Takapunaman

I am using a 2A3 amp with my La Scalas. I am very happy. The La Scalas are impressive. I cannot fault the AL crossovers - well balanced.

Hi, so I am now the proud owner of a pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers. They have the AL crossovers which are in terrible physical condition in addition to being the least preferred crossover according to many website comments. I am considering upgrading the speakers, and if they are to be kept authentic, I am wondering whether to upgrade to the genuine AL-4 crossovers. Just an idea at this stage.

Possibly. But dealers are selling full price new speakers. I thought of open box speakers. But even then we are talking around NZ$26,000.00 by the time they are landed in NZ and tax paid here. And don't forget there would be zero guarantee if anything went wrong. It is simply impossible to simply ship them back for repair and no local dealer would get involved, So it would need to be second had and take a chance. I have ended up with La Scalas at NZ$6,000.00 landed in NZ tax paid. That is a completely different price bracket and allows for the possibility of getting the A crossover which from what I have read appears to be the best option without going for something exotic.

Well, I could buy from the Australian distributor if I had a lazy NZ$36,000.00 hanging around, but unfortunately my lotto ticket didn't come through this week. I did consider building a pair, but all the timber, CNC cut works out around NZ$2,000.00, then all the electronic bits and pieces, not to mention staining and varnishing, and the speaker covers, and quickly gets to NZ$10,000.00 for a professionally finished pair of Speakerlab Khorn copies. Plus all my time and effort. That was the dilemma I was faced with. So I have trawled eBay and after 9 months have finally managed to negotiate an acceptable deal for a pair of La Scalas. Landed and tax paid (twice!) they will cost around $6,000.00, plus the Crites A crossover kits which I should be able to assemble/fit myself.

At least someone has agreed to sell to me and transport the speakers to the container port. And having read all the reply comments on my original post I believe the La Scalas is the best way to go. Apparently there will be a little less base than the Khorns but I am not too worried about that. My current main amplifier is a 300B PSE. For the long term, I am considering the idea of buying a 45 SE amplifier. I heard a demo of a 45 amplifier powering a pair of La Scalas on YouTube (through my headphones) and the result was stunning. No Subwoofer. Dealer's choice, but I never use a sub. I have never been able to balance a sub on a stereo without having to change the settings whenever the album is changed, be that vinyl or CD. And sometimes I needed to change the settings between tracks. So I just setup a stereo as best I can then get used to listening to it, and accepting it as is.

I can only imagine it is because he wouldn't convert to an overseas sale and consequently I had to provide a Florida address for it to proceed so I used the Container Port address.

Hi, I have just scored a pair of La Scalas! From Miami, Florida. So an easy trip to the container port which the guy is willing to do. Awesome advice from you guys. I will want to upgrade the crossover from the current version (AL) so will be going for the Crites A crossover unless anyone has a better suggestion that isn't going to cost much more as I will be broke by the time they arrive. One strange thing that I wasn't expecting is that I had to pay sales tax in the USA. When they get to NZ the government here will calculate the total cost I paid including shipping/tax etc, and then tax me 15% on the lot! So I will be paying 15% tax on the US tax of 7%! Thanks David

Hi everyone, Thanks for all the support and replies. Approximately 15 years ago a pair of Altec Model 19 speakers came up for sale locally. I didn't have the money to buy them but a friend did. He won't part with them and says he is going to be buried in them! Some years later I found the original Altec plans to make the speakers were freely available online. I studied the plans carefully and noticed most Model 19s on YouTube and for sale on eBay are constructed a little differently. So I purchased a complete set of Altec 19 drivers and crossovers from an eBay seller who had modified the cabinets and was not happy with the result (I didn't buy the cabinets). It took me a year to plan the build, source everything and finish them - all except for the covers. A couple of years on and I have finally managed to source all the bits required to construct an original set of matching speaker covers. It has been quite a mission to complete them. The final cost including the cross-over rebuild and the covers will be around US$3,000.00. A friend has a pair of B&W 801 speakers driven by a pair of huge Accuphase amplifiers. When he listened to my home-made Altec 19s driven by my upgraded Chinese 300B PSE amplifier he was simply stunned and left the house in a trance like state. But for the past year or so I have been getting more and more intrigued by the Klipschorns. I spent a lot of time researching and listening to them on YouTube, with both the good and the bad being considered. And have made the decision to buy. I considered building but had not been able to find the original plans or any guidance on building them. Also, I didn't want to go through the agony of building them. However, we are moving neighbourhoods next month and our new-to-us house has a second lounge so we will be needing another set of speakers. A shout out to Marvel - thanks for the plans and guide to building the Klipschorns. I may take that route once we have settled in our new home. I am originally from the UK and can still work with imperial units/convert between the two systems. This would certainly be the more cost effective option. Sorry Full Range, I can't get close to the Australian distributor price of NZ$36,000.00 including shipping and NZ tax (US$24,700.00). I'm working/hoping to be in the US$5-7,000.00 range, plus a contingency if absolutely necessary. Thanks RandyH I might try the Hope, Arkansas lottery, after all, I always live in Hope

Hi, Kia Ora from New Zealand! I have been aware of this forum for several years but only recently joined. I have been trying to buy a pair of Klipschorn speakers for my home. I have the blessing of my wife! She loves music as much as I do and we have an extremely wide range of music to listen to. The problem is that I can't get remotely close to a new pair of Klipschorns which are an eye watering NZ$36,000.00 here and I have never seen a second hand pair for sale in New Zealand. In fact, to my knowledge, no dealer stocks Klipschorns, they simply order a presold pair from the factory and clip the ticket on the way through. So I have been attempting to buy an older pair of speakers from eBay. As for the Klipschorns themselves, there appears to be quite a range of options to consider. I would prefer them to be plywood so that appears to limit my choice to pre 1980, possibly 1950 - 1980. Also, the best crossover for that range of manufacturing years appears to be the AA crossover. This is all hearsay as I have only ever heard one pair demonstrated in New Zealand by a dealer who didn't understand them and so they were in the middle of the room and away from the back wall...enough said. It wasn't until I heard them demonstrated correctly on youtube that their performance could be appreciated, and I believe they will be even better in real life. In terms of eBay, I have found that most Klipschorns for sale are advertised with local pickup. There is a company here in New Zealand that can ship the speakers from the container port office, USA, to me here in Auckland, New Zealand. But most eBay sellers don't appear to want to ship the speakers to the port office (at my cost) and I don't understand why. Buying remotely is going to be a gamble, but from all the reviews, I believe it will be a reasonably safe bet. So any help/advice/suggestions you can offer, including other sources/websites to buy from that have secure trading will be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much, David