estelegalize
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Posts posted by estelegalize
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4 minutes ago, billybob said:
A linear tt eliminated a lot of scratch pop for me. Have a Sansui and Technics and others made them. Bargains out there.
Funny you mention that, I had just found a Technics SL-M3 online and was considering it. I personally dig the suspended SL models.
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Update:
Two months after acquiring, I haven’t done any modifications, and I’m satisfied. After finding the best placing in the room, positioned in the corners—kinda like khorns—toed in so that the sweet spot is about a foot or so in front of my face, and tuning my subs to compliment the LS, I’ve just been enjoying the music.
Only itch I’ve been having since has been finding a second turntable for my rougher vinyls.
Thanks again to everyone who offered their advice.
✌🏽
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6 minutes ago, Marvel said:
What platform are you using?
It is just a spreadsheet, and should work fine ib Libre Office's LibreCalc.
I can check tomorrow at work. My work desktop runs Linux Mint. I can run some dimensions on a Windows pc with Excel and compare to LibreCalc.
100% MacOS. I’ve been referred to as youngblood before. I’d appreciate the help!
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I’m starting to lean into the idea of building my own crossovers from scratch so as to keep the og’s alone incase I want to return to them. @Rolox really got me interested in Russian PIO caps.
A couple things that I keep reading mixed opinions regarding crossovers is the significant difference between Type A and AA. It seems to also be a point of preference depending on listening habits. Secondly, the acceptable uf and v values; 1.8uf or 2.2uf being a stand in for a 2uf cap, or a 6uf, 6.8uf, and even a 12uf being a stand in for the 13uf cap. Also wondering about 160v vs 600v etc, and mix matching v’s: like a 2uf 200v with 6.8uf 100v. @Crankysoldermeister I read a couple of you super old entries along with other users responses that made me wonder about the appropriate uf and v values (idk if values is the right word but I’m using the language I got).
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@pcbiz Thanks for sharing. I’ll dig in since I’m in the middle of a flight. 😎
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10 hours ago, Dave A said:
I am working on a horn that will fit where the K-400 does. It is not done nor tested but it is in progress. I have a finished final version 14" x 7" x 6.5" deep horn of stacked Baltic Birch which is awesome but nothing as of yet ready to go for La Scalas unless you want to set the mid horn on top of your cabinet.
Looking forward to seeing what you developed
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4 hours ago, Marvel said:
K400 is cast aluminum and the newer versions, the K401 is a composite material.
A tractrix horn follows an equation, which can be made to fit the opening of the K400 in the LS front. When I fron mounted my K400 horns, I needed to open the hole a little bit to mount it.
Many have made horned from using Erik Forker's tools on this website (now WordPress pages). He has spreadsheets to calculate the curves for a tractrix horn, based on Bruce Edgar's earlier work, etc. Lot's of cool stuff.
Unfortunately I don’t have a windows platform to download the calculator.
Been reading on replacement horns for the k55 and got sucked into a wormhole. I’m guessing there’s no easy plug and play swap that also fits perfect into the lascala. If I had the initial shape I’d be able to make my own tractrix horn to see what it sounds like.
I may get some of the asphalt dampening sheets just to see if it helps any. So far repositioning the speakers has helped tremendously. Hopefully I can recap the crossovers soon and order some gaskets from crites. Still enjoying as is.
Starting to wonder what I got myself into 🫠
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I'd be interested in potentially casting a tractrix horn out of aluminum for the stock hole of the LaScala. Sounds like a good time. I've made sand molds for iron castings in the past. Always wanted to make some molds for aluminum casting. Sounds easier. The trick is fabricating the initial form to mold around.
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I’m handy enough to fool myself into believing I may be able to build one if the right specs were available.
Question for anyone who may know: Are the K400 horns iron or aluminum casted? -
17 minutes ago, Shakeydeal said:
Yes. But my Lascalas are the II version, so different than yours.
Gotcha, thanks.
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I read somewhere that [a] Dave developed a tractrix midrange horn. Is that the same Dave that made the SMAHL?
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1 hour ago, Shakeydeal said:
I listen at pretty loud levels too. And I only occasionally find the midrange objectionable. 95% of the time I have no issues.
Is your crossover original?
