lascala plans

[confessor]

I know there are a lot of plans posts here and have read some posts reguarding the subject. I was woindering if these are specific to the klipsch woofers.

And if they need to be re-evaluated for a different woofer's specs. I have 2 eminence Legend cb158's and would love to build a pair of lascala cabinets for them. Am new to this type of speaker build and have read it can be difficult. But would like to learn it and eventually attempt. I have no midrange or tweeters yet. Just want to focus on the bass bins first. Can anybody give me some starting point and not make me feel like an idiot. Which at this point I guess I am.

[PrestonTom]

The plans are specific to the K-33 or K-43 woofer(s). If you change woofers, you need to pay attention to the electrical and mechanical specs of the driver, especially: Fs, Vas Qts. These values (and others) will determine the throat size and back volume. These in turn will predict the cabinet's efficiency, bandwidth, low freq extension, and freq response etc.

IOW, it can get complicated if you change woofers. The K-33's are not bad drivers and BEC has a substitute that will work also.

In either case, have a look at the assembly notes from DJK (use the search function). There are some good tips regarding cutting jigs and assembly sequence.

Good luck,

-Tom

[Guest " "]

Power handling: 300 watts RMS • VCdia: 2.5" • Impedance: 8 ohms • Frequency Range: 47-3,000 Hz • Sensitivity: 98 dB 1W/1m • Fs: 34 Hz • Magnet weight: 80 oz. • Dimensions: Overall Diameter: 15.21", Cutout Diameter: 14", Mounting Depth: 6.5".

the lascala woofer is 4 ohms.

[Marvel]

Dimensional drawings...and build info from Dennis.

Cut all 22-1/4" items without moving the fence, box will be square that way(rip oversize and re-saw if need be).

Set the blade to 30*, take your time and get it right. If your blade heels (most do), set the fence to be parallel with the blade. The set on the teeth should just shave the aux fence.

An auxillary fence is used to cut the 60* angle, the board will be fed vertically into the blade. Use the next chamber angle board as a push board, then the ramps, then an absolutely square push board will be needed for the last item.

Cut all ramps in one piece at 60* and 30*, then re-saw to 3" (add for your saw kerf).

A brad nailer is used on the 60* boards to attach to the chamber sides and (later) make the front angle.

I use 8d galvanized casement nails for about everthing else. With skill they can be driven flush without a nailset and leave no mark on the wood.

Lay the chamber sides into a groove on the saw top. Lay the chamber angle sides on top and square up with the table edge. Tack in with two wire brads, then carefully pull appart. Apply glue to the joint, re-assemble, tap the two brads in all the way, and check to see if it is still square. Nail the rest of the joint with brads. Check for square (easier to fix now than later). This is all much easier than it sounds.

Set the T-nuts (I use a c-clamp), make sure they have threads!. Glue and nail the ramps onto the motorboard. Draw lines on the motorboard so your nails will actually hit the ramps. Blunt the point of the nails to avoid splitting. Dry fit. Drive two nails for each ramp, but only a fraction of an inch into the ramp. Mark the order of the ramps on the motor board. Knock apart. Glue. Drive the nails home, add a third nail to each ramp if you like. Use a Surform body file if you need to lose any wood that hangs out past 22-1/4", the points should hang over the 15-1/4" width.

Line up the motorboard assembly with the back and draw nail lines for the ramps. Cut the deflector shorter than 13", it will save a lot of grief. Attach to the back. Are your nail lines going to be visable?

Dry fit the side/angle assembly to the motorboard with a couple of blunted nails. Start all the nails you will use. Glue. Make sure its square. Drive home the nails. Repeat for the other side/angle assembley. Use a small spacer to keep the front angle open while you work. When the whole mess is square, remove spacer and use the brad nailer on the front angle.

If the doghouse is not square at this point, stop and fix it.

Dry fit the chamber bottom to the back with two or three nails, then dry fit the doghouse to the bottom with a couple of nails. Glue on the bottom. Glue on the back. Dry fit the chamber top. Glue on the top.

I use a two-flute panel cutter with a guide bearing to cut the woofer mounting hole in the bottom, use the brad nailer to tack on a guide for the router to follow the front edge of the cut.

LaScala11.pdf

[Marvel]

I originally made this for Colter, as a 16x20. It's missing the horizontal piece at the top/back of the cabinet, but the other wood is there.

Bruce

[Marvel]

T/S parameters for the K-33

Eminence provided me with the specs (they won't sell this directly to you, though):

SPEC 15162
PART # K-33

RE OHMS 3.39
LE MH .96
QM 7.39
QE .410
QT .390
XMAX MM 8.20
BL TM 11.88
EFF % 2.91
FS HZ 34.46
MMS GMS 78.59
CMS mm/N .2714
RMS NS/M 2.3037
VAS LTRS 301.66
SD SCM 889.59
EBP 84.4
SPL dB 96.6
Wattage 150rms

[confessor]

Eminence CB158

Fs = 34Hz

Vas = 336ltr/11.9 cu. ft.

Qts = .34

Not sure what would need changed. And I got 2 messages reguarding the belle being a better design.

