MMurg

Yes, for the active DSP crossover configuration, you will need six channels of amplification. This can be in either multiple chassis (like three stereo amp) or a single chassis (like a six-channel amp as @jjptkd suggested). I can't speculate whether the DSP will add a "significant" amount to the price or not. We'll have to wait and see. I'm sure whatever it is will be worth it for the very significant improvement in the sound quality. The improvement is not subtle. I assume any upgrade kit would include at minimum the DSP, the K-406 horn, the KT-1133 driver and external phase plug, and perhaps a new input panel with three sets of binding posts. I think the DSP would be required as I can't imagine the new mid horn/driver would work with the existing AL5/AK6 crossover networks.

Perhaps @Chief bonehead can comment on your questions.

Nothing has changed with the design of La Scala bass bin or the LF driver. It's how Roy is using that response with the DSP that makes the difference. He's doing something he couldn't do in a reasonably sized passive network. The native response of the La Scala bass bin has a big hump in it. Because of this, when that response is matched to the mids/highs, the -3 dB point for the bass point ends up in the low 50s. By using the DSP to flatten out that hump (i.e. cutting it down) and then matching the mids/highs to that flatter bass curve, the -3 dB point for the bass ends up in the mid 40s. I've heard the AL5 in that Hope lab listening room before. The low end of the bass wasn't great. This updated La Scala had really satisfying bass in that room. Many fewer people will hear this new La Scala and immediately think that they need a sub to go with it.

Pricing and release dates were not discussed.

Hi All. I decided to start new discussion threads since this one was really an event registration information thread, one for pictures from PWK Birthday Bash in general and one for the Chief Bonehead Class discussing the coming changes to the La Scala and Khorn.

The closing evening at the Visitor Center featured good food and live music by the Moss Brothers.

The final day of the PWK Birthday Bash featured the Chief Bonehead Class about the changes coming with the La Scala and Khorn. I posted about the class in a separate thread.

The banner of Mr. K looking out the window of the Visitor at the Birthday Bash in his honor.

Friday night at the PWK Birthday Bash featuring Chief Bonehead Fajitas (aka Royjitas) and live music by Dave Almond.

The 2024 PWK Birthday Bash was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the different events that I took. Others who attended are welcome to add theirs to this thread. Here are a few pictures of people hanging out at the KMAH Visitor Center before the Museum Annual Meeting on Thursday March 7 and then the meeting itself.

The final day of the 2024 PWK Birthday Bash featured the latest Chief Bonehead Class given by Klipsch Chief Engineer Roy Delgado. The subject of this class was to introduce the changes coming in the next iterations of the La Scala and Klipschorn (presumably the AL6 and AK7 respectively). We got a tease of the changes at SubFest last fall, but during this class Roy finally revealed the details. Just remember that all of this information is preliminary and subject to change. The first change is the replacement of the K-401 midrange horn. The tooling for the K-401 is finally wearing out. Instead of making new tooling for that old exponential horn design, it was decided that it would finally be replaced with a modern modified Tractrix horn, designated the K-406. This new horn is much shorter and features a 2” throat and “mumps”. The horns in the pictures are prototypes in white plastic. The final version will be the usual black color. The next change is the midrange driver to go with this new horn. This will be the large diaphragm, 2” exit KT-1133-HP compression driver used in the Klipsch Professional line. An external wide dispersion phase plug will likely be added for use with this driver before production. The last change is the replacement of the passive crossover with an active DSP like the Jubilee. This now allows time/phase alignment of all drivers. This also allowed the response to be flattened out, especially the hump in the bass bin range, allowing response to be flat down to 45 Hz. I forgot to take a picture of the two curves, one with the passive network and one with the DSP, but the difference was night and day. The curve with the DSP looked ruler flat down to 45 Hz. However, this also means that the new La Scala and Klipschorn will now require three channels of amplification per speaker. The question was raised as to whether a passive crossover network option would be offered as some buyers might balk at buying three channels of amp power per speaker. Roy said this may be an option. However, a passive crossover network will not provide the time/phase alignment and perhaps not all the response corrections made possible by the DSP. I asked Roy why he didn’t replace the tweeter and midrange horns with a single K-510 horn mated to a Celestion Axi2050 driver and make these speakers two-way active. He said he didn’t do this for two reasons. One was that the K-510 is a 500 Hz horn and would not allow proper crossover to the Klipschorn bass bin which can’t get that high. The other reason was the desire to continue the tradition of providing “upgrade kits” to allow La Scala AL5 and Klipschorn AK6 owners the ability to upgrade their speakers to the latest revision. The K-406 will have the same mounting screw hole pattern as the K-401, allowing a swap with nothing more than a screwdriver. I told Roy I’ll be first in line for any upgrade kit for my La Scala AL5 surrounds. Edit: I forgot to mention, any upgrade kits that might be offered would only be for the La Scala AL5 and the Klipschorn AK6, since only those versions have the Celestion tweeter that will be carried over to the new versions. We then got to hear demos with the new La Scala. How did all these changes sound? In a word, astounding. The improvement is dramatic. The bottom end sounds fuller, the speaker sounds smoother, and better integrated. The hint of shoutiness from the K-401 is completely gone. The improvement is as dramatic as when I head the comparison of the Underground Jubilee and the Hertiage Jubilee. When Roy later paired the La Scala with the large (18 Hz) Hertiage subwoofer prototype, the sound was as close to the Heritage Jubilee sound as I’ve heard from any other Heritage speaker. These are not your grandfather’s La Scala. I imagine the improvement will be similarly dramatic with the Klipschorn as well. Roy has certainly worked his magic once again. Roy also mentioned that the La Scala and Klipschorn DSP units may have a subwoofer out for use with the Heritage horn subs. This was how the demo with the sub was done. I can’t wait for these new versions to be released.

