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LaScalas in DC


thebes

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Check out the e-mail that I received from this guy.



Howdy

I have had a large response to my Klipsch listing, so I am going to try and put together a "history" of these speakers that I can mail out to all who have responded. Please feel free to ask additional questions you may have, as I am trying to cover the most-asked questions in this reply.

These La Scala's were purchased by my step-father back in the 1970's. He did not know anything about stereos but he liked to party a lot and he was single and had money, and he ended up with these speakers as part of his system. They were only owned by him and went with him in his various residences over the next 15 years or so.

Fast forward to around 1990 or so. My mom and Richard (that's my step-father) got together, and after a few years they married and purchased a house and we all moved in. The Klipsch went to the basement for storage, as they had apparently not been used in some years. I had no clue what they were.

After another year or so I decided I would make a room in the basement and live down there. I wondered what the hell these big wood things were, and after some investigation I decided they must be speakers of some sort. Never seen anything like these before!

Fortunately they are on casters. so I rolled them into my new room and set about connecting them to my receiver. Immediately I was amazed, dumbfounded, blown away, etc. I sat and listened to music. Maybe

4 or 5 days later I emerged from the basement with a smile on my face that remained there for months.

These things were unlike anything I had ever heard before!

A few years after I got married and moved out of my folks' place, taking the La Scala's with me. Today I live in a townhouse in Germantown, MD, with two kids, three cats, a wife, and more stereo gear than I know what to do with. The La Scala's don't get much use anymore because I like solid state gear and I have a nice pair of Polk Monitor 7b's that seem to do well in a townhouse environment. So they are now essentially end tables/speaker stands for the Polks.

There have never been any modifications done to these as far as I know, and I would likely know if there had been. All original drivers are functioning as they should. The tweets and mids are horns, so there are no surrounds to degrade, and the woofers have treated cloth surrounds (I only know this from research, as I have not removed the LaScala woofers to see them

firsthand) and should not require re-foaming.

The cabinets are the unfinshed "natural" finish (birch maybe?). They are in good condition for their age, but they are certainly not mint! I am attaching a picture which shows the most obvious damage, two "nicks" on the front/side edge of on of the speakers where a small bit of the outer layer of laminate has been chipped off. They are not tremendously noticable but the picture shows them well. Both speakers have a few marks here and there, but I honestly have not washed the cabinets EVER, and I suspect they could be made to look spectacular with a bit of cleaning and such. One of them has more dirt/marks on the top of the cabinet than the other, largely due to its use as an end table/speaker stand for several years. Again, I would bet these marks could be quite easily rectified, and if I was going to keep these I would do that. At this point, however, I need the space in my living room and am not motivated to do the job. I want to get a Pioneer SX-1250, and that is my main motivation to sell the Klipsch (I still would prefer a straight up trade for a 1250 but haven't found the deal yet).

I am attaching three pictures to this email, one shows the previously mentioned cabinet chips, one shows the crossover and back of the horns, and one shows the label on the back of one of the speakers. You can see from the label that the serial number faded away to nothing years ago, as it had been hand-written in the space on the label. I haven't pulled the other speaker away from the wall to check it yet, but I am betting it will be similarly faded and illegible!

Anyways, thats the story on these La Scala's, I hope that answers many of the questions I am being asked, and I welcome all additional questions you may have.

I have received a large number of responses, more than I expected! I am available to audition these speakers for you at your convenience, I should be home all weekend except for Saturday night (when I am going to the State Theatre to see the HeadHunters with Mike Clark and George Porter jr. among others, should be a funky jazzy spectacular).

I also want to say that I really do not want to ship these, I cannot imagine the effort involved in such an undertaking. I really prefer that the buyer is able to come over in person and see andd hear these first-hand and make a decision. They are expensive speakers and whoever ends up with them should have had the opportunity to examine them and know that they are just what I say they are! Plus I enjoy the chance to meet other audio freaks, my wife's eyes glaze over at the first mention of audio gear...



I am going to try and go see them on Monday if they last that long...


Steve

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Well I went to see them today and dragged LarryC with me (thanks Larry). These were originally owned by Brian's stepfather and he acquired them as a teenager. They have been in a non-smoking environment and look to just need a little cleaning up. Well I just couldn't pass these up so.........................................

Yes you guessed it.

I HAVE SPEAKERS FOR THE BARN!!!!!! (I almost think they are too nice for barn duty)

I will start a new post tomorrow with pictures. These were built in 1977.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Steve

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