrats on your La Scalas. I got mine a year ago and like them more every day. Next, a year or two to put your system together? Hah! I said to myself a couple of times, "There, that's the system about complete." I eventually realized it will never be complete, although from time to time it reaches plateaus where I may leave it as it is for a year or two, or until I think of the next upgrade. It does always sound good to me, although "good" is getting ever better. Finally, loose connections? The same thing happened to mine in the first week. One of the connectors on the crossover came loose, so I resoldered it and checked all the rest. You might want to give all the connections a gentle tug and see if any more are loose, then you can relax and get back to listening to your favourite music. However, you may find your taste changing over time, as the Scalas reveal hidden subtleties in music you thought was nothing special, and expose flaws in music you thought was great.

Sounds like the custom made shelves needed custom made front lips. It's always good to assume you live in an earthquake zone...

Apparently not. Steve said that in the 1990-92 period the serial numbers weren't consistent with the usual patterns and that the part number indicated black-finished Heresy IIs and not much more. He wasn't sure about the w/o 6943 either.

I spoke with Steve Phillips (thanks, Steve!) and he was able to narrow them down to 1990 to 1992. I'll have to pull out the woofers and check their numbers to get more specific dates, but that's close enough for now.

For some reason I think Don Mossi would agree with you. Is Don Mossi related to Prince Charles? There's something similar about those sail-like appendages...

Exactly! And a tone control or loudness button is no substitute for a more powerful amp, either.

The future is already here. It just isn't widely distributed yet. William Gibson

The loudness button is for listening at low volume. It boosts the bass quite a bit and the treble a little bit to compensate for the ear's loss in sensitivity to the lowest and highest tones when the volume is low. It's not meant to rattle the windows at high volume.