I have heard my brothers Cornwalls and LaScalas and fell in love with both. Would like to get my legends to perform

like that. Have never heard the Belles. Guess I have a crap load to learn.

Awesome pic Marvel! And thanks for the tips. I guess I should just linger and learn around here. I haven't any computer program

to get this perfect and was hoping to use plans from here.

[WMcD]

A few thoughts.

The drivers you have and love seem to be pretty close to what I call the modern K-33. It seems to me you should use them. One thing to know is that the Klipsch unit has an extra thick front gasket to prevent the diaphragm from hitting the board it is mounted upon. With yours, you may have to make a spacer.

As you can see from the tips, cutting the wood for an LS is much more complicated than a simple box. Putting them together and getting things to line up can be a challenge. Do you have woodworkng experience?

One thing with the actual LS and, presumably the plans, is that the room for the woofer is about 15 inches. Some woofer "baskets" are 15 + 1/8th. So you see notices that some woofer baskets have to be ground down. I would not hesitate to make a small change to the LS design to accomodate this without grinding. The back chamber is called "the dog house" because it is shaped like one. And we love to say, it is where the woofer lives (ahem - smile).

Here on the forum we see comments that the LS and Belle have substantially the same bass performance. There is, somewhere, a publication by Klipsch showing response curves. They are not exactly the same but pretty close. Not enough to make one favored over the other just based on that.

If you are considering the Belle: I'll say that it is more appealing design. You don't have the issue of the 15 or so inches because the back chamber is wider at the base. You also don't have the intermediate piece of the flare. Also, the Belle does not have the 60 degree pointy front to cut, which is a bear to cut.

OTOH, the Belle is 18 inches deep rather than the 24 inch depth of the LS. This means you can't use a K-400 midrange. But most midrange horns you can buy are not 24 inches deep (with driver) anyway.

Best,

WMcD

[Marvel]

The drivers you have and love seem to be pretty close to what I call the modern K-33.

The K-33 is about 4 ohms, so the crossover would needto be adjusted. In any case, it will need to be tweaked...

IIRC, Dana used one of the Eminence Bass drivers in his Ascent cabinet.

Bruce

[Mike 585]

"There is, somewhere, a publication by Klipsch showing response curves. They are not exactly the same but pretty close. Not enough to make one favored over the other just based on that."

[moray james]

If you are looking for the lowest possible distortion and max output/power handling huge xmechanical you can run a JBL 2226H in the Belle but I am not sure if it will fir in a La Scalla but it likely will fit but from what I have learned you are likely best to leave the La Scalla with the factory driver as the design was heavily worked on by PWK and it seems to be as tweaked as they come. Best regards Moray James.

[Quiet_Hollow]

I was woindering if these are specific to the klipsch woofers.

"No, they're not specific to to the Klipsch Woofers...."

"Yeah, they're probably specific to the Klipsch woofers."

[WMcD]

Thanks Mike, the graphs you posted were what I was thinking of.

Now, I'm not sure I agree with myself.

WMcD

[Marvel]

If I were building LS from scratch, I would go ahead and make the opening at the top of the doghouse and enclose the back back with the ports. You could always close it back off if you didn't like the lower bass. []

Bruce

[Edgar]

"There is, somewhere, a publication by Klipsch showing response curves. They are not exactly the same but pretty close. Not enough to make one favored over the other just based on that."

Link to models.

[jhoak]

If I were building La Scalas from scratch I would build Belle bass bins and use Trac-Horns and an upgraded tweeter in the tophats.

Belle bass bins look to be a LOT easier to cut than La Scalas. I really don't think there's much difference performance wise (in terms of bass) between Belles and La Scalas.

[Marvel]

I would use different mid and tweets too, but that's a whole other thread worth of talk... [:|]

[Guest " "]

great weather to start a build....make sure you post pic's

[confessor]

Hmm, belle or lascala? The belle might be better because it's not quite as deep(smaller). And if it is easier, that much better.

Have no midranges or tweeters yet. Just want to get the bass bin in order first. Study and make as perfect as I can.

I have built standard enclosures before but never one of these horns. Have table saw and am somewhat experienced with woodworking.

Just have one question at this point. About my woofers being 8 ohms. Does that make any difference? I was under the impression that the drivers needed to be the same 8 or 4. This is also where my crossover inexperience comes in. More to study. But should be well worth the effort. I play guitar, so music is a big part of my life. I like it loud !

[RRFL]

The Belle by design does not suffer from the bass horn flexing that the LaScala does so bracing is not necessary.

The Belle does not have the short straight section in the middle of the horn path that is said to cause a bump in it's response.

The 510 horn with a K69 driver can be used in a Bi-amped time alligned set up and this would fit nicely into the top hat. IMO this would be a hard to beat combination.

The Faital FH200 driver can be coupled with the Eliptac 400 as the top end.

I'm considering 4 Belle bass horns for myself in double vertical stacks for corners.

We are putting 4 Belle bass horns in a Sydney record store backroom / bar / nightclub in a quad box configuration so we can get an industrial look with the 4 horns together. They will be turned on their edges to fit into the limited space available and the wall behind removed to get extra depth so the back of the speakers will be the wall of the adjoining gents wash room.