LaScala pro: Nom I've got them !!!!

[Shock-Late]

This time it's real!!!

I'VE GOT MY PRO LA SCALAS AT HOME!!!!!! :-)))

The guy brought them yesterday evening....

Here are my impressions.

First, the look:

They're HUGE! They are actually 2 or 3 inches taller than the "domestic" version.

They're UGLY too: they were initially raw birch but the guy who used them for 15 years painted them in a pale gray. You know, the same gray as the metal cast doors in your college, when you were 16...

The edges of the enclosure have been rounded off (not bad, and well done; should look great in black...)

The worse thing: he fitted two PIEZO TWEETERS along with the Klipsch tweeter (he had a switch to make them ON or OFF depending on the situation: sono or hi-fi). Of course I disconnected them !!!! but they're still on the face, and I'll have to close the holes when I'll take them out...

He also fitted an horizontal strenghtening in the mouth of the bass horn (between walls and triangular enclosure...It helps eliminating vibrations, but it's ugly.

OK OK they're not collectable items anymore...but remember i got them for cheap.

I'll put a pict in the topics in a few.

Now the parts: AA x-overs (one has been repaired, but you couldn't hear it so I suppose it has been well made). K55V mid drivers. K400 cast metal horns. And...K77 tweeters with ALNICO MAGNETS!!! They're very old, i didn't expect to find some in there. They've been added later, since there's a price sticker on one of them. They're in perfect condition.

The strangest things, however, are the woofers. They're not Klipsch K33, they're not Klipsch at all. They're splendid (way more beautiful than K33) TESLA (anybody knows???) woofers with alnico magnets, vented gap and 4" voice coil. They're absolutely like new, but they surely are not since i think only TAD still makes Alnico magnets. They're rated at 150W RMS.

I don't know if these woofers were fitted by Klipsch or by a previous owner. Anybody knows about Klipsch using "alien" woofers???

And now the sound: to die for, exept in the bass. No bass at all with my amp and in my room (wich is, i know, particularly bad for bass frequencies. NEVER been able to get good bass in this room...).So maybe it is because of the "foreign" woofers? Mid bass and mids are superb. And treble is absolutely splendid; they seem less harsh than the non-alnico version I've been using for a while in my false-klipschorns. May be a cheap way of upgrading LaScalas: find alnico tweeters!

OK I'm stopping here. I talk a lot too much!!

Any reactions are of course welcome! ;-)

Frans (Shock-Late)

[wife-said-no]

Can't wait to see the pics. Hury up and get them on here. Of course a pic for each and every component would be nice.

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

Come on honey why can't I spend some more money?

[Shock-Late]

Huhh....you're telling me I"ll have to re-open them to pict the woofer?

OK but first you'll get the EXTERNAL picts ;-)

[Ray Garrison]

What do you mean by "no bass"? If you mean the bass rolls off at the mid 50s or so, then that's normal - the geometry and size of the horn determine the bass rolloff characteristics. The La Scalas and Belles do not have the last two octaves of bass.

I have 1974 domestic La Scalas, and use an REL Storm sub.

Ray

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

Music is art

Audio is engineering

[Shock-Late]

In fact there's bass you could hear, but you cannot "feel" the bass (except at levels definitively bad for my hearing...) And the sound with some beat-driven music is pretty more "toc toc" than "thump thump".(With Jazz or classical, sound is crystal-clear but the short bass is less annoying and the sound is fabulous. Never heard piano solos sounding so "real".) That said, my ground is made from suspended wood, not very rigid, and I don't even have good solid walls to help make the bass a little stronger.

My CD player also has very "rapid" bass, I use flatline interconnects which also have quite an upfront and bass-light sound, and my amp is more delicate sounding than walls-breaking.

Now if I could add a little more by replacing the woofers with K33, maybe I would do it, but I really like the TESLA woofers...they look like TAD!!! And K33 are difficult to find here, and new from Klipsch they ask you $1000 for a set. That's three times the money i had to find to buy the Scalas!!!

Maybe the best bet would be an external sub; as I have some room, I might try to find a nice 18inch driver.

Frans

[JohnA]

I have 2 1981 La Scalas and 2 1987 La Scalas. They have K-33 woofers and the bass is not shy, but not deep. K-33-Es are $100 each here, surely your import duties are not that high. The K-33 was made by Eminence, http://www.eminence-speaker.com/Pages/Home/HomeF.html and you can still buy them from them under part number 15-3309, model number 1520F5637. Send them an E-mail and ask for help from Ray Wagner. In a La Scala, the Klipsch K-43 ($250 each here) offers more power handling, +3 dB more bass and was the factory woofer in your speakers. A K-43 will not go deeper than a K-33. It is a cast frame woofer capable of absorbing 400 watts(like you could survive THAT). Maybe Mr. Wagner can help you with a pair of those or equals. Finally, La Scalas usually need to be placed in a corner to have the bass most people expect.

You need to wrap that K-400 metal horn in Dynamat or a soft putty that doesn't harden to damp out unwanted resonances. It is a noticable improvement.

I've seen a few pair of one piece La Scalas in black and they look GREAT! Yours were originally black, unless special-ordered.

John

[Shock-Late]

Thanks for your help John! ;-)

Here K33E woofers cost 36000 FB /set. It was two years ago; I think in the 1998 US$ it made a little more than $1000 /set. Five times more expensive than in the US. And it is the same with complete loudspeakers and with every other pieces. That's why you don't meet a lot of Klipsch owners in Belgium.

However, I think I'll try to hear a factory set of scalas before replacing my woofers.

I plan to build a 18" sub, anyway.

Frans