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My La Scalas sound much better in a larger room


homeskizzle

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I recently moved and haven't changed anything with my setup other than the room. I went from a 12Wx30Lx8H room to a 15Wx20Lx10.5H converted garage and the difference to me was astounding. The overall volume of the rooms isn't too different. My seating distance in the old room was about 7 feet from the center channel and now I'm back to about 10 or 11 feet. I'll post pics of the old room vs. the new one. 

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I wonder if it's nothing more than the distance you are now sitting?

 

With my Khorns, I noticed they distinctly sounded better at a certain location in my room (30' away)

 

They still sounded "good" while in the room, but there was a noticable difference.

 

Later, when the 2-way Jubilee's replaced the 3-way Khorns, I realized the Jubilee's didn't have this same increase in quality of sound.

 

Bottom line, what was going on is the Jubilee's with only 1 crossover point were more coherent than the Khorns which had 2 crossover points.  It simply took more time, therefore distance, for the Khorns to meld into what appeared to be "one voice" whereas, the Jubilee's had it from the beginning.

 

The Jubilee's "come together" somewhere around 10' away.

 

I wonder (suggest?) that if you were to go active and align the LaScalas, you might notice something similar.

 

Though it's pretty significant to hear, it's hard for a moron like me to type into words.

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Yep, them ain't a small room speaker. They need room to open up. My KHorns sound fantastic at 15 feet out in center but even more fantastic'er at 20-25 feet away.

 

Allows the bass room to "bloom" if you will.

 

I am not a charts and graphs guy and the way you put it makes perfect sense to me.  :emotion-21:

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Yep, them ain't a small room speaker. They need room to open up. My KHorns sound fantastic at 15 feet out in center but even more fantastic'er at 20-25 feet away.

 

Allows the bass room to "bloom" if you will.

 

I am not a charts and graphs guy and the way you put it makes perfect sense to me.  :emotion-21:

Thank you Sir

No charts and graphs here either. My ears are my guide --

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I recently moved and haven't changed anything with my setup other than the room. I went from a 12Wx30Lx8H room to a 15Wx20Lx10.5H converted garage and the difference to me was astounding. The overall volume of the rooms isn't too different. My seating distance in the old room was about 7 feet from the center channel and now I'm back to about 10 or 11 feet.

 

There are some very good reasons why it will sound better in your new room:

 

1) La Scalas, like Khorns, need to be several feet from your listening position in order to "coalesce" into a more-or-less single image (due mostly to time misalignment of tweeter-midrange).  If you move the tweeters to the top of their cabinets and move to the back of to align with the midrange driver, you will hear much more improvement in the imaging.

 

2) Higher ceiling is a big, big deal.  The Heritage series of midrange horns all have collapsing polars and will improve their in-room performance when there is sufficient carpet absorption on the floor and the first reflections from the ceiling bounce are further than the typical eight-feet ceilings.

 

3) Getting the La Scalas spread wider increases the sense of envelopment (LEV) and Apparent Source Width (ASW) fairly dramatically, which are the two biggies in terms of realism of reproduction.

 

Some of the above is discussed in Toole's excellent book.

 

Chris

Edited by Chris A
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I recently moved and haven't changed anything with my setup other than the room. I went from a 12Wx30Lx8H room to a 15Wx20Lx10.5H converted garage and the difference to me was astounding. The overall volume of the rooms isn't too different. My seating distance in the old room was about 7 feet from the center channel and now I'm back to about 10 or 11 feet.
 

 

There are some very good reasons why it will sound better in your new room:

 

1) La Scalas, like Khorns, need to be several feet from your listening position in order to "coalesce" into a more-or-less single image (due mostly to time misalignment of tweeter-midrange).  If you move the tweeters to the top of their cabinets and move to the back of to align with the midrange driver, you will hear much more improvement in the imaging.

 

2) Higher ceiling is a big, big deal.  The Heritage series of midrange horns all have collapsing polars and will improve their in-room performance when there is sufficient carpet absorption on the floor and the first reflections  from the ceiling bounce are further than the typical eight-feet ceilings.

 

3) Getting the La Scalas spread wider increases the sense of envelopment fairly dramatically, which is one of the two biggies in terms of realism of reproduction (i.e., sense of envelopment)

 

Some of the above is discussed in Toole's excellent book.

 

Chris

 

 

For some reason I read this in Morgan Freeman's voice, and it made an even bigger impact. Thanks for the input! 

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It just so happens that some friends have mentioned that I'd do well in radio announcing (even though no one listens to the radio anymore)...a blend of The Duke's delivery blended with  Morgan Freeman sonority...

 

;)

 

Chris

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had a Sherbourn 7x150 sitting new in the box and decided to hook it up for shiggles last night. Basically I wanted to test it to make sure it works and then I was going to sell it. 

 

It's staying for now. I've watched one movie, listened to some of my favorite tunes, and some TV. I'll give it time and then switch back to just the HK 3600. I know it's opening the age old question of "do I need an external amp." I always saw that in the context of getting louder but not necessarily in quality. I felt like the quality of sound was more full and the detail was much more present. And yeah, if I wanna get stupid with the volume, it crushes the HK, but it should. 

 

I've thought about switching out the HK 3600 for a newer receiver or a dedicated pre/pro (something like the Outlaw 975 or a used UMC-200). Not sure yet about that. 

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It just so happens that some friends have mentioned that I'd do well in radio announcing (even though no one listens to the radio anymore)...a blend of The Duke's delivery blended with  Morgan Freeman sonority...

 

;)

 

Chris

 

I've been told that I have a face for radio...

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