Onyx77 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Hi all, I am new to the forums and have actually posted a similair post in the technical forum, but thought it may be appropriate here as well (or more). I was driving down the road, when I saw a guy taking two large wodden boxes to the street. I stopped and they were two homemade La Scalas that were built by a master carpenter (so i was told). He obtained them as payoff of a debt the carpenter owed him. He lives in a small house and his wife made him move them to the garage and then finally spring cleanning made him move to street. He helped me load them and I have tested them on a Samsung receiver. They work, but I am not sure if everything is working as they are intended. I have done alot of research on them over the past two days. I have read from the history of Klipsch to the many homebrew versions of the La Scalas and Khorns. I am attaching pics of the speakers and the crossover. Please let me know if they are worth keeping and if they are, should i referbish them, upgrade the crossover, stain, etc... I have an old kenwood amp that I was planning on getting a power converter for and giving them a real test. Is that a good idea? I am attaching pics of the amp as well. Thanks in advance for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Is that amp 12v Dc and 4 ohm? Looks like a car amp. These speakers are likely 8 ohm. Another thing, if they are truly like La Scalas, its not about watts. They will run quite loudly on 40 watts. With horn loaded speakers like these, there is a point where the watts causes a lot of distortion. Keep it under 150 watts per speaker IMO. The speakers look like one of my pairs. The crossovers look too simple. Perhaps you can ask somebody like speakerfritz if he has any old LS xovers he will sell. Of course, you need to know about the speakers you are crossing over. Open the bottom and get the woofer info. The tweet should be held in by 3 screws. The horn should twist right off. If the speakers are good replicas, they would be keepers.Real La Scalas would be worth about 400 each like that. I'd say those are worth 400 for the pair. All that depends on the drivers, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Looks like a homemade AA crossover. Here is a Bob Crites homemade AA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx77 Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Much appreciated. I actually saw that crossover when doing my research and tried to follow the ins and out to see if it matched the ones I have. I will take a look at the sub to see what kind it is and update after. May not get to it till tomorrow. That actually is a car amp i assume that wouldnt be the smartest way to test the speakers with an amp but its available and free...Thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted June 17, 2011 Moderators Share Posted June 17, 2011 That midrange horn does not look like a Klipsch, I could be wrong but I have never seen one like that ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 That actually is a car amp i assume that wouldnt be the smartest way to test the speakers with an amp but its available and free I am not an expert but I would not use that Kenwood to test those speakers. If you don't have a home stereo(just saw a receiver in photo), go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and pick up an 80's stereo receiver(should be able to find them all day long) for under $50.00 and give them a whirl. Then get more advice. Plenty of the educated kind on this forum. Oh, welcome to the forum. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blvdre Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The mid horn is a speakerlab. Not sure if it's an appropriate substitution for the k400. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx77 Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 It is a speaker lab from what I can tell. I have a sanding receiver i use for my Surround sound hooked up and it gives me a good idea of what it will sound like with a bit more. I attempted to remove the back panel to see what kind of 15 is in there. Damn flathead screws! Was rushed for time and didn't feel Like leaving them half out. If the horn is not a k. Doubt the sub is... So overall. What would you guys (or gals) do to these to make them quality keepers? They take up so much room that i want them to be as should if I am going to keep? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted June 18, 2011 Moderators Share Posted June 18, 2011 Even with the different horn it probably sounds good, i don't even know if that horn would really make much difference ? Definitely keepers They would even sound good with this little amp, and play loud, and be portable with a portable CD radio. http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 How about a photo of the mid driver off the horn, it looks like it might be a PD4 instead of a PD5 (something Speakerlabs frequently did). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 You don't take the back off to get to the woofer. You take the bottom off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 since I'm from Iran and there is just one LS in Iran to 99.9~% and that is mine, I can say if someone else show up with a pair of LS (or any other heritag) I'll pay even 1000 boxes for them... But you're in free world so you should consider everything and if they worth, so buy them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR928 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 The mid horn is a speakerlab. Not sure if it's an appropriate substitution for the k400. That is a cast aluminum horn made by Speakerlab in the early 70's (H350). I have two just like them. They were clones of PWK's. I don't remember a La Scala kit but they offered a Corner horn kit. This was the horn supplied with that kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted June 18, 2011 Moderators Share Posted June 18, 2011 The mid horn is a speakerlab. Not sure if it's an appropriate substitution for the k400. That is a cast aluminum horn made by Speakerlab in the early 70's (H350). I have two just like them. They were clones of PWK's. I don't remember a La Scala kit but they offered a Corner horn kit. This was the horn supplied with that kit. Well there you go Onyx, you don't have to worry about the midrange horn, it's a copy of the original. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx77 Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 I really want to thank all of you for the input so far. I will not test withthe Kenwood car amp. That was something my neighbor had in his garage that wasjust a thought. Mustang Guy: you said they look like one of your pair... I will do a littlesearch on this forum to see, but do you mean that you would have possibly madeit? I'm in Lafayette, LA. PS thanks from saving me from unscrewing the back forno reason Bill: Thanks for the welcome. I think I am going to enjoy learning about thespeakers. I have never quite been an audiofile, but last night I took a stepback from the speakers to listen... Very Very crisp. Music was playing throughreceiver via iPhone. Some music sounded a little too on the high pitch, butthat was really when I was standing too close to the speaker. BR928: Thanks for the solid info on the Speakerlab horn. Good to know. I took the bottom off and was able to snap a pic or two of the sub. Seebelow. The serial number is from the sub. I haven’t had a chance to searchgoogle to see if something comes up as I don’t see any brand name on anycomponent parts. If you guys see anything you recognize, please let me know what it is. Ifyou see anything that is not up to par, please let me know. I am veryinterested in this now and will be keeping them and cleaning everything up. Arash: Good Point. See below for pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan308 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 why would you not use that amp to test the speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 The mid looks like the PD5 (correct), the tweeter looks like a T35 (correct), the woofer looks like it is close enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Replace the mid horn with Tractrix horn, fastrc horn is a bolt inreplacement. Replace homemadecrossovers with ALK crossovers. Bob tweetr is bolt in replacement. With these you have speakers that can compared to just about any speaker out there at very smal fraction of the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 why would you not use that amp to test the speakers? In looking at the specs of the amp, it is only 40W X2. I thought it looked like a monster amp. He could use it, but it seems silly since he has a receiver in the picture that is 8 ohms and plugs into a wall socket and not a car battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Mustang Guy: you said they look like one of your pair... I will do a little search on this forum to see, but do you mean that you would have possibly made it? I'm in Lafayette, LA. PS thanks from saving me from unscrewing the back for no reason They look like a pair of La Scala's I own. Here is a pic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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