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Heritage HT question/Advice


Smitty8451

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Hello All

 

Currently I have the following setup for my Home Theater and would like some advice:

 

Front Left/Right - la Scala al5

Center - RC-64 III

Surround - RS-62 II

Rear Surround - RS-52 II

Front Height - RB-61 II

Subs - 2 Rythmik Audio 15” Subs

 

During this pandemic my job was not affected so I was able to Save a bit of cash and am contemplating doing the following;


Option 1:  get a third la Scala for the center and two fortee IV’s for surrounds, and remove front presence and surround back speakers (5.2)

Option 2: get a third la Scala for the center, keep all else (9.2)

Option 3:  get a Cornwall IV for the center, 2 fortee iv’s for surround and relegate RS-62’s for rear surround, remove front height (7.2)

‘Option 4:  same as option 1 but keep front presence and move RS-62 to rear surround duty (9.2)

 

My audio knowledge gleaned from 40+ years of experience has me leaning towards a full heritage lineup for timbre, but I’m not sure how the Fortee or Cornwall in option 3 would fit in with the Scala speakers.  I do know with my current setup that the Reference line does struggle to keep up with the Scala s, yes even the big ol RC-64 Iii, which is leading me to this question along with the mismatched timbre.

 

This is all being driven by the following;

 

Yamaha CX-5200 Preamp

Ati AT 2007 amp

Ati AT 2004 amp

Oppo UDP-205

 

Room size is approximately 26’ wide by 23’ deep 9’ ceiling

 

Stereo listening is done with other gear utilizing the la scalas

 

Any advice/Experiences is greatly appreciated

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I would vote for #2, 3 of the same across the front is important.

 

Leave the rest unless there is a bad change in sound from front to back.

 

It seems there are no bad choices

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2 hours ago, Smitty8451 said:

Currently I have the following setup for my Home Theater and would like some advice:

 

Front Left/Right - la Scala al5

Center - RC-64 III

Surround - RS-62 II

Rear Surround - RS-52 II

Front Height - RB-61 II

Subs - 2 Rythmik Audio 15” Subs

Option 2: get a third la Scala for the center, keep all else (9.2)

 

Bill

 

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I'd vote for #2  third La Scala for the center.  When PWK introduced 3 channel stereo from 2 channel sources ( 1958, crediting Snow, 1934 for the first experiments) --- "Wide Stage Stereo" --  he initially thought it was O.K. to have the center channel be a direct radiator, like the Heresy or the Cornwall, with flanking Klipschorns.  Later he changed his opinion a bit (real scientists do that) to recommend that the center channel be fully horn loaded (a La Scala or a Belle Klipsch), because the amount of modulation distortion perceived  tended to be that of the "worst" speaker, even if it was an excellent one.    Direct radiators have more of this type of distortion than fully horn loaded speakers (with the bass, too, horn loaded).  He revealed that the Cornwall, as good as it is, has 3 times the total modulation distortion as the Klipschorn, and that at a lower SPL. 

 

In our home theater, we have Klipschorns front left and right, with a slightly modified Belle Klipsch center (fully horn loaded, and after our mod with the same midrange horn as in the Khorn and La Scala, sunk in the wall, a bump out on the other side of the wall to accommodate the extra depth), making the Belle very similar to the La Scala.  With good Blu-ray sound (maybe 90% of the disks), it sounds fantastic!  We use the same system for critical music listening, and for almost all SACDs, DVD-As, and most CDs, it is marvelous!

 

Edited by garyrc
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I would get the La Scala centre speaker, get it integrated into your system, and then listen, for weeks or more, and then decide if you find any timbre mismatches severe enough to make replacing some of your other speakers necessary or beneficial.

 

Rather than relying on theoretical considerations, let your own ears decide.

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5 hours ago, Smitty8451 said:

would be a good setup timbre wise

Kind of hard to say, someone with that combination would have a better idea ?

 

I use all Forte lll's and Forte ll's, the front 3 are the most important. Like said above get the front 3 the same and listen for yourself with the rest, so much more comes from the front 3 you may not hear a problem. The rest of your speakers are fine as far as keeping up and you may not hear a timbre problem, get them all balanced and go from there. When you really hear a difference if when some of the spearkers are having a hard time keeping up and sound like there struggling, that's really obvious and will never match well. 

 

.

 

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if you find a pair of la Scalas that the owner doesn't want to split up, I might take the second off your hands. I know there is a pair of 70th's available for 5k... 2.5k for each LSii

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

currently I am using cornwall and heresy for my center and rears... Not ideal, but works good... specially for 5.1 music.

 

 

 

I also wanted to let you know (perhaps you already know) that you can EQ out a lot of the Timbre differences you hear between your reference speakers and your heritage speakers.

