Mike Lindsey Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 ... I absolutely love them!!! This all started for me about 4 months ago when I mentioned to Rob (jhawk92) that I might be interested in selling my Oiled Oak Chorus II's if I could get my hands on a pair of Cornwalls. It so happens that Rob has Oiled Oak Forte II's and an Oiled Oak Academy. He too was thinking of upgrading, and moving the Forte's to the rear. We then decided when he was ready to buy the Chorus II's, I would ship them out to him. This was probably some time in February and since then, I have been looking for a decent pair of Cornwalls in my home state of Florida. But a funny thing happened along the way. I met Gary Quattro (Q-Man), who only lives about an hour from me. I was very interested in Q's system (who wouldn't be?) and hadn't heard a fully horn-loaded speaker since 1979, and never heard the Klipschorns before. Well, if anybody knows anything about horn-loaded speakers, Q is the man. He has 2 pairs of Klipschorns, 3 pairs of La Scala's, a pair of Jensen Imperials that he custom built with all Klipschorn drivers, and a University rear center that he built with all original Atlas drivers. The man is a cabinet maker by day and a horn lover by night. Plus, he's one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Well after hearing his system (for the full report, click here ), I started thinking about possibly squeezing in a pair of La Scala's to the right and left of my wall units. After doing the measurements, I realized that they would just fit, with an inch or two to spare. I started searching all the sites that sell or auction these speakers, but there were none in Florida. And shipping them was simply out of the question. I continued to look but to no avail, and just a couple of weeks ago, Rob told me he was ready for the Chorus's. After working out the shipping details, I sent them off to Rob and was stuck with just a front soundstage, with no La Scala's or Cornwalls. I figured whatever came along first in my home state, I would make a serious effort in getting them. Well lo and behold, about 2 days later I was alerted by eBay to this listing . They seemed perfect to me and the seller was very friendly (his first transaction). I asked Colin Flood if he could look at them for me and give me his opinion (he did the same thing for me when I bought my Chorus II's in West Palm Beach) and he agreed, as long as I stopped by his house afterwards and hook them up to his 3.5w Bottlehead Paramours. There were still 6 days left and Colin agreed to look at them the day before the auction closes. He called me afterwards and told me they had that magical "Klipsch" sound. The owner let him demo the speakers for two hours and Colin gave them a workout. He mentioned there was some scratching on both tops and some other minor blemishes. I figured that wouldn't be a problem since I was going to paint them black anyway to match my other speakers. I knew I had to have them but really didn't want to spend more than $950 for them. They were currently at $600 and I knew the reserve was $900. I have bid on about 40 items on eBay while only being the high bidder on 6 occasions. I knew I needed some help here and recalled Mobile Homeless talking about a bidding technique he uses. I emailed him on Saturday night (the auction closed on Sunday afternoon) and asked if he would share his technique. He emailed me back with explicit details and it all made sense to me. By 3:00 the next afternoon I was ready to do business. During the last minute of bidding it was furious but when all the smoke had cleared, I was the high man at $861 (Thanks Mobile). I was concerned about not meeting the reserve but got an Email about 30 seconds after the auction closed from the seller, asking me how I wanted to pay for them and when did I want to pick them up? The date was set for the following Saturday and kind of just joking, I asked Q-Man if he wanted to go down with me. And unbelievably he said YES! We had agreed I would pick him up around 8:00 in the morning and that would allow us to be in Pompano by 11:30 or so. So I pick Q up (about 15 minutes late) and he brings his bag of tools with him, and we end up trading a signed copy of PWK's book (Rob got 2 copies for me) for a bag of 12ga gold-plated connector spades that will fit the La Scala terminals. Now let's see, I wonder who got the better end of that deal? The trip down was pretty quick as we spent the entire 3 hours yapping about all things audio and whatnot. About an hour from our destination it started raining pretty hard, and followed us all the way there. We got there on time (although we missed our exit) and backed my sister's SUV up to the garage and were led inside. Upon first inspection, I noticed the scratches were deeper and bigger than I was led to believe. It seems the owner put them in storage and stacked one on top of the other withoug putting cardboard or anything in between them. They would definitely need to be refinished I thought. We listened to them for about 10 minutes, some times at extremely loud volumes (with a mid-priced, mid-watted receiver), and I could not believe how loud they can get. Much louder than my Chorus's for sure. It was now Q's turn to do his thing. The man owns 3 pairs of these baby's and knows a thing or two about them. He asked the owner to turn the volume down low so he could insure each of the tweeters were working properly by sticking his ear next to them. It seems Q bought a pair locally and after getting them home, found out one of the tweeters was blown. