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La Scala Industrials ==> La Scalas Restoration/Conversion Plan?


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Hi. I picked up some well worn and very dirty La Scala industrials in need of a substantial amount of work. See pics. I'd be interested in hearing recommendations/advice on what to avoid, etc. I'd also be curious to know the best guess for the year they were made. I couldn't find a serial number anywhere and the AA crossover 

 

My plan is to first get the drivers and crossovers up to snuff. 

Tweeters: K-77-M reading 6.3ohms & 5.8ohms, they make tweeter-like sounds, so maybe they're fine?

Squawkers: K-55-V reading 10.6ohms & 10.9ohms, they make sound too, I guess that's good? The gaskets are completely toasted. I'll order new ones from Crites or someplace.

Woofer(s): K-33-E with the square magnet. One is missing for the moment at least. The one I have reads OL on my multimeter and there is no continuity. I guess that means the coil is burned out? If the previous owner doesn't find the missing driver, I'll have to get another K-33-E. Do I need to get a matching square magnet or can I just get one of the round ones? I was also thinking of just getting a brand new pair from the Speaker Exchange, though they require a serial number (which I don't have).

Crossovers: See pic.

 

After the drivers and crossovers are sorted out, I'll clean them up and put them in my living room in all their banged up glory and see if me n' my spouse like the way they look in our living room (not likely). Mostly likely:  I'll pull the handles out, replace the holes with plywood & Bondo, Bondo all the worn off edges, replace the bases with baltic birch plywood and replace that tape that seals the opening to the doghouse (what is that spongy tape anyway?). Then I'll sand them down and veneer them in walnut, cherry or something else. 

 

Then me n' the spouse will decide if we keep them or the Cornwalls I have now and we'll sell the ones we don't keep. 

 

Thoughts? Warnings? Etc? Thanks!

 

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Doubt those are really "industrial" LS. Just regular LS that someone added handles to.

If Industrial, they would have the K43 not K33 woofer.

Lots to build on there. I did a pair very similar a few years ago. Sound great now. Every bit as "rough" as yours.

There is a serial # stamped into the wood on the rear. Part of it can be seen in one of your photos, just below the cross over.

Good luck with these. You'll get plenty more advice, I'm sure.

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Fun score!

 

K-33s come up often and pretty reasonable on the Bay.

 

If you need two new woofers though I would suggest Kappa 15Cs, if they are in stock anywhere. They are not the bargain they once were, but they will “supercharge” the bass and play off nicely to the squawker. They are very similar in performance to the K-43 woofer that came in subsequent LSI iterations. Surprised yours didn’t have K-43s?

 

Get them playing first and see where you want to go from there.

 

As for finish, someone on here did theirs in piano black lacquer and it impressed the heck out of me. Above my paygrade but beautiful. Veneer would be sweet too.

 

I have two pairs of LSI Splits that I have modded. One pair has A/4500 crossovers and DE-120 tweeters on SMAHL lenses, the other has homemade ALK Universal crossovers 6db down on the squawker. I think I prefer the A/4500 combo... With a few relatively inexpensive 2 and  6.8 uF capacitors and a switch of taps on the autoformer your AA crossover will shine.

 

 

 

 

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59 minutes ago, MookieStl said:

There is a serial # stamped into the wood on the rear. Part of it can be seen in one of your photos, just below the cross over.

Oh yeah, very faint. "W" indicates 1981. I was guessing early 80s from the look of the caps on the crossover.

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I'm pulling the compression drivers apart to visually inspect them. See pics. I guess they're okay? I'm assuming they're originals. Not sure if they need new diaphragms or not. 10.6 & 10.9 ohms is reasonable? Anyhoo, see the pics below. There's some felt looking stuff in the middle of the magnet section. Is that supposed to be there or is it garbage?

 

Thanks!

Aaron

 

 

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18 hours ago, aaronhirsch said:

Hi. I picked up some well worn and very dirty La Scala industrials in need of a substantial amount of work. See pics. I'd be interested in hearing recommendations/advice on what to avoid, etc. I'd also be curious to know the best guess for the year they were made. I couldn't find a serial number anywhere and the AA crossover 

 

My plan is to first get the drivers and crossovers up to snuff. 

Tweeters: K-77-M reading 6.3ohms & 5.8ohms, they make tweeter-like sounds, so maybe they're fine?

Squawkers: K-55-V reading 10.6ohms & 10.9ohms, they make sound too, I guess that's good? The gaskets are completely toasted. I'll order new ones from Crites or someplace.

Woofer(s): K-33-E with the square magnet. One is missing for the moment at least. The one I have reads OL on my multimeter and there is no continuity. I guess that means the coil is burned out? If the previous owner doesn't find the missing driver, I'll have to get another K-33-E. Do I need to get a matching square magnet or can I just get one of the round ones? I was also thinking of just getting a brand new pair from the Speaker Exchange, though they require a serial number (which I don't have).

Crossovers: See pic.

 

After the drivers and crossovers are sorted out, I'll clean them up and put them in my living room in all their banged up glory and see if me n' my spouse like the way they look in our living room (not likely). Mostly likely:  I'll pull the handles out, replace the holes with plywood & Bondo, Bondo all the worn off edges, replace the bases with baltic birch plywood and replace that tape that seals the opening to the doghouse (what is that spongy tape anyway?). Then I'll sand them down and veneer them in walnut, cherry or something else. 

 

Then me n' the spouse will decide if we keep them or the Cornwalls I have now and we'll sell the ones we don't keep. 

 

Thoughts? Warnings? Etc? Thanks!

 

67443698689__63848377-95B4-4BE4-85E5-E82FB99CC332.JPG

IMG_9026.JPG

IMG_9024.JPG

IMG_9030.JPG

IMG_9029.JPG

IMG_9031.JPG

67433530662__2FDE25F9-B2C2-44C8-83BF-198CDCDB7A86.JPG

Those must be the siblings of the set I purchased in 2014. I lucked out and bought them for $800. 

 

I still need to refurbish them cosmetically, but they sound great!

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I went industrial look for mine, not pretty. I already had Belles for that. These are knock around, use in my shop or outdoors.

Still going strong 6+ years later. Added a recapped AA xover and more recently Dave A's fabulous SMAHL 120 tweeters.

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Well, any updates? I (like many others here) enjoy a good "saving Klipsch Heritage" thread!

Don't be fooled by an ohm meter. That is just one way to see if it is working or not. No guarantee that it is working properly.

I had a pair of k55V (solder lug) in my LSi splits that tested fine, sounded, not so fine. I swapped them out and the speakers came back to life. I eventually replaced the diaphragms in them and tried them in a pair of Super Heresy that I was building and they sound absolutely wonderful again.

Have fun with these speakers, they are worth the effort.

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Slow progress here. I have to collect all the speaker components. I shined up the crossovers and wiped off all the tobacco smoke with some TSP on the wood and 91% isopropyl alcohol on the electronics and horns. The other woofer is lost, so I'll just buy a pair of brand new K-33-E round magnets and sell the square magnet one for someone else to refurb. There's some felt looking stuff inside the magnet sections of the squawker horns, which I'm assuming is supposed to be there (let me know if it's not) and I need to get both gaskets for it. Speaker Exchange doesn't have the gaskets, so I might try Crites or someplace else.

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