MVC

I listen exclusively to classical music on LaScalas II, which I am still relatively new to (I was using two pairs of KG 4.2 before) and have been working with them on placement and room treatments and can highly recommend them for that genre. I listen to a broad range from voices, piano solos, string quartets, symphonic to opera. But they were tricky with placement and room dynamics and in the wrong setup I had resonances that were unpleasant. The two most effective changes for me were not having them close to walls/corners, which means they are only 6ft apart, and on carpeting. I experimented with having them in a room which had a lot of windows, even though the glass was covered with shades (granted not velvet), it was not optimal, whereas interestingly enough, the older KG 4.2 have no problem with that. I have not had a better symphonic sound than I do now, I am very happy with the detail and soundstage, and unlike the KG 4.2, the volume sound of peak crescendos remains balanced. I think string quartets sound amazing. One of the downsides of listening to classical music is that a lot of recordings I have are recordings produced in the 50's & 60s or even earlier, e.g. the famous 1950 Beethoven String Quartets by the Budapest Quartet which however have been beautifully remastered, so I don't always get the most out of the source material, and of course, the speakers cannot make them sound better, and the amount of coughing from the audience in live performances in those days was horrible 🙁. But I also like the streaming services from Berlin Digital Concert Hall for example for current performances and the sound quality is excellent, at SACD level, just coming through my wifi.

I wanted to circle back with you and thank you for you comment on having had you speakers relatively close. I guess I was more fixated on the fact that since I didn’t have a long wall to place the speakers I would have to accommodate with trying to find as much space as possible between them on a short wall. But that resulted in them being too close to the side walls which created echo/booming etc, and therefore a poor soundstage. I then gave it try and shortened the distance to 6ft and that gave me a foot on either side of the walls and that solved the problem. I thought I had to do a lot more room accoustic treatments, but this adjustment improved the sound by a lot.

Yes Congrats! They are beautiful. From you amp list, I run a pair of LaScalas with the Yahama A-S 1100 and I am very happy. So I would think the KH would be comparable. It has power for the bass (my LS are not placed directly in corners) and the detail is wonderful. It’s not a smooth warm sound, but I want sharpness and detail. To get the most optimal sound I had to work more on placement.

Thanks. Absorbers appear easy to build and these type of diffusers, I think, would be most doable diy (mountain range type with planks) as compared to wood cubes of various sizes, which look amazing. I read an article of someone who build these using 1/4 plywood but then recommended to use 1/2 since the 1/4 would warp, then it gets heavier too.

My room is 12x28, a 7 ft ceiling that rises to 10ft and down again, an open arch, small alcove at one end and a fire place and chimney wall in the center, and lots of windows, so I know not ideal, and roughly 3000cft. Although the arch I think actually helps, it cuts down on reflections and offers an escape. I had to really work on getting resonants down with placement and room treatments, I am planning to build my own absorbers and diffusers to experiment some more in that area (I even built 6" risers for the LS, they came out really nice and solid, but didn't improve the sound at all). I would agree with your watts suggestion, obviously LS are very efficient, I don't need a huge amount of bass and I listen to a volume equivalent of a live performance.

That's interesting, thanks. I have a similar setup, 7' feet apart on the short wall of the room. I am very happy with the sound but always curious what it would sound like if I followed the long wall "guideline", but like you said I have to pay close attention to room treatments, in my case to tackle resonants. It's good to know your experience with a long wall placement.

I agree with floor standing speakers. It also depends what kind of music you listen to. The bigger the orchestra the larger the speakers need to be. I have a Yamaha A-S 1100 with LaScalas for exclusively classical music the power and detail is there but they are tricky with placement if you don’t have the ideal room dimensions, i.e., a 30ft long wall to place them at, in my case.

My view is that a lot of these differences are subtle and refined, like the way you can appreciate wine or certain performers, and that’s what you pay for. Blind wine tastings produce similar results, I’ve heard. And when talking about the sound of music, it’s elusive. It’s being able to hear the difference between Brendel’s Schubert vs Kempf’s, for example. In addition, there is the quality build, people here on this forum have their Klipsch speakers for decades and they still sound great, same is true for audio equipment. But at the same time it is true that you can enjoy a piece of music you hear in your car radio just as much. And as long as you stay within your budget.

I have SS the Yamaha A-S1100 with LaScalas. I don’t have the speakers placed directly in corners but get a powerful bass from them through the amp. Although I have to say I listen exclusively to classical music so the bass is sufficient. I prefer a detailed, clinical sound as live sounding as possible over a smoothed warm sound. Although I am itching to get a tube setup as well, the quality of my source material varies and of course I am curious to experiment to keep getting a better sound. And I like the idea of mixing it up to keep things fresh. Any recommendations on tube amps with LS?