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6 hours ago, Schu said:

if you find a pair of la Scalas that the owner doesn't want to split up, I might take the second off your hands. I know there is a pair of 70th's available for 5k... 2.5k for each LSii

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

currently I am using cornwall and heresy for my center and rears... Not ideal, but works good... specially for 5.1 music.

 

50943564648_0021cca0a7_k.jpg

 

I also wanted to let you know (perhaps you already know) that you can EQ out a lot of the Timbre differences you hear between your reference speakers and your heritage speakers.

Wow what a room! Do you have any subs? Any need for them?

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On 5/31/2021 at 6:31 PM, CoryGillmore said:

 Do you have any subs? Any need for them?

Yes... I PERSONALLY need a sub, though it is not necessary with my set up.

I am running an old single 15" and tune it to roll off VERY low so it does not interfere and bloom the wonderful la scala bass bin.

 

 

normally my space is full of furniture, but I happened to be moving stuff around when I took this photo... yes, crossed BEHIND main LP as long as you are OFF THE BACK WALL>

 

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I had a Heresy for a center with my La Scala’s and it did ok, until put a third La Scala up there, the difference was crazy….. My L&R La Scala’s we’re AA and the center was AL, had to match the cross overs, it sounded wrong until I did. Good Luck on finding one.

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Thanks for all the replies folks, bit the bullet and have 1 la Scala AL5 on the way with 4-6 weeks estimated delivery.  Might sound nuts but also got the Fortee IV’s on the way to us as surrounds.  I’m thinking this is probably now my speaker end game and could not be more pleased.  😁😁😁

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On 6/8/2021 at 9:48 PM, Smitty8451 said:

Thanks for all the replies folks, bit the bullet and have 1 la Scala AL5 on the way with 4-6 weeks estimated delivery.  Might sound nuts but also got the Fortee IV’s on the way to us as surrounds.  I’m thinking this is probably now my speaker end game and could not be more pleased.  😁😁😁

 

 

It's not nuts - it's proper. The LaScala AL5 between a pair as mains on your front soundstage IS the right way to do this, and you will enjoy the benefits of doing this the right way for as long as you own that kit. I had a pair of '68 vertical Cornwalls shipped here some years ago (these are the type you can lay on their side and have the horns then in proper orientation for a center channel) between two other Cornwalls, and it's the best speaker move I ever made for HT.

 

Lurkers observe: THE proper center channel speaker for your HT front soundstage is the IDENTICAL third main, equivalent to your most capable speakers (your mains), because in an HT the center is THE MAIN, where everything else anchors itself to, and timbre-wise IS the speaker that will "carry the day". The game is to have the most capable center channel possible that will also allow for matching "everything else". 

 

Three LaScala across your front soundstage? In that room? That's pretty much upgrade-proof WRT the three mains. I'm not familiar with the Rhythmic sub kits, but they better be robust as keeping up with the LaScala has people buying into some really extraordinary sub setups. Danleys and SVS and JBL Pro, Oh my! But I gotta say, congrats on getting that center channel chosen properly, because in a good HT that is HUGE to get this right and is a most significant upgrade and change to your system.

 

I also gotta say that it's a pleasure to watch people building HTs out of new Heritage. Back some 15-20 years ago, we were bypassing Ref series speakers and buying up used and refurbing those speakers to make our own "Heritage HT". People thought we were nuts, probably even the people at Klipsch, buying five/seven Cornwalls and ringing those bad boys around the room, all the while people looking at us going "isn't that what the Refs are for"? Well maybe so, but when you grew up on the sound of Heritage Klipsch and weren't gonna take "NO" for an answer, we were building stuff like my "Cornwall Theater", all Cornwalls for everything but subs and nine fifteen inch woofers pressurizing the room in a way that assures any unsuspecting guest that "This isn't normal, and that's an incredible thing."

 

Nice work.

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On 6/8/2021 at 7:48 PM, Smitty8451 said:

Thanks for all the replies folks, bit the bullet and have 1 la Scala AL5 on the way with 4-6 weeks estimated delivery.  Might sound nuts but also got the Fortee IV’s on the way to us as surrounds.  I’m thinking this is probably now my speaker end game and could not be more pleased.  😁😁😁

 

Nice moves.  Once your new speakers are integrated into your system and broken in, you should have some great listening ahead of you.  Congrats in advance!  Pictures of your final setup, or even your intermediate setup, are always appreciated.  We love pictures!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I put the Fortee IV’s in place of my Rs-62 II’s and what a perfect match to my La Scalas.  I had to drop the Fortee’s volume a touch but I did configure them as full range (large) speakers and they fill in perfect, so well in fact I dropped my sub volume by 3db for a smoother base presentation.  I’ve been experimenting with 4 channel stereo and I really like the sound.  Now it’s a waiting game for the Scala center to arrive.😁😁😁

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