26 year old unfinished Birch LaScala's rescued from the gas chamber

[Guest " "]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&item=140009646052&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

After reading all the warnings and stay away post in the "la Scala" thread about the above birch speakers, I had to see what was going on for myself. I looked at the pictures and noticed all the corners were squared off, the metal casters had no scratches on them, the xovers were not rusted, and there was no dust in the horn chamber. These speakers are new old stock?

I have never seen a pair of 26 year old LaScala's this clean. Turns out these are 1980's with the dual phase plug k-55. They were bought new by a service man and were in storage for quite some time.

The damage report. The pictures do not do these speakers justice. The bottom access panel will need to be replaced. Other than that, the bottom of the cabs need to be bleached. The cabs do not have mold as the listing indicates. The speakers acted like a sponge and soaked up some water, and in doing so, soaked up some coloring from water run off. There is no water line in or outside the cabs. There is only one small thread of delamination that can be repaired and re-hardend back into place.

If the seller could not sell these birch lascala's, they were going to go to the pound, the gas chamber, and be parted out.

I showed them to my son, and he decided to adopt this stray and give it a home.

They are in my house right now, pulled the access panel, check the woofers for damage (none found), cut two new access panels from 11 ply birch, reasembled.

I'm listening to them now, and they sound fine.

Pictures with the bleaching and restoration work to follow, yes they can and will be restored.

[Corvette6769]

Strangely enough he stated "Gentleman said he purchased them in 1978" which the pre-1979 cartons appear to be, however their is no mistaking the post March 24, 1980 drivers and the 1980 cabinet serial numbers.

Congratulations!

[soundbound]

Way to go. Good job. I saw these and thought there was a good chance of them being restored. Good for you guys. Look forward to the up coming restoration pictures. Have fun at it and enjoy. It will be a good father and son project.

[Guest " "]

Corvette6769

Yes.

I looked up the serial numbers before buying and knew they were 1980's and not 1978's. These are 26 years old and not 28 years old.

The seller is a real nice guy, and merely went on what he was told.

Since I was worried about mold issues, I did not want to put the boxes in my SUV and breathe mold spores, so the boxes were trashed.

Other than the stains, the cabinets look very good, and obviously boxed moved.

[PrestonTom]

Congratulations,

It looks like the extra effort to take a look has paid off nicely.

I know that your son will enjoy them.

-Tom

[Guest " "]

soundbound

Thanks.

My son is excited. He is going to use the dog house access panel as scrap to test the bleach method and product selection.

He wants to do the work himself, and just wants me to act as an advisor, if advice is requested (in other words, I can do this dad, let me handle).

[jorjen]

Wow! Way to go Fritz, nice score. I was hoping someone here would grab these. Did'nt appear they would need much, and for the price?

[Guest " "]

jorjen

You are right, the pictures did not do these justice, they need little.

I guess I'm just an old softy.

Saving the life of these speakers and finding someone who could use them was an even bigger score for me.

[Daddy Dee]

Hope to see some pics when they get all spiffed up! Congrats.

[Guest " "]

Daddy Dee

Looks promising. We're doing sample runs on the bottom plate access panels that we scrapped.

[colterphoto1]

Like a dog rescued from the pound or little lost kittens, these LS will be more than proud to make their home at your place. You shall be rewarded for your kindness a thousandfold. Congrats on a great score and let this be a lesson to us all to not give in based on first impressions. Your son is going to have a nice set of speakers that will rock out.

Job well done.

Michael