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He then asked Duffy (the owner) if he could flip the speakers upside down to remove the base plate. This is where the woofer was housed and he wanted to make sure it was still a K-33-E. It was, and by doing so, you could see how the horn-loading was accomplished. Both Duffy and I were impressed. He then checked out the horns and the AL networks, and noticed there was no rust on them and they looked pretty clean. He asked Duffy how they were stored and Duffy told him in a climate controlled storage facility. Q figured as much due to their condition. They were better than his own he said. That was good enough for me so I paid the man! After loading them into the SUV, we hightailed it in the rain up to Colin's house. Both of us were very excited to hear how they would sound on some low-watt tube amps. We get to Colin's house and bring them inside. Colin is in the middle of doing a speaker review for www.enjoythemusic.com and had about 10 pairs of speakers in the living room (no horns). We made a little room and put the La Scala's about 5 feet apart and 7 feet in front of us (not optimum to be sure). We then hooked them up to his Paramour's and had a real listen. Colin put on a Diana Krall track from one of her CD's at a very moderate volume, and I knew immediately that I made the right decision to buy these. I was floored by the tightness of the standup bass and her silky smooth vocals. The mids on these speakers just blow away the mids on my Chorus's. The squawker horn is the same horn that's in the Klipschorn and is at least twice the size (or thereabouts) of the one in the Chorus and Cornwall. It takes up the entire 24" cabinet! We played a number of CD's from different genre's at different volumes, and I was thoroughly impressed with their versatility. When I played "Two to Tango" (Track 4) from Al Dimeola's Splendido Hotel CD, I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. This is a wonderful song with Al on acoustic guitar and Chick Corea on an acoustic piano. To say the least, it was incredible! This song lasted 4 minutes and not one of us said a word during the playback. It sounded better than I had ever heard it before. When it was over, Colin said he had to get a pair of these and was wondering what to do with his Cornwalls. We then decided to A/B the Cornwalls and the La Scala's. Q-Man got on the A/B selector and went back and forth, having to adjust the volume to offset the efficiency differences. As for which speaker sounded better, you can probably get that answer from Colin. He's currently on eBay, Audiogon, Audioweb and AudioReview looking for a local pair of La Scala's. After spending 3 hours at Colin's house, we decided to head back home. On the way home I asked Q if he might be interested in restoring them for me. Basically sand the lacquer off, fill in all the scratches, dings and chipped veneer, then paint them black to match my other speakers. He said he would do it for me and at a price I couldn't refuse, so I decided right then and there that I would leave them at his house until he finished with them. He was a little stunned but agreed to it. As much as I would like to listen to them now, they would not match any of my existing furniture or speakers, and being as anal as I am, I wanted the finished product before moving them into my living room. All in all, it was a great day and I couldn't be happier. I think I have a new friend in Q-Man, and am hoping he can get over to my house and listen to my system once I get everything sorted out. I hope to post before and after pictures of the finished results in the not too distant future. As a side note, when the La Scala's are ready, we plan on doing a double blind test with the AL and ALK networks (Q has a pair). Neither one of us will know which speaker has the ALK in it as Q's son will install it. Colin said he would like to be there for this evaluation as well. I will provide the results in about a month. Mike ------------------ My Music Systems This message has been edited by Mike Lindsey on 06-17-2002 at 02:59 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Mike Congrats buddy, ill catch up soon! La Scalas are around a lot here, maybe thatll be my next upgrade, but im always looking for K-horns having the money or not LOL! But im keeping my Chorus! All 4 of them , they match! Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 mike, congrats on the move. i too hope to add more big heritage to join the corns in the future. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Way to go, Mike! Welcome to PWK's Heritage World! And, now you know why Q-Man's my hero... and, yes, Forum members don't come any better than Gary! -HornED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbflash Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Way to go Mike. I have been looking for Cornwalls, but after reading your post I think I'll look for some Lascala's, unless Colin has a good deal in the near future. I hope you enjoy them for many years. Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Congrats Mike Thanks for sharing the story. Always good to hear people helping each other. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShapeShifter Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Congratulations! They have an owner who will cherish them for years. ------------------ KLIPSCH IS MUSICf> My Systems f>s>c> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Way to go Mike...I hope your LaScalas bring you as much enjoyment as my speakers have brought me! ------------------ 2 Channel System: '78 Khorns w/ALK networks Welborne Labs Moondog 2A3 amps AES AE-3 Superpreamp DJH mods McIntosh MCD 7007 CD McIntosh MR-78 Tuner DIYCable Twisted Cross Connect Speaker Cable DIYCable Superlatives (preamp/amp) DH Labs Silver Pulse interconnects (sources/preamp) f> s> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flason Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I feel a road trip coming on. Let me know when you get 'em Mike. Last time I was at your house, a guy from my coast called and was selling his Scala's. He asked $1500 for a pair of '82's that were re-finished dark. I thought it was a little high. I always keep an eye out for deals in this neck of the woods. We have a lot of older, retired folks around here (Grandparents live in Miami. Their parents live in St. Pete!) so I bet I will find a deal like I did with my Cornwalls. Gotta keep hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 LaScalas for sale. They were birch with a lacquer finish. They are currently birch raw. I'll let them go cheap. Well, isn't possession nine tenths of the law? Seriously Mike, I had to use a chemical striper to get the finish off. The belt sander just heated up the lacguer and it gummed up. After getting the lacquer off I washed them down with lacquer thinner. Then I took a 4" wide belt sander to them with 120 grit belts. I managed to sand deep enought to get rid of most of the gouges without sanding through the veneer. I'm into the third filling and sanding stage right now. It might take two more. I ordered some black Acrylic Lacquer, it will take about a week for it to come in. I think I'll put some birch edge banding on the front, under the grill molding. this will hide the exposed plys on the face of the cabinet. Other interested members, On the ride down I told Mike that I began listening to Klipschorns when I was 12 years old. Now that I think about it, I was more like 9 or 10. A friend of mines father had a pair and he powered with some McIntosh tube amps. This friend was my next door neighbor and I spent a lot of time, durning my teen years, over to his house listening to music. In 1972 at the age of 22, I bought a pair of Cornwalls. I lived with them for a week and returned them for a pair of LaScalas. The cornwalls just didn't give me that Klipschorn sound that I remembered. After Mike listened to Colins Cornwalls along with the LaScala, I asked him. Now do you understand why I returned the Cornwalls? Q. ------------------ Q-Man This message has been edited by Q-Man on 06-17-2002 at 09:01 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted June 18, 2002 Author Share Posted June 18, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Q-Man: LaScalas for sale. They were birch with a lacquer finish. They are currently birch raw. I'll let them go cheap. Well, isn't possession nine tenths of the law? Thanks a lot everybody for the nice replies. These really are wonderful speakers. The mids and highs just give me goosebumps. And the detail... my goodness. While listening to some Acoustic Alchemy, I could hear the fingers passing over the frets of the guitar. They seem to be a more dynamic speaker than my Chorus's. And this is not a knock on the Chorus. I love my Chorus's. This just happens to be a level above that speaker, and it should be... it costs twice as much. flason - Thanks for the offer. Would love for you to hear these. If you would like, you could meet me at Q's house when we do the A/B comparison of the crossovers. That will also be the day I am bringing them home, and I will need someone to help me bring them in to the house. Q - I had no idea they were going to be this much of a problem for you. I also didn't think you would be spending so much time on them so soon. If you would like, we could renegotiate your fee and you know I will be paying for the materials on top of that. I know they will look beautiful when you get done with them. Again, I can't thank you enough for everything you have done. BTW, I hope you are getting pictures along the way. I'm sure the board would like to see some before and afters of your work. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLUngurait Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Mike, Welcome to the world of fully horn loaded Klipsch! Congrats on the great deal you found...but especially on the fortune of finding someone who will refinish your LaScalas w/ the kind of care, knowledge, and skill that someone like Q-Man brings to the table. Good Luck! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Well that is an interesting tale, Mike, you tell it so well I feel as if I was there! In fact, I had a great time. Suddenly I was in the company of two guys who stood around worrying if the longer squawker throat was better than a shorter one or if changing the finish on a speaker over a decade old would somehow tarnish its integrity. We had a great time. Q-man is this gentle giant, a bear of a man with the soul of a poet. It was amazing to see his pictures of his set-up. He has five LaScalas in one room, along with four Khorns. My wife actually liked them. I thought the LaScala sounded good at the sellers house, but he did not have a good room for them and he was running SS equipment. The tops were scratched although neither Q-man nor I thought that was a big deal since you can easily put something on top to cover them. (Big old Klipsch horns are worth more than regular speakers are because they double as sofa end tables.) The LaScala are definitely more of the Klipsch sound. If you like what you have now, you will love the LaScala. We listened to them without any sub-woofers. One thing I noticed was that we all like to play them somewhat loud. What were the peaks, guys? Mid-100s? Compared to the Cornwalls, the mid-range is more open, clear and free. I thought then that the Chorus were under-valued speakers in the Klipsch used market, suffering in comparison to the Heresy models. Although the LaScala is kinda of a raw looking speaker (with its folded exposed horn) I loved the looks of it in yellow Birch and the folded horn. I loved the sound and thought it was cheap to the market compared to what used Khorns fetch these days. The ultra-efficiency (104 dB/w/m) makes them very attractive to tubies like me, especially if they are running the delicate and flea powered 2A3 tubes. Mike was safe buying them, if he doesnt like them I would have bought them. Mike bought his Chorus from a gentleman who is now my friend, Reijo. He owns this massive SS amp, the Pass Labs X250, which I have used in several reviews. I should have called him to come over. He is not a horn lover, but he does enjoy stereos (he went with B&W 803s after he sold the Chorus). I thought there was NOT enough of a difference to make the change.) Reijo called after you guys left, the wife said, sure, invite him over. He brought his mammoth amp and a straight-line attenuator to connect directly to the CD player. We ran through the six speakers that I have to review right now with the same Diana Krall and his Stan Getz CD. Reijo drank a beer and I took pain pills for my arm. Quite a nice evening. The session put the cap on a review that I have working on for quite some time. It will appear in the July issue of EnjoytheMusic.com (ETM). At the end of the evening, I hook my Cornwalls back up, and I must say they did really well without the sandblock Pass amp. They did need a sub-woofer to fill in the bottom, so I guess I cheated. By the way, the amp runs about $4K, my Cornwalls were $500 and my first Klipsch sub-woofer was $250, so I guess I am getting by kinda cheap. Seriously though, it was amazing how close and how good the big old horns sounded next to cone and dome speakers costing as much as $2K a pair. All in all, a wonderful day. Thanks, Gary and Mike. And yes, the wife wants to come up to hear the speakers and see the cabinets Q-man, but not the weekend of the 19th ------------------ Colin's Music System Cornwall 1s & Klipsch subs; lights out & tubes glowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 mike, sorry i'm having trouble keeping up with your moves, but hopefully you get your systems page updated soon. not clear on whether the lascala are for the main sys or a seperate 2 channel sys. iow, are you using the svs w/ the las? & if so how does it jive? my main concern for the future heritage sys is how well the subs will jive. specifically my hgs-18 (or 2). ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted June 18, 2002 Author Share Posted June 18, 2002 Thanks for the replies Dave and Colin... boa - I just updated the system page this morning. My La Scala's will be used for 2-channel as well as HT. The 2-channel system will have different amplification and sources than my HT, but I don't have them as yet. As you know, I don't have the speakers yet as well. I figure I will just swap the speaker wire at the back of the La Scala's depending on what I'm listening to. My Heresy's and Yamaha separates are in my girlfriends living room at the moment. Not sure when I will have my bedroom system together. Therefore, I combined my 2-channel and HT around the La Scala's. Will be looking for tube separates and/or a tube integrated (Eico HF-81) in the future to power the La Scala's for 2-channel use... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 Mike, I knew what I was getting into, and what had to be done. The labor cost won't change. I'll show you the cost for materials to add to the labor. I gave you this price because you are a Klipsch board member and friend. Don't worry about the time involved. I'm not doing this with the intent to make moneyas if it were one of my cabinet jobs. A gal. of the black lacquer cost $148.00 (ouch). Sorry, but that's the best price that I could get it for. It's becoming rare, they don't use lacquer on autos anymore. I wanted to use Lacquer on them instead of the black that I used on the speakers that you looked at. I took a couple of pictures of what the cabinets looked like with all the gouges and chipped plywood layers. I'll take a couple more of the finished sanding and filling before I spray them. I don't have to strip the V- fold inside area. It's not in too bad of shape. I'll just have to give that area a light sanding. The new lacquer will adhere to the old. Colin, I think I heard something very nice at your home. It's been bugging the heck out of me, as to why the LaScalas sounded the way they did there. At first I thought it was the CD selections that I never heard before. The more I dwell on it ,I think it must have been those darn Tubes. The LaScalas may have sounded better then how I'm used to hearing them. When you come over would you mind bringing one of the tube amps? I would like to A/B it with a couple of SS amps that I have in the room where the single pair of Klipschorns are set up. This is the room that we will A/B the different networks in Mike's LaScalas. If I hear what I think I will, I might like to compare the tube amp to my McIntosh Mc206 6 channel SS home theater amp. in another room. Thank your wife for the lunch that she prepared for us. I was starving and Mike was too excited to stop for a bite to eat. I want you guys to also A/B the University bass horn with the LaScala and give me your opinion. When were done we can go into the home theater room and relax to a few tunes and give you a demo of the movie sound with the ten speakers. That test CD of yours. Does it have a frequency sweep on it? I would like to find out where the high frequency roll off begins on the University. Boa, The HGS-18 should do fine. Go to the SVS site and find the review on the SVS-Ultras, and the HGS-18 . They did this with a Klipschorn to see how they would keep up. Q. ------------------ Q-Man This message has been edited by Q-Man on 06-19-2002 at 05:43 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted June 19, 2002 Author Share Posted June 19, 2002 Q, Thanks for the reply and your generosity. Will the Black Lacquer have a shine to it (it sounds like it, being lacquer and all)? If so, I may end up having to do the Chorus's the same way. I might be able to spray them myself if you give me some good direction. I'm really excited to see how these turn out. I'm also glad you got some before pics. I'm looking forward to the A/B comparison between the networks as well as the comparison with the University Classic. Let me know when you'd like to do all this. Thanks again, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 Mike, They should have a satin, or semi gloss look. If you want a shine, gloss, or high gloss look you need to sand the final coat with 600 grit and then buff them out. Q. ------------------ Q-Man This message has been edited by Q-Man on 06-19-2002 at 04:14 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 thanks for the info q-man. for my peace of mind i'll check it out. mike, if you need a speaker or amp a/b switch box, be sure to check out www.russound.com another keith tip & i use that a/b switch box for 2 dif amps into one pair of rf-3 in the stereo listening lounge. also works on one amp to 2 dif pair of speaks. just throwing that out if you need that (rather than changing leads). ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 Q-man, I know, as soon as we slipped a disk in, you were saying that you heard something and guessed that it might be the tube sound that you heard way back when, I have an excellent solid state reference amp, a Pioneer with low power but flawless THD specs from the seventies, looks like a small Threshold amp, ( I used to think it was big - 60 pounds - until I saw Reijos monster Pass Labs X250), I rushed to pick up the amp that Saturday morning in case you guys wanted to hear what SS sounded like on those speakers, but we never did and you didnt say what it was that you heard, the Paramours are as light as tissue paper and about as big as a box of Kleenex, so packing them up will be no problem, the lacquer sounds nice, I cant wait to see the new LaScalas, especially since I want to A/B demo the ALK cross-overs and since I like Mikes big old horns in their natural birch, can you still see the wood grain? The only trouble is the date, you guys set the date and I will try to be there (need to take the wife on a road trip, I spent the night at Daytona Beach once when it was bike week cause all the hotels in Orlando were filled and I will never forget waking up to that bright yellow globe filling the blue skies and hard white sand with humid warmth)- So, you see I need to take the wife on that trip and see your incredible set-up ------------------ Colin's Music System Cornwall 1s & Klipsch subs; lights out & tubes glowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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