Islander

"Micro-climates" naturally occur in small areas, like valleys, for instance, but can also be man-made. I once visited someone in Ireland who lived in a house in front of an apple orchard. The orchard was only about three acres, but the orchard and house were surrounded by a 15-foot-high concrete wall. The wall wasn't needed to prevent apple theft, but it provided a micro-climate for the trees that was much less windy and measurably warmer.

Since the center channel carries mostly dialogue, the Heresy's 12-inch woofer will likely be plenty full-sounding. After all, most dedicated center speakers have 5- to 7-inch woofers. A Heresy would be a better match for Cornwalls than an Academy. According to the purists, the whole idea of having the drivers arranged horizontally may look nice on top of the TV, but it won't give the best sound, due to various issues with the drivers interacting differently depending on where you're sitting. Ideally, the center speaker shouild be standing up like all the others, although it would look unusual. Second-best, but still a little odd-looking, would be a Heresy on its side with its midrange horn centered above or below the TV screen. Hmm, moving it a few inches to center the cabinet over the screen center wouldn't affect the sound noticeably and would look more sensible, especially to anyone else in the room. You need to find a Heresy to try... Also, do you need the center speaker to be magnetically shielded?

Keep in mind that La Scala IIs are not just new, they're an improvement over the originals and they're prettier. I really like my '74s, but if money was not an issue, I'd have a pair of IIs. Actually, I'd probably have five of them and a pair of Jubilees for mains!

With motorcycles, sometimes when a prospective buyer would come in and express interest in a 750, the dealer would let him take one out, accompanied by a mechanic on a 1000. After the ride, the prospect would often buy the 1000...

I've got the Yamaha DVD-S550 feeding analog to the receiver's CD input and digital coax to the receiver's DVD input. For movies and videos, naturally I use the digital coax, but for CDs I can go either way, using the DAC in the DVD player or the DAC in the receiver. Some CDs sound better one way, some the other way. Incidentally, I just picked up the Neil Young Live at Massey Hall 1971 CD & DVD package. To my surprise, the DVD sounds markedly better than the CD. They didn't waste any info on the video aspect, since it has roughly home movie production quality, but it suits the presentation and the sound is really outstanding. Neil's performance is really good, too. I'd never realized he was so skilled on the guitar and piano. BTW, the DVD is strictly 2-channel.

And another view, but I can't take credit for these. Some skilled Klipsch fans made them.

Here's an exploded view of the La Scala. Have you replaced your Technics turntable yet? Not many of them actually break down.

I concur, although my head hasn't exploded yet. My Paradigm CC-370 v4 center sounded great with my old main speakers, less so with the La Scalas, and with the new Yamaha MX-D1 amp for the Scalas, the Paradigm now sounds kinda low-budget (limited depth and presence), so I only use it for movies. Saving up for a Scala or Belle center...

Cool! Thanks, L & C. Interesting how the weight changed, from 55 lbs for the H1 to 37 lbs for the H2, to 44 lbs for the H3. The H1 cabinet was made from either plywood or "veneered lumbercore". Sounds like an early name for MDF.

60th anniversary Khorns are available in the US at $6500 each from Vann's. See http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/542999796 The dealer includes free shipping and charges no sales tax (maybe because they're in Montana?)

That's exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks, guys!

I could be interested in a single if the price doesn't take off at the end of the auction, but shipping it to the West Coast of Canada might get costly. Did anyone notice that the pictures show the back of only one speaker? Both label pictures seem to be the 705 speaker.

Thanks for the info, Bob. As well as hardware and cabinet construction, are there significant performance differences between the two? In other words, is the earlier model nearly as good, or better to avoid? Is it safe to assume that a pair of Is and a pair of IIs would sound fine in the same system? Just trying to cover all the bases so I know what to look for and what to stay away from.

While looking at an ad for speakers, I saw a reference to black La Scala IIs and clicked on it to see how they look. Pretty good, actually, but I also noticed that the dealer, Vann's (an authorized Klipsch dealer) has non-grain matched La Scala IIs (in black ash, cherry and walnut) at a discount price, as well as regular matched ones at the regular prices. They also carry Klipschorns in black ash, something I hadn't seen before. To my eyes at least, the Khorn looks better in "non-black". Black LS IIs: http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/542999863 Black Khorns: http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/542999240

I'm thinking of buying one or two pairs of Heresies to use as surround speakers with my La Scalas. Heresy IIIs are beyond my budget, so I'm looking into Heresy IIs. According to the product page, they were first built in 1985. However, I was at a shop today that has a pair of Heresy IIs in storage (so I didn't see them) that are "probably from the 70s". The same dealer thought my 1974 La Scalas were from the 60s when he sold them to me, so he's not trying to be tricky, he just doesn't know everything. Anyway, how would I tell the difference between original Heresies and model IIs? The Klipsch discontinued products page has no info on the original model, just on the II.

