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La Scala Woes


Desert Noises

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14 hours ago, mikebse2a3 said:

 

When you compare do you swap the locations of the speakers with each other…?

 

 

I have La Scala AL5 and unfortunately a square room that creates a situation that sounds very similar  to what you have described. Moving the loudspeakers and listener location to minimize room mode issues is absolutely critical and just a few inches of adjustments can have dramatic improvements.

 

 

 

I have not actually swapped the Cornwalls with the La Scalas. The Cornwalls are in the basement and I am waiting for some ambition to bring them up and try them in my main living room. I corrected the harsh "beaming" mid horns by attenuating them by -3dB. That made a big difference and they sound balanced now. As for the boxy, nasal, stuffy bass, I somewhat eliminated it by toeing in the LS 45 deg as an experiment. That cancels a lot of it out but I still notice it. I'll leave them positioned that way. Before toeing them in, I moved from my sofa along my back wall and sat in the center of the room (about 10' in front of the LS). By doing that, the soundstage opened up and the LS sounded more natural with 3D and depth. With the 45 deg toe-in I get the same effect sitting on my sofa, even though my horns point to and intersect at the center of the room, which is 10' in front of my sofa.

 

The jury's still out, but my LS sound a lot better and are still great speakers. Maybe I just don't prefer short horn bass? I can say for sure that, at this point, I would choose Cornwall bass all day, any day. It's so clean and refined, with depth, and is not in your face. I still have to bring my Cornwalls upstairs to audition in order to prove or deny that assessment.

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22 hours ago, mboxler said:

 

It's actually two 50uf capacitors paralleled for a total of 100uf 🙂

 

YES! Thank you for the correction.

 

Klipsch went from two 68uf in the AK-2 to two 50uf capacitors in the AK-3. 

 

From what I gathered in the discussion it would benefit the La Scala as well?

 

 

067FF10D-BE97-4F4B-870E-9792CE42AD39.png

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47 minutes ago, geoff. said:

 

YES! Thank you for the correction.

 

Klipsch went from two 68uf in the AL-2 to two 50uf capacitors in the AL-3. 

 

From what I gathered in the discussion it would benefit the La Scala as well?

 

 

067FF10D-BE97-4F4B-870E-9792CE42AD39.png

 

I believe the AL-2 and AL-3 are identical, except a poly switch was added to the AL-3.

 

Are you referring to the AL-4 perhaps?

 

Mike

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22 hours ago, sootshe said:

“but that boxy “stuffy nose” bass sound was still there, obnoxious as ever.”

 

I think part of what you’re hearing is purely the sound of horn loaded bass from a LS.

Dont expect LS bass to sound warm or full. They have what I would call a “lean” bass sound. Snappy, forcefull, powerful.....sure, but they will never have the same bass tonality as a bass reflex or sealed box system. Not even the same as a K horn.

Even when you tame the side wall resonance & try anything else you like, you can’t change the basic sound signature of the cabinet design.

 

Just my 2 cents worth after spending time with Klipsch heritage & other famous vintage brands that shall remain nameless on this forum.

 

 

 

I think you are spot on. I’m finding that the La Scala takes a little work to sound right, such as placement and playing with toe-in. They may may not be the best speakers for many rooms. For sure, pulling the mids down by -3dB made a big difference and solved the shoutiness issue. The thing that reduced that stuffy sound at my listening position was toeing them in 45 degrees. Having all that bass energy focused directly at me through the mouth of the bass horn may have been a little much. I also installed an 80uF capacitor across the woofer terminals (parallel), and that seems to help cut some of it out. I’m still listening and evaluating. One thing worth mentioning is that these La Scalas are absolutely magical with classical music. 

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4 hours ago, Deang said:

Some people say to fire them in front of you, like in a crisscross fashion. I always preferred them pointed straight at me, to reduce sidewall reflections.

 

Dean, I agree with you about wanting to reduce sidewall reflections, but do you find that the sweet spot is kind of narrow when the La Scalas are toed in a lot?  My LS2s are about 11-1/2 feet (3.5 m) apart and about 12 feet (3.66 m) from my head when the sofa is reclined.  I've reduced the toe-in from about 35-40 degrees to about 20 degrees, but the sweet spot is still only about a foot wide.

 

Do you have any tips or suggestions to make the optimum listening area a bit wider?

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My LS sound nothing related to “boxy, nasal”,etc. etc. Might it have to do with excessive volume where the room is overloaded or under damped?
My Jubes and LS are positioned about 18 feet apart on centers, in a room about 26 feet back to front, I sit roughly in the middle of the room. Jubes are angled to cross at the back of the room and when the LS are brought in they are set directly in front of the Jubes, exact same crossing angle. Imaging is beyond reproach, no one would be able to say there is not a third speaker in the center (ghost speaker). Maybe I’m lucky with my setup or my hearing not as critical as others but the LS are every bit as enjoyable as Jubilees. The same presentation no, as enjoyable, yes.

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9 minutes ago, Crankysoldermeister said:

I should start doing everything with a propane torch.

I had a little propane soldering kit I used for years, just ran across it looking for something else. Sometimes electricity is not available and it's needed for sensitive work.

 

It's Butane, my apologies. Haven't used it in years.😀

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