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Tarheel's LaScalas


bluesboy

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Last year I built Chuck (Tarheel) a pair of LaScala clones for his music room that we added to the back of his house. They are pretty much standard LaScala cabinents except for a few minor alterations. They are constructed from 3/4 " birch veneer MDF. The bass bins house Altec 416 woofers. The mid-range horns are K-400 metal horns. The mid-range drivers are K-55's and the tweeters are K-77's. The crossovers came from Bob Crites. Lately Chuck has been listening to my corner horns which have Altec 511 mid-range horns and he's decided that he likes the way they sound and asked me if I could build him a pair of modified LaScalas with 511 horns for the mid-range and use some some EV ST-350's for tweeters. Chuck asked me to post some pictures of his LaScalas and to see if anyone would be interested in buying them. Otherwise, he could probably just part them out. The first picture is the left speaker.

post-15074-13819308146358_thumb.jpg

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Thanks Bluesboy for the help with the pictures of my LaScala clones. I just need to add that they were built in 2005 and are in mint condition, no scratches, scrapes or dents. Birch veneer and four hand rubbed coats of tung oil. Unlike stock LaScalas the top has a half inch overhang so the front edges could be veneered (a more finished appearance).They sound terrific! Only the desire to tweak brings about the offer to sell.

You know about the size and weight of these speakers so local pickup or delivery is preferred.

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Do you have a price in mind WITHOUT the spiders? [:P]

I've got a friend who happens to have an interest in a pair of LaScalas and lives in Atlanta. I sent a copy of this thread to him so he could see it.

Coytee,

Chuck's (Tarheel) been out of town the past couple of days but says he'll post tomorrow morning when he gets back to the office. In the meantime I'll be glad to answer any questions concerning horns, drivers ect.

Don

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NICE pre-amp ........[:)]

mine's # 670 .........Mike didn't make a whole lot of those .....[;)]

Thanks Duke,

I see we also have the same cd player.....stock or modified?

Have you retubed the preamp? I bought the preamp off ebay and have no idea how old the tubes are. Got it with 3 seconds left for one third the new retail price. The horn monos were bought from a seller on Audiogon.

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Forgive me (still newb here), but wouldn't they sound better if you un-wedged them from the "corner"...they seem boxed in, square...?

Very observant T&H. You are exactly right. When measuring for cabinets neither me nor the contractor allowed for toeing in and I live with that everyday.

Tarheel

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Do you have a price in mind WITHOUT the spiders? [:P]

I've got a friend who happens to have an interest in a pair of LaScalas and lives in Atlanta. I sent a copy of this thread to him so he could see it.

Coytee,

Thanks for your post. I have about $1850 in the speakers and I couldn't take less than $1500 and do what I want to do with new speakers. I can only do the new project if the numbers work. Keep in mind that they are almost new, cabinets perfect and horns are metal K-400. The Woofers are Altec 416s and have great bass. The only negative is no Klipsch labels.

Chuck

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Nice speakers! I can tell you one thing he needs to do with the cabinets between the Lascalas. Move the cabinets 6 to 8" off the back wall and then have the top surface run all the way back to the wall. You end up with a kind of bass port behind the cabinets. It works really well to help extend the Lascalas bass down to a solid 40hz. I've had my shop setup like that for a few years now and the results are amazing.

Craig

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Super nice set up, I can't wait to get my audio room started, let alone finished[:)]

Everything looks superb, great job.

Thanks for the kind words. Bluesboy, a builder and audiophile, built the addition for me. It is 16'x22' and is a mirror image of the room nex to it separated by a double thick wall for soundproofing and pocket door installation. I have end tables that you don't see that are McIntosh ML-1C speakers (1973) with glass tops for protection. Except for the toe in problem mentioned earlier it is a great room. The cabinets store lps, cds, tubes, and about 75 reel tapes and gear cleaning items. I have a nitty gritty record vac on top of one of the McIntosh end tables.

BTW, the reciever on top of the right speaker is a Pioneer SX-1280, 185 wpc. I am the original owner (1975)? I have the manual and the original sales brochure and the reciever is without blemish. I bought the tube gear and now I don't use the Pioneer but can"t bare to sell it. Unless someone has one unopened in the box this is one of the finest examples left.

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Nice speakers! I can tell you one thing he needs to do with the cabinets between the Lascalas. Move the cabinets 6 to 8" off the back wall and then have the top surface run all the way back to the wall. You end up with a kind of bass port behind the cabinets. It works really well to help extend the Lascalas bass down to a solid 40hz. I've had my shop setup like that for a few years now and the results are amazing.

Craig

Craig

That sounds like a great idea. Wish we had thought of that during planning the room. I am pretty satisfied with the bass but wish I could solve the toe in problem without tearing out the cabinets and starting over. The new speakers will have different horns that may help and I plan to use a tweeter in a separate box that will sit on top and can be moved around.

Any other ideas?

Chuck

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Nice speakers...................Really nice equipment set-up............

Oldbuckster,

The room was an idea I had for a long time but reentering the world of hifi forced me to make a move. I kept buying all this old equipment off ebay with no place to put it. Now I don't know I how I did without it.

Chuck

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Nice speakers! I can tell you one thing he needs to do with the cabinets between the Lascalas. Move the cabinets 6 to 8" off the back wall and then have the top surface run all the way back to the wall. You end up with a kind of bass port behind the cabinets. It works really well to help extend the Lascalas bass down to a solid 40hz. I've had my shop setup like that for a few years now and the results are amazing.

Craig

Craig

I'm not quite understanding what you're saying. How does creating a void behind the cabinets between the speakers affect the sound coming out of the front of the speakers? One thing I'm thinking about doing though is cutting the cabinets down 3 to 4 inches on the ends so that the speakers can be toed in.

Don

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