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New to La Scala Wow what a sound stage


JMeader

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I just got just a pair of 1978 La Scala's, which were probably a dance hall or bar sound system, well scratched and used to say the least.

 

I have never had speakers which are so easily placed in a room and still have a sound stage. Against the wall and close together and its still there. Spread them apart and bring them out from the back wall and the sound stage grows and gets deeper. 

 

question for experienced La Scala owners what is it about these speakers that make them so easily placed in a room. If there was no other reason to own these speakers this ability is worth the expense

 

Yes their style is at best Retro, they are big and made out of marine plywood, but close your eyes and just sit back and enjoy.and it just does not matter anymore.

 

 

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Welcome to La Scala La La Land......a basic answer to your question is the front firing folded bass horn, with the mid and tweeter at approximately your seating height.  IMHO, La Scala are far and away the best live sounding speakers in the entire Heritage line.  

 

Highly recommend you change out the capacitors.  If you want a very easy good quality solution, contact Bob Crites at https://critesspeakers.com/  or there are many other capacitor options out there.  You can PM me if you have any questions.  Have fun with them.

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Thank You jimjimbo

 

Yes I have already ordered all new tweeters, mid range drivers and new subs, and the A4500 crossovers.  Why Given the condition of these speakers I would expect they were driven hard for many years. Yes they still sound great right now, but the upgrades will give me a new baseline. I have also found a furniture refinisher  to put a fresh new veneer on so they will look as good as they sound. 

 

I run mine with a 20 year Velodyne 15 inch sub and the combo is magical. I am not a BIG base person but it still needs to be part of the experience.

 

The opening few moments of Dire Straits "You and Your Friend" are absolutely stunning and really demonstrate the capabilities of these speakers. It is what I play when some asks about why I have these big speakers. 30 seconds and the smile comes across their face as they hear,  feel and have that musical experience 

 

  

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33 minutes ago, JMeader said:

Thank You jimjimbo

 

Yes I have already ordered all new tweeters, mid range drivers and new subs, and the A4500 crossovers.  Why Given the condition of these speakers I would expect they were driven hard for many years. Yes they still sound great right now, but the upgrades will give me a new baseline. I have also found a furniture refinisher  to put a fresh new veneer on so they will look as good as they sound. 

 

I run mine with a 20 year Velodyne 15 inch sub and the combo is magical. I am not a BIG base person but it still needs to be part of the experience.

 

The opening few moments of Dire Straits "You and Your Friend" are absolutely stunning and really demonstrate the capabilities of these speakers. It is what I play when some asks about why I have these big speakers. 30 seconds and the smile comes across their face as they hear,  feel and have that musical experience 

 

  

Something about Dire Straits and La Scala’s. They go hand and hand. 

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43 minutes ago, nickyboy6100 said:

Something about Dire Straits and La Scala’s. They go hand and hand. 

 LS5 --- -modern XO network - 1 inch MDF  cabinet --  Celestion Tweeter with Klipsch Phase plug -----taller cabinet - design by Mr Roy Delgado  klipsch Team  @Chief bonehead

https://d2um2qdswy1tb0.cloudfront.net/product-specsheets/La-Scala-2018-Spec-Sheet-v01.pdf?mtime=20190719112631&focal=none

 

 

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1 hour ago, JMeader said:

Thank You jimjimbo

 

Yes I have already ordered all new tweeters, mid range drivers and new subs, and the A4500 crossovers.  Why Given the condition of these speakers I would expect they were driven hard for many years. Yes they still sound great right now, but the upgrades will give me a new baseline. I have also found a furniture refinisher  to put a fresh new veneer on so they will look as good as they sound. 

 

I run mine with a 20 year Velodyne 15 inch sub and the combo is magical. I am not a BIG base person but it still needs to be part of the experience.

 

The opening few moments of Dire Straits "You and Your Friend" are absolutely stunning and really demonstrate the capabilities of these speakers. It is what I play when some asks about why I have these big speakers. 30 seconds and the smile comes across their face as they hear,  feel and have that musical experience 

 

  

You like the way the la scala sounds and then you are going to change it into a totally different speaker that’s is not a la scala. Sure......Makes sense 

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I installed CT-120's, A-55-G's, new K-33's, and A4500 crossovers into my 78 La Scalas, and love the sound.  When I originally picked up some Heresy 1's, I ended up doing the same thing with it (woofer was swapped with CW1228), even though I intended on not putting money into them, but since I was refinishing them...  I think you'll like then with the parts you bought, just as much or more than the originals.

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3 hours ago, Schu said:

single exit (non bifurcated) bass bin...

Well, it is bifurcated, actually.  It just comes back together at the mouth exit--there is no mouth truncation. 

 

What I think his point may be...is that the La Scala bass bin has very good polar coverage in the midbass and lower midrange, which some people prefer over the extended bass (about 1.5 more octaves) of the Khorn whose two bifurcated mouths do not rejoin at the exit plane--which likely creates a bifurcated bass bin response below ~400 Hz (I have never actually seen the horizontal polar coverage graph of the Khorn bass bin, however.)

 

4 hours ago, JMeader said:

...what is it about these speakers that make them so easily placed in a room. If there was no other reason to own these speakers this ability is worth the expense...

I think the reason for this specific capability is:

 

1) they have full range directivity control.  Almost all other loudspeakers lose directivity control as high as 2 kHz...to others that maybe hold it together as low as 500 Hz (e.g., a Quad 15" woofer bass bin).  This is what you're hearing in the La Scala, I believe.  Controlled directivity.

 

2) The La Scalas (as well as PWK's other Heritage series loudspeakers) are all designed to go against a wall or into a room corner.  Again, the full range controlled directivity of the La Scalas, Belles and Khorns (down to below the typical room transition/Schroeder frequency--about 200 Hz for most home hi-fi listening rooms) is the real enabler for placing them near room walls.

