solarcarl Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 After spending time with my La Scala's fresh from a series of mods here is what I have to report. Tearing out the squawker horns, cutting into the cabinets and fitting the pair of Altec 511Bs with my original K-55 drivers was a great move. The mid range sounds a lot richer and took these speakers to a new level. Upgrading to Bob's new tweeters was another good move. Two thumbs up on those. I'm listening to some nice guitar picking music and finally hearing detail I never was getting before. Since the 511s took up the whole top of the cabinet I mounted the tweeters on aluminum brackets above the horns.The brackets bend with some force, allowing me to point them. I also upgraded the crossovers to Al's universal networks that I bought in kit form and assembled myself. That was pretty straightforward but somewhat tedious for someone that didnt grow up handling a soldering iron. I got the Hovland cap option, couldnt hurt. One thing I did was install two sets of 5-way jacks into the back of the speakers that I wired to the crossovers in bi-wire configuration. All of my other speakers are bi-wired and my cables are already set up for it and from what I've read some claim it improves the sound.I just did an A/B a few times which was easy by pulling the jumpers away and listen up all you naysayers, there was a noticeable difference. In bi-wire mode I noticed a lot more detailed sound and the mids and highs were more distinct. The ultimate test would be to see if my girlfriend could here the difference but I'm willing to bet I could sit any of you in front of my system and you would notice it. These suckers sound like new speakers. Since I did all the upgrades together I cant rave about one thing over the other but they sound a ton better from the top to the bottom. One thing I noticed and this is in spite of what Al had told me was that the speakers sounded better after they got a few hours on them and I can only attribute that to the caps and other crossover parts breaking in. As for bang for the buck, I had swapped a pair of nos american tubes into my amp tonight in place of the russian ones I had and that was a dramatic and suprising improvement and a lot cheaper than all these other mods. I saved the worst for last. I built some of the bass reflex bins to go under the La Scala's and would have to say that they actually made the bass sound worse. I have A/B'd them a few times and they seem to rob some of the mib-bass and loose whatever punchiness was there. I did notice that you could actually feel the bass on your stomach with the bass ports installed but that wasnt accompanied by any other desireable quality. Anyone in the Bay Area curious about this mod is welcome to borrow my bass boxes. I may flip them upside down and use them as pedestals to put the speakers up higher as I think there was some value in that. I wanted to post some pics but I dont see that option. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarcarl Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Here is the simple way I dealt with mounting the tweeter. I like the fact I can angle it. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarcarl Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 View of the Audioquest Bedrock cable going bi-wired into the ALK Universal networks. Not sure if there is a way to do that with AA networks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarcarl Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Here is the finished setup. Too bad the bass ports didnt do any good. Much better sounding with the stock base which I added floor spikes to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 looks good except for the bass mod can you remove it? I like the looks of the tweeter mounting as well btw your avatar is quite disturbing, it really creeps me out, is that a photoshopped pic of a dog or did you just get lucky enough to shoot your dog appearing to have human qualities? either way its creepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Carl, Everyhting you did looks good to me. Right on! AL K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAD Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Carl, How did you get silver horns on your CT125's? Did they come that way or did you paint them? They look great like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Great looking project! Glad you like to the HF mods. They look pretty cool. Sorry to hear that the bass port mod didn't work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 RAD, The CT125s are available from me with that horn. It is translucent rather than silver. Bob Crites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klipschaholik Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I've got the translucent tweeters as well and I can "really" hear a more "transparent tone" from these over the "plain" black ones. NOT! But they do look cool and sound great.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Hi Carl, Looks good. Those have got to be one of the only pairs of 511Bs that have been installed in two different pairs of LaScalas. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarcarl Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 That pic was of a dog some guy was giving away because his wife didnt like it. She claimed it would always follow her into the bathroom and stare at her while she showered and that was creeping her out. The La Scalas just rested on the bass boxes with sealing tape between them so it was easy to A/B them and now put them in storage. The speakers sound brilliant and the comment I read somewhere that the tweeters actually breakin may be true because my first reaction was the highs were a bit annoying and them after a few CDs they sounded smoother. If I did want to dampen the tweeters a bit to keep with the crossovers ability to lower the squawkers therefore bringing out more of the bass would it be reasonable to use L-pads in the tweeter path or what is the correct way to do that? Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAD Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Carl, ALK offers a custom built tweeter attenuator that would lower the level of the tweeter. Based on the quality of his cross-overs I am sure this would be an ideal way to control the output level of the tweeters. If you do not know it already check out his site at www.alkeng.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 looks good except for the bass mod can you remove it? I like the looks of the tweeter mounting as well btw your avatar is quite disturbing, it really creeps me out, is that a photoshopped pic of a dog or did you just get lucky enough to shoot your dog appearing to have human qualities? either way its creepy I agree man that is some weird wacky stuff. Like a bad car crash, can't help but look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 That pic was of a dog some guy was giving away because his wife didnt like it. She claimed it would always follow her into the bathroom and stare at her while she showered and that was creeping her out. lol nice finish to the whole creep thing thanks for the laugh, my kinda humor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 Carl, since you went that far with your mod - why not to mount the tweeter vertically?from what i read here it seems like a better way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 Actually, with that driver it makes no difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I saved the worst for last. I built some of the bass reflex bins to go under the La Scala's and would have to say that they actually made the bass sound worse. I have A/B'd them a few times and they seem to rob some of the mib-bass and loose whatever punchiness was there. I did notice that you could actually feel the bass on your stomach with the bass ports installed but that wasnt accompanied by any other desireable quality. Anyone in the Bay Area curious about this mod is welcome to borrow my bass boxes. I may flip them upside down and use them as pedestals to put the speakers up higher as I think there was some value in that. I wanted to post some pics but I dont see that option. Carl This is what I kind of thought would be the results of the ported pass mod to a Lascala. I bet the Cornscala gives similar results? Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 Your impressions regarding the bass mod are very interesting. As I'm considering the same bass mod for La Scalas, I'd like to put your impressions in perspective. Others have repeatedly said that no one who tried the similar mod went back to unmodified. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Please understand that I'm not discrediting your opinion; you can't be wrong when stating personal preferences. Nonetheless, please provide the details of your modification, e.g., port length, port diameter, stuffing, etc. so that apples can be compared to apples, as much as possible, under the circumstances. Like Craig, Im not surprised that you feel the attributes of the horn loaded bass are compromised by the bass reflex loadingand unloading of the woofer. Its all about compromise. Because its a relatively simple and totally reversible mod, Ill probably do it regardless. Even so, it would be useful to know exactly how you did it so that comparisons could be made to the ways that others have done it. Its refreshing to hear someone acknowledge that the results their latest DIY mod were less than expected. Thanks for your candor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I bet that sounds pretty good, when I looked at it, I immediately thought of the old Realistic Mach 1, on serroids. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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