tromprof

Thanks! By ear, the orientation did not seem to effect the La Scala bass bin, but the mid and high were a different story. At first I had the LS on its side but the front angled up. The sweet spot was compressed and the sound seemed a bit duller than with the squawker and tweeter in the horizontal position. If there is a diminishment in the La Scala bass by having it on its side the k-horns and horn sub more than make up for it. The bass bin of the La Scala would fit under the screen if the top section were removed, but I would hate to ruin a good speaker to do it. Before I found the single La Scala I was looking at some plans floating around the internet for building the bass bin. It actually looked fairly simple compared to the two horn subs I have constructed, though I think my price tag for all the materials including crossover would have been close to what I paid for the single LS.

I am using K55 drivers with both horns. The ALK Trachorns were designed to use a one inch driver, and the ones I purchased came with K55s. The Volti FC260 is designed for a 2 inch driver but Volti sells some well designed adapters (http://www.klipschupgrades.com/adapters.shtml) for the K55. The Volti are a lot cleaner and clearer than the ALK, though the ALK are a huge improvement over the stock Klipsch mid horn. When I compared the two the first thing I noticed was how much more pop the ALK had on percussion, piano, and hard articulated brass. Then I realized that what I was perceiving as pop on the ALK actually had more tone and pitch on the Volti horns. It was as if the ALK was accentuating but distorting the sound on the attack while the Volti on the other hand were much more true to live sound as I hear it on stage. The Volti have a bigger, more relaxed, and true to life sound. As I said earlier, the ALK are a big improvement over the stock K400, but the Volti are IMO one step better. With different/ better drivers, who knows?

ALK trachorn next to Volti FC260. The Volti is big!

Since movong my Klipschorns to a dedicated listening room in my basement last year I have had a great time tweaking the system. The speakers are ideally placed in corners 24 feet apart, and the sound and imaging were fantastic right from the start. The first tweak came when I acquired a pair of ALK trachorns. The improvement in clarity was pronounced, but the imaging began to bug me. It was not that the imaging was worse with the trachorns, it was the illusion of voices and instruments coming from the center was so clearly just that. My ears were constantly trying to hear through that illusion. After reading a few posts about a mono center I decided to give it a try. The first step was to find a La Scala (a Belle would have done as well but would not have fit under my painted on the wall video screen). It took a while but thanks to forum member Cerescobra I found a nice 1977 single La Scala. The next challenge was to produce a mono signal. I have a nice Grant Fidelity 300B tube amp for the K-horns so I needed something to power the La Scala. My first attempt was to use a Yamaha CA-1010 for the center since it could both power the speaker and it had a switch that would produce a L+R mono signal. It required manual adjusting of the center volume but when adjusted just right, BINGO!, clear left, right, AND a soild no B.S. center. Somehow there also seemed to be an increase in clarity. The only problem was the quality of sound out of the center La Scala was not as good as the K-horns. The problem was both the Yamaha amp and the K400 horn. To replace the Yamaha I decided to use a nice Canadian built tube amp I was using in my living room to power an old pair of AR-11s. To produce the mono signal I found a device at Parts Express, the Rolls MX41B passive mixer (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=245-042). The result was a big improvent over the Yamaha, but the difference between the K400 center and the trachorns remained. That last problem was solved by forum member shepjk01 who had a nice pair of Volti FC260 trachorns for sale. The FC260s are now on the K-horns and one of the ALK trachorns is now doing center channel duty. The sound is everything I could have wished for. [] And yes, the center trachorn is sitting on a wine box. One of these days I will fix that as well.

I have read this a lot, and it is an inaccurate description. What a La Scala lacks is low bass, there is a sharp cut off at around 50 hz. The bass up until then is big, clean, and full just like my k-horns, and wonderful to listen to. A sub, particularly a horn loaded sub, is a good thing but not totally nesc.

I built a tuba table for my La Scalas and a Cinema F-20 for the K-horns, all for 2 channel (though I have recently added a mono center La Scala to the K-horns). Even with the K-horns there is a lot there, esp. in modern recordings that the sub adds. My only comment on design is I wanted a horn sub since it was being paired with three way horn speakers. They match up well enough I am unable to tell where the sub takes over unless I turn them off.

Well said. I think the same can also apply to music performance as well. There are a lot of amazingly accurate performers out there in the classical music scene that are as interesting to listen to as paint drying.

I have noticed this effect with a lot of SS amps At first I thought it was the nature of the Klipsch design but as I played around with equipment I noticed it was the amps, Sony and Adcom being the biggest offenders, vintage Yamaha being the best of the SS I tried. I currently own 3 tube amps (actually one is for sale in the Garage Sale section) and all of them loose that overly piercing highs that plagued many of the SS amps, not to mention a much improved sound (IMO) all around as well.

I would think that anyone with the chops to take on a Jubilee project could as easily make the center section as to chop up a La Scala. I would vote for fixing up the LS and selling it at a profit, funds to be used for the Jubilee. Like you, I hate to see a LS chopped up, its kind of like seeing someone ruin a classic car. Good luck with the Jub project, I think that one is beyond my woodworking skills.

Pretty room, but not ideal for k-horns with the corners on such a short wall. Because of the angle of the speaker being dictated by the wall your searing position would be close with all that room behind you. I would think your La Scalas with a good sub would work better. Having both, the La Scala does not sound all that different than a K-horn, and with some of the nice mods out there such as better crossovers and trachorns you might get a better upgrade going in that direction. K-horns properly placed are a great thing, but you have to have the room first. A tuba table sub works very nicely with La Scalas, esp. for music.

Too big?

