G.Kennedy Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Hey there ... new to the forum. I maybe picking up some 1980 La Scala Split Pro's. They are going to cost me about $900 which seems to be on the higher end, but not off the scale. I have not been able to see them in person yet. What should I be looking for?? The stock drivers and crossovers are ?? I have read here that they should have a higher power handeling woofer ... how do you look at the woofer ... does it take major surgery?? I will be powering these with either a set of Bottlehead Paramounts (300b at 8watts) or a modified Sonic Impact T amp .... am I on the correct path ??? I also have some Marantz monoblocks that may come into play. I am going to take the modified SI amp, a 12v dry cell and an Ipod to give them a listen. They are 27 years old ... is this foolish? I am more concerned about the drivers and crossovers than the finish of the cabinets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Tweeters will be K77M Mid driver will be K55V Woofer will be K43, the heavy duty woofer. If you plan to use these in a home environment, using low wattage to push them, I suggest replacing the K43 woofers with K33 woofers. The K33 is a bit smoother, and gets just a bit lower than the heavy duty K43. You trade power handling capability for a bit better sound in the bottom end, but with LaScalas, you will not normally need many watts to push them loud enough to blow the windows out of the house anyway. You can take a small flashlight and see the markings on the backs of the tweeters and mid drivers by looking into the rear of the cabinet's upper section(there is a small access door on the rear side of that cabinet, OR many of these have the motorboard screwed on from the front, and you can pull the motorboard to check them, but to check the woofers, you have to flip the speakers upside down and remove the SCREWED ON bottom panel, which is the woofer acccess door. It may need some light prying after you remove the screws because it is sealed with a weather-stripping gasket that may want the door to stick to the speaker cabinet bottom. Crossover networks should be AA or modified AA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 One nice advantage about the sealed pro style la scala, is they have less of a problem going bad. (They are in a sealed environment) You just might be fine as is. Take a while in listening to them, you just might be impressed right off. My AL-3's pro split ones.... looked brand new to me! Sounds wonderful too! Curious Andy.. if you get the woofers K- 33... do you need any other changes to do when you swap em out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkerley33 Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 First off $900 is pretty reasonable for any La Scala's. I have seen some pretty dinged up ones go for that much. Second...Age is relative...These speakers will last a lifetime. Third...listen to them for awhile before you start making changes. That was some great advice I got from quite a few board members. In all reality, it just slowed down the inevitable, but it was still great advice. And last but not least....If you are married...Buy the wife something nice, because when she sees how big they are...she probably will assume they cost a lot of money and will make a lot of noise (she is right on both accounts) and you will need to make her happy before she listens to them and realizes what a great purchase they were. KAK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 La Scalas, especially black ones, start to seem smaller as time goes by. They're not very tall compared with lots of speakers. Mine looked huge to me at first, but now they fit right in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 It sounds like an acceptable price for the cabinets. Since they are the PRO version, I would be careful about making sure all the drivers work. Additionally, if the magnets are ALNICO then they have have suffered some loss if they have been played hard and banged around (more important). However, these are just cautions and it may not pertain in your case. Drivers and diaphragms can always be replaced if they are bad or near the end of their life. Good luck & I agree about taking a considerable amount of time to listen to these before making any mods. -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.Kennedy Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hey guys thanks for your opinions on this. I have told the seller that I want them ... we are a couple hours apart and both very busy, so next week sometime I am going to go pick them up. Yes ... I will listen to them for a bit before makeing any changes. Chances are I will stick with the original woofers, but who knows. I have been looking around the forum a bit at crossover info ... the old caps are certainly a concern ... I have built plenty of kits over the years, so I feel comfortable switching out the caps if needed. I will post up some photos when I get them home. My girlfriend loves loud music and is certainly of the mindset that big speakers are good speakers. She will not care about the size or look once she hears the sound. Can I hook the T-amp directly to each speaker separately ... off of the terminal strip? Seems like an easy way to test each component separately. He has told me that for the last 20 years they have been in a home environment ... the 7 years before that ... he does not know the history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two dot Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 A little OT, but is this G. Kennedy from ADVRider??? Two Dot here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.Kennedy Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hey Stephen ... yep one in the same ... you're gonna have to come over and check these out once I pick them up !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Can I hook the T-amp directly to each speaker separately ... off of the terminal strip? Seems like an easy way to test each component separately. He has told me that for the last 20 years they have been in a home environment ... the 7 years before that ... he does not know the history. Possible, but it would be easier to stuff a rag/towel in the two horns (one at a time), and put your ear up close to the open one to see if they are working. The tweeters won't take a lot of signal through them, and this is always accomplished by the crossover limiting the freq. to the tweeter. Hooking up directly bypasses that and can send high volume bass to them, which is not a good thing. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.Kennedy Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Ok .. sounds good. I will take some small towels to stuff the horns. I just reread some of the above and something just sank in .... in the PRO split version . Is the back of the tweeter/mid cabinet enclosed?? Like ... you can't see the crossover as yo can on a standard LaScala. I have only seen photos of these from the front. Anyone have photos of the back of the cabinets?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Yes, the back of them are sealed. They don't need to be, but were designed that way. They are a trapezoid shape. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 La Scalas, especially black ones, start to seem smaller as time goes by. They're not very tall compared with lots of speakers. Mine looked huge to me at first, but now they fit right in. Man is that the truth! I had Heresys for 30 years and then got new 2005 La Scalas! The first few days I kept looking at them and thinking how huge these things looked. After about a week or two their size began to diminish and now, almost three years later, they look just like the Heresys - not big at all. Still, when someone enters my home and sees the La Scalas for the first time they always go, "Oh my God, what the hell are those monsters?". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Weren't you surprised by the UBER-cool cabinets you bought! I just found this thread, nice purchase job. You did not pay too much. I have two pair of the LSI split black with aluminum trim (one is in fibreglass) and have an average cost of $1000 per set. I've seen other sales of LSI splits at around $250 per box. With yours, the uniqueness of the pro/wood finish balances out the few chips and dings. You done good. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.Kennedy Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 Yep .. I am real happy with them. I am going to wedge them into our main room for a Saturday night party ... which is a party "for" the speakers. FYI .. seems you have an affinity for the black fiderglass and aluminum ones ... there is a pair listed on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 La Scalas, especially black ones, start to seem smaller as time goes by. They're not very tall compared with lots of speakers. Mine looked huge to me at first, but now they fit right in. Man is that the truth! I had Heresys for 30 years and then got new 2005 La Scalas! The first few days I kept looking at them and thinking how huge these things looked. After about a week or two their size began to diminish and now, almost three years later, they look just like the Heresys - not big at all. Still, when someone enters my home and sees the La Scalas for the first time they always go, "Oh my God, what the hell are those monsters?". Actually, when you put Klipsch's best horn (the K-402 from the Cinema Line) on top of a LaScala bottom, the "tweeter" is bigger than the woofer, and the LaScala is really the "baby" of the bunch. Try the MWM bass horn and see how small a LaScala Looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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