jwgorman

So I set out to rebuild this AL and use quick disconnects to change stuff up (I have Crite's 3636 with 1db attenuation steps). Turns out, I prefer the classic AA with 5db attenuation on the squawker. I like the A almost as much. I'm using Crites 120 tweets and Friday the A55s show up (yaaay) so I'm anxious to hear what changes when those go in. As you may know, I was scared to monkey with the AL as it was sounding good. I think the AA with new caps sounds better. I should probably actually figure out that cap value I really need for -5db on the squawker (I'm running 12) but yeah, it sounds groovy. A before after shot...BTW the 30uf caps were registering less that 1 uf on my multimeter. 30 years is a long time for service I guess : )

Will do. Thank you for the tip. I like it.

The are mounted to the front of lascalas...asking for a friend

Yep, buy what sounds good. I had Wright Sound Company 2a3 SETs with my khorns (great for vocal/guitar, realistic volume jazz etc) big Mac solid State, (you could get the Who or Zeppelin to show up) and now I'm on the Luxman SQ38U EL34 25 wpc integrated, a compromise, but in my estimation a good one(I can get Count Basie and sorta get The Who to show, not quite the authority of the mighty Mac) . I'd like to try a Luxman 20 watt Class A SS amp too. I think at some point a well designed amp, is a well designed amp whether tube or SS. It's your money, go listen and decide for yourself. And your tastes may change. Or, you may get bored. You won't get scolded for buying cool hifi around here!

Having lived with belles and khorns that had -3db (and even -4db) attenuation applied to the squawker, I just rolled with the sound as that was all I was exposed to. Last weekend I acquired a 30 year old pair of la scalas with the AL network that, as Dean has pointed out, has -6db attenuation for the squawker. After speaking with Mr Crites today, I know now that the AL might not be a great network, but I do really like the -6db attenuation on the squawker part. I don't really perceive a hole in the midband, it actually seems lean but I hear vocal detail etc. I ordered a pair of Crites autoformers that allow -1db steps of attenuation. I'm going build a network from scratch so that I can play with the AA circuit and the AL3 and see which I prefer. I noticed that I get a lot fewer dirty looks in my house when the volume creeps up with the la scalas and I attribute that to the mid not being so hot. So, why isn't this more popular? Just curious, to my ear, it sounds more balanced. Then again, I might be in the Bermuda Triangle of acoustics.

Just looking at your La Scalas makes mine feel so inferior! Thanks for the advice those are beautiful sir!

I heard a pair of biamped belles this past weekend. The guy who sold me the lascalas had a pair. They were highly customized. So long as you separate the woofer section in your passive crossover, why not? This guy's system used some room correction and a solid state amp for 500Hz down and the high horns were passive and powered by an Audio Research tube amp, so he essentially had a hybrid of what you're describing. Sounded unbelievable!

Dennis, I just went behind the la scalas to lift a lead from the 2uf cap in parallel with the tweet and noticed it had already been done! You must have taught Dave the secret handshake Ok, I might be a knuckle dragging caveman, but I like this sound. I might swap in some K55vs and the B&C120s in the Crites K77 replacement and see if it gets better but I can live with this. I have them jammed into the corners and aimed behind me. Not as much bass as the khorns (as I expected) but I listen to rock, jazz and blues so, I don't really miss it. It sounds very full and non-fatiguing.

Dennis, I was going to get to that I did that to my Khorns 20 years ago, per your instruction and I preferred that. So, thanks again for that tip! I did note there are, what appear to be notch filters in the woofer and the squawker circuits and the polarity is swapped on the tweet and squawker. I think what is most striking is the less forward midrange, I am liking that in my room. Thanks for that Dean!! Dennis, is this crossover worth rebuilding, less the elliptical filter and zeners (as I've never blown a K77) ? Or would you have other suggestions? I think I'll leave these ALs alone and get some Crites autoformers that allow multiple attenuation values and experiment. Plus I think Dave volunteered to make some highly matched crossovers. At least that's what I heard!

Matt I picked up some black BB la scalas. I want to leave them black but perfect. I love the grill over the mid and tweet. But that's about as crazy as I could get. Well, actually I'd love to do the scalas in piano black! But I have some chips, some parts of the ply I need to glue back down etc. Any general words of advice would be most appreciated.

I scrolled down and I think I found what you were referring to. Thanks. I wonder why there's no official Klipsch drawing.

Ha, I'm not the best of describing sounds. But yes. These la scalas are stock and they are not fatiguing in the least even when playing loud rock music all evening. My stock Khorns with the AK-3 network could not say the same thing. There is no overly forward mid sound if that makes sense.

I actually like the sound of them. Crazy. From what I can tell they are not particularly well liked here. So, what am I missing? I can get them at 108 db peaks and they are really smooth, I'm getting a super solid image with just a touch of toe-in. And at mid 80db levels they sound nice too. They are 30 years old. I don't see any oil leaking on the can caps but I considered replacing the caps and the resistor with the same value components and then I thought, I'd probably jinx it! BTW, the only schematic I found for it, have some values blurred out. Any one have the genuine klipsch schematic?

Oooo! Nice!

Mike, the sad truth is Cornwall IIs are just plain horrible! I think your only option is to sell them to me, at an absurdly discounted price, and get something else

Oh I'd take one of those!

It's a Luxman SQ-38U integrated amp. EL34 based 25 watts per channel.

IB, not sure if that was directed at me...but I have a Luxman SQ-38U integrated amp.

Ha ha, my field expedient stands are temporary I really prefer the tweets at ear level and I think I can get what I want from a decent sub driver, solid amplification and some DSP. Of course, I've been wrong before, just ask my wife.

The culprits...

Anyhew....as far as the sub is concerned, I agree it would be much more difficult to add a sub to a la scala or a khorn, at least, I think it would be, than to add it to a speaker that already uses a non horn-loaded woofer. I want some deep but not boomy bass if that makes sense. If I'm listening to Duke and Louis and the string bass sounds flubby it would mess up my day. I suspect I might have to engage some digital signal processing to make it sound good. The khorns do string bass very nicely on most of my recordings. If I can tweek a pair of subs to get in that ball park I'll be pretty dang happy. BTW, even my wife sat through a bunch of Frank Sinatra/Count Basie with me this evening. She was amazed by the imaging too. Sorry to just gush over something as common as Heresey 1s, but man, I got them about 20" up off the floor, aimed them so the horns are lined up about 10 feet behind me and SHAZAAM! I'm seriously hearing stuff I never noticed on my khorns (not the bass of course). The tweets seem a bit soft, which, I understand is a trait of the alnico K77s but, they still sound good! Why didn't any one tell me about this!?

I found a pair of 1978 Heresy speaks locally on Craigslist for a reasonable price so they followed me home. They sound killer! I don't know what to say. The soundstage is smaller than the Khorns, but I experimented with placement and they really image well! They are quite bass shy, relative to Khorns and need a sub, two actually, but I am super impressed with them none-the-less. They have the square magnet woofs and alnico K55 and alnico tweets. I don't think I'm going to monkey with anything for a while as I'm already hearing some subtle stuff that the Khorns seem to gloss over a bit. Also, I don't need to listen as loud to be in a happy audio zone for some odd reason. I did notice the type E networks (per the schematic) have 6db/oct slopes and the mid and tweets have reversed polarity!? Seems a bit weird but sounds great. No wonder Klipsch sold a kabillion of these things.

I was looking at those too. About 3 hours from here or so. Noticed the rust on the mid horn screws. Not sure what to make of that. But yeah, I noticed that if I drive there to pick them up I get to pay the Governor!

Roger. No luck.

Sir, they are works of art!!!