JohnA
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Posts posted by JohnA
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On 3/26/2022 at 10:32 AM, JAGX said:
I plan on buying my first OLED TV this year, and hope to use these LaScalas for double duty, music and home theater. This is my first time trying to coordinate all these components and frankly it is starting to get confusing, so please forgive any foolish questions that I may have failed to find answers to researching on my own!
I bought a pair of gently used AL5 trade-ins and am picking them up next week from the store. Any tips on what to look for/ask when inspecting them? This and the TV are the are breaking my bank so the rest of the setup is going to be budgeted as best I can.
I think it makes sense to hook these up to an AV Receiver pre-amp, then hook the AV Receiver with HDMI eARC to the TV's HDMI eARC. I will also connect a 4k Blu-ray player, FiOS cable box, and 4k Apple TV using HDMI to the (Receiver or directly to the TV), not sure which is optimal?
Back to the LaScalas, I will use an amp (~$1,200 budget) to power them because it should be better/worth it to match a stand-alone amp quality/watts the LaScalas versus using the AV receiver powered channels, right?
Will connecting the LaScalas to an AV receiver degrade the experience, or cancel out the benefit of using pre-amps and a stand-alone amp? Basically, am I an idiot for trying to spend big bucks on nice speakers and a matching amp only to hook them into an AV receiver? 🥴
Lastly, in terms of Home Theater, what is most critical to me is adding a subwoofer for bass and also considering a center channel (budget permitting). I have a 10" monolith powered subwoofer I plan to use for now (I know it is probably not worthy of the LaScalas but I am broke now) and also some Klipsch fives I could cannibalize for surrounds perhaps. My main issue is that dialogue these days seems shoddy so I was hoping to add a center and don't know where to start. I read THIS from Paul but my bank account slapped me (and I have no room).
If you are going with a separate power amp, buy a pre/pro and do it all the way.
I'll recommend a high quality AVR. Running Klipsch speakers, you will not push it hard enough to need or justify an outboard power amp. Quality is important and won't be cheap, but just because it is an AVR doesn't make it inferior or unworthy.
https://www.audioadvice.com/home-theater/home-theater-components/home-theater-receivers
I use my system for 2 channel and HT, with all separates. I use my pre/pro to switch video, too. That is convenient and doesn't degrade the picture. It will make integrating all your inputs into a system that is easy enough others can use it. My lady friend can watch TV when I'm away from home without call me for help.
I use a modified Heresy (xover very similar to my La Scalas) as a center. A Heresy IV may be the best center for you.
You should look at 2 or more subs. Having gone from 1 to 2 to 4, I'll keep 4 if at all possible. Four (many), reduces cone excursions making the distortion similar to my La Scalas. Spreading them around the room fills in nulls a single sub will suffer.
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VDS, I *might* be able to talk my GF into selling her 604-8Gs, rebuilt to new with GPA parts. They will be >$1400 for the pair and there is always a new excuse not to sell, but maybe.
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Bob Crites tested both and published curves.
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They are kg2s. I have a pair in similar condition I paid $100 for a few years ago.
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I had one pair with Type AL xovers. The eq built in them caused a howling resonance in the range of a French horn. My solution was a set of Al Klappenberger crossovers.
Type AL-3s will be your best bet. You can convert your Type ALs. There is enough difference in output between a K-55-M and -V that the vaunted Type AA is not a good match.
The K-77-M is a good tweeter. As always, there is something better at higher cost. If you want to replace them, try to get a later K-77-F that flush mounts the tweeter mouth, or Z brackets that do the same with your tweeters. Should you decide to go with bespoke tweeters, be sure the horns have properly made exponential or tractrix horns. The tractrix horn curve is a little better. A K-77-? uses an exponential curve.
Flush mounting the tweeter eliminates some audible harshness from reflections. Don't do what I did and disassemble the tweeters and reassemble them through the cabinet holes. They might just fall to pieces in your hands! It IS a way to improve the sound.
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You should be able to hear a 1 dB difference, but over a wide range, !like the whole tweeter spectrum, 1 dB will sound more like flavor.
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LOL! My early '80s La Scalas clearly have the "potential". But, I rarely listen to them that loud and by the time I confirmed it, I had already had the finished and will not munk that up, now.
Ill bet most people are like me and don't push them hard enough.
