[Snake Oil?]

What a joke. So you buy some 6061 aluminum rod stock, write a program and cut time for these could not possibly be more than 30 seconds each. It is called do something a typical hobbiest can't do and turn $1.00 into gobs of $$$$$. Can't speak for the pretty box though except perhaps a little Vulcan mind meld action might be required to make it work.

[Assess the condition of 70's and 80"s La Scala]

Hi all,

I have been out of town on a few jobs and just have not looked here for a bit. First off the Noblesville sidetrip was a dud. The Klipsch Ampitheatre was about two miles from my jobsite but with 6 inches of snow on the ground nothing was going on and no locals knew anything about a Klipsch soundroom so I never had that pleasure.

Bruce, I will take you up on that offer and next time I am that way I will call ahead and plan a stop. My preferences are all across the board from 70's rock to Irish folk and bagpipes. I am not fussy.

Cabinet condition is a desirable thing but I am finding that pristine cabinets are not out there. All have some degree of damage unless I want to shell out a lot more money.

Now I have added to my situation in the mean time with another pair of La Scalas that were for sale in Cary North Carolina which was on the way to my last job. I figured at $1,100 I could not go wrong and can always resell them later anyway if I choose not to keep them. These have the AL3 crossovers and the best shape cabinets of the three pairs. I am having trouble though identifying the age of these since there does not appear to be a number that corresponds with anything I can find. Their SN#'s are 26247 and 26214 and both are W/O 4738 and both have the same part numbers which is a long string of numbers only. I guess I will pick the best and sell the rest although I have thought about a little fix up first and then see what the market will bear here in TN.

I have some observations on the sound from the three as I bought them. The oldest AA type has the muddiest sound with less definition of the instruments which I assume is due to old capacitors. I am seriously thinking of getting new crossovers for this one just to see how it sounds. Also there seems to be a general concurence here that these years of AA crossover production were some of the best.

The AL type has better sound to my ears with better definition and the bass and drums reach right out and grab you better than the AA pair.

The AL3 has the best definition and oddly enough requires less power to drive them to uncomfortable levels. You know I had to do that though as a matter of strict research

This has led to my consideration for the new AA crossovers as older to newer of the three have a pronounced difference in sound. Is the difference here in the sounds due to just the deterioration of the crossovers or do the components make that big a difference to? As far as I can tell all tweeters etc are OK and all has been tightened up. I will get pictures of the three up in the next day or two.

[Assess the condition of 70's and 80"s La Scala]

I have a job in Noblesville Indiana this week and found out that Klipsch is there. I wonder if they have a sound room where I could hear factory fresh LaScalas for comparison?

[Assess the condition of 70's and 80"s La Scala]

Thanks all for the answers. I have been out all day and so no reply until tonight. The caps on the crossovers are all original and I don't know if the prior owners did anything besides run them. Of course mods interest me if I can see the value to them. I have thrown money at problems before without truly knowing what the problem was and it never works out well doing that. My preference would be to hear the difference first though and so if there is anyone close to southern middle Tennessee that has done so and is willing to let me hear the results I would appreciate it. I will dig into some of these suggestions over the next week and report back as to what I have found.

You all might be entertained by where my "home" system will be. Out in my shop somewhere in front of my Haas VF4 CNC mill. I was reading of a tweeter horn designed and milled out of wood on one of the posts here and it got the wheels spinning in my mind as these kinds of things would be real easy for me to do.

[Assess the condition of 70's and 80"s La Scala]

OK so I bit the bullet on a recent job in Orlando and bought two pairs of La Scala's there. It has been a long time dream of mine to have some and now I have two pairs. But here is my question. I have looked through the various forums here and I have not found a single thread that talks about what to do for basic things to check on these. I have found for instance comments about making sure things are screwed in and lots of comments about crossovers and tons of ways to spend money but no single thread on the ABC's of it all. What I would like to know is how do do basic maintenance on these to eliminate any simple problems that do not cost money but are important. Without any electronic testing devices is it possible to verify that components are working right? The AL crossover in the 80"s model sounds much better than the AA crosover in the 70"s model and all I read here contradicts this so I presume there are problems.

So, you have just bought that old set of La Scalas. What do you do when you get them home to make them right?

I played Broadsword by Jethro Tull yesterday and the bass and drums just reach right out physically impact you and the louder the better. I had chill bumps listening to this. It is a good thing I live way out in the country.