J M O N

Jim Cornell: Have you ever considered changing your name legally to "Jim Cornwall"?

I guess I'm ignorant. I can't say that I have noticed this board going into the toilet. But then again, I don't read every post. I would say that it seems that there has been some negativity lately, but that seemed to be coming from just a few select individuals. I'll continue to keep coming back to this board as long as the people who make this a great BB keep posting.

The Cornwall and Forte are both excellent speakers. It's probably going to be a matter of taste, but the Cornwall was the "higher" model in the Klipsch line. For a given signal, the Forte might have a little bit more bass due to it's passive radiator. However, due to this passive radiator, the bass won't be as tight as the Cornwall. I prefer the Cornwall over the Forte. If you can live with the size of a Cornwall (it'll probably take twice the floor space as a Forte), I'd recommend the Cornwall. The Forte is still an excellent speaker though.

Ed, apparently you're not missing a single thing!

Slon: I'm not very familiar with pro equipment, so I'm not sure what the material you are talking about is. It could be fiberglass or maybe just MDF or plywood with some type of coating applied. I do not know. By the way, since you are not familiar with the La Scala, note that they are extremely efficient and can play very, very loud with very little power. Thus, your Crown superamp may be overkill. Some people on this board power their La Scalas/Khorns/Belles with 3 watt amps (yes, THREE watts!). The La Scala was orignally designed for professional use. As such, cosmetics were not an issue and they are made only from birch plywood. You cannot get them in any other type of veneer. The Belle Klipsch was made to be the "home version" of the La Scala" and has a fancier cabinet. Belles are more expensive so many people use La Scalas for home use. La Scalas can be orded with a black lacquer finish, unfinished, or with a lacquer finish. They come without a front grill, but a grill can be ordered to cover the high and mid horns. Here is more info on the La Scala: The Heritage Series LaScala three-way loudspeaker provides a very Klipschorn®-like performance with sparkling highs; extreme output, yet smooth midrange; and the unsurpassed low distortion bass response of the patented Klipsch folded-horn woofer. Utilizing horn-loaded drivers similar to those in the Klipschorn® and Belle Klipsch, the LaScala is highly efficient and can produce high volumes with very little power and undetectable distortion. The LaScala effectively places a microscope on the music, enabling you to hear the intricate detail and emotional response of the artist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 45Hz-17.5kHz±3dB SENSITIVITY: 104dB @ 1watt/1meter POWER HANDLING: 100 watts maximum continuous (400 watts peak) MAXIMUM ACOUSTIC OUTPUT: 124dB SPL NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 8 ohms ENCLOSURE TYPE: Fully horn-loaded TWEETER: K-77-M 1" (2.54cm) Phenolic diaphragm compression driver HIGH FREQUENCY HORN: 90°x40° Exponential Horn HIGH FREQUENCY CROSSOVER: 6000Hz MIDRANGE: K-55-M 2" (5.08cm) Phenolic diaphragm compression driver MID-FREQUENCY HORN: 90°x40° Exponential Horn MID-FREQUENCY CROSSOVER: 400Hz WOOFER: K-33-E 15" (38.1cm) Fiber-composite cone / folded horn-loaded DIMENSIONS: 35.5" (90.17cm) x 23.75" (60.33cm) x 24.5" (62.23cm) WEIGHT: 123 lbs. (55.84kg) ENCLOSURE MATERIAL: Plywood & Medium density fiberboard construction (MDF) FINISHES: Raw Birch, Black (Optional Lacquer) YEARS BUILT: 1963 - You can find this information by going to the Home Audio section, then go to Heritage, then La Scala. You can get specs and other information from there.

Slon: I see you are in the DFW area. Is your name Larry Allen, and do the "other guys" play along side you on the Cowboys offensive line? If so, then I see no reaon why you couldn't pick them up and "cary them across your shoulders". In case you are not familiar with the La Scala, each one is approximately the size of a washing machine and each weigh in at around 125 pounds. If you end up with the home La Scalas, I would be VERY careful about what type of handles you mount on them. Since the La Scalas are very heavy, the wrong type of handle may rip off of the speaker (which would be immediately followed by your La Scala hitting the ground). As you have seemed to have figured out, the black paint is not what protects the La Scala from damage. It's the metal protection on the corners and edges of the Pro La Scala that do this. I am not sure about this, but there may have been a Pro La Scala that was made from fiberglass. I could be thinking about another speaker though. Maybe someone else can verify this. If so, it should be lighter. If you are going to need these speakers to be portable, save your back and buy yourself a hand truck. I did and it was worth every penny. BTW, if you do get these, let me know where you play these things at, I might like to take a listen. Is this for a band? DJ?

