KauaiBass

Thanks for the help gentlemen. And I appreciate the good safety info Islander. The only thing these would fall onto is my 1964 Volvo 1800, but if that happened I'd be pretty much devastated.. This is for a new space I'm moving into and after my post I went back and really evaluated the options, taking into consideration your comments. I realize there is the option to split things up and just fly the trapazoids. That would make life much easier/safer and I see there's just enough room for the bass horns on the concrete floor. This should minimize low frequencies from being transferred outside as well.. I've never run them that way, but hey, it's one of the advantages to the LSIs - so might as well use it. These are all-original 70's non-trim LSIs I rescued from a rummage sale a few years back, btw. Love the sound. Finally getting a good place to spread them out in. Again thanks for the help!

Aloha Plan is to either: 1) fly LSIs on rachet straps and eye-bolts or 2) make up some heavy shelves and mount them like that. There will be an 18" JBL powered sub for below 125Hz. This is inside a 20'x20' wood frame garage w/ cement floor. Can't put LSIs on floor due to space constraints. Sub can be on floor though. I know they'll sound better on shelves, but I'm also trying to minimize the amount of sound that leaks out of the building to prevent bothering the neighborhood. Seems like though I'll lose some bass by flying them, the sub will cover that - and overall the sound energy will not come through the walls as much. Straps will suspend them from heavy rafters. Soundproofing using Green Glue may be in the cards, but not yet. No one will ever be beneath them so although they'll be hung well, it's not like a public area or anything. Any thoughts on this plan? Thanks for your comments!

Yeah...no....my wife would not be cool with a K-horn* B-room. any suggestions on a Bluetooth receiver? (* or La Scalas)

Aloha Guys, I'm the happy owner of some La Scala LSIs made in the late 70s. They are big, loud and good. I think there's a thread a couple years back showing how I refurbished them. I use them in my home office powered by an Onkyo power amp I bought for $5 at a thrift store. My whole cul-de-sac loves 'em! I needed something smaller for the bedroom [H]; so today I nabbed some RB 61 IIs off of eBay. These will be used with my lovely $39 Lihau T-amp that's been sitting unused since I got the Onkyo. It was a bit spur of the moment, so I hope the general consensus here is that the RB 61s sound good. I see a horn and the word "Klipsch" - usually this means good things. [] I want to stream audio via Bluetooth in this new set-up and I see a couple Bluetooth recievers - one from Sony and another from Belkin. Anyone have any advice on these - or any others? I'm not trying to attain the highest fidelity - just listen to/stream music in the bedroom and maybe connect up the TV from time to time. Cheers for any advice you can pass along.

We got rained out! [st] Unfortunately it looked nice enough for us to pack everything up and take it 25 miles to Hanalei! A pretty heavy rain started just as we were dragging stuff onto the beach. It cleared everyone out and continued to look too sketchy to chance em. It was fine..we got a better idea of the best way to do this whole thing. So we'll try again next month. Also George Clooney is starring in some movie that they were filming on the exact same spot that night..they had all the boom cameras there. Thanks for all the nice comments and gonna link up with you other Kauai Klipchsers.

I can't believe this...this post helped me link up with 2 Klipschers here on Kauai, and HanaleiMike here lives on Aku (freakin') Road about 100 meters from where I we're doing this. Mike thanks for the offer of help and you rule! I'll be interested to see just how loud everything really is out in the open like that and competing with the surf noise. Also got a PM from a Klispch guy in Ele'ele. Wow! Let's all have a Klispch night at the Nui or something. OK well now the rubber hits the road...time to get all the stuff broken down, packed into 2 trucks and hauled up to Hanalei. Thanks again to this wonderful warm Klispch community...I participate in several forums and this is as good as it gets.

We've got a great lanai and we've let our fair share of 'strangers' sleep there...any Klispch lover would be more than welcome! Here's a photo of the spot....you can see why I want to do this here. http://www.cutewallpapers.net/wp-content/images//sunset_in_hanalei_1024x768.jpg Now if the weather will cooperate.. Anyone else out there search Craigslist for "klispch" everyday like I do?

