Marvel

Dean, Try this Rane out: http://www.rane.com/ra30.html It's $419 from Sweetwater: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RA30/ We have the previous model where I work. Perhaps you could rent one when you need it. It comes with a calibrarted microphone. Marvel

I think that the DHAXover from Dean is actually a design from John Albright. Marvel

Dennis, I was thinking of this B&C 6.5 inch for a a mid driver placed in a horn: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=294-650 Marvel

Before they chime in here, I think they have stated some of this: Dean -- has been doing the rebuilds with better parts (PWK was always doing the cost/performance thing, which a business has to do) Bob -- same thing. The old designs weren't bad, just replace with parts that are within spec. Al -- Same as above for some, plus new designs that offer better performance, i.e., the Extreme Slope Networks that cross over steep enough that there is no interaction between the different components (woofer upper end mixing with mid horn lower end). Al's probably have more design work going into them (ESNs), but Dean and Bob are also smart cookies. You could also toss in some of the work that John Warren has been doing on crossovers. All these guys are great and we are the beneficiaries of their hard work. Marvel

And it makes you wonder how many just got thrown into the dumpster or the burningpile because they were those big old speakers. Easy to see why Andy would say the Heresy was the bread and butter of the company for awhile. Marvel

I guess we'll know pretty soon whether or not it was worth the work, heh? Bet the cat doesn't like the moving around of everything. Marvel

Either one gives you the same change. I don't own LS. Dennis has made plenty of the mods, and I believe he has done both kinds (underneath box and enclosed top). I won't put words into his mouth. If I were to build a set of LS clones, I would at least make the provision for the enclosed top as I was building them. Marvel

Maron, Did they have them removed before they had them bronzed? Marvel

Michael, Some folks have made this mod. I did some 3D drwings of it, which you can find on here if you search. djk posted what the results would be, and has done this for others. He says they have not gone back. Repsonse to 32Hz if I remember correctly off the top of my head. Works better with a K43. If you like the way it works, you can take a stock LS, open up the top of the doghouse where the mid/high horns are and enclose the back, with ports going out the rear. Early models had a hatch into he top section. Very cool mod. Marvel ps: Below is dennis' original post on AA about this: The taper rate of a LaScala is 100hz, and the mouth area is good for 125hz. Below this it is a big woofer in a small sealed box. If we plug the T/S parameters for the K33E into a box program we will see that the Qtc=.85, the Fc=82.5hz, and the F3=70.9hz. If we close in the back of the high frequency cabinet and open the woofer rear chamber up into this volume and fill with fiberglass we now have Qtc=.577, Fc=58.2hz, F3=73.6hz. Bessel=Qtc.577=D2 gives the best transient response and the least group delay of all the sealed boxes. At 30hz the Qtc=.577 has 4.5dB more output than the Qtc=.85. Compared with sealed enclosures,the transient performance of the best vented enclosure is worse than the best sealed box enclosure. Since we have made great gains in performance some may elect to stop here. But please read on. The next step is to port it. The K33E is not the optimum woofer for this but it works pretty good. With the box size optimized for a D2 we can port the stock woofer to an SC4. The transient response of an SC4 while not as good as an SBB4 (more on this later) is better than the more common QB3. Unequalized the F3=49hz and has 3dB more output at 30hz than the D2. The response curves are parallel with the D2 the only difference being the Fc being a half octave lower with the SC4 and the output being 3dB higher from 30~70hz. The output of the SC4 does not drop lower than the D2 until you go below 17hz. Again this may be a stopping point for some. But by adding a simple two pole high pass filter ahead of the power amp we can now have a C6 with a -3dB point of 31hz. Since this is the Fb of the system there is no increase in cone excursion or distortion. The filter consists of a cap an inductor and a pot. The pot allows adjustment at Fb of +/- 3dB. This is similar to being able to change the Qtc of a sealed box from .5~1.0. If you think about it we have the choice between a D2, SC4, and a C6 in the same box by plugging the port and/or bypassing the eq. If you have a SET amp or simply want to get the most out of the LaScala you will want to upgrade the woofer to something with a lower Qts. The Klipsch K43E does the trick, as do the EV DL15W and the JBL 2205. The EV and JBL drivers require some minor network changes. The lower Qts drivers allow for an SBB4 alignment which has the best transient response of the vented alignments. With no eq they have 3dB more output at 30hz than the stock woofer. With eq we have a maximally flat B6 and the F3 of the system is 27~28hz. If using a solid state amp with the low Qts woofers a small resistor must be added in series with the driver to have the same Rg as the SET does. This mod can be backed out of a stock LaScala with no externally visible changes if you don't like it. No one has ever gone back to stock after hearing this mod. Paul Klipsch was violently opposed to the venting of horn speakers bassed on his experience with venting the K-horn. In retrospect it is easy to see why. The 12" Jensen field coil woofer he was using had an Fs of 60hz and a quick calculation of the vent area vs the Vb based on the photographs of this experiment looks like an Fb of ~80hz. I am sure this sounded horrible. Paul Wilbur Klipsch is a giant in audio. If I appear to see farther than PWK it is only because I am standing on his shoulders.

