woohoo! I just won some la scalas!

[Porn_Star]

Congrats on the sale.

As mentioned, a few months ago, I picked up a pair of LaScalas with the intent to demo them in my home, enjoy them for awhile and eventually pass them along to someone else. It didn't take me very long to realize they offered MUCH more detail and clarity than my RF-83's. Within a few weeks, I purchased a third LaScala from Wstrickland and after hearing the LaScala Trio, I was completely hooked and within 2 weeks, the RF-83 / RC-64 were sold. Having three identical LaScalas as my front sound stage is incredible. Seamless panning from one speaker to another and they produce a beautiful wall of articulate sound. Also, the LaScala as a center is a HUGE upgrade from my RC-64.

The ONLY think I have not been impressed with the LaScalas was the bass extension. Some have said "give them some real power and they will thump". I think I have that covered with 200 watts going to each speaker. Power isn't the issue. Owning RF-7, RF-7ii and RF-83, they just provide that slam that the LaScalas will never be able to provide. That's because they were designed to only go down to around 70Hz. So they ABSOLUTELY need a sub if you want deep, thumping impact.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you've had more time to listen to them.

i haven't even hooked them up yet. i was still kinda disappointed when they were demoed to me at the place of sale. i don't think my living room is large enough for them. it measures 12x20x8 as you may have seen in my pic that i uploaded to the home theater. eventually i will connect them to the ave in the garage before i decide what to do with them. i may sell, i may keep, i just don't know. also.. the garage is so full of crap right now! i need to make room!

[Youthman]

i haven't even hooked them up yet.

2 weeks with LaScalas and you haven't hooked them up yet?

i was still kinda disappointed when they were demoed to me at the place of sale.

Keep in mind, room acoustics and equipment are super important to the overall experience of any speaker. I love the sound of my HK with the LaScalas.

i don't think my living room is large enough for them. it measures 12x20x8

Sure it is. My room is very similar at 13' x 19' x 10'. Now if you had them in a bedroom....yeah, that would likely hinder their performance quite a bit.

[joessportster]

.lascalas have great bass definition but will not thump the chest or rattle the windows

That's a negative ghost-rider.

La Scala can throttle an entire house. They are a performance speaker...not plug and play.

Porn_Star....pick up an EQ and a multimeter before you dump the amp. PS400 ain't all that bad for the interim.

Not sure what you consider deep bass, but the specs on the speaker are 53hz on the low end which in every way equates to shallow bass, you can eq till the cows come home and the speaker will only produce what its design dictates.....................It rolls off below 53 hz, now for me or you that may be acceptable. But reading Porns previous bass experience I am betting he will find this lacking

The good news is all you need to do is add a sub (preferably a horn sub) and you will have a damn nice sounding setup

My personal experience with 4 different pairs of lascala was they produce the best detail and mid bass in the heritage line, But they need re-enforcement by a sub to get the weight...................

Youthman is correct your room is plenty big enough

Edited July 28, 2014 by joessportster

[Youthman]

The good news is all you need to do is add a sub (preferably a horn sub) and you will have a damn nice sounding setup My personal experience with 4 different pairs of lascala was they produce the best detail and mid bass in the heritage line, But they need re-enforcement by a sub to get the weight...................

Agreed....I would venture to say that most people do not purchase LaScalas for their bass output.

the specs on the speaker are 53hz

DeanG showed me a document from Klipsch that suggests the LaScala actually begins to roll off at 70Hz.

[NOSValves]

Now Dean I purposely left that part out

So porn you really like bass, that statement is kind of broad in range, when you say you really like bass, does that mean you like chest thumping feel like you are in a club bass, or does it mean you like tight, articulate defined bass ???

Since you bought Lascala's I hope it is the latter tight articulate defined............................lascalas have great bass definition but will not thump the chest or rattle the windows......................300.00 will not buy you much in a tube amp, my recommendation is sell the crown and add it to your fund and look for a refurbed Dynaco st 70, fix the driver issue, refurb the crossovers and enjoy life

i like all kinds of bass, typically the chest thumping serious bass, but have an appriciation for bass that is clear and well defined. back when i was in car audio i had 4 15 inch L7s and 2 5000 watt amps. dual 200 amp alternators. i still miss that old truck. how much do you think i could get for the existing amp?

Congrats on your score...clarification the chest thumping bass I think you are referring to IMHO would not be called serious bass..I'd call that artificial bass..you will never achieve that out of stock lascalas.. you'll need to port them or sell them buy Cornwall's or a few other ported bass reflex designs..or add a subwoofer but you have to go real deep in the pocket book to get a Sub that will blend well with the lascala's

Edited July 30, 2014 by NOSValves

[NOSValves]

The good news is all you need to do is add a sub (preferably a horn sub) and you will have a damn nice sounding setup My personal experience with 4 different pairs of lascala was they produce the best detail and mid bass in the heritage line, But they need re-enforcement by a sub to get the weight...................

Agreed....I would venture to say that most people do not purchase LaScalas for their bass output.

the specs on the speaker are 53hz

DeanG showed me a document from Klipsch that suggests the LaScala actually begins to roll off at 70Hz.

