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Ms. Belle vs. Mr. K-Horn


philipbarrett

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An upcoming move may necessitate a serious evaluation of my speaker system. Although I'm a Klipschorn die-hard the new house has literally zero placement opportunities (it happened to PWK too). I am familiar with the false wall approach but the WAF in a period home would be lower than a...well it would be very low.

So I'm interested in opinions on the Belles. I have owned La Scalas before trading up to the KHorns so I am familiar with their sound. Are the Belles closer to the K's or more La Scala like?

Alternatively I am interested in the Volti Vittorias (the wife gets the house, she's feeling my sacrifice on the Ks but the time window may be short) and would be interested in any experiences regarding them too. They certainly are a gorgeous piece of furniture.

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Is it just the placement issue or is it a size issue as well?

I've had both la scala's and Belles, I'd say the Belles are a little smoother than the La Scala's, but not quite Khorns.

Assuming size is not an issue, have you thought about Jubilee bottoms?

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I just went thru this again for like the third time.....trying them all out in a relatively small room (14X16). My take is that the belle is closer to a khorn sound than a lascala sound. I think the lascala is a longer throw bass section than a belle (belle was intended as center channel), so for a small room, the belle opens up nicely. WAF with belle's is always a win.

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My experience with Belles(with flush mounted K77m) was smoother than my La Scalas and doesn't suffer from the audible side wall flexing emphasis of the La Scala.

The La Scala II sounded surprisingly better than the La Scala when I heard them.

Any of these with a good sub gives you some options in dealing with room issues and would be a good option to Khorns IMO.

miketn

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The Belles and LaScalas are more alike than they are like the Khorns. IMO.

A sub is needed to approach the performance of the Khorns. Your experience moving from LaScalas to Khorns is instructive.

I agree that lots of the time the LaScala or Belle is fine w/o a sub. The sub doesn't have to really work hard, imo, to do a nice job of rounding out the bass.

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Any of these with a good sub...

Recommendations? Bearing in mind that I like most here (I imagine) hate what passes for a "sub" in most people's HT systems.

I fully understand philipbarrett. Sorry but I haven't spent enough time around most current subs to give a recomendation. It's been many years since I spent much time with subs but in years past the large Velodyne were a pretty good match without the boom..boom bumped up response of alot of so-called subs around at that time.

One reason I mention a sub was because you have been used to the Khorns so doing without that solid performance down to 35Hz of the Khorn might be missed and in that case a sub "might solve that issue. I also see you had La Scalas before so maybe you wouldn't miss the Khorns extension but once you've had it then it might be hard to go back.

The truth is, how well the Khorn or Belle or La Scala or any speaker sounds in any given room of course really depends on the acoustics of the room and if concerns for WAF means no acoustical treatments will be an option then a person really has no choice but to find the loudspeaker that will respond the best in an individual's unique room.

Good Luck whatever direction you go for.

miketn[:)]

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Thanks Mike, and you're right. I traded the La Scalas for the KHorns mostly because I was unhappy with the low end. I even tried the passive bass radiators underneath but they didn't really help much.

As you say, I'm not looking for the "check out my copy of Top Gun" boom boom and am quite satisfied with K's low end. But I would very much miss it if it were gone.

These popped up somewhat locally - http://killeen.craigslist.org/ele/3426173638.html

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Thanks Mike, and you're right. I traded the La Scalas for the KHorns mostly because I was unhappy with the low end. I even tried the passive bass radiators underneath but they didn't really help much.

As you say, I'm not looking for the "check out my copy of Top Gun" boom boom and am quite satisfied with K's low end. But I would very much miss it if it were gone.

These popped up somewhat locally - http://killeen.craigslist.org/ele/3426173638.html

you can build a tapped horn sub that will take you from 15-70Hz. for about $300. Mine was a coffee table before I put it in a corner upright after a move.

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Can I ask what you meant by 'passive radiators' with your La Scalas?

Bruce


Original build thread is here - http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/104516.aspx?PageIndex=1


and my build & measurement thread is here - http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/116730/1177197.aspx#1177197

Sheesh... I posted a lot of comments on those threads... I guess I'm getting old.

I STILL haven't added the bottoms to mine. How did you seal the bottoms to the LS? I assume you put some gasket tape or something around the additions.

Bruce

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Foam weather strip. I re-read through all the threads and honestly if I had to do it again...I wouldn't! Subtle is a word I used often with good reason. Nice touches on the low end of acoustic instruments such as bass and kick drum but not anything the D&B crowd would care about.

While we're talking Scalas, what is the difference between the originals & the IIs?

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I've not heard the LSII. Everyone who has says they are a marked improvemet. Obviously, with the thincker cabinet, the resonance is gone, making the bass tighter and seem a lower bottom end response.

Looks are greatly improved, but that alone wouldn't make me spend the money.

Regarding the addition, I have a 2nd pair of LS that are in the process of rebuilding (didn't have all the drivers, etc.), and while empty, I will route out the top of the doghouse and do this, since it's always reversible...

Bruce

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