tromprof Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Since movong my Klipschorns to a dedicated listening room in my basement last year I have had a great time tweaking the system. The speakers are ideally placed in corners 24 feet apart, and the sound and imaging were fantastic right from the start. The first tweak came when I acquired a pair of ALK trachorns. The improvement in clarity was pronounced, but the imaging began to bug me. It was not that the imaging was worse with the trachorns, it was the illusion of voices and instruments coming from the center was so clearly just that. My ears were constantly trying to hear through that illusion. After reading a few posts about a mono center I decided to give it a try. The first step was to find a La Scala (a Belle would have done as well but would not have fit under my painted on the wall video screen). It took a while but thanks to forum member Cerescobra I found a nice 1977 single La Scala. The next challenge was to produce a mono signal. I have a nice Grant Fidelity 300B tube amp for the K-horns so I needed something to power the La Scala. My first attempt was to use a Yamaha CA-1010 for the center since it could both power the speaker and it had a switch that would produce a L+R mono signal. It required manual adjusting of the center volume but when adjusted just right, BINGO!, clear left, right, AND a soild no B.S. center. Somehow there also seemed to be an increase in clarity. The only problem was the quality of sound out of the center La Scala was not as good as the K-horns. The problem was both the Yamaha amp and the K400 horn. To replace the Yamaha I decided to use a nice Canadian built tube amp I was using in my living room to power an old pair of AR-11s. To produce the mono signal I found a device at Parts Express, the Rolls MX41B passive mixer (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=245-042). The result was a big improvent over the Yamaha, but the difference between the K400 center and the trachorns remained. That last problem was solved by forum member shepjk01 who had a nice pair of Volti FC260 trachorns for sale. The FC260s are now on the K-horns and one of the ALK trachorns is now doing center channel duty. The sound is everything I could have wished for. [] And yes, the center trachorn is sitting on a wine box. One of these days I will fix that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 ALK trachorn next to Volti FC260. The Volti is big! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Congrats on your success! So how do the Volti FC260 trachorns and the ALK compare? What drivers are you using with the horns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 I am using K55 drivers with both horns. The ALK Trachorns were designed to use a one inch driver, and the ones I purchased came with K55s. The Volti FC260 is designed for a 2 inch driver but Volti sells some well designed adapters (http://www.klipschupgrades.com/adapters.shtml) for the K55. The Volti are a lot cleaner and clearer than the ALK, though the ALK are a huge improvement over the stock Klipsch mid horn. When I compared the two the first thing I noticed was how much more pop the ALK had on percussion, piano, and hard articulated brass. Then I realized that what I was perceiving as pop on the ALK actually had more tone and pitch on the Volti horns. It was as if the ALK was accentuating but distorting the sound on the attack while the Volti on the other hand were much more true to live sound as I hear it on stage. The Volti have a bigger, more relaxed, and true to life sound. As I said earlier, the ALK are a big improvement over the stock K400, but the Volti are IMO one step better. With different/ better drivers, who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 As you are not using the top portion of the LaScala, a base unit from a LaScala turned upright would be about the same height as what you have. I'm not sure what effect this would have on sound, but it would be easy to test it by turning your Lascala vertical and taking some measurements. By the way, that is a killer system! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 As you are not using the top portion of the LaScala, a base unit from a LaScala turned upright would be about the same height as what you have. I'm not sure what effect this would have on sound, but it would be easy to test it by turning your Lascala vertical and taking some measurements. By the way, that is a killer system! Thanks! By ear, the orientation did not seem to effect the La Scala bass bin, but the mid and high were a different story. At first I had the LS on its side but the front angled up. The sweet spot was compressed and the sound seemed a bit duller than with the squawker and tweeter in the horizontal position. If there is a diminishment in the La Scala bass by having it on its side the k-horns and horn sub more than make up for it. The bass bin of the La Scala would fit under the screen if the top section were removed, but I would hate to ruin a good speaker to do it. Before I found the single La Scala I was looking at some plans floating around the internet for building the bass bin. It actually looked fairly simple compared to the two horn subs I have constructed, though I think my price tag for all the materials including crossover would have been close to what I paid for the single LS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 thomprof, very cool. congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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