Keep in mind that those documents are with a Lascala in open air.... like out in the middle of a open field. The Lascala properly place in a corner goes much lower then the specifications suggest.

[joessportster]

The good news is all you need to do is add a sub (preferably a horn sub) and you will have a damn nice sounding setup My personal experience with 4 different pairs of lascala was they produce the best detail and mid bass in the heritage line, But they need re-enforcement by a sub to get the weight...................

Agreed....I would venture to say that most people do not purchase LaScalas for their bass output.

the specs on the speaker are 53hz

DeanG showed me a document from Klipsch that suggests the LaScala actually begins to roll off at 70Hz.

Keep in mind that those documents are with a Lascala in open air.... like out in the middle of a open field. The Lascala properly place in a corner goes much lower then the specifications suggest.

a corner will enhance bass but it will not change the speakers design character , the speaker will still roll off below the bass horn design..................I am no trying to DISS lascala's. I love lascalas, I loved the tight articulate bass they produce and was very happy with them when I had them.

53 hz comes from Klipsch website....................I had no idea klipsch put there speakers outside to get frequency measurements

It was my understanding the port mod added maybe 10hz to the bass ? am i wrong is there a measurement floating around from someone that

ported a pair ??

[Marvel]

It was my understanding the port mod added maybe 10hz to the bass ? am i wrong is there a measurement floating around from someone that ported a pair ??

I believe that in room, done correctly, they can go almost flat to 32Hz. or so;

Below is from an OLD post by djk:

The taper rate of a LaScala is 100hz, The mouth area is good for 125hz. Below this it is a big woofer in a small sealed box. If we plug the T/S parameters for the K33E into a box program we will see that the Qtc=.85, the Fc=82.5hz, and the F3=70.9hz . If we close in the back of the high frequency cabinet and open the woofer rear chamber up into this volume and fill with fiberglass we now have Qtc=.577, Fc=58.2hz, F3=73.6hz .

Bessel=Qtc .577=D2 gives the best transient response and the least group delay of all the sealed boxes. At 30hz the Qtc=. 577 has 4. 5dB more output than the Qtc=. 85 . Compared with sealed enclosures, the transient performance of the best vented enclosure is worse than the best sealed box enclosure. Since we have made great gains in performance some may elect to stop here. But please read on.

The next step is to port it. The K33E is not the optimum woofer for this but it works pretty good. With the box size optimized for a D2 we can port the stock woofer to an SC4. The transient response of an SC4 while not as good as an SBB4(more on this later)is better than the more common QB3. Unequalized the F3=49hz and has 3dB more output at 30hz than the D2. The response curves are parallel with the D2 the only difference being the Fc being a half octave lower with the SC4 and the output being 3dB higher from 30~70hz. The output of the SC4 does not drop lower than the D2 until you go below 17hz.

Again this may be a stopping point for some. But by adding a simple two pole high pass filter ahead of the power amp we can now have a C6 with a -3dB point of 31hz. Since this is the Fb of the system there is no increase in cone excursion or distortion. The filter consists of a cap an inductor and a pot. The pot allows adjustment at Fb of +/- 3dB. This is similar to being able to change the Qtc of a sealed box from . ~1.0 .

If you think about it we have the choice between a D2, SC4, and a C6 in the same box by plugging the port and/or bypassing the eq. If you have a SET amp or simply want to get the most out of the LaScala you will want to upgrade the woofer to something with a lower Qts. The Klipsch K43E does the trick, as do the EV DL15W and the JBL 2205. The EV and JBL drivers require some minor network changes.

The lower Qts drivers allow for an SBB4 alignment which has the best transient response of the vented alignments. With no eq they have 3dB more output at 30hz than the stock woofer. With eq we have a maximally flat B6 and the F3 of the system is 27~28hz. If using a solid state amp with the low Qts woofers a small resistor must be added in series with the driver to have the same Rg as the SET does. This mod can be backed out of a stock LaScala with no externally visible changes if you don't like it.

No one has ever gone back to stock after hearing this mod. Paul Klipsch was violently opposed to the venting of horn speakers based on his experience with venting the K-horn. In retrospect it is easy to see why. The 12" Jensen field coil woofer he was using had an Fs of 60hz and a quick calculation of the vent area vs the Vb based on the photographs of this experiment looks like an Fb of ~80hz. I am sure this sounded horrible. Paul Wilbur Klipsch is a giant in audio. If I appear to see farther than PWK it is only because I am standing on his shoulders.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Marvel

[joessportster]

That sounds like a worthwhile MOD, Thanks for posting Marvel

[beeker]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=331245671264&globalID=EBAY-US&alt=web

Yep these are mine, or at least will be when I pick em up this week. What do yall think of this amp?

Congratulations porn star! Lascalas are a speaker made for a lifetime of sound reproducing enjoyment. Just keep a towel nearby for all the drool

[MORE KLIPSCH PLEASE]

Congratulations on the La Scalas'. I have owned my set for 24+ years and I still love them! I like the base they have but for sure it will not thump your chest! I power mine with a Adcom 555ll, and I will also power up one of my Klipsch subs. Just enjoy them. Take car Mark....