I have a Project -- La Scala Restore

[Olorin]

Saw these orphans on the local Craigslist today and decided they were the babies for me.

Look Ma, no tweeters!

Curious cat is curious.

Type AL crossovers bring the meh.

The edges and corners have seen better days.

Camera ***** cat is a camera *****.

[4tay]

1. Good start, I hope they were cheeeeep.

2. I hope the restoration makes them nicer than flat black...

3. I want to find the same thing....

[Olorin]

The cabinets are ugly, but solid, and I tested the drivers for resistance and they test good. The crossovers will need reworked, and I'll need to get some some K-77M or CT-125 tweeters for them. The woofers and mids passed the Porcupine Tree playing on the Droid through the HK amp test, so I'm happy wth what I have to start with.

I would have paid more for two Crites woofers and four sheets of Lowe's birch than I paid for these, and the seller was passing through town on the way to another deal, so he delivered from an hour away.

First things first. I'm going to fill in the voids with wood filler and build the edges and corners back up. I know if I get them working, I'll just listen to them, and then they'll keep their brutalized visage forever. Can't have that.

So, after the initial repair is done, it will be decision time -- shoot them back to a nice glossy black, or give them a pretty veneer, or some of each. My first instinct is to shoot the inside gloss black and do the front, tops, and sides in a walnut or bubinga veneer. I'll see how it evolves. This will be my first significant restoration process, so I'll have a lot to learn. Maybe I should start on my Heresys and then move on to these?

Nah. Why be sensible when you can jump in with all four feet?

[4tay]

ooh oooh... waterfall bubinga veneer.....mmmmm [<)]

[Yura]

I saw these too, but they are were about 10 hours away and I'm not driving that far even for cheap La Scalas. Anyway, here is what I would do:

1 - strip black paint with some sort of chemical/alcahol product

2 - rebuild edges and corners

3 - If you know you will be keeping these forever - get some veneer and make them super pretty. If you plan on selling them and just want to play around - paint them or stain them as is.

If i had room and these speakers, i would probably make them gloss-white to make my wife happy (she likes furniture [H] )

[jorjen]

Picked them up in the tower district, eh? I drive sixty plus miles just to pickup Italian sausage on Olive Ave.

It has been awhile Olorin, but where in the Central Valley are you again?

[Olorin]

I'm in Visalia, so he brought them to my house on his way to Three Rivers. ;-)

[jorjen]

That's right, Visalia. Could'nt remember. Geez, used to eat at a place in Three Rivers when I was a kid called The Whitehorse Inn.

Congrats on the La Scalas.

[Olorin]

The Whitehorse Inn is still there and I hear people talk about it all the time, so I think they must be doing something right.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm looking forward to a fun journey with these.

[Carbon_66]

I'll be checking in on this one. Good luck on the build.

Here's some tips if you haven't seen this one.

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/130231.aspx

Greg

[Olorin]

Thanks for the link, Greg. I've read your thread and will probably read it again five or six more times. I consider yours a reference builld, and if I can achieve 80% of what you did I'll consider this a victory. I especially like what you did with the veneer and the grills in the doghouse; very, very classy.

[jhoak]

My La Scalas were in very rough shape when I got them. Over the course of about six months I did a total rebuild. Here's the thread about mine.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/125734/1270880.aspx#1270880

Invest the time and the $$ to do a first class job and you'll enjoy them for years.

Here they are now:

[Guest David H]

I am going to take it from here. Olorin did a great job stripping and preping the cabinets for repairs. These were just the beaters I was looking for to mod and restore.

Carbon 66, you did a beautiful job restoring your Lascala's. I am using some of the techniques you did on this project, such as laminating with 1/4 mdf, and the grills you used on the bass cab are slick. Not sure how I will do the top, I may use a technique Greg928gts used with wrap around grills. I also intend to incorporate a modified ported bass enclosure to the bottom of the Lascala while utilizing the area in the hf section for volume as well.

We shall see how it goes. Dave

[Guest David H]

Yeah the hats had to go due to huge amounts of damage, much easier to build new.

[Guest David H]

I used a rabbiting bit to remove the damaged ply and cut a new piece to fit.

[Guest David H]

Look Ma corners.

[Guest David H]

With all the new corners laid in, routed flush and sanded I laminated the box with 1/4 mdf like Carbon 66 did in his overhaul. I used expanding Gorilla glue instead of contact cement.

[Guest David H]

Thats all for now.

[Olorin]

HAHA!!! I was going to update with pics of what I'd gotten done and the story up to the hand-off, but life got in the way. Nice progress!

[Guest David H]

HAHA!!! I was going to update with pics of what I'd gotten done and the story up to the hand-off, but life got in the way. Nice progress!

Please continue, I would like to see the pics of the 40 lbs of paint you stripped from these.

Dave