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Score! $400 Klipsch La Scala

audiodogster

audiodogster

Active Member
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Wow. I just feel great. I bought these in an auction but the listing was messed up so barely anyone bid on them so I got them cheap. I have yet to test them but my hopes are pretty high. The cabinets are in pretty decent shape (a little scratching to the finish but should be easy to correct). These are models from the 80s. My only complain is that they wreak of nicotine. I have wiped them down once but think I'll need to do it a couple of more times to get the smell out of them.


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I also grabbed a pair of Pioneer CS-C9900 for $35. They are in very good shape as well but no nicotine smell. As I understand they were only sold at the exchange stores at military bases. The specs look decent, supposedly extend down to 32 Hz with the 15 inch woofers. Probably not too special but I saw that someone parted out a pair sold the bits for about $120 on eBay. Probably will go into my parent's system as their system doesn't support an active subwoofer. The bases on these are kind cheesy but I probably won't mess with replacing them. I unscrewed the mid driver on one of them to get a look at the crossover but then put it back in upside down :D

Anything I should know about either of these set of speakers? Should I probably go ahead an rebuilt the crossovers?
 
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2manyspkers said:
Nice find, mislabeled auction items can really help out when you know exactly what they really are !
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They had the title right but the pictures were of some old 90s Yamaha PA speakers that are essentially worthless from my research. It was a gamble to bid on them as I wasn't sure it was the La Scalas I was bidding on or the Yamaha. Also it was a new auction website and I was wary of their policies on winning items not as described. Fortunately it wasn't a shady company. As I pulled up to the building and talked to the guy who runs it, he said I could have either set of speakers, someone new had done the pictures for the listings. He then proceeded to help me load them which was nice. Turns out they are a well established auction company but they just started doing online auctions.

EDIT: I should probably also say I had no knowledge of La Scalas beyond that I recognized the Klipsch brand as being some of the best speakers out there. And all I researched on them before buying them was what they are worth.

rxonmymind said:
Congrats on the Klipsch. Definitely go over to the Klipsch site and you'll get a wealth of information.
https://community.klipsch.com

Crossovers can be had via Bob Crites. No need to reinvent the wheel.

http://www.critesspeakers.com/crossovers.html
Or
http://www.alkeng.com

Those are the big two for mods. Hope that helps. Good luck - again congrats.
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Looks like mine have the AL-3 crossovers. Also looks like I may have unwittingly joined a cult.
 
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I speculate those (LaScalas) might have the K43 in them rather than the K33. If true, the K43 will take more power but, as I understand, the K33 will dig a bit deeper.

If you are an outdoors rock & roller, keep the 43's. If these are going inside, then you might be able to sell the 43's and buy a pair of 33's and be some cash ahead.

(I've owned LaScalas since 1979 and pounded them during college and my woofers are stock from the factory)

Might add that the woofers are accessed through the bottom of the speaker. Take the bottom panel off and there it is.

Using round numbers, the K43 is about $250/each and the K33 is about $100 (not exact numbers but you get the drift)

Food for thought.
 
Coytee said:
I speculate those (LaScalas) might have the K43 in them rather than the K33. If true, the K43 will take more power but, as I understand, the K33 will dig a bit deeper.

If you are an outdoors rock & roller, keep the 43's. If these are going inside, then you might be able to sell the 43's and buy a pair of 33's and be some cash ahead.

(I've owned LaScalas since 1979 and pounded them during college and my woofers are stock from the factory)

Might add that the woofers are accessed through the bottom of the speaker. Take the bottom panel off and there it is.

Using round numbers, the K43 is about $250/each and the K33 is about $100 (not exact numbers but you get the drift)

Food for thought.
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I think you are right in that regard but I'll probably keep the K43s. From what I have read, the K43s help fill out the mid range better but as you said, don't go as low. I have a pair of 12 inch Martin Logan Abyss or a pair of 18 inch Cerwin-Vega CVA118 subwoofers to use so I don't think I'll need the La Scalas to fill out the low end.

Anyway, I had a listen to them and think they sound pretty good but maybe a little flat. The crossovers don't look like they have been touched so I am going to research the best option to rebuild them or upgrade them (within a reasonable price). My favorite thing about them is they are really as efficient as people say. I barely had to turn up the volume on my receiver off of 0 to get the sound I wanted. The sound is much more directional out of the horns than a traditional speaker.

I am having these in my living room/home theater so I am weigh my options on how to dress them up. The commercial audio-style paint job is pretty ugly against the rest of my antique furniture. I have access to a full wood shop, considering remaking the cabinets in 1 inch birch or mdf or just with extra bracing or going to Cornscalas.
 