I have also used Formby's. It worked well for me.

The first time I got to see Klipsch in person was in 1986 at the Navy Exchange in Guam. For $800 (special at the time, regular price was around $900), you could take either La Scalas or Cornwall II's. I wanted to take those La Scalas with me so bad, but their size and weight prohibited me getting them back to the mainland. I did get Cornwalls five years later, but I never stopped thinking about the La Scalas. I dreamed about them for years. Fourteen years later, I got exactly what I dreamed about, stained/finished La Scalas with front grills.

deang, During the past couple of years, I had been experimenting with various amplifiers to try and get the best sound out of my system. I had been trying SS amps exclusively. The champion ended up being a Jeff Rowland amp. This was the best amplifier I had heard in my system. As you may know, Rowland amps are considered to be among the best (if not the best) SS amps made. They are also very expensive. The sound was wonderful. It was very smooth, no harshness at all. Of course I had been hearing all of the talk about tubes, so when I came across a deal on an Audio Research VT-50 tube amp, I decided to give it a shot. Well, to make a long story short, the VT-50 is the new champ of my system. The Rowland was sold and I am now a believer in tubes. I plan on replacing my SS preamp with tubes. I am also considering bringing in an SET to challenge the VT-50.

I think you explained things very well Q-man!

Is there any reason you guys don't want to use cheater plugs? They are cheap and they solve the problem. I use them myself. A ground loop is essentially when you have multiple components grounded, then when you connect them together via interconnects (or cable -- the TV cable is also grounded), you create a "Loop" which causes the noise. By using cheater plugs, you are breaking the loop, but each of your components are still grounded via the interconnects (or TV cable). Just make sure you have at least one component grounded to protect all your equipment.

God Bless America!

Chris, Any tips you can share would be greatly appreciated!

When you are talking about quality equipment, age shouldn't be much of a concern as long as they were taken care of by the previous owners. I am currently listening to a 24 year old set of La Scalas. They sound better than most new speakers you will find at any store today, and the definitely sound better than anything Bose ever made, new or old! The Forte falls into the category of "quality product". Don't hesitate buying a used Fort model of any age, as long as it's in good condition.

Chris, Looks like we will be doing just the opposite. I am going to need to replace the cane cloth in my Belle for the black cloth. This will be a future project for me. Let me know how it goes. Maybe we should have just traded speakers...

Very Nice! I've got the same transport. So how does it sound?

Sand and Latex paint. My gut reaction is that this won't provide any dampening help (or very little at best). Of course, I haven't tried this, but I can't see how it would do much, besides make a mess. If you wan't something cheap, I think silicone will work very well. However, it probably won't be easily reversible if you don't like it.

The very first time I was face-to-face with Klipsch speakers was January of 1986. The Cornwall II was available at that time.

HornEd, Does your new motorhome have a couple of good corners in it????

I agree with TBrennan. Maybe it's just my ears, but soundstage and imaging mean very little to me. To me, dynamics are much, much, much more important. I just don't understand how the "high-end" world seems to place so much importance on imaging and soundstage, and practically ignores dynamic range. Dynamic range is where the emotion comes from in music. It's a big part of the reason that we enjoy music.

TBrennan, I share some of you concerns in regards to adding a sub to a basshorn system. Do you have any info on that Contrabass sub? I'm a bit away from this now, but when the time comes to adding a sub, I've thought of building my own multi-driver system, or looking into a horn sub such as the Edgarhorn Sub. MacKlipsch is supposed to be auditioning that sub soon, so I'm interested in hearing his opinion. If practiacality doesn't lend to any of those options, I may just have to sacrifice and get something more common. Since I'm mainly interested in adding a sub for home theater, that is the area I'd be more willing to make sacrifices. I don't want to make any compromises in my two-channel audio system. The Contrabass sounds intriguing.

You also might want to try Audioshopper.com. They are free, where Audiogon and Audioreview.com charge fees.

I tried using Tiptoes on my Cornwalls once, but they also had the risers and that made it difficult to put them on the tiptoes. I wasn't able to do it. You might need to use spikes that are taller than the risers.

MacKlipsch, when you get to audition that horn sub, please do give us your opinion! I'd be very interested to hear what you think.

What would I like to see in a new speaker from Klipsch? Well, I would really like to see Klipsch produce a new speaker that goes back to their roots. I would like to see something that is completely horn-loaded. Maybe a new model that could fit in the Heritage line. The Jubilee will fill that bill. Hopefully it will come out soon!