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4 minutes ago, Curious_George said:
A tractrix mid-horn on a K55 or derivative would sound better than the K400, I agree. That is an option for the original poster.
For me, when I decided to go with a different midrange horn for my LaScala, I was not concerned about placing the new mid-horn on the exterior (on top) of the LaScala. Not everyone may want to go in this direction and preserve the original mounting holes/locations of the LaScala and work with those OE sizes.
Despite it's sonic signature, many many thousands of K400 horns were used in k-horn's and LaScala's and satisfied many music lovers.
I'd only be interested in swappable and reversible options. Found this in an older thread with the tractrix horn installed.
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8 minutes ago, babadono said:
I respect both your and Cranky's opinions. But to my ears there was no mistaking that a tractrix midrange horn lens made the La Scala mo' betta. The KHorn as well but that's a different story. Maybe I always listen moderately loud?
Tractrix horn sounds like a great idea. I came across a 2009 thread where they built one and kept it looking stock.
Moderately loud is how I listen too.
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1 hour ago, Shakeydeal said:
I have found that with my LS II, minimal toe in helps in regard to the midrange. Fire them directly at you and you could be in for a disappointment. But slightly off axis, the midrange is full and the tone is much better. And sitting back far enough for the drivers to integrate helps too.
At the moment, they're about 14 ft apart, toed in to center in front of me (which helped) and not on or right behind me. I tucked the subs in the corners behind them and finally was able to tune the subs better with the speakers. Finally, my low end is back.
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4 hours ago, Curious_George said:
Exactly, I found this to be true as well... at low to moderate listening levels, the K400 sounds good, but get above about 1 Watt (I have not measured it, just a guess) and the K400 will drill a hole in your head, as Dean said. Especially in a small to moderate sized room. Outside or in a larger venue, maybe different.
Anyway, as you start to experiment, you will find what you like and don't like with all these good suggestions and decide what path is right for you.
Moderate levels on my volume knob is about 12 o clock. When I hit 1 o clock, all the things I love about these speakers pops out. From the bass being more full to details in the highs popping out. But, at 1 o clock, I'm getting drilled.
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Thanks everyone! This has been really helpful. Please continue to share if any can offer any more advice.
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1 minute ago, Marvel said:
This is the best advice! Become familiar with how they sound in your space, all the nuances/details.
There is no hurry to make changes.
About the tweeter on top for time alignment. In the stock configuration, at the crossover point, sound from the tweeter will arrive at your ears before the same from the midrange drivers, smearing the sound. With the diaphragms of the two lined up, the sound is cleaner and more coherent. You could also time align with a digital crossover. It isn't subtle.
That's the plan, I'm not in a rush. Gonna take it nice and slow, but wanna gather info and ideas to potentially do some tweaks in the future.
Since the SMAHL fixes issues around the lens being buried in a hole, is it necessary if the og lens is front mounted on a board when time aligned (not in a hole)?
Aesthetics are important to me too, time aligning sounds beneficial, but I dunno if I'd wanna live with it. I also prefer the the EV T-35 lens aesthetically over the SMAHL V2. I think I could live with it if I painted it black.
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9 minutes ago, geoff. said:
CT-120s are excellent. Arguably better than K-77s.
The elliptical lenses offered by Dave A to replace the K-77 are the SMAHL (small machined aluminum horn lens). With the same DE-120 driver as the CT-120, they are arguably better.
I have both and agree with the recommendations from the other members.
I would even go so far as to suggest the tweeters as the first, fully reversible step.
Klipsch no longer uses the K-77 in the newest La Scala for a reason.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm up to date now.
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1 hour ago, CWOReilly said:
I have the SMAHL in both my 79 CW and 75 LS. Crites in CW, JEM in LS. The SMAHL was a drastic improvement to my ears. Installed many months after crossover replacement and rebuild. I can’t recommend them enough.
I imagine it’s hard to compare caps between the CW and LS.
I honestly thought that we were talking about the Crites CT120 this whole time. What does SMAHL stand for? If I’m understanding correctly, Dave A designed both?
Gonna search to read more about them. Thanks.