 

2 hours ago, Chief bonehead said:

You like the way the la scala sounds and then you are going to change it into a totally different speaker that’s is not a la scala. Sure......Makes sense 

 

To the OP: if you didn't already know who this is...it's Roy Delgado (a protege of Paul Klipsch and lead Klipsch engineer), and he's asking you why you choose to change a loudspeaker that's already doing quite well by itself without change.

 

Chris

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Trust me a lot of consideration was put into leaving them alone, especially on a logical standpoint. What made me move forward on the "changes" was that I was not changing the design of the speaker but merely updating the electronics which have had the last 42 years to be improved.  When I looked at the current new La Scala's what I saw was the separation of the base bin and the tweeter box and updated electronics. BTW my wife said just by the new ones.  I choose not to do surgery but did see that their were new electronic options and choose to go that way. For me I am not expecting a dramatic change from what I have now. But it is my understanding the tweeter in the 1978 build was sub optimal and impacted the crossover of the mid range horn. By updating the tweeter, with one which could operate at a lower starting frequency, the resulting blending of the two was enhanced overall.. There was also a mid range driver upgrade available which was along the same theme. This required a new crossover/network to reap these benefits.. The new sub drivers was strictly an "Oh what the hell" choice.

 

We all have different perspectives but as long as we enjoy the music who really cares how we get there.

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2 hours ago, JMeader said:

 the tweeter in the 1978 build was sub optimal and impacted the crossover of the mid range horn. By updating the tweeter, with one which could operate at a lower starting frequency, the resulting blending of the two was enhanced overall.. There was also a mid range driver upgrade available which was along the same theme. This required a new crossover/network to reap these benefits.

1)- the tweeter in the 1978 build was sub optimal   ?

-the K77 Tweeter was used in the LS II  2020 --

 

2)- the tweeter in the 1978 build was sub optimal and impacted the crossover of the mid range horn  ? 

- False  ,  but you could purchase replacement klipsch  capacitors from @JEM Performance  

 

3)- There was also a mid range driver upgrade available which was along the same theme ?

 

-  different manufacturer -Mud magnet    the original k-55V is still used in the  2021 Lascala AL 5 and 2021 khorn AK6 - (Atlas PD5VH -Alnico magnet ) -

 

4)-. This required a new crossover/network to reap these benefits  ? 

Not needed with the Klipsch AA crossover  or the new Klipsch capacitors from @JEM Performance  -

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I Stand corrected as to my perceptions

 

Sorry if I have created stress for some that feel only "original" is the only way.

 

I totally understand and appreciate if you like it why " change it " perspective, it is just not mine.

 

Would I make changes to the current La Scala's -  Hell No

 

but I have 42 year old speakers that are visually in need of attention and based on that condition it is my perception that they were probably abused more than once in that time frame.

 

My perception was one of making these great speakers look better was a good idea, I also perceived that updating the electronics was also in order. I see that that perception is not shared, Ok I will go away and enjoy what choose to do.

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35 minutes ago, Chief bonehead said:

Your understanding is wrong. But it’s your speaker. do what you want. Just don’t call it a la scala anymore.......

It's a short-but-sweet (and direct) response. And so true...

 

The OP talks about the soundstage and the great sound...before he wants to tear it apart?

 

You can buy a classic Ferrari (F40? I know nothing about vintage automobiles) and replace the engine (you know, it's so outdated), the brakes (they have much more modern materials), the transmission (so many advances since then!), the suspension (computer designed these days!), the exhaust system, dash instruments (go digital!), etc. But would you still call it an F40?

 

Honestly, I don't get it. Just build your own box and stuff it full of the drivers and crossover that you choose. And put your name on it. 

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44 minutes ago, Chief bonehead said:

Your understanding is wrong. But it’s your speaker. do what you want. Just don’t call it a la scala anymore.......

OK, so if the drivers were still good, and he only changed the capacitors, would it still be called a LaScala?

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I was going to post along the same lines... I'm a big car guy.  I tune professionally and I have my own race car.  We constantly make it better with parts, engine swaps, brake upgrades, etc.  I am proud that we have a 1,200 hp 1995 Ford Taurus running a stock block and crank, but we have upgraded rods and pistons, modified the heads, etc, but that doesn't make it not a Ford Taurus (we get told, "it's just a Taurus" all the time). In this case, if we do shy away from this motor, it won't really be an SHO anymore, because that was really the only thing that made it an SHO, but it's still a Taurus. Same with say, a Mustang... If I swap a better built motor in it, it's still a Mustang. 

 

Much of the La Scala is in the design, no? Some of us chose to install what we think are better drivers and in the case of the tweeter, I liked the CT-120 so much more, I did it again on another set of Klipsch speakers, the Heresy... So do I call it the Heresy squared due to what I did?  There's been plenty of changes over the years to the Heritage stuff and clearly, people have favorites. Same as I prefer the older, plywood Heritage stuff to the new stuff with MDF... That's my preference. 

 

I originally just planned on doing the tweeter, but the K-55's on my La Scalas were beat up with magnets having not been treated well, so I gave the A-55-G's a try (it also didn't have the original crossovers and I don't think the tweeters that were installed were original). For the Heresy's, they had two different drivers, K-55-M and soldered K-55-V's. I preferred to swap out to new, and I considered the Atlas drivers.  That said, I could not hear a difference between the two K-55's, so I had no reason to suspect they were different before opening them up. 

 

I like the sound... A lot.  I still call them Klipsch La Scalas and an audition has turned many friends into Klipsch enthusiasts, looking for their own set. 

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