I'll be typing up my post event report on the flight home tomorrow.

That was done at the SubFest event back in the fall. Now we have to wait for the actual product release.

Congrats on joining the HJ club. I agree with @diamonddelts that you should start a new thread to share your experiences. Obviously, I dumped most of my learnings at the beginning of this thread. However, since I'm approaching the 2-year mark of owning these, feel free to tag or message me if you have questions.

I suggested the same listing back on page 1 of this thread. Considering the 8000 Euro investment in the speakers, I thought this was a relatively small price to pay to get them operational again.

Yes, you can use a y-cable for two subs. However, the person from Klipsch was correct to have some concerns about simply doing a y-cable. If you don't place the subs equidistant from the listening position then the arrival time of at least one sub will be off since you will only be able to set one distance in the receiver. It may also cause issues when trying to use Audyssey. You may need to use a device like a MiniDSP if you want to manually set correct distances and levels for the subs independently. Things then get a bit more complicated to do correctly.

I'm already registered. 🙂

You're welcome. Daniel?

Every Hertiage speaker model except the Heresy (which has about the same) and the La Scala has deeper bass extension than the Three. What you are perceiving as "more" bass is likely the orders of magnitude more bass distortion that the Three will produce over any Heritage speaker at the same volume. The reason that the La Scala cannot go very deep is because it has a folded horn bass section, and the cutoff frequency of a horn is related to the size of the horn and its flare rate. The La Scala is a compromise between the ultra-low bass distortion of horn-loaded bass and the size of the cabinet. If Klipsch were to design a new bass horn for this speaker, say using the same horn-loaded vented system used in the Jubilee and the upcoming Klipsch horn subs, then it really wouldn't be the La Scala anymore but a new model. Also, while the MF and HF are highly regarded, there are improvement that can be made. Roy will reveal what those are during the class during the PWK Birthday Bash.

I suggest getting an inexpensive set of the plastic tools used for mobile phone repair. Use one of the plastic pry tools to slowly lift the ring in small increments while progressing around the ring.

I doubt that some other diaphragm is going to work. Just about everything for the Palladium series was designed specifically for that line. I don't think parts were shared with other Klipsch speakers.

The Palladium line was discontinued eight years ago in 2016. Replacement parts were available for some time, but that supply is gone. Now you have to find sellers parting out the components of damaged speakers like the seller of the P-17B horn assembly that I poster earlier (https://www.ebay.com/itm/266640005569).

Why not? I think that will work well for a center for Forte II if you have the room for it.

There is an eBay seller selling some Palladium parts, including a P-17B horn assembly. You could take the tweeter diaphragm out of that. It's a bit steep a price for just a diaphragm, but it might be better than giving up. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266640005569