JohnA Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 My rear La Scalas need to go in to the cabinet shop for refinishing. When I do it, I want to stiffen the bass horn at the same time. I will add a horizontal brace acros the mouth extending back to the "notch". I've been thinking that adding a 2' x 2' x 3/4" plate to the outside back of the bass horn attached with glue and screws would add mass and stiffness and reduce resonance. Have any of you done similar mods? Will this in fact add enough stiffness to control the bass horn's resonance, or is it wasted effort? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 Doubling up plywood helps, but it still flexes more then you would think. I would cut up some pieces of hardwood (like oak). Cut two pieces 2"x2"x23 11/16" & glue them horizontally across the back. Q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 Q Man, Sounds like a good application for some tongue and groove oak flooring. Its really stif and the t-and-g would hold it together real well. ------------------ Richard Hemmings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted September 30, 2000 Share Posted September 30, 2000 quote: Originally posted by John Albright: My rear La Scalas need to go in to the cabinet shop for refinishing. When I do it, I want to stiffen the bass horn at the same time. I will add a horizontal brace acros the mouth extending back to the "notch". I've been thinking that adding a 2' x 2' x 3/4" plate to the outside back of the bass horn attached with glue and screws would add mass and stiffness and reduce resonance. Have any of you done similar mods? Will this in fact add enough stiffness to control the bass horn's resonance, or is it wasted effort? John The back is braced by the internal horn ramps.The sides are in dire need of bracing.Cut to fit 1"x3"x2' pieces of hardwood,maple is a good choice.Two braces per side glued and screwed on edge from front to back.The dimensions vary depending upon the thickness of the plywood your LaScala's were made from,it could be 2.75" or 3" wide back by the doghouse.If you don't want to use screws through the sides cut the braces at 2.5" and pound a wedge in between the brace and the doghouse in the back and clamp the front.Notch the doghouse and run a brace from side to side.Trying to cut the brace at an angle and then glue the end grain to the doghouse won't hold and is a waste of time.Notch it.The 1"x3" on edge will add more stiffness than an extra thickness of 3/4" will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted September 30, 2000 Share Posted September 30, 2000 DJ is right, the back is rather stiff. I just recomend the bracing vs. plywood if you feel you must do this. I would just stiffen up the sides if it was me. If you remember, I told you in a post sometime back, to temporarily wedge a 2x4 between the V & side. This would stiffen up the side good enought to let you know if you want do do this mod or not. I know that site you just turned us onto has got you thinking again. And if he's doing it , it probably will help. Q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted September 30, 2000 Author Share Posted September 30, 2000 Q-Man, Your suggestion of strips across the back was my original idea to help fronts without changing their appearance from the front. My fronts are nicely finished already and I hate to modify them. But the rears are going to get stripped and redone, so they can be easily modified and still be finished well. djk, I'll make a sketch. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtximages Posted November 7, 2000 Share Posted November 7, 2000 I braced the "V"s in my la scalas and it made a good difference. I put 4"x1" braces on the inside of the "V" and put 1" panels on the sides. I put the panels on first and they really didnt do very much. They just flexed right along with the origional sides. The horizontal bracing is the best thing you can do for your bass and upper mid. Deeper vocals dont sound as muddy coming through the bass horn anymore and it tightened up the bass. Perhaps my favorite mod has been to stack several dryer sheets on top of each other and then cut them to fit between the squawker driver grate and the mouth of the mid horn. It seems to be much smoother. I know that its primative but its cheap and now my tweets are more prominent. The mids are not so overbearing with my solid state Sony amp. I know, I should have bought the Denon but I have used them with the Denon 3300 and it still sounded harsh up around reference level. Wow, using the words "la scala" and "reference level" in the same paragraph makes me happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shock-Late Posted December 22, 2000 Share Posted December 22, 2000 quote: Originally posted by cls72: I braced the "V"s in my la scalas and it made a good difference. I put 4"x1" braces on the inside of the "V" and put 1" panels on the sides. I put the panels on first and they really didnt do very much. They just flexed right along with the origional sides. The horizontal bracing is the best thing you can do for your bass and upper mid. Deeper vocals dont sound as muddy coming through the bass horn anymore and it tightened up the bass. Perhaps my favorite mod has been to stack several dryer sheets on top of each other and then cut them to fit between the squawker driver grate and the mouth of the mid horn. It seems to be much smoother. I know that its primative but its cheap and now my tweets are more prominent. The mids are not so overbearing with my solid state Sony amp. I know, I should have bought the Denon but I have used them with the Denon 3300 and it still sounded harsh up around reference level. Wow, using the words "la scala" and "reference level" in the same paragraph makes me happy! As I'm originally french-speaking I don't understand some of the terms used in some posts...but I'd like to hear more about the way you made your mids less prominent; have you a pict of a sheme of this?? Thanks! Frans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtximages Posted December 25, 2000 Share Posted December 25, 2000 Frans. Basically to attenuate the mids I took some stuff and stuck it between the driver and the mouth of the horn. A thin layer of foam might work well. I used static guard dryer sheets. Be careful not to over dampen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtximages Posted December 27, 2000 Share Posted December 27, 2000 the dryer sheets were the only materials i could find around the house..... they work better than foam and make my scalas smell good too! Im from Bama... what else would you expect???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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