Good question, and the best part is the answer which is NO! In Kauai there is no noise ordinance of any kind..no nuisance laws..nada. This sucks when your neighbor raises roosters (for fighting like mine used to do)...or barking dogs, but good when you want to have a party! And all beach is public, so no one can 'own' the beach. But still, I want to be respectful of the folks who live up there (though in truth it's vacation rentals; not real residents..) so we're doing it from 6pm until 8pm, and we're setting up pointed towards to ocean. That way no one will get mad and we can watch the sun go down over Bali Hai. Here's the exact spot.. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=hanalei&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hanalei,+Kauai,+Hawaii&ll=22.209537,-159.497001&spn=0.003124,0.005681&t=h&z=18

Aloha Guys, Well my acqusition of the LSIs set in motion a plan to have a beach party powered strictly by solar panels and batteries. I think those awesome photos by G. Kennedy with the LSIs sitting in the desert is what got me thinking and inspired. These speakers are so efficient that you can crank them to well over 110dB using a T-amp powered by 8 x AA batteries! How cool is that? But still I wanted more juice to power a sub and other gear, so I stepped it up to a 12v-battery system the gets its power from the sun. Because I live on Kauai (which has the highest electrical rates in the US at about .48/kWh) I am trying to promote the idea of using photovoltaic panels to either grid-tie or get completely off the grid. So I put together a small off-grid system that can be used either at home or taken apart and set up remotely to power things like our beach party. Plus in the event of another Iniki-like event where our island had no power for over 3 months (!), this set up could be really useful. [ip] For the power side I am using a single 230W Solon Blue solar panel, a 3000W inverter, a MPPT-type charge controller and 6x 115 Amp/hr deep cycle batteries - currently I'm using this set up to power my home office and its making about 1kWh per day..hey that's over $180 per year! The system cost about $1400, but you get back ~50% as tax credits, so the final cost was $740 and at current rates the system should pay for itself in 4-5 years. For the PA side, I'll be using the 2x split LSIs powered by a 20W T-amp by the "famous" LIHAO brand..lol...but believe me this is PLENTY loud and has very clean sound! We're adding more bass using a JBL 18" powered sub. The music is provided by a couple iPods and a battery-powered 4ch mixer. We'll be dragging all this onto Hanalei Beach tomorrow afternoon if anyone wants to help! [H] This is basically a test-run to see how everything works, but the over the summer I'm going to try and make this into a regular thing. We plan to shoot some photos and maybe even a little video...so I'll post that and let you know how it went next week. You guys know how many little things can go wrong when you do something new like this, so wish me luck!

Aloha! Just pondering some speaker placement options ... I've got split LSI speakers (pre-aluminum trim) and I've looked through the forum trying to see an example of the HF section mounted separately from the LF bin. Was there a specific way this was done - did Klipsch make any type of mount for example? Usually I've seen the HF sections simply stacked up if the rig was pretty jumbo. I'm sure I could cobble together something that would work, but if I had a photo or someone's experience to draw on, that'd be a great help. Thanks!

OK back for more guidance from the gurus of electrons... Here's what Armand over on Oahu has done thus far to the LaFayette amp: 12.00 for 4 68uf x 400v power supply caps parts only labor inc. 40.00 for the 4 0.1uf x 400v auricaps parts only labor inc. 12.00 for the 4 250k resistors P&L (parts and labor) 15.00 for the new switch P&L 15.00 for 2 33uf x 6v elna silmic caps + 2 1.0k 1/2 watt resistors P&L10.00 for the 2 .01x2000v safety caps. P&L All the switches and pots have been cleaned and lubed. No charge for replacing 2 defective B+ supply wiring. OK here's my question...I'm now at abut $225 for this whole project, should I have him go ahead and install 4 new matched Russian military 6p14p-ev power tubes for $30 more? Thanks in advance for any suggestions from the knowledgeable mob that hangs around here. [8-|]

Drat...I checked and I am officially 9031 miles away from Hope. That's more than 1/3 of the Earth's circumference! So as much as I'd like to come... And to think I used to drive through Hope 4-6 times a year when I going to college in Dallas and my family lived up in Ohio. Sounds like it'll be a great time.

I picked up a pair of much-less-nice-looking La Scala Industrials like the ones shown above for $200 at a rummage sale. Now that's not an everyday thing, but I check craigslist from time to time and they go for $600-2000 depending on how nice they are and how much homework the owner has done. I run mine with a 18" JBL powered sub and it sounds great and could fill a huge space with clean sound. Making them yourself sounds from forum plans like a good idea, but IMHO unless you use the original drivers and crossovers (or the modern 'copies'), you won't really have a La Scala sound or their efficiency - though it could still be very good. Certainly copying the doghouse will give better result than almost anything someone could invent on their own! Good luck on your journey... ps for yucks I looked on Craigslist around the country today and this is what I found in La Scala-land.. Near you..ish..Found these vintage La Scalas for (gulp) $1700! I guess this guy did a little TOO much homework. http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/ele/1596883585.html (did La Scalas REALLY cost $1900 EACH in 1978??!) But in San Antonio these gnarly ones are $750 (but claim to be Industrial model..) http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/ele/1598632518.html (could use some TLC, but look ok otherwise) and some really minty ones for $1400 in Chicago.. http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/ele/1626797556.html and for $1600 in ATL.. http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/ele/1622700451.html

Thanks Mark! I did a bit more digging and I see the Auricaps getting lots of praise. I got $40 for that...auricaps it is.

