akersa Posted August 16, 2003 Share Posted August 16, 2003 I am mid way through the tech renovation of a auditorium on a college campus, and I was evaluating the sound reinforcement. Up in the cat walk there are two Klipsch la scala k447 speakers that are pointed down towards the audience, my question is this. The horns are blown in both of the speakers, is it worth buying new k-77's or replacing the diaphgram, or are these speakers worth anything. They are painted flat black, and made out of 3/4" plywood. The one thing that puzzles me is that the woofer wedge is the opposite direction from all the other lascalas that I have ever seen. With the speaker sitting on the floor the Wedge is horizontal all the others I have seen are verticle. Also the box is only closed around the woofer the top and sides by the squaker and the horn are all open. the magnets and the crossover are all visible. It looks homemade other than the fact that it has all the original badging, and paperwork glued to the box. What do I have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted August 16, 2003 Share Posted August 16, 2003 My guess is that you're looking at some very, very early LaScalla. There is an AES pre print by PWK which shows a full size LS with the wedge for the woofer housing in the orientation which you describe. Let me say that the line of the roof point of the doghouse is horizontal. In modern ones, it is vertical. Same with the Belle. BTW a pre print is a paper to be presented to the society and otherwise not published. However, the AES does archive them. The development of the LS is not entirely clear to me. There are remarks that "it" was first developed as a device to be used for the political campagn of a Rockefeller. My best understanding is that the original, first device, was The Runt. This had a short height of the mouth and probably had a 12 inch driver, or smaller. So, I'll turn this over to Trey and Jim Hunter for a definitive answer. I'm gonna guess. 1) Runt came first and as the sample in the museum shows, the peak line of the vertical direction. This may well be the only unit built. 2) This evolved to the full sized LS with a horizontal mouth ridge line which was the subject of the AES pre print. 3) The finalized LS went to the vertical mouth ridge line. 4) It seems that you're describing a lack of a box around the mid and tweeter. That would be consistent with decorator designs for the K-Horns. Anyone who knows anything should pile on. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted August 16, 2003 Share Posted August 16, 2003 Adam The K77 lasts forever, just buy the replacement diagphram. A lot cheaper and extremely easy to replace. Do some searching here. There is a nice site with step by step pics on how to replace. I have been buying my K77M replacements from "BCRITES" on this forum. I have seen the LaScalla with the horizontal horn also. They are rare and I think were a special order. The responce is identical to the vertical ones. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akersa Posted August 16, 2003 Author Share Posted August 16, 2003 Thanks for the help. Any other info on these speakers would be greatly appreciated, ie. the age. Also do you think that these are adequate to provide good coverage for a 400 seat auditorium? Thanks, Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Nah. They are no good at all! I'd replace them with new KI-362s. You'll be better able to get parts for the new stuff. A college auditorium is no place for that old Klipsch stuff. Where are they? I'll make a donation to the University and pick those old, dirty things up myself. With a little scrounging, I might be able to fix the tweeters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akersa Posted August 17, 2003 Author Share Posted August 17, 2003 They are located close to Wichita Kansas. The woofers were repl;aced in 1986 with k33e woofers. What are these lascallas worth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 $300 to $1000/pair, depending. Post pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 ---------------- On 8/17/2003 1:00:29 AM John Albright wrote: I'll make a donation to the University and pick those old, dirty things up myself. ---------------- John... you are such a generous and giving man!! I'll even let you store them at my place if you'd like... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 These are primeval La Scalas. They came with the "doghouse" sideways at first, with the hatch on the side. The dogouse was turned to the current position, with the hatch on the top, pretty early on, and sides and top were added, I presume for appearance and structural reasons, and to facilitate stacking. The hatch was moved to the bottom during the seventies, when the combination of high power solid state amps and disco music began to take a toll on the woofers. With the hatch on the bottom - or the side, for that matter - you don't have to remove the midrange horn to get at the woofer. You've got some serious collector's items there. You might consider trading them even up for something with a higher power handling capacity. Like the KP-301s I have in the basement right now (Wait, greed is getting the better of me.) Seriously, you might want to consider selling them. I know from sad personal experience schools don't always appreciate vintage audio equipment and you don't want someone applying the mantra I heard at the college I used to teach at when I asked what became of our 1941 RCA movie speaker with a wooden multi-cell horn - "There was nothing wrong with it, but it was old. I'm proud to say I CHOPPED IT UP myself." (Sorry, I still get worked up about that.) In any event, the tweeters are a snap to fix. All you need is a soldering iron and a little care. Parts run in the $30 dollar range, although Klipsch sells a kit which includes a replacement front plate for the tweeter which, last time I bought one, was about $75. You might want to go that route, now that I think about it, as some of the early K-77s don't have the alignment walls to make the current diaphrams work easily. A local sound contractor has a pair of the 12" La Scalas in his warehouse. The doghouse is vertical, and the speakers look like they were dropped from a great height. Very short. No, he won't sell them. I've asked several times. I didn't mean to get this prolix, but it's a slow day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Sorry, forgot the other question. We used our LaScalas in a 1200 seat auditorium with no problems, so they should be fine in yours, unless the seating is wide and not too deep, or there is a steep rake. The La Scalas are pretty directional, and high up pointed down may not be their best position. (I could say their best position would be in my house, but that's my self-interest kicking in again...) p.s. The "C" in the serial number indicates 1964, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 These duffers are just pulling your leg! You need new modern gear that doesn't give trouble (blowing tweeters, well, it IS a college! ). I know a Cessna that needs to come home to see the the old home place and it has room in the back for La Scalas! $400 for the pair? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Might that not adversely affect the flight characteristics of the Cessna? Surely it would be better to put them in the back of a land based vehicle. Like a Pontiac Aztec. I happen to have such a vehicle... Seriously, you might want to think about selling them. The JBL heritage site has an article about finding one of the very first (maybe THE first) JBL speaker in the dumpster behind a high school auditorium. You don't want that happening to these. Plus, current demands might be better served by something with a heavier bass and greater power handling. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorn58 Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Post a pic of the speakers if you can would be cool to see some early Lascala's. I would love a shot at buying them if for sale ! If they are what I think they are and the cabs are not bet up a grand seems fair. I think you could sell them and buy modern pro klipsch with built in speaker protection that go lower and play lowder and have a few $$ left over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akersa Posted August 19, 2003 Author Share Posted August 19, 2003 I will try to post a picture by wednesday night. Thanks for all of the information that you guys have offered me. I also have some late 70's - early 80s Altec Lansing Horns, and two 16" speakers, yes that is right not 15" but 16" Altec 3156. Are these things that anybody is interested in knowing more about. Adam Akers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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