Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 8 hours ago, DizRotus said: Use a putty knife to break the seal. It could take quite some time; be patient. When you succeed in removing the access cover you will need to clean the gasket material from the cover and the bass bin before replacing the cover using new gasket material. Will i need to use new gasket material? I mean, is there any downside of just closing it by the screws? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 55 minutes ago, Alessio said: Will i need to use new gasket material? I mean, is there any downside of just closing it by the screws? The entire concept of the doghouse section is to keep it airtight...that way the forward excursion and rearward excursion of the woofer cone is limited by the effects of doghouse air over-pressure and under-pressure...which allows for more rapid cone response...IOW bass response is quicker, and "tighter" when pushing air through the motor-board compression slot ...remember the woofer acts WITH the motor-board's compression slot to become a "compression driver" for the bifurcated bass horn lens....so the more airtight, the better for the doghouse section! This requires the woofer-access-"door" to be sealed. That "door" is the bass bin's bottom panel...whereas the "doorway" is the hole itself. Besides, if it is just "close to" being sealed, instead of BEING SEALED...you may HEAR AIR LEAKS...that sound like...hmmmm...OK, when you were a kid did you ever stick one hand into an armpit and pump the arm-pit's arm to make a "farting" sound?...Get my drift?😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 16 minutes ago, HDBRbuilder said: OK, when you were a kid did you ever stick one hand into an armpit and pump the arm-pit's arm to make a "farting" sound?...Get my drift?😉 1 Well, you made yourself clear enough 🤣 What gasket material do you suggest i use to seal it again? Please mind that i'm in Italy, so i may not find specific US products or brands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 12 minutes ago, Alessio said: Well, you made yourself clear enough 🤣 What gasket material do you suggest i use to seal it again? Please mind that i'm in Italy, so i may not find specific US products or brands. Thin closed cell neoprene or silicone type gasket material...no more than 1 cm wide would work...sticky on one side...but be sure to clean ("scrape") out the old gasket material used before using the new gasket material. A thin, flexible putty knife works well for that. I was stationed in Vicenza for three years almost a half century ago...LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 So Andy, would you call your recommendation to our Italian friend a long distance foam call? @HDBRbuilder 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 6 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said: I was stationed in Vicenza for three years almost a half century ago...LOL! 1 Nice, it's about 2 hours from where i live (near Trieste) 5 hours ago, DizRotus said: So Andy, would you call your recommendation to our Italian friend a long distance foam call? @HDBRbuilder you nailed it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 4 minutes ago, Alessio said: Nice, it's about 2 hours from where i live (near Trieste) I never went to Trieste, itself, but in the early thru mid-1970's, many of us would go the multi-day Rock/Pop concerts in Udine. I also skied in Bormio and Sondrio before they got all built-up as resorts...when they were still relatively quaint towns with dirt/gravel roads meandering into the mountainsides...the last time I skied there, some British investors were in the process of putting in ski-lifts and a very large hotel just upslope from the edge of town in Bormio. The best thing about Bormio and Sondrio was the cuisine mixture at the restaurants/cafes...basically a mix of Italian-French-Swiss-Austrian, dishes, which actually made for a wonderful blending of flavors at every meal! Eating breakfast as a local dairyman would walk a cow laden with full milk-cans into town...right past the restaurant window...a pleasant way to have a final cup of coffee before hitting the ski-slopes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 Ok, i finally got to the crossover and this is the situation (i only detached the tweeter and squawker connectors). The red circle on the second pic is the cut cable. I'm not an expert, but i confronted it with a couple of pics around the web and it looks like it's missing some 'pieces'…?? WTF is going on here?!? Please, please, shed some light on this mystery 🙏 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glens Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 What's going between the board and external connection box is workable as is. The main problem I see is there's nothing hooked to the inside screw at position #4! I'm not familiar with that network and by the time I correlate what's what with the schematic, maybe someone who can tell just by looking will chime in. Let's see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieStl Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 I am by no means an expert, but have seen AL x-overs before and you are missing more than a wire. I am not sure if this is a mod or some type of "work around" but my old ALs had more parts. I will look for an old photo. Crossover gurus here can shed more light. And yes, my LSIs have more wires (two) running from the input cup to the x over. Hard to see, but the AL is on right (AB on left). Looks like you are missing a capacitor in the middle of the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieStl Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 Stole a photo off the world wide web. A little easier to compare. Looks like several parts are missing. Even when working properly with all of it's pieces/parts, the AL is not that great of a crossover. Keep that in mind before spending any money on it. A replacement may be a better option. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 6 minutes ago, MookieStl said: Looks like you are missing a capacitor in the middle of the board. Yeah, it looks like that… I really hope someone in the know can tell what's going on here. 😓 A friend of mine just told me to check if they just shifted the woofer crossover into the woofer module, to enable them for bi-wiring. That's an interesting hypothesis, i just need to open the woofer module, but that's really not easy to do. Actually, i'm going to open a thread about that (maybe it will be useful to someone else too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 6 minutes ago, MookieStl said: A replacement may be a better option. Wow man, thanks for the pic! And yes, i read about that and was, in fact, considering the ALK Universal option… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieStl Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 1 minute ago, Alessio said: Yeah, it looks like that… I really hope someone in the know can tell what's going on here. 😓 A friend of mine just told me to check if they just shifted the woofer crossover into the woofer module, to enable them for bi-wiring. That's an interesting hypothesis, i just need to open the woofer module, but that's really not easy to do. Actually, i'm going to open a thread about that (maybe it will be useful to someone else too). I was thinking the same thing. That is a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glens Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 See? I didn't even get a chance! I'm pretty sure there should be a coil in series then a capacitor in parallel with the feed to the woofer. And they're both missing... What I needed to check (still do) is if there's more. Another thing that would be important at this point is to double-check EVERYTHING ELSE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff. Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 Alessio, I have had 3 pairs of LaScalas over the years, still have my LSI Splits but now with AA crossovers and CT-120’s instead of the AL and K-77’s. I ALWAYS give my speakers the once-over when I get them home and I have never had to replace the rubber seal on the doghouse. I have “self-adhesive closed cell foam” on hand should the occasion arise though. Crack ‘em open and see what’s in there! The LSI Splits I found were from different years, but look identical. The ‘86 and ‘89 versions of the AL crossover were different though. Here is the funny thing, I have had the AL, AL3 and now A/4500 and AA versions. Honestly, the AL is not nearly as bad sounding as I had expected, but being two different iterations in the pair I had, my OCD would not let me enjoy them as such so I tried the AA and A/4500 when “the price was right”. The A/4500 surprised me at higher volumes, in a good way, for a simple (gentle slope) crossover. The AL3 pair I had was so impressive I never even tried the A/4500 crossover in them... Here are the two AL crossovers that came out of my LSI’s. This picture is from my archives, lol, but I can dig them out of the basement tomorrow if you need more details. One on the left is an ‘86, the right is an ‘89. Yours are definitely missing some parts/modded. No idea what is going on there... two coils and a capacitor gone. Shame you’re “across the pond” or you could have my old ones for the cost of shipping, which would likely be ridiculously pricey. Even cross-border (USA - Canada) costs a couple hours work now. And these babies are heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 28, 2019 Author Share Posted May 28, 2019 17 hours ago, geoff. said: Shame you’re “across the pond” or you could have my old ones for the cost of shipping, which would likely be ridiculously pricey. Even cross-border (USA - Canada) costs a couple hours work now. And these babies are heavy. 1 Thanks a lot for your offer, Geoff! Really appreciated. In the meantime, i solved the mystery, so to say. I managed to open the bass bin and there's nothing apart from the woofer. Which is in perfect conditions, btw. So no customization to enable bi-wiring. The (so very honest) guy who sold me the speakers just took those pieces away. God only knows to what purpose. Anyway, that's not too bad, since i was already considering to switch to the ALK crossovers. Now i just have one more reason to do it. I'd like to ask one more thing about this pair of LSI. These are the components that i found inside and would just like to be sure they're all standard LSI (and that the guy didn't mess up with those too…): Tweeter: K-77 Squawker: K-55-M (K-400 is written on the metal horn) Woofer: K-43E Crossover: AL type (at least what's left of it…) Would you confirm it's all correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 1 hour ago, Alessio said: Would you confirm it's all correct? Those are what I’d expect to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff. Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 Si ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessio Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 3 hours ago, geoff. said: Si ! Grazie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.