Progress report on my La Scalas

[Racer X]

Well as long as she did not give you the finger indicating you're number 1....

[Coytee]

I got your back bro.....  now you know who to reach out to for spousal advice when you bring your first pair of Jubilee's home....

 

Full disclosure:  Said spousal advice might be to seek a competent divorce attorney.....

[HPower]

Hey Dave,

 

I can echo what everybody else have said, outstanding job on your Scalas and THTLP subs!

 

Personally doing this restoration should give a high level of pride of ownership, which will make your system sound even better. 😎

 

Way to show that Canuck power. 👏👏

[Islander]

On 8/26/2022 at 8:10 PM, Dave MacKay said:

I'm still ROTFLMAO 😄

 

My wife has been wanting to hire a decorator to choose new paint colours because the current colours (i.e., my choices) are hopelessly old and dated. With glee, I showed her this post. She just shook her head. I'm not sure, but in my mind I think this means I'm +1.

 

You may hear occasional references to Smurf Scalas.  Yes, somebody once did paint a pair of La Scalas Smurf Blue, and there have been lots of other surprising ideas as well.  I recall seeing a pair of mirror-covered Scalas, which looked pretty good in their way.  I don’t know whether that would make them seem more obtrusive in the room, or maybe a bit harder to see instead.  The lighting would probably make all the difference in that case.

 

Dave, your blonde La Scalas look great (yes, that’s what many Birch Raw speakers get called; people love the look.  There’s even a blonde MCM around!), and nobody would suggest making them any other colour, but the black ones, which are in the majority, don’t get that respect, so some owners feel no inhibitions about expressing their creativity on their speakers.

 

Hmm, this is making me wonder if I should paint my Birch Black Surround Scalas with Vanta Black, so they’d really look invisible behind the sofa.  Or maybe those big black Black Holes would have irresistible visual gravity, pulling your eyes inexorably toward them, making them even more noticeable.  La Scalas are fun to think about as well as listen to!

[chassell]

On 8/25/2022 at 8:03 AM, MookieStl said:

 

 

 

Monty, I'll take Door #7.

[MookieStl]

11 hours ago, chassell said:

 

Monty, I'll take Door #7.

That door seems to rattle at times. Not sure why!

[codewritinfool]

On 8/25/2022 at 8:03 AM, MookieStl said:

That looks great Dave. Beautiful room that I am sure sounds as good as it looks. Keep up the good work! I think it still might need a little more cow bell. You should be able to fit another set of LS in that room. the furniture may have to go but.......... It's a fun ride, but you have to know when to get off. Some never figure it out!

 

Hey, that's a nice looking THTLP laying down on the left there.

 

[Dave MacKay]

22 hours ago, Islander said:

Dave, your blonde La Scalas look great (yes, that’s what many Birch Raw speakers get called

 

Interestingly, that's what mine had been dubbed before I refinished them.

 

When a neighbour was helping me move them around, he dubbed the Raw Birch La Scalas "the blondes" on account of their colour and of how much attention I was paying to them. 😄

 

Before I settled on veneering them in Sapele, I considered both Birch and Anigre veneers so that the speakers could retain their nickname. However, I wasn't keen on the grain of the birch veneer and the Anigre veneer that my supplier had wasn't very appealing so that I ended up going with the Sapele.

[MookieStl]

On 8/30/2022 at 5:42 PM, codewritinfool said:

Hey, that's a nice looking THTLP laying down on the left there.

 

Recognize it?

That's how I knew Dave's setup would sound so nice. Your THTLP worked great with my 4 LS! I can only imagine two subs and two LS.

[bsacco1]

Hey Dave, 

 

Eh, nice job on those speakers, you hoser;) lol;)

 

That's was for all you lurking SCTV Canadian fans out there...Long live John Candy...

