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LaScala vs A-7


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the impression that I am getting is that as soon as you fold your horn you start to make sonic compromises. The more you fold it (the horn) the more you compropmes. While the Altec A-7 style cabinet is not as efficient as a La Scala just you do not see the widespread use of La Scala's the way you do big old Altec speakers especially with the large sectroral horns. The Altec have an engaging vivid technicolor quality about them which draws the "wow" comment a lot.. I have a set of Peavey SP! which are very much a La Scala style horn design running with Peavey CH-1 horns (two way) I think this kind of splits the difference. Big straight horns take up so much space. I am considering PPSL plenum designs to shrink the size and reduce the distortions. I have no idea how this will work out and a 15 inch Altec in an Onken is also in the back of my mind. I think that when you get down to it Altec's do tone better than Klipsch do tone. It is a different set of compromises. If I had the choice between a pair of La Scala and a pair of 19 Altec I think I would go with the 19's. I would love to learn HR and model the SP! to see what could be done with it but I kind of think it is pretty close to about as good as you are going to get like the La Scala , all tweaked out. I would love to find out otherwise because I do like the efficiency of the La Scala/SP!. Best regards Moray James.

PS: just found this thread. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/201951-altec-lansing-vott-clones.html

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The A7 bass bin is a 200 Hz horn with a bass reflex port to augment low frequency response. These things sound pretty bad even for the 1960s. Their best use was PA systems for bands that could not afford JBL. They are in no way comparable to Khorns or nearly any other home hi-fi speaker of the day. Obsolete technology at its worst.

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The A7 bass bin is a 200 Hz horn with a bass reflex port to augment low frequency response. These things sound pretty bad even for the 1960s. Their best use was PA systems for bands that could not afford JBL. They are in no way comparable to Khorns or nearly any other home hi-fi speaker of the day. Obsolete technology at its worst.

The A7 bass bin is a 200 Hz horn with a bass reflex port to augment low frequency response. These things sound pretty bad even for the 1960s. Their best use was PA systems for bands that could not afford JBL. They are in no way comparable to Khorns or nearly any other home hi-fi speaker of the day. Obsolete technology at its worst.

I agree that are not comparable to the Klipschorns. The most immediate difference is that the bass does not dig that low (in spite of the cabinet size).

I don't agree that they sound "pretty bad". I actually like the way they sound for certain things. The bass, except for the lack of deep bass, actually sounds rather pleasant. The one I have uses the the 511 horn. That horn I have a love-hate relationship with ....

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24 deep by 30 wide by 42 high, I like big speakers but once they get to this size I would hope that they would do a lot more of the "low end" I have not heard one so I can't judge that part of its performance. I did a seach to find out what the topic was about and found this drawing, hope it gives others a sence of what is being compaired.

http://barnabas.com/altec/Altec1.GIF

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The A-7s were designed for one purpose: motion picture theatres. They were not designed for home use and those who tried them in the home have been sorry. The bass horn is designed to project the lower midrange to the back row of the theatre and be a good match for the treble horn. The bass reflex is OK down to about 60 Hz. Yes, they were widely used by garage bands in my youth. I even used a pair of the cabs as a platform for my bed in my first apartment.

Many people forget that the A-7 was also optimized to project through a "holy" motion picture screen which is a low-pass filter. Using them "nekkid" the treble horns will singe your ears. I knew one guy who tried them at home. He wound up turning the treble horns backwards just to make them tolerable. Not to mention the SAF is about as low it gets...[:S]

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Well you know, audio opinions are like a certain part of the human anatomy - - everyone has one. I agree with Tom, A7s properly set up do not sound "bad" in a home environment, they can actually sound pretty decent. I do admit, however, that A7s should not be run in a small room. Mine are cut off at 200 hz on the lower end in an active system, and my Klipschorn bass bins handle 200 hz to the bottom end. The 511s have been replaced with better horns and better drivers, and are relegated to other duties in the system. Eq also helps.

A person's audio taste in speakers is subjective. For example, I owed a few Klipsch speakers over the years. Some have really been my cup of tea (Klipschorns, Belles, Fortes). Others, not so much..... (Cornwalls, RF7s, etc.).

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. [:P]YMMV.

Carl.

