amp for La Scalas

[spersaud]

So I managed to pick up some La Scalas for a good price. ( very good, plus the guy was glad to get rid of them, wifey said they had to go )

But I havent been able to fully hear what these things are capable of doing. I had a Kenwood receiver, but its sending a horrible signal, and only operating in dolby pro logic or something liek that. Next I tried a 6060 made in brazil from the 80s, but it sending pops to the speaker so I refrained from turning it up..

Now I started to bid on a Marantz Model Sixteen on ebay, but I didnt realize what a great amp it was and didnt bid enough.

So what amp should I get and preamp, ..... thanks. ...

[twistedcrankcammer]

So I managed to pick up some La Scalas for a good price. ( very good, plus the guy was glad to get rid of them, wifey said they had to go )

But I havent been able to fully hear what these things are capable of doing. I had a Kenwood receiver, but its sending a horrible signal, and only operating in dolby pro logic or something liek that. Next I tried a 6060 made in brazil from the 80s, but it sending pops to the speaker so I refrained from turning it up..

Now I started to bid on a Marantz Model Sixteen on ebay, but I didnt realize what a great amp it was and didnt bid enough.

So what amp should I get and preamp, ..... thanks. ...

Budget??????

Roger

[spersaud]

my budget is not very big, $500 []

thinking abt using a Yamaha P5000s, which I already have, would that work? how many watts can these handle ?

[wuzzzer]

If you're looking for a two channel integrated amp Marantz would be a good choice. Also many on here have had or currently have the Harman/Kardon Twin Powered receivers from the 70s such as the HK630, 730 and 930. They seem to pop up on eBay pretty often.

There's a lot of options for you in the $500 and under price range. I had a Harman/Kardon HK3480 integrated amp that I loved and would still have it if I hadn't gone the surround-sound route.

[Coytee]

Also realize the sidewalls of LaScalas usually resonate and if you can stop that, they will sound better...probably noticably.

You might have seen pictures where people put a wedge inside the mouth? (I don't have any pictures of that, maybe someone could post one)

I heard the new LaScala II's when the company had their pilgrimage in Hope. The II's sound like an entire octave was added to the old version. I was talking about that with Jim Hunter and his comment to me was my LaScalas have essentially the same output as the newer ones do however it's masked by the sidewalls resonating. If I could beefen up my sidewalls they would sound deeper.

Otherwise, on the amp question you're getting some good comments.

[oldenough]

I am going thru the same hunt for an amp for my La Scala's. Fortunately I already have a nice collection of vintage amps and receivers.... Unfortunately the same amps that sounded good with my RF-5's don't neccesarily sound good with La Scalas, the exception being Harman Kardon 730 (this was no surprise), Marantz 2245 (ditto), NAD 7155, Luxman R-113 and JVC A-X5. The JVC was a big surprise, I expected to be disappointed with this 85 watt integrated amp, but it had a very nice sound to it, whoda guessed it. I am leaning toward the NAD 7155 tho, it seemed very easy to listen to and has a very good phono section (to my ears). The biggest surprise of all was that my Marantz 1152 integrated amp (76 wpc) that sounded so good on previous Klipsch did not perform well at all. More amps to check out today, but I am sure that any of the above would make you smile, especially the NAD. []

PS. I have not yet re-capped the 30 yr old crossovers on my La Scala's, so don't know whether this will influence my choice later. Any ideas??

[pauln]

"What these things are capable of doing" has different interpretations along the quantity/quality aspect. In terms of quantity of watts, they wil tolerate a lot, but don't need but a few. I've had mine four years and have yet to push more than 1 watt through them using very low power tube amps.

The La Scalas are very revealling and an emphasis on the quality of the signal will be rewarded. In addition to the quality, some attention to matching is needed, too. Some very high quality amps may not sound like a good match for the La Scala. Some of these great amps were made to drive much less efficient systems which sounded good together because some of the "imperfections" of the amps were not revealed by the inefficient speakers. La Scalas tend to reveal everything good and bad in an amp, so low level signal quality is very important to hear the details in the music.

There are some very popular and inexpensive amps that have gained a reputation in this forum (search around) as being very satisfying matches to the La Scala. Take your time to find what works for you - you may have to hear a few amps to find the right one.

[Islander]

I'd certainly give the P5000s a try. Most speaker manufacturers now recommend more amplifier power than the speaker's rating, so that the amp is always operating in its "clean signal, non-clipping" area.

The only issue with using a pro amp instead of a home hi-fi amp is that the pro amp will be designed to sound its best when putting out high power, since that's what it will usually be doing. A home hi-fi amp will be running at low power a lot of the time and may be designed to sound best under those conditions, with extra power available for occasional use. However, those are generalities. If the P5000s sounds good to you, it's working well with your speakers and that's all that matters.

I'm using JubScalas. The basic La Scala is rated at 100 watts continous/400 watts peak, but I'm only using the woofers. The tweeters are K-69s, which are rated for 50 watts. However, I'm using a pair of Yamaha MX-D1s, one for the woofers and one for the tweeters. That's 500 watts available to each tweeter and to each woofer, and after more than a year, the speakers are still happy and so am I.

With the sensitivity of your La Scalas, you'll probably be using only a few watts most of the time, but having all that amplifier power headroom is a good thing, because musical transients, even just drum rimshots, call for way more power for brief instants, which a high-power amp can deliver cleanly and easily. That way, the music sounds more realistic and the speakers are always getting a clean signal, where a low-powered amp might go into clipping, causing damage to the speaker.

As long as you don't try to see "how loud it will go", you'll be able to run your speakers as loud as you'll probably ever need, with no worries. Just be sure to turn the volume way down before you power off your system, so the speakers don't get a big blast the next time you switch on.