 

Here's what I like about your job.  Blacking out the bass bin is a personal decision and quite frankly a gatekeeping function since veneering would require quite a bit of skill. Personally I like the lines of the bass bin and plan to use a light-colored oil rub of some sort (still seeking suggestions) on these speakers. I'm leaning toward keeping these speaker light in color to blend with our off-white walls. 

 

My question is how much better does it sound than stock? You decided to add a subwoofer. It that because the stock or Bob Crites x-overs did not provide enough bass? If I remember correctly these speakers' stock only go done to 50htz?

 

Does the front mounting of the squawker really make a difference? Is it just a process of widening the hole?

 

[Dave MacKay]

1 hour ago, bsacco1 said:

Eh, nice job on those speakers, you hoser;) lol;)

 

That's was for all you lurking SCTV Canadian fans out there...Long live John Candy...

 

Here's what I like about your job.  Blacking out the bass bin is a personal decision and quite frankly a gatekeeping function since veneering would require quite a bit of skill. Personally I like the lines of the bass bin and plan to use a light-colored oil rub of some sort (still seeking suggestions) on these speakers. I'm leaning toward keeping these speaker light in color to blend with our off-white walls. 

 

My question is how much better does it sound than stock? You decided to add a subwoofer. It that because the stock or Bob Crites x-overs did not provide enough bass? If I remember correctly these speakers' stock only go done to 50htz?

 

Does the front mounting of the squawker really make a difference? Is it just a process of widening the hole?

 

Thanks.

 

At first, I wanted to keep my speakers light coloured. I even considered veneering them in birch to retain that look. After making a few tests using different veneers, I ended up going with Sapele.

 

I veneered the speakers myself. I didn’t think I had the skill to veneer the bass bin (doghouse) so that painting them black was the best way forward that I could think of.

 

I used Rubio Monocoat "Pure" to finish the speakers and subs. The “pure” (i.e., no pigments) finish might be worth considering for your speakers. I looked at Danish Oil, tung oil, wipe-on poly, etc. but — to my mind — they imparted a yellowish colour.

 

To be frank, I was underwhelmed with how the La Scalas sounded stock. I ended up trying 5 networks (Klipsch AL, C***** AA, C***** A/4500, A** Universal A, and A** A/4500). Of those, the AA measured best but I preferred the sound of the Universal A. Even so, I still found the speaker wasn’t living up to my hopes. I ended up tri-amping the speakers using a MiniDSP Flex Eight DL instead of a passive network. That brought them to life! I documented that whole endeavour in a lengthy thread on Audiokarma’s “Klipsch Korner”.

 

In my opinion, "going active" was transformative for the speakers such that -- again, in my opinion -- they sound far better than stock. The subwoofers made a big difference too.

 

You’re right, the La Scala peters out of low end around 50 Hz.

 

I added a subwoofer — then a second sub — because I wanted more low end than the La Scala could produce. I needed two subs in order to address some of the deficiencies of my listening room. The subs were a great addition. Highly recommended.

 

I didn’t make any changes to how the squawker was mounted. It’s mounted to the back of the front baffle.

[bsacco1]

Dave-

I took a look at your tri-amping posts....Wow, that kinda blew my mind. Wait, not kinda, nah, it blew my mind. 

 

That is enough research to start your own company producing a line of your own speakers.

 

Myself, I'm defaulting to adding Solid State amplification to my low end by finding some self-powered SVS subwoofers and call it a day since the rest of the amplification is done via my Decware tube amp. I figure the tube amplification to the Klipsch LaScala woofer dies out at 50htz and will be lost and unheard when the SS subs are employed. 

 

Call me lazy but it is a LOT easier and exponentially cheaper. I guess if you wanted to "improve this specific setup" you could buy brand-new drivers for the squawker and mid-horn from Crites? I'm open to suggestions here. I'm just ignorant on where the line is for diminishing returns. That is, just how much better will the squawker and mid-horn sound with new drivers?

 

At the moment my biggest challenge is to find the right finish for the birch plywood that doesn't blotch or darken the wood too much. Also, I'm considering building a speaker grill to cover the squawker and mid horn but can't seem to find the right kind of birch moulding that is flat (not half-round) for the frame. 

