My Custom La Scala Build: Eliptrac Horns Are In, Veneer Work Underway

[Avmn565577]

I posted about this project last year in the “Improving on the La Scala design?” thread. These La Scalas have been in my family for decades and were stored in my sister’s garage. They needed a lot of work, so I decided to rebuild them for my home theater.


At first, I planned to do the cabinet work myself and finish them in vinyl. But I kept putting it off. I think I knew the work was a little beyond my skill set, and the finished speakers would probably show it. This project deserves better craftsmanship than I could give it, so I started looking for a specialist and found someone to take it on. I’m glad I did.


My original plan called for PRV WG45-50 midrange horns and D2200Ph drivers. Both are still new in the box if anyone’s interested. As the project developed, I decided to use Eliptrac 400 horns with BMS 4591 drivers, crossed over and tuned with active DSP. I’m also using Eminence Kappa 15C woofers and LMAHL horns with B&C DE10 drivers for the highs.


The Eliptrac horns are installed, and the veneer work has started. The finished speakers will have black ash veneer, similar to the current La Scala models. It’s exciting to finally see these taking shape after so much planning. I’ve attached a few progress photos and will keep the thread updated as the cabinets come together.


These will replace my RP-8000F IIs at the front of my theater. I can’t wait to hear what they can do. Thanks again to everyone who helped me work through the design.

 

[Dave MacKay]

My original plan called for PRV WG45-50 midrange horns and D2200Ph drivers. Both are still new in the box if anyone’s interested. As the project developed, I decided to use Eliptrac 400 horns with BMS 4591 drivers, crossed over and tuned with active DSP. I’m also using Eminence Kappa 15C woofers and LMAHL horns with B&C DE10 drivers for the highs.

The Eliptrac horns are installed, and the veneer work has started. The finished speakers will have black ash veneer, similar to the current La Scala models. It’s exciting to finally see these taking shape after so much planning. I’ve attached a few progress photos and will keep the thread updated as the cabinets come together.

Following with interest.

 

[macyjrm]

Me too.

 

[Avmn565577]

The guy doing it used the tops that were cutoff, which I thought was really cool.

 

[Audible Nectar]

Yum More big boy upgrades, good to see the 2" stuff starting to flower here.

 

[Avmn565577]

My guy told me today that he used cabinet-grade Baltic birch with a maple veneer. The surface is smooth as glass, so it should be a great base for the black ash veneer.

 

[Avmn565577]

I’m trying to find the speaker grille cloth used on the Klipsch La Scala AL5 and AL6. It appears to have been sourced from DuraCrest, now CraftCrest. Has anyone had any luck finding that silver metallic fabric or a very close match?

 

[Lucky Pierre]

Will you post a close up of the joinery? I am trying to decide it I am going to tackle building some cabinets on my own or commissioning a cabinet maker.

 

[Avmn565577]

My custom LaScala’ should be finished next week which will have double duty and be used for music and my home theater. Rather than build a whole new center, I’m thinking of using what I already have. I have a couple of PRV WG45-50 2″ horns and D2200Ph phenolic compression Ed drivers left over because I decided to upgrade and go a different direction with the Lascalla’s.

My current center is a Klipsch RC-64 III. The idea is to mount one of the PRV midhorns above it and use my miniDSP 2×4 HD to run the combination as a three-way, while retaining the RC-64’s internal passive crossover.

With the binding-post jumpers removed, I’d use three separate amplifier channels:

• RC-64’s four 6.5″ woofers below approximately 500 Hz.
• PRV midhorn from approximately 500 Hz to 4 kHz.
• RC-64’s stock tweeter above approximately 4 kHz.

Those are starting points. I’d use REW to work out the final crossover settings, levels, polarity, and delays, then run Dirac on the complete system.

The factory woofer crossover points are above my proposed 500 Hz handoff, and the factory tweeter high-pass is below my proposed 4 kHz handoff, which makes keeping the passive network seem practical.

The horn stand would sit on a non-slip pad with no cutting or drilling into the RC-64, so the speaker itself stays stock.

My thinking is that adding a dedicated midhorn could improve dynamics, take some work off the woofers and tweeter, and help the center blend better with the custom horn speakers. Since I already have the horn, driver, DSP, and amplification, it’s essentially a free experiment apart from the stand.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this crazy idea.

 

[Avmn565577]

Progress.

 

[FastlaneDave]

Very Nice.

 

[Avmn565577]

The veneer is taking a little longer to come in than my guy anticipated. Here’s the destination that’s patiently waiting. I on the other hand, am not so patient!