Aloha Guys, I am stoked to find a nice 60's tubed LaFayette 224A amp on craigslist in Honolulu for $125 (I like cheap). The guy who selling it is a tube enthusiast and he's going to do a rebuild for $50-100 according to my wishes/parts. He's asked me what type of new caps I want to go in and I wanted to get some input from you way more knowledgeable people. Here's what he says: Right now i have some highly regarded Auricaps which are a current favorite among audiophiles and also some k40y9 russian mil spec oil caps and sprague vitaminQ type. The stock cap i will put in cost about 3.00 each at no charge to you. But if you want to upgrade to the k40 it would be 5.00, sprague 7.50, auricap 10.00 per capacitor with 4 caps required. While the sonic differences between each type is not huge it is readily apparent with high quality speakers like yours. You can expect improvements in imaging, bass, and frequency response with the better caps. So for $40 I should probably go for the Auricaps, yeah? Any *other* things I should request? I was going to have him upgrade the RCA inputs to gold ones and see if he can upgrade the speaker terminals as well. This amp will only be used for line level input - no phono. From all I've read this amp gets decent marks and since shipping to Hawaii is so expensive I'm happy to find this guy nearby. Currently I'm still listening to my LSIs through this awesome 8W LIHAO t-amp I got for $40...sound is simply amazing. Even my very non-audiophile wife noticed when I swapped it over from the gnarly Sherwood receiver.. Thanks for the help! ps here's what else is part of his $50 rebuild... "includes replacing the 4 coupling capacitors, changing the bias supply capacitors, check tolerance and replace if needed all power B+ supply, and bias resistors, clean and lube all pots and switches."

LIHAO.HI5 Amp arrived and - HOLY FIDELITY BATMAN! I'll explain more in a thread soon...once I stop listening to it.

Right on - I will. Thanks!

Aloha! I've got one of the famous (cough) LIHAO.HIS tripath 2024-based amps coming tomorrow and I'll report back to the forum. It would've been here on Saturday except for the pesky TSUNAMI we had! [:@] Glad there's still a Post Office for it to be stuck in! [Y] This amp is coming off of eBay for $39.99 plus $27 shipping from HK. The terminals are gold plated RCAs in / banana plugs out and the quality of the circuit board and components looks very good. It includes a very beefy-looking 12v DC convertor that's as big as the amp (which is small, about 2"x3"x7" and 1lb). Here's the link.. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-GOLDEN-Class-T-Amp-TA2024-Mini-Amplifier-Adapter_W0QQitemZ250577267202QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a5791aa02 I plan to use this set up to run these split La Scalas (LSIs) with and ipod source and based on everything I've read thus far, I should be in for a treat. Ultimately I want a battery-powered rig that I can drive to the beach and rock the LSIs for a small crowd down at Hanalei Pier on Friday evenings...either powered from the truck cig lighter or even better, 8 AA batteries. I just like the concept of this. The LSIs are so ear-bleedingly efficient, that 2 or 3 W ought to do the trick unless half the island shows up. And the LSIs fit exactly into the back of a Toyota 4runner! Life is good sometimes. I did read that review by David Kan as part of my research into T-class amps/Tripath etc. The amp I bought looks very similar to the one reviewed except the one I got is even cheaper ($39 vs $139). But peeking inside the LIHAO looks very simliar to the Trends TA-10 based on the photos I've seen. I plan to review three amps actually: this LIHAO.HIS 2024-based t-amp, a $100 Sherwood receiver that uses discrete circuitry for its amp, and an amp I bought for one penny on eBay that I've already listened to and does work! I'll post this review in a week or so. I don't have a lot of money to spend on audio gear and even if I did, I am completely deaf in my right ear, so there's only so much of an audiophile I can be...lol. I ALSO plan to write a little review of being deaf as well sometime soon and post it. I lost my hearing at age 36 after being a musician and small-kine music producer in Austin, Texas, so I can vividly remember something most of you folks take for granted - stereo sound. Lately I've been reading all about stuff like Shakti Stones and $30,000 speakers and I just want to add my voice to the madness out there. I have a PhD in sensory neurophysiology, so I know a thing or two about the way the brain processes audio information... What I find amazing is that with the LSIs I am able to hear a stereo-like effect even though that should be impossible for someone with hearing in one ear only. I have a couple theories about how that's possible and I'll include those in my post. Wonder where a thread about deafness/audio processing in the brain belongs amongst the Klipsch Forums?

I'm old enough to remember "my system" being a Close-N-Play®...

