need some recommendation

[KT88]

Hi everyone

if your time allows, you may start here, if not, please have a look at my questions further down.

I am new to this board, but have read a lot of threats during the past

weeks. Very helpful and competent knowledge from enthusiasted people

who enjoy their hobby. BTW I have to appologize for my not so quite

good English. I live in Cologne, Germany.

My system includes Oracle Delphy turntable with SME, EAR 864 pre and

Mac 2102 amp. As I love vintage gear, I have restored Quad II Monos and

leaks stereo 20. Speakers are currently Tannoy Canterbury alnico with

the only change of one Mundorf silver cap in series to the tweeter.

Mundorf is based here in Cologne for my convenience buying and trying

his products.

Sometimes I use my old Quad ESL 57, it depends on the music and the

mood. I do not change the speakers every week. They will play ca. one

year or so an then I come back to another pair of my collection if

required. The trick: I do not consume for new stuff as my speakers

represent different approaches between the "you are there" and "they

are here" range of representation of music. And the chose of speaker

also determes what I like to listen to.

BUT NOW: Klipsch also counts for me to this very original and genuine

inventions in his own right. And my relation to Klipsch is a very

emotional one in a similar way, described on this board by a lot of

others (experience in youth, beeing overwhelming impressed etc.) I have

bought LaScalas 6 Years ago. They are built in 1977, with original

signature on the wood under the crossover positioning, from the person

who builts them. They have K55V (p) with K400 squaker and round alnico

T35a.

They have been about 2 years my favorized speaker system. Then I wanted

to "upgrade" them and bought some parts like solen inductors etc. TBH,

I was irritated and after a while disappointed about the result.

Harsh in the mids, without good stereo imaging, AND with a lost of there great charme and emotional level.

They went stored since 4 years now.

Now I know, I did things wrong, i.e. to use solid core inductors for

the midrange network (Yes AL K, I have read a lot (and probably learned

some) of your writing on your page.

I don´t want to waste your folks time with questions allready have been

treated here. But may be, that some topics are enriched with more of

your experience over the time to deliver an actual status quo.

Next weekend is the great moment, I will put my LaSalas together again.

They have been stripped of because of seriosly necessery refinishing,

to let them show again there wonderfully raw birtch finish. Some stupid

preowner had tried to "match" them with his mahogany board.

Now, cause everything is in parts, it offers the chance to rebuilt everything very carfully.

My Questions:

K400:

After reading here I can not make a decision for or against treating

the ringing. May be I must try both alternatives to match my own

taste. Just as a hypothesis I would like to consider, that the

add of damping material could cause some time smere due to store some

musical information? That would explain, why some of you have the

experience of a more dead sound with damping and some others point out

a slightly more vivid character without.

Otherwise the output level of a horn is sigificantly higher in

correlation to ringing or other sort of resonnance compared with

conventional speaker cabinets. So the influence should be relatively

small.

Your updated opinion regarding this issue?

Internal Wiring:

long discussed over here. My question goes the other way round: I

already have some spare meters of not to expensive Kimber TC4 and

Nordost flatline. Some experiences? Or should I take normal gauge

nevertheless?

Crossover:

No questions as I have received ALK universals yesterday. May be some

of you will say, thats bought without listening experience, but I must

start at a point and all I have seen has convinced me to do so. (on the

level of feedback here on the board as well as on the theoretical level

how this Xover is designed to show real flat impendance to the

speakers).

Thanks a lot for any reply on wiring and K400.

Heinz

[Guest " "]

//////////////////// K400: After reading here I can not make a decision for or against treating the ringing. May be I must try both alternatives to match my own taste. Just as a hypothesis I would like to consider, that the add of damping material could cause some time smere due to store some musical information? That would explain, why some of you have the experience of a more dead sound with damping and some others point out a slightly more vivid character without. Otherwise the output level of a horn is sigificantly higher in correlation to ringing or other sort of resonnance compared with conventional speaker cabinets. So the influence should be relatively small. Your updated opinion regarding this issue? Internal Wiring: long discussed over here. My question goes the other way round: I already have some spare meters of not to expensive Kimber TC4 and Nordost flatline. Some experiences? Or should I take normal gauge nevertheless? //////////////////////

k-400. I have both metal ones and the newer composite ones. when mounted to the cabinet....I do not hear any ringing.

wires - newer lascala's have monster cable (looks like automobile grade speaker wires). if you have extra good wire, and don't care about keeping the speakers original, there is no harm in using it...but keep in mind that the thicker wire needs alot more clampng pressure to get the terminals to crimp using a crimping tool.

xover - if you build your own...be mindful that some of the drivers may need to be connected out of phase depending on the crossover order used (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, etc).