The room you have them in will make a huge difference. I had to do quite a bit of EQing on my k-horns when I had them in my living room, and do none now they are in the basement. When I moved them to the basement, before even listening to them I hooked up my Behringer and ran the RTA assuming I would be EQing them similarly to the way they were set up upstairs. Instead the response was flat, no EQ needed. [] I like the Behringer DEQ2496 units because they can be run between my digital source and the DAC without any conversion to analog until the DAC, and thus to my ears anyway, is totally transparent. I do have one of these units for sale in the garage sell section so it is a bit of a shameless plug, but I do think they are great units and have a second one in my current living room setup.

Cut-Throat, thanks for the heads up on this, I had never heard of it. I will give it a listen tonight. [Y]

Built a tuba table for my La Scalas and a Cinema F-20 for the k-horns. Both subs are horns and match the tube powered big Klipsch perfectly.

Thanks for the help. It sounds like I could do this, but the better way is a separate amp. I have a Yamaha CA-1010 sitting unused at the moment. It has the ability to do a mono A+B out so I think I will start there. Operating in class A it sounds quite good. To get a signal to both amps I am planning on splitting the signal coming out of the DAC, do you think this will this degrade the sound? My other option is to split the digital signal instead and add a second DAC as well. I have a Behringer DEQ2496 available. Any thoughts are apreciated, I pick up the La Scala Friday.[]

I am going to add a center La Scala between my k-horns. What I would like to know from those who have a better electrical knowledge is can I hook the 3 speakers to my amp as described: Can my Grant Fidelity safely do this as well? Attached is its schematic. I have other options to add the La Scala but would love to try this if there is no danger to the amp.

I think my Grant Fidelity A-534 could do this, but I am a musician not an electrician. I am attaching the schematic, can someone with better electrical knowledge look this over and see if the output channels share a common ground?

Did you have all 3 speakers hooked to the Jolida amp? If so, please post a pic of the wiring arrangement. I am planning to add a La Scala between my k-horns and would like to see what you did. Thanks

If you can afford them, get them. Price is good, but they seem like above average in looks and condition.

I think I am going to try the center with no bass to start with. If that sounds weird I can then add the bass bin later, I was planning on building a split cornscala anyway. When I get around to it, probably next month, I will post pics and impressions. If I do build the bass bin I am thinking that the traditional 15 inch CW1526 would be overkill. Maybe something along the lines of a Heresy size 12 inch instead?

I have been reading this and it has got me itching to try a center speaker. I have a pair of k-horns in my basement that are 22 feet apart. The imaging is quite good but it would be fun to see what a center speaker would add. I would like to build something and I have spare a k-400 horn and matching driver, as well as a Ct-125 tweeter. The only problem is the bass. If I go the cornscala route the center will have bass reflex unlike the k-horns, which apparently Mr. Klipsch thought a bad idea. How important is bass for a center channel in a two channel system. Between the k-horns and the Cinema F-20 sub that goes with them I am not bass deficient in any way. Any thoughts on what might happen if I just used the squaker and tweeter (with a regular type A crossover so the mid doesn't go below its capabilities)? Will a bass reflex design, if turned down lower that the k-horns, ruin otherwise good clean bass?

The 2A3 and 300B sound different so it is like asking which flavor is better; it depends on your taste. That said, it is my experience (admittedly somewhat limited with 2A3 amps), that the bass response is usually not as strong with the 2A3. I prefer the 300B for that reason (I also found the 300B sounded more filled out?), but if someone were to give me a nice 2A3 amp to try and prove me wrong I wouldn't refuse.

I have two horn subs, both used in 2 channel set-ups (I am not a fan of surround sound so far). The first I built was tuba table to go with my La Scalas. Integrating into that system was easy because my preamp has two outputs. The TT required a bit of EQing with a Behringer DEQ2496, but after that it matched the La Scalas perfectly and gave them the bottom end they were missing. I used a 300 watt BASH to power it and the amp has a built in adjustable low pass fillter. My basement system with the K-horns presented a different problem The sub I decided to build for the K-horns is the Cinema F-20 which is much larger than the modest sized tuba table. The K-horns (with ALK trachorns and APT200 tweeters) are powered by a 300B based integrated amp. No second output. I wanted to able to control the volume of the sub with my amp but I couldn't think of a good way to do that without changing my system, which am very happy with and did not want to do. My DAC however did have two outputs. I decided to give it a try and just hook the sub up to the DAC and control it's output separately. As it turns I rarely need to adjust the sub volume, so what I thought was going to be a PITA was a non issue. I am using another 300 watt BASH amp, with the sub kicking in at 52 HZ according to the dial. The Cinema F-20 is a wonder of a sub, huge low bass and no EQ needed. I measured with an RTA unit and am basically flat from 20HZ to 20000 HZ! For movies I turn it up a bit and shake the house, for music it is barely on but provides a surprising bit of extension I did not think the K-horns needed until I heard it. Hope that helps.

Yes. I have a 300B amp, K-horns, and a Cinema F-20 sub. What do you want to know?

I have built two horn subs, a "tuba table" and a Cinema F-20. The tuba table was originally built to go with a pair of La Scala and worked well for music as well as movies. The Cinema F-20 was built to go with K-horns. The K-horns didn't seem to need much bass help for music (I am using an 8 watt 300B amp), but there is a lot below their range in movies that I wanted to hear. I have the F-20 crossed over at 45 HZ or so, the tuba table at around 80 HZ with the La Scala. Both of these subs when dialed in correctly work very well with the big Klipsch and make a seamless transition, the only way to know they are providing extra bass oomph is to turn them off. I am still shocked at how much the F-20 (paired with K-horns) adds to bottom end on music. Again, they need to set up right, but for me they just add clean clear bass without sounding tonally different or adding distortion.