Aloha, Thanks for the nice words Coutler & Bills. Really appreciate all the help I got off of this forum!! No I didn't repaint the logos. Just some TSP and masked them off. Your eye doesn't really see the 'old' black paint down in betwixt the lettering on the logos. Not really sure if that's the right way to use 'betwixt' but I like the way it sounds. [H]

Aloha! Some synchonicity going on here...I just got some LSIs very much like yours and love them. By chance I just posted a thread last night on my experiences repairing the corners with Bondo and repainting them black. My thread should go up in the Pro forum on Monday Feb 1st, as it's still being moderated. Hope you find it helpful. I think all us newbies are still in shock as to how great these speakers sound...[8]

Thanks so much for scanning these and putting them on the forum. Here I am on this thread almost 7 years later and having copies of the original manual to go along with these split LSIs I just repainted makes me smile. [8-|] It's like I have new speakers..and now even the documentation. Mahalos!

Aloha All, Well as some of you might have read from my earlier posting, I nabbed a nice set of 70s vintage LSIs at my son's school rummage sale last week. I scanned this forum and decided to repair the corner damage using the Bondo trick and repaint the speakers black as per original. Since I read several threads about the Bondo trick but didn't see any photos (I might've just missed em) I thought I'd post some pics of my experience. Now I was not trying to anything too fancy - just get these looking not-so-beat-up again. I also wanted to patch up the corner damage so as to keep the woodwork intact as possible. This set of speakers have been all over the planet, but now they will live a more sedate life; so I wanted to get them sorted now and they should be good to go for the next 30 years or so. Also I wanted to get this all done in one day if possible - to maintain momentum and get the speakers back in service asap. A careful person might want to spend more time and do things more thoughtfully - so by no means is this how to do this the "best"way possible. However as I think you'll see, even with my quick and dirty techniques, I was able to improve the appearance of the La Scalas 500% in just a few hours. Here's a b/w photo showing how they looked originally...you can see the black paint is all scratched up.. Not a great photo but you get the idea. Pretty bad looking. Here's what the HF section looked like: Eesh. So I'd never Bondo'ed speaker cabinets before, but it sounded easy enough..I've Bondo'ed a few cars before. Here's the hardware I used.."regular" Bondo/hardener, a plane, sanding block and sandpaper (this is 120 but I used 200). Here's a couple shots of the damaged corners to get an idea of what I was fixing... Here's the top. Here's the bottom... As you can see the plywood is split and delaminating in these areas. In all I spotted 11 areas to be Bondo'ed. I bust out the Bondo, mixed it as per instuctions. If you've never used it before, Bondo will be freely speadable (like cake frosting or toothpaste) for about 5 minutes before it starts to get "grainy" and set up. So I found mixing small batches for 2 corners at a time worked best. I used some chopsticks to mix and spread the Bondo. Here's how the top looked after I patched a couple of the corners.. As you can see, I tried to make sure I built it up enough to allow me to plane/sand it down to something approximating the original corner. The Bondo set up enough in 25 minutes to work with the plane and sanding block. No photo, but all I did was plane away the big chunks and then gently sand the corners down to match the basic look of the original corner. After all 11 corners were done, I took a break and allowed the Bondo to set up for an hour or so, then started masking off the horns and jack plate/handles. Before masking the logos, I used a bit of TSP wall cleaning solution to brighten them up. Be careful though because the TSP did remove a bit of the white logo paint, but the results were worth it - no longer "bar smoke yellow", the logos looked fresh and white now (except for a few scratches). Micheal was (rightly) worried that my masking tape might pull up the logos, so I checked it and it seemed OK...I had blue 3M masking tape like used for painting rooms and it's less sticky. Here's the top masked off... For the bottom bins I carefully stuff rolled up paper into the back of the horn to keep paint out... Using Satin Rustoleum Black paint (3 cans were required for this project) I used my best spray paint technique to paint these puppies. Here's a shot comparing the tops before and after... And here's the bottoms.. Which one you like more? [H] Of course I had to paint the bottoms of the bottoms and when I did I discovered another chipped corner..of course! (can't see it here though..) So I patched it up as well..you can see the Bondo clearly in this pic. More sanding, a bit more paint and... Looks pretty good yeah? couple more shots of the results... You can see the logos still look all right and the flash makes the Bondo really jump out way more than they look in person..your eye really doesn't even see the patches. So I'm very happy with the results! Now they look almost as good as they sound.

I'm wanting to create a nice "portable" (cough) LSI system and have just bought a small 20W 12V powered amp off of eBay. This way I can host a small beach party just using the 12V from my truck or an aux battery. I'll let you know how it goes/sounds.

Thanks so much for the detailed info Micheal and everyone else! I'll take some pics as I go along and post em for the forum. Mostly they just need new paint. And maybe a tube amp...[] Mahalos plenty![ip]