CLB3 said:
WOW! Great job with the La Scalas. I hope to get that lucky one day!
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I have been more lucky than that actually. Got a pair of Genelec 8050As and some decent directional ceiling speakers for $400, a great Reel 12" sub that's $600 new for $36 and a Martin Logan Abyss subwoofer for $120 all in one sale. I love it when people running online auctions have no clue what they have. I have a few other good buys. I have yet to pay more than half of the going rate on anything besides a second Martin Logan Abyss I found for $300 (seem to be worth ~$400), but it was worth it as I wanted a pair and they are hard to come by. Besides speakers I got full refunds on off of already great deals because of damage during shipping, my favorite pick was a pair of Bose 10.2 series I with the left channel 6.2 which I assume was for spare parts, got that for $60 at Goodwill. As much as people rail on Bose, I think the 10.2 sound incredible.
 
audiodogster said:
I am having these in my living room/home theater so I am weigh my options on how to dress them up. The commercial audio-style paint job is pretty ugly against the rest of my antique furniture. I have access to a full wood shop, considering remaking the cabinets in 1 inch birch or mdf or just with extra bracing or going to Cornscalas.
Click to expand...

To preface my comment...

"If it were me"...

I'd not go the route of the Cornscala. I once heard it put (and happen to agree) that the CornScala takes the worst of the Cornwall (direct/radiator bass) and the worst of the LaScala (midrange) and merges them together.

Yes, I'm aware there are now other formats...

Keep the bass bin on the LaScala.

If you have access to a wood shop, then either fix what you have or build another and make it pretty.

Now, for the kicker.... build a top section, dump the stock midrange/tweeter horns and replace them both with the Klipsch K510 horn. It is a 2" format horn and will make those current horns sound like toys.

Furthermore, you will lose a crossover point between the midrange/tweeter so your sound will come together much better.

Downside.... it would work best with an active crossover so you'd need to biamp. (I think a passive exists but there are tradeoff's for the passive verses active)

I say above, if it were me... so you know, that is exactly what I"m doing for a center speaker. I bought a beater LaScala, I'm going to chop the top and insert the 510. For full disclosure, I'm doing it in part to better match the two K402's that are on either side and I don't have room in the center for a 402 or I would use one of those instead.

I'm here to tell you with no disrespect meant to any LaScala out there... I've owned LaScalas since I bought them new in 1979 and this 2" horn upgrade is not insignificant. To be blunt, it rather stomps all over the stock LaSCala. (I'm bashing on my own speakers so I say this with as much honesty & integrity as I have)

(picture is not mine but what I'm aiming for)

JubeScala II.JPG
 
Coytee said:
To preface my comment...

"If it were me"...

I'd not go the route of the Cornscala. I once heard it put (and happen to agree) that the CornScala takes the worst of the Cornwall (direct/radiator bass) and the worst of the LaScala (midrange) and merges them together.

Yes, I'm aware there are now other formats...

Keep the bass bin on the LaScala.

If you have access to a wood shop, then either fix what you have or build another and make it pretty.

Now, for the kicker.... build a top section, dump the stock midrange/tweeter horns and replace them both with the Klipsch K510 horn. It is a 2" format horn and will make those current horns sound like toys.

Furthermore, you will lose a crossover point between the midrange/tweeter so your sound will come together much better.

Downside.... it would work best with an active crossover so you'd need to biamp. (I think a passive exists but there are tradeoff's for the passive verses active)

I say above, if it were me... so you know, that is exactly what I"m doing for a center speaker. I bought a beater LaScala, I'm going to chop the top and insert the 510. For full disclosure, I'm doing it in part to better match the two K402's that are on either side and I don't have room in the center for a 402 or I would use one of those instead.

I'm here to tell you with no disrespect meant to any LaScala out there... I've owned LaScalas since I bought them new in 1979 and this 2" horn upgrade is not insignificant. To be blunt, it rather stomps all over the stock LaSCala. (I'm bashing on my own speakers so I say this with as much honesty & integrity as I have)

(picture is not mine but what I'm aiming for)

View attachment 784771
Click to expand...

That's to make it closer to the La Scala IIs? I am still thinking of what to do with these beasts. I hooked up my pair of Monitor Audio Studio 6 to compare and test (one had a damaged tweeter dome, wanted to know if the voice coil was messed up and it was) and I am in love with that sound more so than the La Scala. The La Scala aren't bad but I am just finding them to be more harsh than my Bose 10.2 and the Monitor Audio, especially in the upper range. My current idea is to just fix the Monitor Audio and use those for now until I can build the bass boxes for the La Scala. At that point I'll probably sell the La Scala with the upgrade to finance another set of Monitor Audio speakers and some amps or something.
 
It can take special consideration of the electronic chain to tone down pro audio designs for in home use. Horn loaded designs don't play well with all gear and rooms. They tend to shout out the faults of connected pieces.
 
audiodogster said:
That's to make it closer to the La Scala IIs?
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No. Actually, it's to take it closer to the Jubilee at a fraction of the cost.

When some home owners first bought the 2-way (actively crossed) Jubilee for home use (I was an early adopter), some dummy (ummm...that's me) asked Roy about slapping a K402 on top of a LaScala to use as a center channel.

He mulled it around, said he thought it should work. About a year later, he rolled out what some have dubbed (I dubbed it) the JubeScala.

Same downside deficiency as the LaScala since it's the bass bin but it blends well and plays in an entirely new league than the stock speaker.

If you're going to flip them, then I doubt it would be worth your time/effort.

Roy's creation at the Klipsch listening lab in Hope a number of years ago. This is the huge K402. I'm using the smaller K510, "the little horn that could"

Though I must say, the larger horn is better.


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