My new La Scalas

[turntable3]

On june,
3rd, my La Scalas arrived. The delivery was made by Mr. Werner Enge himself who
is the biggest Klipsch dealer in Germany since 1975. This is a very good
service other dealers do not offer. The man drove 200 miles one way to do his
job on a saturday. The man came at 6p.m. and left at 10p.m. We had a good time
during testing and placing the speakers and the amps. The home-audio business
needs more of such guys!

Now I am
very happy. The sound of the Scalas is overwhelmingly good and amazingly clear.
The complete lack of distortion and compression is impressive. I hear 30% more
musical information than ever. La Scala is revealing musical subtleties I never
have heard before.

The bass is
fast and dry but not as deep as with the B&W801 which had slow and thick
bass compared to Scala. There is enough
bass for over 90% of all the music (rock, jazz) I use to hear.

Midrange
and treble are defining musical details very exactly which I never was aware
before. Now I can sit down and hear without any strain or effort. Each and
every musical information is being presented with ease. I am surprised about
the things I did not hear before other speakers are giving vague or foggy or
hazy information about the details of music. No more hearing fatigue with the
Scalas is very relieving. Relaxation and
recreation is induced by the very pleasant flow of musical representation with
the Scalas.

Now I can
judge the difference of LP versus CD exactly. LPs are sounding smoother than
CDs.

And I can
distinguish the quality of each recording. There are badly recorded CDs and LPs
which are to be counted out now.

The Scalas
are like a magnifying glass which opens the look into the music. It is
fantastic. Spatial information is very detailed.

With the
ML320s and the ML431 I have complete control of the volume levels depending on each recording. The volume range goes up to 80
but I only reached 60 and I could go farther but I did not due to compounds
laws... This was not possible before, because distortion and compression became
audible at lower levels with the B&Ws 801 and their predecessors Infinity
Kappa 9.

The MLs are
a perfect match for La Scala. The Scalas are able to handle this 200w @
8ohms/400w @ 4ohms per channel amp. I never thought this could be possible. No
wonder as they are us-products.

The
crossover is looking very good and seems to be of good quality. The biwire
connectors are as good as the whole build quality is. The finish is only 99%.

Mr. Enge
brought a tube-amp for testing: Transmitter1 with a big 805-tube (http://www.es-audio.de). The sound was good
but a little bit softer as with the ML431. This is a matter of taste. I am
planning to buy a tube-amp to have both the options.

Please
excuse the poor quality of the pictures though I hope they will give a little
impression of my Scalas.

My
conclusion: I should have done this deal years ago and I am going to abolish
any other speaker in the house because I cant stand them hearing any more!

Jack

[Guest " "]

Very nice. Happy to see you are enjoying them. I spent three years in Germany and certainly miss the customer service.

[ranjith]

Jack,

Very nice, glad to see you're enjoying them immensely. I was in Frankfurt for 2days and just left on the 7th. A very nice city, and currently good weather too.

[Myhamish]

Hi, Congratulations, You'll love them as an addition to a

great setup. In the photos, your room looks quite large.

That gives them lots of air to voice in.

Try a little pillow or piece of wood wrapped in a towel under the front

end of each speaker just to toe them up a bit from the floor.

Helps eliminate some standing waves.

Hamish

[turntable3]

Thanks speakerfritz.

Hope the pic of the x-over comes here.

Jack

[turntable3]

here a pic of the rear scala

[turntable3]

here a front pic

[turntable3]

thanks for your appreciation guys

Jack

[colterphoto1]

They are magnificent beasts, arent' they? I like your viewpoint, the 'magnifying glass' was particularly good. Nice photos and beautifully simple room decor as well. I love your stereo stand. Those crossovers are incredible bits of engineering. Now we will have many questions about their construction.

Thank you for your review and for joining us. Please stay around, we have many European members. We welcome your viewpoint.

Michael

[Mike Lindsey]

Nice writeup and room! And I couldn't agree more with this statement:

"And I can distinguish the quality of each recording. There are badly recorded CDs and LPs which are to be counted out now."

That's how it is for me as well... hell, half my lp collection is unplayable. [] Please tell me more about the amps/preamp, as well as your analog setup.

