Help pick my first Klipsch!

[KYCATS]

Save up for a little while longer, be patient, use all the search tools at your disposal, and get a pair of La Scalas. You will likely end up there eventually anyway, so why not skip all of the interim, and go to the top section of the food chain? The wait is worth it.

You are killing me now! But realistically, some of us are constrained by economics and a wife (LOL). I never rule out any option, but always have a plan. Agreed, I will likely end up with La Scalas upon retirement and live a blissful life to the end! But I remember my first setup in 95, I needed advice and for the time, space and money, the Klipsch setup was advised by the HT crew and it was the right call at the time. No way could I have afforded the high end Klipsch at the time.

Likewise for churchill127, looks like he is venturing into a genre that some of us have been living for decades. He can't go wrong with Klipsch, even if he starts out with a normal setup (exclude klipsch subwoofer). But like we said and based on our experiences, yes, if I could go back in time, I would have bought higher end Klipsch-assuming the wife would let me.

 

[churchill127]

You are killing me now! But realistically, some of us are constrained by economics and a wife (LOL). I never rule out any option, but always have a plan. Agreed, I will likely end up with La Scalas upon retirement and live a blissful life to the end! But I remember my first setup in 95, I needed advice and for the time, space and money, the Klipsch setup was advised by the HT crew and it was the right call at the time. No way could I have afforded the high end Klipsch at the time.

Likewise for churchill127, looks like he is venturing into a genre that some of us have been living for decades. He can't go wrong with Klipsch, even if he starts out with a normal setup (exclude klipsch subwoofer). But like we said and based on our experiences, yes, if I could go back in time, I would have bought higher end Klipsch-assuming the wife would let me.

Thanks @KYCATS

I have to admit, I am currently a student and thus even a pre-owned Klipsch heritage-line speaker is far beyond what I would consider responsible spending. Per the advice of the people in this forum, I decided against the newer lines of Klipsch. I found a pair of old Sansui's (SP-2700A's) which are pretty efficient, and managed to restore the drivers to working condition within my budget. They are not audiophile speakers, but work for my applications, and I like the sound.

At this point in my life, what most excites me about this hobby is finding old pieces of audio equipment and bringing them back to life (i.e. the tube amp which was the start of all of this) so really this was the best solution. Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Coytee]

Obviously everyone has to do what's within their range of finances and sensibilities....

I bought my LaScalas (new) in 1979. Though I don't recall the price, let's call it $1,500 (though was probably more like $1,200)

Anyway, I've owned them now for 41 years so my annual cost of ownership for them alone has dropped to $36.58/year.

If they were closer to $1,200 then my annual cost is more like $29.26.

 

[churchill127]

Obviously everyone has to do what's within their range of finances and sensibilities....

I bought my LaScalas (new) in 1979. Though I don't recall the price, let's call it $1,500 (though was probably more like $1,200)

Anyway, I've owned them now for 41 years so my annual cost of ownership for them alone has dropped to $36.58/year.

If they were closer to $1,200 then my annual cost is more like $29.26.

Very interesting! Let's crunch some numbers...

An online inflation calculator puts $1,500 in 1979 at around $5,700 in 2020 dollars. A pairs of new LaScalas from Crutchfield currently retails for $11,998.00, so a little more than double. To own 2020 LaScala's for 41 years puts you at $292 annual cost; almost 10X more than the yearly investment made over time by @Coytee. To get to the very reasonable value of $36.58 a year you'd need to own them for... 328 years! They would be quite the family heirloom.

You would have needed to spend $3,150 for your pair in 1979 to be truly comparing the amount of money needed to take home some new Klipsch today. Drop down to $1,200 for the pair, and the difference is even greater. What would be really interesting is to see an analysis of how the re-sale value of 70's era LaScala's has changed over time.

My guess is that the average economic demographic for the person who buys heritage line Klipsch today is quite different than it was back then. Please let me know if I made a mistake in this breakdown!

 

[Coytee]

Alas Grasshopper.... you are comparing (with the speakers) apples and oranges.

To buy today, you get a LaScala II, not the older version with the vibrating sides. Newer ones sound like they have an extra octave of bass (they don't but the sidewalls resonating help hide it in the older units)

Perhaps some nicer parts too, all in a 1" two piece cabinet verses the 3/4" unit of old.

Besides..... someone has to pay for their 401K contributions today....

 

[Mamrak1]

Whatever you do, buy something you will keep for some time. I see too many people try and cheap out on speakers and then turn around in a months time and are shopping again for another pair. Buying and selling speakers over and over is a waste of your time and money.

 

[icenine]

If you don't have the big cash for the Epics, Cornwalls, etc. some nice under the radar Klipsch I enjoy are Klipsch RB-5s (really great if sort of large bookshelfs), Klipsch RF-10s which are small floors standers that sound really nice with either SS or tubes (jazz sounds really nice with these) and the sort of overlooked Synergy line...the SB-3 bookshelf in particular has a really nice horn tweeter that shows great detail. I have found that the Klipsch towers for the home theater market do great with tubes...you may not even need a sub. You can sometimes get lucky and find a pair of Klipsch at a thrift. My recommendation however is to search out large pawn shops since they tend to buy Klipsch because they know they can resell them easily. You can also haggle a bit...and some pawns will do a lay away if you put down say 30% for them to hold. I bought both my RB-5s and my Epic CF-3s at a pawn shop for under $200 a pair.

Almost any Klipsch speaker at a thrift should be an automatic buy with the exception of the small computer speakers you will see...and never leave a Klipsch speaker with an orange woofer at thrift store lol.
The sub-woofers may have bad amps but if they are reasonable enough pick them up...they are not uncommon at thrifts. Plug it in and see if it powers up...if the light doesn't come on take out the fuse and see if its blown...
that indicates some kind of problem.

 

[churchill127]

My recommendation however is to search out large pawn shops since they tend to buy Klipsch because they know they can resell them easily. You can also haggle a bit...and some pawns will do a lay away if you put down say 30% for them to hold. I bought both my RB-5s and my Epic CF-3s at a pawn shop for under $200 a pair.

I haven't yet expanded my usual spots to include pawns, I'll look at a few near me! For now though, I am very happy with the old sansui's I just got working(as per a previous post of mine).



Until I feel that I really cannot stand listening to music without a Klipsch around, these sound good (to me!). Everyone on this forum has been really willing to help and give their opinion, which I really appreciated.

 

[GSR1200]

at the end of the day, all that matters is ...... you like the sound they give you....... enjoy the Sansui's. someday when you feel like a change you can use them on a secondary system or sell them and probably get your money back or a good part of it anyway.