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The rebirth of the University Classics


Daan

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  • 1 month later...

The La Scala's are up for sale now here in The Netherlands, though I had my doubts about selling them for the past few months......

Have to make room again for putting the dining-table in the original position again, my wife wants the livingroom back to normal after months of tools, speakers and other stuff all around the place.

I have to admit that if we had room for them we would defenately not sell them but that's how it goes sometimes. We only hope to find a buyer that will appreciate them as they are now.

We're going for a "groundsound" active crossover that will allow us to adjust just about everything from crossoverpoints, slopes, time alignment etc. for the two-way University Classics.

Will report how that goes so some of you guys may benefit from our experiences; after all a lot of you helped us to find the best mods for the La Scala's. ;)

Nico

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Edited by nico boom
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  • 1 month later...

Update; the La Scala's have found a new home. They are now with a guy who has a pair of original La Scala's as well. These have never been upgraded and he was amazed by the sound of mine when he came over to listen to them.

So on one sundaymorning we moved my set of LS's to his place and positioned them next to his. After first listening to his pair we listened to the same music on mine and the difference in clarity, detail and frequency-extension was obvious right away.

The [bigger] EV horns also made the sound come more into the room with a much wider sweet spot, something the new owner was really surprised about.

And now about the Classics; as we went from 3-way passive to 2-way active filtering we were already aware of the better soundquality though we used a 18Db/oct. car-audio filter at that time.

After looking at the professional "Groundsound" site I asked the owner Robert Sorensen some questions about it, which he prompty and with enthousiasm answered.

In spite of his well explained anwers to my questions I still felt unsure about my capability to manage his system.

So I asked around for a simpler system since I wanted to do measurements only with my PAA-2 analyzer and be able to use a system without possible hours of trial and error.

I ended up with the miniDSP as a good candidate which not only was recommended by other users but also is more affordable for a newbie on active filtering like me.

After ordering the "2x in, 4x out" in-a-box device and downloading the "advanced " plug-in I could start right away to experiment and get familiar with the system while the device itself was shipped.

After a few evenings of reading the manual, reading on the forum and experimenting with the software I understood enough about how it worked to wait impatiently for the DSP itself.

Six days later it was delivered and after connecting it to the laptop, synchronizing it and downloading the previously made settings the DSP played satisfactory right away!

A few hours of fiddling with the settings later the Classics sound GREAT even with enough settings left which we did not even tried out yet...

So for those who have just as much experience as myself with active filtering [NONE...] and want to go that way, I can recommend to try out the miniDSP. The Groundsound system will be better for the more advanced technician IMO with measuring equipment, something I do not have and I don;t want to go that far. I use my simple PAA-2 and my ears.

Tomorrow we'll receive a experienced listener who has a very good system himself, so let's see what he's got to say about it. ;)

In the end I must admit; going away from a beautifull designed passive crossover and instead adding a amp, DSP and even more cables WILL IMPROVE THE SOUND.

[for improving the looks for my wife I installed grilles to the upper half of the bass-mouth]

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps a little for people with the same doubts as I HAD about going active.

Nico

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Edited by nico boom
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Nico, a very nice project made special with the help of your father, enjoy.

Thanks, it really was special to work with " the old man " . We celebrated his 79th birthday last wednesday and he's still talking about it to everybody he speakes.

Next week he'll come over and have a listen for the first time.

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Crowd Pleasers...

Thanks for your comment but I don't know this expression, explain please?

Nico

So I guess when you have a party you hide your speakers ?

Or do you crank them to impress the CROWD?

Oh, that's what it's about.

In fact our house is to small to have party's and we wouldn't know where to hide these speakers.

And luckily we don't need to impress anyone anymore. We grew up a long time ago ;) .

Nico

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Yup, seriously. It's like you want to rain on his parade. They are beautiful, he put in a lot of work and likes the way they sound.

Not at all trying to rain on his parade at all. I was just shocked at your comment concerning ignoring completely the sound performance since they looked so good.

Maybe I should all get some beat up old speakers, that are no longer produced (for reasons good or bad, who knows) make them look pretty and not worry about how good they sound, according to your comment.

I agree they are gorgeous. They appear to be a decent, assymetrical short horn, which I suspect, like a LaScala, have a limited low end.

But if it is to inspire other people who like AUDIO it would be nice so see some measurements to justify others to do the same besides just looks. Forgive me if I care about sound quality at least as much as looks (even more so, actually).

But then again, the women who see and hear my system are visitors and not residents, so I can understand the aesthetics also. Different strokes........

Edited by ClaudeJ1
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seems to me that there were comments in the archive and maybe even comparison between the Classic and the Dean. I remember reading comments that the Dean bested the Khorn in the bass department don't recall who said that but it was on this forum. I think that the Dean is a much better layout and use of space and it would fit horizontal floor to wall or vertical in a corner. Looks like a cleaner design and possibly a slightly simpler build. I would love to hear either wish I was there as they say on the record.

That aside I think Nico did a great job and I expect the EV horn eat the Cobraflex horns that he started with and that they give the K400 a run for the money in a much more compact configuration. I too agree that if possible acoustic measurements would be a most welcome addition to the thread. Best regards Moray James.

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