 

I'm searching for iron-on birch banding with adhesive back to cover all the front-facing 7-ply birch plywood to give it a solid wood look.

 

-b

[Dave MacKay]

59 minutes ago, bsacco1 said:

Dave-

I took a look at your tri-amping posts....Wow, that kinda blew my mind. Wait, not kinda, nah, it blew my mind. 

 

That is enough research to start your own company producing a line of your own speakers.

 

Myself, I'm defaulting to adding Solid State amplification to my low end by finding some self-powered SVS subwoofers and call it a day since the rest of the amplification is done via my Decware tube amp. I figure the tube amplification to the Klipsch LaScala woofer dies out at 50htz and will be lost and unheard when the SS subs are employed. 

 

Thanks for your kind words. It was quite the learning experience.

 

Before I built the THTLP subwoofers I went through two other subwoofers. One was a low-end Klipsch subwoofer that I got at Best Buy. It was not good. I bought an SVS SB1000 Pro subwoofer and really liked it (even though SVS recommended their larger 3000-series subwoofer as a better pair for La Scalas). I expect you'll be quite satisfied with an SVS subwoofer. 

 

Some folks on AudioKarma spoke very positively about the THTLP, so I decided that, rather than buy another SVS subwoofer, I'd try the THTLP. Building (but not veneering) a THTLP cost about the same as buying an SVS SB1000 Pro.

 

With respect to the La Scala low-end running out at 50 Hz ... that's correct. Also, the La Scala bass bin stops acting as a horn for frequencies below about 104 Hz. However, you'll likely find that the acoustics of your listening room are dominant at those frequencies. You'll be able to experiment with a range of crossover frequencies on the subwoofer.

 

59 minutes ago, bsacco1 said:

Call me lazy but it is a LOT easier and exponentially cheaper. I guess if you wanted to "improve this specific setup" you could buy brand-new drivers for the squawker and mid-horn from Crites? I'm open to suggestions here. I'm just ignorant on where the line is for diminishing returns. That is, just how much better will the squawker and mid-horn sound with new drivers?

 

The management of this forum frowns upon discussions of modifications to Klipsch products and of other vendors. To participate in a discussion about that, I'd encourage you to go to the "Klipsch Korner" on Audiokarma.

 

59 minutes ago, bsacco1 said:

At the moment my biggest challenge is to find the right finish for the birch plywood that doesn't blotch or darken the wood too much. Also, I'm considering building a speaker grill to cover the squawker and mid horn but can't seem to find the right kind of birch moulding that is flat (not half-round) for the frame. 

 

I'm searching for iron-on birch banding with adhesive back to cover all the front-facing 7-ply birch plywood to give it a solid wood look.

 

Originally, I had wanted to keep my La Scalas looking as they were when I bought them: Birch, Raw. Heck, a neighbour even nicknamed them "the blondes" on account of their colour and the attention I was lavishing on them. I bought a sheet of birch veneer and tried a number of different finishes (with and without wood conditioner) but didn't find anything that I thought was attractive enough. That led me to consider both painting the speakers (which I rejected) and using other veneers (e.g., walnut, cherry, sapele, others).  

 

My speakers didn't have a grill to cover the squawker (mid-range) and tweeter. Because I was happy with the look of the exposed horns, I just sanded the horns and gave them a fresh coat of spray paint. 

 

If you have a tablesaw (or have a friend with one), you could easily mill suitable moulding for the frame. Or you cut make the grill frame out of fibreboard and cover the edges with the grill cloth. If you search this forum you'll find photos of a number of La Scalas, with and without grills. 

 

I expect you'll be able to find birch iron-on edge banding in widths >- 3/4". (I found some listed on Amazon and at Home Depot). However, if you can't, you could use maple instead. The difference between maple and birch would barely be noticeable.

 

Good luck.