Bob_SS Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) Long time stereo nut, first time Klipsch “owner”. my rig is Bryston/Dynaudio my gf has been carrying around a pair of lascala speakers for decades. They were her fathers and she thought they were broken. I hooked them up to an old SS carver amp I had and they sound amazing on some material and really in your face on others. I played one of my favorites on a pro-ject, Brothers in Arms. I had to tell her, these are NOT broken! I am so impressed!!! what I have learned so far, they are brutally honest. 1. How do I test to determine if the drivers and networks (AA) are ok? 2. I want an all tube path, I’m obsessed with it now. I’m not rich but this is what I’m thinking after reading for days... phono, Parks Budgie or Juicy Blueberry (are these still in production? I can’t find one) pre, Schiit Freya amp, NOS VRD 3. I cannot learn anything from these serial numbers, they seem to be different than most I’ve seen on the net. I wish I had 15k for a McIntosh rig but I’ll be limited to about 5k total. I would appreciate your thoughts and time on how best to proceed. thank you. Bob Edited January 4, 2018 by Bob_SS Added network type 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 X in the serial number is 1982 Here is a bunch of info about the entire Heritage line. Welcome to the forum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Bob, you may want to post your location, as we have members all over the country (and around the world....) Lots of folks are happy to help out, and audition their systems to help you make a decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 4, 2018 Author Share Posted January 4, 2018 I’m in Winston Salem, NC as far as I know, this isn’t HiFi heaven. that would be great to meet others, I know no one who cares about stereo. I caught the bug in Glenn Poor’s audio/video in Normal Illinois, 1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TasDom Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Welcome to the forum! 54 minutes ago, Bob_SS said: my gf has been carrying around a pair of lascala speakers for decades. Does she have any sisters? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 58 minutes ago, Bob_SS said: my gf has been carrying around a pair of lascala speakers for decades. And she must be tired! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 First of all welcome and in case it is not obvious BEST GF ever! You will get plenty of opinions but I personally think you are on the right track with considering tubes. I'm a long time Klipsch fan and Carver fan as well. I did solid state Carver gear with my KG4 and Forte II (other klipsch speakers) and they worked great. Your LaScalas are brutally honest as you are finding. To reap their benefits you really need everything in the chain to be decent. Not expensive just good quality. A big part of that is the source material. Some recordings are just bad and that quickly shows up upon playback. Juicy Music is no longer in business. In time you can probably find a used Blueberry. There is a killer pair of VRDs in the garage sale section right now I've heard plenty of Klipsch systems with Mac gear and they sound fantastic. That said the two best systems I've ever heard with Klipsch speakers did not have a single piece of Mac gear in them. Take your time, ask questions buy low sell high and you should be loving your LSs for a long time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 4, 2018 Author Share Posted January 4, 2018 12 minutes ago, jimjimbo said: And she must be tired! Great for the glutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confab Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 22 hours ago, Bob_SS said: I’m in Winston Salem, NC as far as I know, this isn’t HiFi heaven. that would be great to meet others, I know no one who cares about stereo. I caught the bug in Glenn Poor’s audio/video in Normal Illinois, 1985 Wow! We had to have rubbed shoulders there at one time or another. Or maybe at Appletree Stereo just diagonally across the street. Are you from the area or were you a student? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopardave Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Tubes work real nice with those. I would look at getting the cross overs up dated. Crites or others can help. Wouldnt cost much if you can solder. Just new caps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 On 1/4/2018 at 10:54 AM, Bob_SS said: Long time stereo nut, first time Klipsch “owner”. ........................................................... what I have learned so far, they are brutally honest. 1. How do I test to determine if the drivers and networks (AA) are ok? ............................................................ Bob Test complete!!!! They ARE brutally honest, and that is the way they should be. They are also not supposed to be "polite" or "reserved" sounding. The music should sound quick and out in the room with you. If the sound is not, or there is any muffled sound, it is probable the 35 year old capacitors need to be replaced. Place them as near to a corner as you can, adjusting their position to balance the bass gain from the corner to the "sound" of your room. Also, for home use ONLY, you may disconnect one of the KLiP diodes that protect the tweeter. The -M tweeter can withstand 5 watts continuous power and 50 watts short term. You won't exceed those in your home. Defeating the KLiP circuit will eliminate some HF "hash" when you crank them up. Your year, 1982 was a transition year. My 1982, 29X610, 899th after yours, had a k-55-M squawker and Type AL crossover (the worst). IMHO, The Type AA/solder terminal K-55-V/K-77-M La Scala is the optimum configuration until the La Scala II was produced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 I would say OP, your evaluation and description of the listening session is exactly where you want to be... now find a good tube or passive pre and a good tube amp and continue to enjoy them. They will immensely reward you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 I can solder, so a written procedure would help. I’m a manufacturing engineer. The more time I spend with them, the more I’m impressed. I’ve already had a few goosebump moments, even though I have no preamp. Worse yet, If I’m not using the turntable, all sources are PlayStation 3 passing through a sharp tv! There were moments during lord of the rings, two towers, where I said, did you feel that? these are not broken! the last march of the Ents The horn of Helm Hammerland gungabad -bad anmar who knew there was such a thing as a LOTR horn compilation? if they sound this good through the worst possible feed, I can’t imagine how great it will be with some good tube gear. saving$ now Paging Dr. Ostby... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 Nope, nothing wrong with these speakers, now I can hear how sh!tty my turntable is :( I can actually hear the needle leaning against the outboard side of the grove. I don’t know what to call that, drag or tracking error? the wow and flutter is sad too. Ive always had 2 way bass reflex with big SS Watts. these are as transformative as some of the magneplanars I’ve heard. this is a great forum too. Thank you for your input. I may start a gofundmytubes page. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 6 hours ago, Confab said: Wow! We had to have rubbed shoulders there at one time or another. Or maybe at Appletree Stereo just diagonally across the street. Are you from the area or were you a student? I went to high school at U High. I would hang out in the soundproof room after school...frequently. They always let me listen to whatever I wanted! They knew I had no money and they taught me a lot. Imagine Metallica through Linn, conrad Johnson and B&W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 On 1/4/2018 at 9:54 AM, Bob_SS said: my gf has been carrying around a pair of lascala speakers for decades. Wow, you hit the Jackpot my friend! Some have tolerant wives/girlfriends but it's probably pretty rare for the woman to be the one owning big Klipsch! Sounds like you have just discovered what many of us here have already known -- congratulations, you are in a select group of people. It's my belief that many "audiophools" of the world won't allow themselves to come across this discovery because they have their nose in the air won't even give these speakers an honest listen. Get some quality electronics in front of those speakers and your experience will only get better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 I’m really impressed with this forum too, quite different than the usual. I did a signal sweep youtube to chrome cast to tv to carver. i am hearing some white noise in one speaker when it sweeps through 175 hz to 300 or so, it’s consistent white noise although the tone is low. There is a slight flabbiness to it. there is another anomaly in the other speaker up around 3000 hz, it’s white noise too with some interesting electronic burbling. I would suspect filter issues rather than driver problems. i honestly don’t hear anything bad during playback of music. what is the best woofer upgrade for these? during the sweep, 32hz is clean, 45hz is strong, by 75 it’s full and flat. OMG just discovered this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 That Bela Fleck is a tune Klipsch engineers use to demo new gear. Freakin' awesome at 115 dB!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 36 minutes ago, JohnA said: That Bela Fleck is a tune Klipsch engineers use to demo new gear. Freakin' awesome at 115 dB! You should hear those two tracks demastered (Flying Saucer Dudes and Flight of the Cosmic Hippo). There's quite a bit of bass attenuation below 50-70 Hz and some treble boost on the distribution disc...but it's easily restored via demastering. You get all of Victor Wooten's real bass line (instead of just listening to the second harmonics), plus you also get kick drum (the real kick drum, that is). Getting your setup dialed in, removing any big bass response peaks and dips from 200 Hz to below 30 Hz will reveal a new world of hi-fi to your ears. I've got Roy's original test disc tracks plus three tracks identified by Sean Olive demastered on a cloud drive. PM me if interested. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_SS Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 Is that a sub!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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