Also liked your built in the US remark. [H]

Mike

[oldbuckster]

Nice speakers Jack, bet they sound as nice as they look, brand new, too, the way they were delivered is a nice touch, not just drop shipped to your door. Enjoy, a whole new world awaits you.

[turntable3]

I am very glad you like my stuff. Yeah oldbuckster it is a real new world of hearing things.

@Mike Lindsey: my turntable is a thorens td2001 (tweaked with a thin mat instead of the rubber-mat and a new power supply unit from a guy of analog audio association) fitted with a shure v15 VxMR and connected via "monitor pc ofc silverline" phono-cable to a WBE diamond he 36 phono-equalizer (http://wbe-audio.de) which is connected via "namiki symmetry-response" cable to the Mark Levinson 320s pre-amp. The Levinsons are connected with "Sun Audio Transfer"-cable fitted with xlr-connectors. The cd-player is a teac vrds 25x which is connected with a "Sun Audio Transfer"-cable to the pre-amp. Speaker-cable is kimber 8tc with WBT-connectors.

Yesterday in the evening I heard the cd of Roger Waters "Amused To Death" recorded in Q-Sound and released in 1991. This record sounded fine on B&Ws and Infinitys but on the scalas it does not sound as good as before. The deep bass was lacking and the highs came strange. The only explanation for me: this is a product to proove so called high-end speakers for good. On these speakers all the other records did not sound as good as with the scalas. Conclusion: if the recording technicans do their job well one does not need things like Q-Sound.

Have a nice day

Jack

[gonzp]

Jack congratulations on your new Scalas, you are exactly right Klipsch Heritage at 104db efficiency, are some of the most powerful magnifying glasses in audio. They will showcase the finest in your sources and recordings,and they will equally reveal the shortcomings of your sources and recordings.

When they are at their best (to me) is, right before harshness. When Dean W. describes the Heritage line he says that "they load the room" I have never heard or felt a more accurate description of the Heritage sound.

[Colin]

Welcome to the club. A friend of mine had the big B&Ws also, and although mid-bass was tight and tough, he was always trying to get more from his system. I think it is because conventional loudspeakers dont communicate the dynamics of music. The tube is softer and therefore you will need solid-state sub-woofer to shore up the bottom end, but horns love tubes and LaScalas sound great with them. Nice carpet and wall picture. The new crossovers do look good more substantial better than the old ones. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

[edwinr]

Congratulations on your new La Scalas.

[SilverSport]

congrats on the 'scalas...you will be enjoying that sound for a long time to come...enjoy and thanks for sharing your story...

Bill

[jbsl]

Congrats on the new La Scalas!!

I know how you feel. I picked up my brand new La Scalas in April of 2004 and have had the same experiences you have had.

Since getting them I have upgraded my whole system and it made a big difference in how the speakers sound.

I don't have records but at least half of my cd collection has not been listened to in 2 years now.

I know you will enjoy your new toys cause I certainly have enjoyed mine!

[kaiser SET say]

Sweet Jack (Table3)[]

Matter a fact I see a lot of nice gear in that rack[]

Scally's Roc[]

[turntable3]

yes the Scallys rock. They are getting better every day. It is amazing how clear and detailed they sound at even lowest levels during night times. And they solved my major problem: because of their sheer mass and huge size they dampened my room a little bit - just quite right to solve the problem with an unequal balance concerning the left corner. No other speaker could solve this problem so far. My room is 32 feet long and 18 feet wide with windows on the right side from bottom to ceiling and on the left side is the wall. In the left corner there always has been an early roll-off in the treble and on the right side the highs have been reflected by the windows. The Scalas have solved the difficulties due to their ingenious construction which makes music radiating in constant directivity. Now the sound is focussed in the middle without any deviation and is detached from the speakers. The sound is flooding the room consistently now. I can hear the room the musicians play in and the deviations in the mix if not properly recorded.

Guitar solos are coming as sharp as live and the drummer is sitting in the living-room. I am really enthusiatic about my Scalas.

Jack

[pmsummer]

Is the "balancing network" still different for the EU market (as opposed to the NA market)?