[doctorcilantro]

I was going to suggest something from Decware but you'd get max of two inputs.

I have an EL-84 tube integrated I'm selling for 575 shipped with (4) sets of tubes. If your interested check the garage sale forum...it's a sweet amp, I just don't have room.

DC

[spersaud]

thanks for the reply, I am thinking about getting an HK 730. This sucks, the little sound I was able to get out of one of these sounds really good, cant wait to see what they both sound like on a halfway decent amp.

[JohnA]

Yamaha CA-x00 series, particularly the ones that have a "Class A" switch like the CA-800 I had.

Yamaha CA-x10 series

Yamaha CR-x00 or -x10 series starting with a CR-600/610 and higher

Any old Marantz, Harmon Kardon or Sansui Receiver. Get 25+ watts.

The bigger Kenwood and Technics receivers from the 70 (with discrete transistors like an SA-700 or higher).

[J.4knee]

A Scott 299B would do nicely, send to Craig at NOS Valves for a tune up or repair if needed. The 299B will sound nice with La Scala's and will not break the bank. Just stiffening the sidewalls of the LS bass bin will not produce the same sound heard from the LS II. You will need to add EQ to your network this was mentioned by Klipsch when they introduced the LS II at the pilgrimage that year. Also the new LSII is crossed at 4500 b/t the squawker and tweeter. This gets you away from the K55() and K400/401 combo at a lower freq than do older LS which were crossed near 6000 HZ. To me the LS II has a more pronounced bass for sure but the real improvement for me was the sound of the high mid rages and lower HF range.

[spersaud]

I got a Harman kardon HK730 from ebay, its in excellent condition too. Should receive it tmrw.

I am not sure what year these LA Scalas I have were made in but they look pretty old. I should have asked the buy I bought them from what year they were made in. They sound pretty good, the mids and highs are amazing, I use a Denon DJ CDPLAYER that plays MP3s and the highs from the mp3s sound horrible. I guess they could improve on these but these are the only speakers I've had that I want to turn them down and not up cause they sound so good at low volumes and high volumes, its strange but the sound is amazing.

BASS ----------------

Yes it is lacking in bass, but I have a HUGE subwoofer in my garage that I plan on eqing down, it was designed by Tom Danley and the plans are on prosoundweb.com its the LAB SUBWOOFER. Its probably more efficient than a la scala with bass, IT will rattle the foundation of your house with 10 watts, but it is a huge horn, that needs a lot of eqing to smooth out the response, will need to use a DRIVERACK PA.

[jamesV]

I should have asked the buy I bought them from what year they were made in.

What is the serial number on the back of the speakers? If you post that we will be able to tell you what year they were made in.

I got a Harman kardon HK730 from ebay

Very cool to hear. I have one connected to Cornwalls and love it.. [Y]

James

[Islander]

BASS ----------------

Yes it is lacking in bass, but I have a HUGE subwoofer in my garage that I plan on eqing down, it was designed by Tom Danley and the plans are on prosoundweb.com its the LAB SUBWOOFER. Its probably more efficient than a la scala with bass,

I've always used a Paradigm PW-2100 sub with my La Scalas (now JubScalas) and it seemed to match up just fine. However, the amp in the sub failed last month and it's been in the shop (it's been repaired and I'll pick it up very soon). It has a 400 watt amp and a 10" driver. In the meantime, I've been using one of my bedroom Yamaha YST-SW90 subs to fill in. The Yamaha has a 100 watt amp and an 8" driver.

The Paradigm had the level set at about 3 (no markings, but 3 of max 10 is approximately right), while the less powerful Yamaha needs to be set at around 7 of 10. Accordingly, I haven't been playing anything really, really loud, so as not to overwork the little guy.

The point is, for music, the little sub sounds fine with the JubScalas, even for fairly loud bass guitar solos. It's often been commented that a really powerful sub is needed to "keep up" with very sensitive speakers like La Scalas or Klipschorns, but it sure doesn't seem like that here. The sub was needed and made an immediate improvement to the bottom end, so I'm glad I have it, but it seems to be perfectly up to the job.

Movies, of course, are a different story. It's really obvious that the room-shaking power of the 400 watt sub isn't there. No grumbles for music, though. Hopefully I'll pick it up today or tomorrow.

[Colin]

Because of their extremely low distortion, big ole horns are extremely revealing of anomalies upstream. If a component has lots of distortion at low power, the speakers can sound harsh. I say you should first consider low-cost, refurbished, integrated tube amplifiers from fellow forum poster NOSvalves and others like him. I think that vintage equipment must be re-checked before judging it. Just like an old car that you are putting back on the road, many of the worn parts need replacing.

These vintage integrated amplifiers have a lot more going on in them, and much more to offer than any of the modern integrated amplifier. You get a REAL preamp section, with a PHONO stage, FIXED bias which runs the output tubes properly, tube rectification, a balance control and tone controls.

The ASL Wave 10s are nice, solid, kinda punchy sound for big ole horns. I have heard the copper-faced Cayin TA30 integrated tube amplifier on classic Klipsch Khorn loudspeakers at preacher man DaddyDee’s Khorn gathering in Arkansas, back in May, 2004 and can certainly recommend them also.

I serious auditioned, in my own home, in two locations, and three speakers, on my own equipment, for EnjoyTheMusic.com, the ASL AQ1003DT for a about one thousand. This too is a very competent, good, solid performer of an amplifier with no obvious shortcomings for big ole horns.

After a wonderful listening day with modified LaScalas at Mike Lindsay’s 2006 Florida get-together, I strongly recommend investing in NOSvalve KT88 VRD monoblocks.