tromprof

Always loved the way my K-horns sounded with my Yamaha CR-2020 from the late 1970s. The receiver is just too big for the stereo cabinet so it has been banished to the bedroom to run an old pair of AR-13s that we listen to NPR on in the mornings. I now have a smaller CA-1010 that I use with the K-horns when I am not using the tubes, and it gives the tubes a good run for their money. The Japanese really made some nice stuff back in the day.

I originally had a Sony ES series integrated amp running my Fortes. The sound could really get bright and shrill, the kind of that sometimes gives Klipsch a bad name. A switch to a vintage Yamaha receiver cured that, and as I said earlier tubes were the best. Like all of the Klipsch speakers I have heard so far, Fortes are very revealing.

My Fortes never sounded better than with tubes. My favorite amp with them was an Elite 80 from Ideal Innovations in Canada. Dead quiet, good bass, sweet sound. A little above your $500 range but well worth it. It is now powering with my La Scalas. http://www.idealinnovations.biz/elite-models.htm I am sure many others will chime in with their favorites.

Here is a link to my experience building a music server. I still continue to be very pleased with the result. [] http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/121146/1221187.aspx#1221187

Fortes are great speakers, I had a pair of original Fortes for over 20 years and never got tired of them (sold them to help buy the La Scalas). Before I chucked the idea of home theater (couldn't afford to do it with all tubes) I used an RC-7 with the Fortes and thought they matched up pretty well, but maybe I am not as picky about movies as music.

Ditto. Used to use a Sony Es series 200 disc changer but finally made the move to a music server (an old Dell I rehabbed). I now have over 10,000 tracks of music on it and hardly ever use my CD player except to listen to something I don't know to see if i want to rip it to the hard drive.

Sounds like the amp to me. I have a Crites type A crossover in my pair. I have always wanted to try the Quicksilver horn amp but I am set for the moment As you know the La Scala requires almost no power and I have mine hooked to a 20 watt Canadian built amp (Ideal innovations Elite 80 amp, Norh ACA 2B preamp). I can't turn it up a quarter of the way and stay in the house. I get a great sound, but I have found the big Klipsch to be very picky about what goes into them. As it has been said over and over on this forum, it is how good that first watt is that matters. I have heard nothing but good things about the Quicksilver and how they sound on horns.

I recently acquired a nice pair of 1977 La Scala speakers. I could tell once I listened to them for a while that like my 1976 Klipschorns they needed to have the crossovers updated. The sound, while good, just didn't have the clarity and impact I associate with big horns. I went to Bob Crites' website planning to order a pair of his A crossovers like I put in my K-horns but discovered he now makes a "A/4500" crossover that lowers the upper limit of the mid horn of the mid horn to 4500 hz, instead of the usual 6000 hz. This requires his tweeters as it will damage the K-77 tweeter. Replacing the K-77s was something I did to the K-horns a couple of years ago (I really thought it improved the sound BTW) so I ordered the A/4500 for the K-horns and put the old Crites type As in the La Scalas. I also replaced the old La Scala horn to driver gaskets at the same time. What a great improvement to both speakers! The La Scalas sound like they should have, just like my K-horns but without the bass. But the A/4500 crossover is really why I am posting this. I never noticed my K-horns sounding a little strained in the upper mid range, but after installing the new crossovers I immediately noticed how much more laid back the sound was, and seemingly clearer as well. Not that I ever had a complaint about the sound before, it was excellent, but now it is even better. Even my 12 year old daughter noticed the change. The A/4500 is an upgrade that I would recommend without hesitation. It would be nice to do that to the La Scalas as well, but I am in enough trouble as it is, so for now it can wait. As far as bass on the La Scala, I will be posting pics soon of the Table Tuba subwoofer that I am currently building (with a lot of help). [] Life is good!

Nice looking speakers! I am in the Cincinnati area as well. Not saying you aren't going to get $1500 but I paid only $800 for mine in July (admittedly a great price). I think the current economic situation is keeping prices down. Good luck!

There are a number of things I like to listen to when I am tweaking the system or trying something new: Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Vivaldi Four Seasons (DG) A somewhat aggressive interpretation that annoys my violinist wife (Half the fun!) but nicely recorded. Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi (1998 Re-recording) Nice organ and very low vocals at the beginning, I want to hear the Tibetan monks raw vocal cords and the room resonate, also has a large dynamic range. Paul McCartney, Memory Almost Full, the track Gratitude for piano and voice. Pink Floyd, The Wall, disc two There is a lot of small background stuff. Kate Bush, Lionheart, track Oh England... It is fun to listen how well the male vocal harmonies come out. Vangelis, Blade runner soundtrack Just like the score. I am a professional musician and am also lucky enough to have access to very good live recordings of the orchestra I play in. I know what the orchestra sounds like first hand so it is easy to tell if something is changing the color of the instruments so these can be useful as well.