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An A7 sized horn driven by a 12, would work well on a Klipschorn bottom as well as the Jubilee as shown. The horn-loaded 12 will reach high enough to use a 1" driver which can be chosen on its VHF performance rather than how low it can go, power handling, etc.

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Well you know, audio opinions are like a certain part of the human anatomy - - everyone has one. I agree with Tom, A7s properly set up do not sound "bad" in a home environment, they can actually sound pretty decent. I do admit, however, that A7s should not be run in a small room. Mine are cut off at 200 hz on the lower end in an active system, and my Klipschorn bass bins handle 200 hz to the bottom end. The 511s have been replaced with better horns and better drivers, and are relegated to other duties in the system. Eq also helps.

A person's audio taste in speakers is subjective. For example, I owed a few Klipsch speakers over the years. Some have really been my cup of tea (Klipschorns, Belles, Fortes). Others, not so much..... (Cornwalls, RF7s, etc.).

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. Stick out tongueYMMV.

Carl.

I'm glad you're happy with your set-up, but:

"Mine are cut off at 200 hz on the lower end in an active system, and my Klipschorn bass bins handle 200 hz to the bottom end. The 511s have been replaced with better horns and better drivers, and are relegated to other duties in the system. Eq also helps. "

I was speaking of stock A-7s. You no longer have them; you have something else now.

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Have both A7's and La scalas in my opinion the La scala has better low-mid slam however the 511B horn does sound better than the K-400 or 401 also the A7 cabinets need bracing badly especially in the top horn chamber also you can modify the port size to get more LF out of them I'm using a Ashly XR1001 also have JBL 2404 tweeters on them and built a 4th order Linkwitz passive , crossed at 6500 Hz,so I can use the XR 1001 in the 2 way stereo mod.

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Well you know, audio opinions are like a certain part of the human anatomy - - everyone has one. I agree with Tom, A7s properly set up do not sound "bad" in a home environment, they can actually sound pretty decent. I do admit, however, that A7s should not be run in a small room. Mine are cut off at 200 hz on the lower end in an active system, and my Klipschorn bass bins handle 200 hz to the bottom end. The 511s have been replaced with better horns and better drivers, and are relegated to other duties in the system. Eq also helps.

A person's audio taste in speakers is subjective. For example, I owed a few Klipsch speakers over the years. Some have really been my cup of tea (Klipschorns, Belles, Fortes). Others, not so much..... (Cornwalls, RF7s, etc.).

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. Stick out tongueYMMV.

Carl.

I'm glad you're happy with your set-up, but:

"Mine are cut off at 200 hz on the lower end in an active system, and my Klipschorn bass bins handle 200 hz to the bottom end. The 511s have been replaced with better horns and better drivers, and are relegated to other duties in the system. Eq also helps. "

I was speaking of stock A-7s. You no longer have them; you have something else now.

You are right, I guess that I have modded A-7s, augmented by Klipschorn bass bins. Glad to hear that your blistering critique of the speaker was only directed towards bone stock A-7s and not modded ones.

Your comments seem to reflect prior criticisms of Klipsch modders in this forum, whenever different horns, drivers, or crossovers were used to replace OEM parts in a Klipsch speaker. I suppose that under your logic, most aftermarket modifications of speakers such as a Klipschorn and Cornwall where you add a different tweeter or change the crossover mean that you no longer technically have a "Klipsch" Klipschorn or Cornwall. Following that logic, I guess that I have only had two pair of "pure" Klipsch speakers over the years.

That's fine by me. In the end, the sound is all that matters anyway - not labels.

Carl.

P.S. Having also owned LaScalas (and Belles), I also agree that LaScalas have better low-mid slam as opposed to A-7 cabinets. Still not a big fan of the K400 though...............

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The large format Altec strengths just happen to dovetail with the large format Klipsch weaknesses...

Altec mid to upper bass is quite good, the K33 is not so good and then lousy.

Altec high frequency response is more relaxed and smooth, although less detailed. The K77/T35 is at times an even worse bullet to the ears.

The La Scalas are the poorest frequency balanced Klipsch large format speaker, while A7s are relatively smooth for such a big chested enclosure.

After much contemplation, I made my 1963 KHorns into my favorite speakers - by dropping in JBL 2470 midhorn drivers with Tractix horns, and JBL 2404 tweeters and ALK extreme slope crossovers. It takes less modding to make Altecs world beaters, but most folks here won't care.

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