For the inside of some gear, I have used the aerosol degreasers with success. Use ones designed for electronics. Some of them will discolor plastics and dissolve some paints, so use with caution. You can use some of them to successfully flush all the film and crud out of chassis, to where they look almost brand new. The newer ones aren't bad for the atmosphere either. Marvel

I have a Hallicrafters SX-62 sitting in my storage building. I was hoping to use the PS iron out of it on some project, but haven't be able to find the ratings on it. It needs too much other work for me to fix up, and my other hobbies cost enough as is. Last time I moved it I almost killed my back. Marvel

I would think the profit on a pair of Heresys is higher than on a pair of RF7 models. There is more work in an RF7. Marvel

Kathy, Great review and very well said about matching the right amp with the speakers. That room would hardly be big enough for one KHorn, much less two. How sad. It's a wonder people buy them at all. I still have to make do with my Heresys for a while longer. My living room is only 13 x 22 w/8 foot ceilings, and many would consider that too small for the big horns. Still hoping to convince the wife for us to at least try them sometime. Marvel

What is the surround made of on the Pioneer? A lot of the new speakers use the rubber srrounds, and they aren't a foam. At least not in the same as the older speakers had. A lot of the subwoofer drivers use the butyl rubber surround. I am still a bit partial to the pleated cloth. They seem to hold up very well. Marvel

Shawn, Yeah, I wasn't thinking of the digital out. I'm still sorta in the analog world. I still pull everything off my ADAT through the analog outs on it (20 bit). Marvel

On my M-Audio card (Audiophile 2496), the only difference between the two settings is output gain. The consumer is -10db. the professional is higher. I don't think it is +4, but it is higher. I am at work right now or I would check. Marvel

You don't think all the Macs are made in the U.S. do you? I have some swamp land that is 100% U.S. I'll sell you if you do. Marvel

Big companies haven't wanted to switch to Linux because of the support, even though the online/user community support is often far better than what MS gives. And MS charges a lot. But the other non-MS OSes out there, at least most of the Linux flavors, are still user surly and not user friendly. We use them all where I work. Windows, Linux and Solaris (even still have some NEXT PCs alive and kickin'). Was glad when we got rid of VMS at the college. They are all getting better. XP is probably the best OS MS has put out to date, and it should be. The newest really should be your best. There is nothing that works as easily as Windows, when it works the way it is supposed to. Most of the time it does. Marvel

Hey Gil, How are the Belles? Did you post about them somewhere else already? Marvel

Very nice. Why should we give you grief over which fabric you got? They are yours to do with as you please. Makes me want to redo the fabric on my JBLs. THe frames on them are still in great shape. Perhaps I can just reglue a couple of loose spots on the fabric. Marvel

IE should be banned. It is awful that you have to use IE to get Windows updates. Firefox is an excellent browser. Marvel

Had you looked at the Pioneer drivers at PartsExpress? One of those was mentioned as suitable, or even the ones from Klipsch, used in their Pro Jubilee? Marvel

That changes things. I help look too.

Are you using a single 15, two 15s, two 12s" If you are using a single 15, D-MAN posted the Eminence CB15 as a candidate. Re of 6.03 Le is higher though at 1.51mH Marvel

The tear has effectively changed/broken the seal on the cabinet. Since it is a passive and not wired to anything internally, that is why you could try sealing the cone yourself. At this point, you have nothing to lose trying it. The part is a KD-15 15" (38.1cm) Fiber-composite cone passive. Call Klipsch first, and see what they have to say. The actual specs on it are probably not as critical, and it may be able to just be reconed, which would also be cheaper than buying the whole speaker.