After you've had them in your living room for a while, they don't look so big, but they keep sounding great!

One of the problems with the laser turntable was that it read dirt or scratches as signal, being unable to sort of plow through it like a stylus might, so LPs had to be in top shape and really scrupulously clean.

mas, it's "strange" that no-one picked up on the "charm" of your logic. Quantum grafitti: Heisenberg may have slept here...

And on a lighter note: A man is working on the buses in the US collecting tickets. He rings the bell for the driver to set off when there's a woman not quite on the bus. The driver sets off, the woman falls from the bus and is killed. At the trial the man is sent down for murder and seeing as it's Texas he's sent to the electric chair. On the day of his execution he's sat in the chair and the executioner grants him a final wish. "Well", says the man, "is that your packed lunch over there?" "Yes", answers the executioner. "Can I have that green banana?" The executioner gives the man his green banana and waits till he's eaten it. When the man's finished, the executioner flips the switch sending hundreds of thousands of volts through the man. When the smoke clears the man is still alive. The executioner can't believe it. "Can I go then?", the man asks. "I suppose so", says the executioner, "that's never happened before." The man leaves and eventually gets a job with another bus company selling tickets. Again he rings the bell for the driver to go when people are still getting on. A man falls under the wheels and is killed. The bloke is sent down for murder again and sent to the electric chair. The executioner is determined to do it right this time so rigs the chair up to the electric supply for the whole of Texas. The bloke is again sat in the chair. "What is your final wish?" asks the executioner. "Can I have that green banana in your packed lunch?" says the condemned man. The executioner sighs and reluctantly gives up his banana. The bloke eats the banana all up and the executioner flips the switch. Millions of volts course through the chair blacking out Texas. When the smoke clears the man is still sitting there smiling in the chair. The executioner can't believe it and lets the man go. Well, would you believe it, the bloke gets his job back on the buses. Once again he rings the bell whilst passengers are still getting on, this time killing three of them. He is sent to the electric chair yet again. The executioner rigs up all of the United States' electricity supply to the chair, determined to get his man this time. The man sits down in the chair smiling. "What's your final wish?", asks the executioner. "Well", says the man, "Can I have that green banana out of your packed lunch?" The executioner hands over his banana and the man eats it all, skin included. The executioner pulls the handle and a bazillion volts go through the chair. When the smoke rises the man is still sitting there alive without even a burn mark. "I give up", says the executioner, "I don't understand how you can still be alive after all that?". He stroked his chin. "It's something to do with that green banana isn't it", he asked. Nahh," said the bloke, "I'm just a really bad conductor."

I don't think your components should be covered unless they'll be sitting unused for a long time, like when you go on vacation, for instance. A simple dusting every couple of weeks is fine, and maybe a very gentle pass with the vacuum with the hose and upholstery nozzle once a year.

As Keith Richards once said, "Aah, it's close enough for rock and roll!"

When she comes back, why don't you introduce some Klipsch bikini's, maybe some lingerie. Hey, I don't want to see any of you guys in bikinis or lingerie! I'd rather see "butt-ugly" Jubilees than someone's XXXL butt in scanty panties, thanks...

Line-level attenuator? That's an interesting idea. If it works, it would be a nice simple solution. I'll try disconnecting everything else first, but I suspect the noise may be RF from the switching type power supply in the power amp. Today I tried ferrite clamp-type noise filters on one of the speaker cables with no effect at all. The amp comes with clamp filters to use on the power and interconnect cables and they're all in place.

Thanks for the tips, Shawn. I've tried every variation on wall outlets, circuits, interconnects and so on and the only time the buzz disappears is when the interconnect is unhooked from the amp's inputs. The pre-amp is a receiver and is very quiet when driving its own power amp. The local dealer is interested to see the amp and has offered to hook it up to some of their equipment to see what may be causing the noise and whether something can be done. So how were you able to reduce the hiss on your tripath amps? I haven't seen any "hiss-related" adjustments on my gear.

That's an interesting take on using subwoofers and it makes sense. The sub can be set to integrate with your main speakers and your room and placed independently of the main speakers for best results. Some people may find that La Scalas have plenty of bass, but adding a sub allows my system to give fairly flat response down to 25-30 Hz, something the Scalas won't do by themselves, although the La Scala IIs have a stiffer bass bin and are said to have more solid bass response.