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I used a pair with Heresy HIPs and a Peavey FH-1/Altec 511B-902-8B hybrid. they sound good and rescued the Peaveys from playing below 100 Hz where they distorted a lot. Used them at church coffeehouses.
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I think you will want to switch those xovers for Type AL-3 (maybe AL-2, should you ever find any). I eventually detested the sound of the ALs in my set that my brother got.
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I would start off with a less intense method, like with that soft cotton cloth and lemon oil for wood, or Murphy's Oil Soap. If nothing else works, try the clothes iron. If you do use steel wool, try to find 0000 and use light pressure.
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42 minutes ago, mingham said:
..... - The thing that seems odd is the way the volume ramped up. T.......
That's why it sounds like an amplifier problem. Will a McIntosh protection system do that?
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On 3/10/2022 at 1:09 PM, Trikxx said:
Someone explain this to me so I don’t think I have faulty speaker.
the tweeter (the one at the top) produces no sound…just a very subtle hiss. All the vocals seem to come from the midrange horn. Woofer works fine.
is this normal?Probably. You will hear cymbal strikes and shimmer plus tamborines in the tweeter. Very little voices.
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On 3/7/2022 at 5:19 PM, Edgar said:
It was the first piece of high-end gear that I bought, way back in 1979. I was still in college, and FM was still good.
Wasn't it, though! I had a midrange Kenwood tuner and integrated. Climbed on the roof of the dorm and installed an antenna and ran the wire in the window. We could listen to WKDF in Nashville from Cookeville. I awoke in the middle of the night to hear 'KDF announce the Skynyrd plane crash! As WKDA-FM, they broadcast in quad, especially after midnight.
Fond memories. No idea what happened to the Kenwood gear.
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The larger the diaphragm, the lower the theoretical crossover point. Yet, driver specifics control, so saying a 1" tweeter can be crossed lower, is ..... inaccurate.
I recommend you read "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook" by Vance Dickason.
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Stuffing (foam, fiber fill) adds "give" to the woofer's back air chamber, making the woofer think the chamber is larger than it is. if the chamber is sized for the woofer, adding stuffing will cause a ripple in the response curve at its lower limit (though you may get a few more Hz deeper response). I wouldn't unless you have calculated a need for the stuffing. My older La Scalas do not have stuffing, nor did my FH-1s with original Peavey woofers.
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I've heard the RSW-15 and was impressed, but I'd want 2+. Made the lobby scene in The Matrix feel real.
Having started with 1, then 2, then 4 VMPS New Larger Subwoofers, More fill the room and reduce distortion. I feed my 4 with Acurus A250 at about 350 watts each. The "Revenge Of The Fallen" movie cost me 2 subs and another A250!
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On 2/23/2022 at 11:32 PM, svberger said:
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What some folks have indicated about their subs in that much of the time they didn't even know if it was off or on is much the same experience I've and most others have had with this unit with Allison and AR speakers. .....
Properly dialed in, subwoofers should not be obvious. It they are, they are likely 10 dB too loud.
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A pair of speakers used as a center would suffer bigly from interference and comb filtering.
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These are Min-wax red mahogany over a conditioner and finished with water-based polyurethane. The front edges are a 3/4" x 3/4" cherry strip.
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On 2/22/2022 at 12:36 PM, svberger said:
I knew I'd confuse people with this thread, and that was not my meaning. I have this device, and was considering experimenting with it. That's all. I just didn't want to hurt the speakers in using it and that's why I asked the original question. ......
Give it a try. A La Scala is, in fact, a high-quality sealed box system. But the excursion needed to produce 20 Hz will cause a lot of distortion if you push it. 14 dB is 25x more power than the unequalized range.
A better choice would be a programmable parametric eq. Set it to about +3 at 60 Hz, +6 at 50 Hz, +10 at 40 Hz and cut off hard below 40 Hz. There is not much music below E1, 41.2 Hz. Though a piano goes down to 27.5.
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Paralleling caps works just fine. It is likely cheaper to use one rather than 2, but ya gotta get the values correct.
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Maybe. Your 12 ga wire will always be better. The Belden is unremarkable pvc insulated tinned copper. You can make wire with measurable improvements by braiding Teflon insulated CAT5/CAT6 to get a 10 ga equivalent. You might not hear a difference, though. I didn't.
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LOL! You can blow up anything.
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Picking up my LaScala's next week, what next?!
in General Klipsch Info
Posted
Good.