[Daddy Dee]

Welcome to the forum.

My experience with the K400 is that it did sound slightly different

after damping with Dynamat on the horn. An improvement? Perhaps, but

definitely not a problem.

I have also used the K401 composite horn. I could not tell any differenced between the damped K400 and the K401.

On internal wiring.... my opinion favors replacing with similar

material, if needed. There is no harm in using very fine wire, but to

my ears, is not an improvement. If the very fine wire stock is already

on hand, o.k. but I wouldn't recommend to spend more money to obtain

it.

Good luck on finishing your project. Hope you can post some pictures when you have it complete.

[Al Klappenberger]

Heinz,

My two pennies worth is that the K400 horn is not up to the quality of the rest of the speaker no matter if it is damped or not. I suggest trying an Altec 811b, 511b or my Trachorn. You will be glad you did!

AL K.

[J.4knee]

If you are on a path to bring more out of your La Scala's I have been there. Al is dead on point with changing out the K400 squawker horn for an Altec VOT (511b or 811b) or his Trachorn. I use Al's Universal A replacements, K55M's mated to a 511B's, and Bob Crites CT 125's (Emminence APT 50 driver mated to a horn nearly identical to the K77).

[TubeGuy]

Choice of wire is a pretty controversial subject, but I'll dive in anyway.

I rewired my 1989 Khorns with Kimber 4TC many years ago. The Kimber replaced the original Monster Cable and the improvement was quite noticable. I've since rewired two other sets of Khorns with 4TC and one with 8TC. The owners were very pleased with the results.

Results: Bass became tighter, mids were more open sounding and the highs were less splashy and overall there was more detail. The difference was slightly more pronounced when replacing the original Klipsch lampcord tinned wire than the later Monster Cable.

I also think that the teflon coating will have a much longer life than the original wire. The Monster had turned green after just a few years. I recently reworked all of the connections when I installed Al's Trachorns. There was no corrosion on the Kimbers after ten years of use.

Terminating the 4TC takes a while and will put a blister on your thumb, but IMO the pain is well worth the results! Oh what we sacrifice for this audio habit[]

[KT88]

Hi guys,

thanks for your thoughts. Very helpful.

My decision is:

1) Rebuilt the La Scalas at first without damping the K400 to avoid to

many changes at one time. It is a little more effort

to take the squaker out again somtime later, but I would like to listen

to the effects of the new Xover (and the wiring) first.

2) I will take my Kimber 4TC. Thanks TubeGuy having practised with

exactly the same wire by coincidence. I will use spade connectors

avoiding to disturb the terminals of the Xover. The stock wire is

allready 29 Years of age and the insulation feels fragilly.

3) I am considering the option of an midrange/tweeter upgrade. It

sounds very plausible and interesting, but probably not by altering

this La Scalas. As I am hot again on hornspeakers I would like to find

some old used Khorn with good substance regarding the woodwork. Then I

must not make changes to it´s cabinett and can put any squaker upgrade

on top of the corner horn that fits the low pass requirements. Thanks

Al and J.4Knee for your input.

All what I am doing here reminds me on my youth. When I was 19 I built

a Khorn, based on old construction papers with a 30" woofer and

slightly taller. Great sound (in the remembering), but made from

particel board and fired by very cheap electronics. Now I am 47 and

there is some money but not the time you wish to have (as most of you

will know).

Is the Altecs acoustical freq. cut off comparabel, say 400 or 500 hz?

I will post some photos after finishing (hopefully this weekend, between such football games).

Heinz