Although I have to say while I was fortunate enough to find one heritage dealer in reasonable driving distance near me, like 75 miles, when I was looking for a pair of LaScalas, the setup wasn’t quite ideal. It was a small dealership, very nice and helpful and not arrogant as lot of high-end audio places can be, the Klipsch speakers, they had 3 types on display but no KH, were in the entrance area and there was a couch to the side so I was standing and lisitened to LaScalas and Cornwall’s. There I could tell that to me the CW had a boxiness sound which I wanted to get away from and the LS had an openness to them. I got the LSs and they sounded even better at home. So, in short, while I wasn’t blown away with them in the showroom, I knew what they were capable of and was able to visualize their potential. So somebody not too familiar with them or not quite sold on Klipsch Heritage might not experience them fully at a dealership with an imperfect setup.

Cute cat! Always inspecting what's going on 😊 I agree to remove the top speakers. I once used two pairs of KG 4.2s with great results but had them right next to each other, i.e., looking like one big speaker, that worked to get a bigger and fuller sound, not sure if you need extra speakers with CWs (?), unless for surround sound but then they would be placed wrong altogether. Is your listening position on one of the two side couches? I am assuming there's another armchair facing the speakers. You could also raise the CW's to lift them above the couches, so the couches are not blocking or absorbing too much sound. When I once lived in a studio, I had speakers near a king size bed and raising those had a huge impact. It looks like you could also try flipping the entire setup so that the speakers are next to the window on the left with the red curtains and the speakers face the opposite wall, this would keep the archway free of hazards (cables etc.). Having improved my cables over time, they do incrementally offer more detail and clarity, 16 vs 12/11 gauge speakers cable for example, especially if you're listening to jazz that has lots of subtleties and pianissimos.

I use a Yamaha AS1100 with my LaScala II and there's no hiss or hum, dead silence from the speakers. It has a detailed, clinical, natural sound, which I prefer over an engineered or a smooth warm sound. I don't have them placed directly in corners but all the bass is produced by the amp. You can hear everything, the good and the bad, of the source material.

I read that, I forget who it was, like an Eric Clapton or someone of that stature, he was furious at the new revival of the vinyl craze because they were really digitals just pressed on vinyl, there's no analogue involved as was the case in the "old" LPs which created THE LP sound, so it sounded to me that he more or less thought it was just a hype, i.e., the revival of vinyl. I am not sure if that is the same as when LPs in the 80s went digital before CDs, or another method, not quite clear on that. Because those digital recorded LPs from the 80s sound good to me, although they also had their critics.

Update on my post earlier; I've experimented with their placement some more (given that I am dealing with a short wall and farther away LP), I have now pulled them out of the corners about 5ft and so the LP is now 19ft, with a slight toe-in of the left speakers but not toe-in of the right speakers (LP is a bit off-angle). The effect was enormous. I think the short wall, given that it is a narrow-long room may have acted as an alcove coupled with a mini-cathedral ceiling (from 7.5 to 10ft and then down again) which created a huge bouncing effect in the front section (my guess as a non-prof accoustic expert). And I think in my case 19ft is about as far away as a LP without loosing the directness to the speakers, in my previous room the max was 13ft and I always thought that was too close for my taste. I have not lost any bass, I think the amp does all the work (and granted with classical music the LS have ample). I am good for while I guess. Thanks for the different ideas here in the posts.

To the original question, I moved away from downloads and returned to LP and CD/SACD as my predominant source of music after putting those more or less in storage. With classical music, maintaining a digital library in iTunes became such a chore, the quality was OK because I was traveling a lot for work. Granted these are compressed files and I have not tried these newer HD sites, but for a while I was also using Amazon Music and it had the same problems. So I am turned off by downloads. I bought most of my LPs in the mid-90s and they were already then used, but most of them in good condition. But they are starting to show their age and I have been replacing them with CDs. I am especially impressed with the Japanese pressings of CD/SACD. For example, for years I listened to the Klemperer Das Lied von der Erde on LP and then replaced it with a Japanese CD pressing and was blown away with the sound quality from a recording of the early 1960s. Or the Beethoven String Quartets of the 1950s Budapest Quartet recording are gorgeous on a newer release. I have always craved the analogue LP sound but I have to say the newer CDs in general sound better now then in the past or with the ADD conversions at first with hiss accompaniment. Also for symphonic/orchestral I now prefer new pressings on CD even of transfers (Kleiber’s Beethoven 5th sound even better on the SACD than the DG LP), my LPs are still great for smaller ensembles, solo piano and voices of important historical recordings, which of course is a different listening objective.

I am curious about Mxvm’s comment about putting the LS in the corners like you would the KH, given that the LS have a straight back unlike the triangular back of the KH specifically designed to fit into a corner. With a straight back, doesn’t the LS leave a big gap between the corner and the speaker and therefore this defeats the purpose of getting the base sound? Or is it negligible? I am sill tweaking with the placement of my LS. Unfortunately I don’t have a long wall I can place them at so they are on a 12ft wall (I know not ideal), at a right angle in the corner, 4” off the back wall. Because of the shorter wall, I don’t toe them in and given that my sitting position is far back, so they would meet in front of me and the horns clashing sounded strident (I have tried). I found this placement coupled with carpeting right in front of them on hard wood floors the best to compensate for the loss of space between them. Still string quartets sound the best, live and awesome but I wish piano solos could sound better.