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1 hour ago, Crankysoldermeister said:
Frequency response plots on the Crites website for the Allen driver were done using new-ish PD5’s - and those were done by Bob and Michael. The distortion tests were done by Al with a driver of unknown condition. John Warren also did distortion tests using a K-55-M. The Allen driver came in slightly better, but not as exaggerated as Al’s. My understanding was Roy just didn’t need the extended response of the driver since he was cutting everything at 4.5kHz.Would you still recommend the JEM caps if I'm considering Dave A's tweeter/driver combo?
I've read somewhere that Crites' caps returned them to spec, as in restoring the speakers. I'm guessing that's not agreed upon since Klipsch has their own approved caps, also guessing that the sonicaps give you a bit flavor the JEM caps don't, and vice versa.
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4 minutes ago, 001 said:
the K55X and k-400-k-401 hons are used on new AL5 and AK6 , the A-55G was tested by klipsch and they are still using the better driver , you see , the initial tests by Crites were flawed , they used 40 year old K-55V drivers with worn out diaphragms instead of testing like klipsch with new diaphragms in both drivers which obviously showed quite different results .
there is nothing wrong with the k-77 nor with original crossovers , or horns , or tweeters , or aftermarket diaphragms .
The klipsch capacitors sold by JEM , are in fact balancing since they do not require any other changes to the speaker's components , while aftermarkets by altering the sound effectively break the balance , which forces changes to the drivers , or horns and even to the crossovers until a suitable equilibrium is reached .
That's interesting. Would you recommend Crites' replacement diaphragms for the K-55V?
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23 minutes ago, Crankysoldermeister said:
Everything is reversible. It's a great speaker to play around with. You don't have to go nuts with them to get decent results.
@Curious_Georgeis right about the horn. If you like to jack on the volume they will drill a hole through your head. Low to modest levels, I think they sound good. I experimented with some different horns early on, but when I went to low volume listening as a course of habit, I went back to the K-400. Great dynamics and resolving power at those levels.
Your K-55's could probably use a new set of diaphragms, and lot cheaper than new drivers. With that said, the A-55-G is a dual phase plug design, and would be an improvement over your stock drivers.
The 6.8uF mod is hit or miss. I've had some complain that the mids become too recessed. It really relates to how loud you listen. The louder you listen, the higher the likelihood that you're going to like it.
Since you are new to these, I recommend getting the kit from JEM. This will give you the correct baseline to start from. If you love it, great, if not -- then go to a quality film and foil like the PPT Theta or Jantzen Z-cap.
Deang
Thanks Deang.
Listening volumes vary to time of day and mood. If I'm listening closely, I'd say I'm listening at a bit above moderate levels, and that's mostly because I grew up going to live shows, I like to be IN the music. I know, its terrible for my ears. I like to think I'm listening below ear damaging levels, but who knows, maybe I should get a decibel meter.
I also enjoy the intimacy of late night low volume listening, so that might be an issue with the 6.8uf cap. To think of it, I'll mostly have them playing with the volume up so I think it's worth a try.
Thanks for the cap and driver advice. I think the "up to spec" approach is a good start too.
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Speaking of reversible, has anyone tried rubber spray paint as a damper for the horn? It's easy to strip off.
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57 minutes ago, geezin' said:
I think many seek something they cannot identify until they get lucky and stumble upon it. That is we're not sure but seeing what others like we assume we will as well. I advised my customers to ride their motorcycles for 6 months before changing anything other than adjustments for comfort or safety. It's tough to take my own advice but I've gotten there.
I seek for truth. No really, how do I get the close to live sound in my living room?
When I was in school, we often participated in "critiques" where we'd share our thoughts around particular work. You'd hear a myraid of opinions and insights that at times would be in direct opposition to each other, or would back each other's thoughts on the subject. These crits were helpful to me as I would listen, offer my opinion, and would try to keep an open mind in case someone would help me see outside of my perspective.
I'm not asking anyone to change my mind. I personally feel it's helpful to hear peoples opinions, insights, suggestions, and approaches to help me think if any of it applies to my interests and intentions.
Thanks again everyone for sharing.
1979 LaScala (Asking For Advice)
in Technical/Restorations
Posted
Feel like I’ve missed a bit since I’ve last been on. Are JEM’s now highly regarded caps? No bad experiences yet?