Maybe I have owned Klipsch too long but the Fortes are just not that big. Heresys have most of the good things that Fortes have but just disappear down low. I owned a pair of Fortes for over 20 years (I just sold them last week to make room for La Scalas! [8-|] ). I have had them in a variety of different rooms over the years and if you have decent room for a stereo setup you should have room for Fortes. The Fortes were pretty forgiving in their placement, but the bass could get a little boomy if they were shoved too far into a corner, I preferred a foot of clearance.

Get the Chorus, you will not regret it. I have never owned a pair but have heard them a number of times and have always been impressed. Depending on the vintage of your amp, I have found 1970s Yamaha stuff to be an excellent match with Klipsch. I have a Yamaha CA-1010 that I run with my K-horns that sound quite good, although I also have a SET tube amp when I am sitting in the room and really want the best.

Every brass instrument in the modern orchestra, and a few woodwinds (bassoon being one) is in a sense a folded horn (think about how wound up a French horn is, and in the end it is pointing away from the audience), so... Of course it affects the sound but if designed well no problem.

Klipschorns sound great at lower volumes. Khorns do not add bass that is not there so unless you crank it up the bass will not be overpowering, and if you do everything will be overpowering. Your room is a little small but I would go for it! [Y]

I am using the same Technics table that I bought new a couple of years back when my old Yamaha died. At first I used the Shure 97xe and was very impressed with the sound. Not being one to leave well enough alone I upgraded to a Clearaudio Arum Beta that I snagged off of Audiogon. Unless you are a die hard vinyl the Shure is a tremendous value. The Clearaudio is better for sure (pun intended [8-)] ), but at that price difference it better be and if I had to do it all over again I would probably just stick with the Shure for my occasional usage.

I just came across this, and of all places here? I am an active triathlete and in a former life a certified (or was that certifiable?) personal trainer. Injuries are tough, esp. when training for a specific event. My view is that i am in this for the long haul, and that serious injuries as you describe need rest. Almost all of the races I participate in can be done as a duathlon (the same format as a tri but with an additional run at the beginning replacing the swim) and I would strongly recommend doing that if available. Race directors are usually very flexible in allowing you to change you race type or distance, so long as you don't want a refund. I broke a finger and a rib in June in a Karate sparing session (never going to fight that guy again!) and had no trouble down grading the distance of my next race due to lack of training. Good luck! []

I have been very happy with Media Monkey. Plays about every kind of audio file, and easy to manage and set up play lists. It is also easy to get it to bypass Windows and send an unprocessed digital stream to my USB DAC. I couldn't find a media player called VLAN, are you talking about the VLC media player? I have used VLC to play video files that Real Player stalls on but never tried it on audio files.

OUCH! [:^)] I use two of the smaller Expedit units for my LPs. I noticed that the listed weight limit for each shelf was only about 30 pounds per shelf and using the big unit to house them all made me a little nervous. I could just imagine the cats getting in a wrestling match on top of it and the whole thing coming down like above.

I used to have a surround setup with a Sony ES series receiver powering an RC-7 front, Fortes for LR, and in wall speakers for the back channels. Though sometimes interesting in was rare to come across a movie that did a lot with the extra speakers. By and large 90% came out of the front RC-7. I now have a pair of La Scalas with a simple tube amp doing home theater duty and enjoy it more. Seems as though a really good HT setup, as always, requires serious cash for a lot of good equipment,, and then will only really sound different on a few movies.

I second the Crites Ct-125. The best thing I did for my 1976 K-horns was put in the CT-125s and refresh the crossovers. Once my wife gets over the shock I will do the same to the "new" 1978 La Scalas. []

I have a Sony NS999ES that plays SACDs. The question of if sounds better has two answers. Yes, SACDs do sound somewhat better than regular CDs when I play them on the Sony, but if I use my external DAC (Cambridge Audio DAC Magic) regular CDs sound better than SACDs through the Sony. The DAC cannot handle SACDs. All of this is two channel. I hope this makes some sense.[8-|]

Good old tuners don't seem to have much demand these days (with a few exceptions). I have a pair of wood case 1970s Yamahas that I picked up for around $30 each and they are pristine and sound very nice. I also have a Sangean HDT-1X which is great for HD radio and has the plus of a digital out which i feed through my DAC or run to a DAT machine if I ever want to record a live broadcast. If you are interested I am willing to get rid of one of my Yamaha tuners, a CT-610 II. It doesn't get much use anymore, yours for $30 plus shipping if you want to go retro. []

Each speaker has corner mouldings that wrap around the corners with a roundover routed on the corner and painted gold. Amps in each speaker are 100w SS. There is also a Leslie attached but I couldn't get a clear photo of it. So, it appears that your speakers are different in design as far as the front grill is concerned. Hope this helps. Frank Quite a bit different from mine, somehow the glittery white cloth gives them a little of a Liberace look. Thanks for posting the pics!

Here is a closer look at one of the corners so you can better see how the grill is attached.

I will get a better photo posted next week (I am out of town).