Pondering a pair of Klipsch La Scalas

Get em !!!

Some things I have noticed about the La Scala ...

Need a fair sized room

Can be a tiny bit bright

Low end can be a bit lacking (add a small sub)

My brother and I at one point had three pairs running in one house. I loved my La Scalas - I miss them often. I have no doubts I will run a Heritage set again in the future probably K-horns.

Like a lot of horn speakers I think they like room to breath - my brother ran a Nakamichi AV 10 receiver in a fairly big room and it would blow your mind. Steely Dan Aja was out demo CD and I think that’s as close as I have come to being totally blown away. Loud .. sure, but crystal clear and dead-on sharp. Anything with a horn section was just incredible. We ran a small sub with them that was turned down to add just a little low end punch.

I'm running a Levinson 23.5 now and Paradigm Signature S4's with a 12" Seismic sub - a hell of a lot more money and I can’t come close to doing what that little receiver did for volume and dynamics. I love my setup now but I wish I would have run tubes through the La Scalas just once. I don’t think I would have looked back.

I have heard time and time again Mac gear is a GREAT match and I believe it. If you like Jazz ... Blues ... Rock - I challenge you to try them and NOT love em.

hi,

" Wow this gives me too much to think about... Space is definite ly a consideration. I was a little worried about how to tuck the La Scalas into the room, much less the K horns. Is there a smaller package that will deliver equal quality?
Snakenuckles "

I have the original Fortes and Cornwalls. Both are great speakers. The Fortes are used with a Cary SLI-80 and the Cornwalls with Wright Sound Labs 2A3 set amps.

The Fortes are smaller but go lower ( 30hz vs 35hz). I like the Cornwalls more, they have a bigger soundstage and better mids and highs. I updated the crossovers in the Cornwalls and dampened the midhorns with roap caulking.

I've listened to a lot of highend speakers and thus far have found nothing I like better.

A lot of info is available on the Klipsch 2 channel forums

good listening

Larry

I owned a pair with McIntosh amps. First, you better have a BIG ROOM. They blew me out of a 18' x 25' room. Secondly, they are bright. These were initially designed as PA speakers. I believe they are more industrial than home use IMHO. I think there are better choices in the Klipsch line for music, those being Chorus or Cornwall for starters. I like Klipsch, but couldn't get the La Scalas out the door fast enough. They now reside in a renovated movie theater where they are better suited.

If you want a smaller Klipsch package, though they are still fairly big at 100 pounds each, I would reccommend listening to a pair of Klipsch Epics CF3's. They have impactful tight bass below 30Hz are 100dB efficient and can hit like a concert monitor if you crank them. They are a lot of fun!

The Klipschorns actually take up less room than any of the smaller models. We're using them in a room approximately 15' square, and we are hardly blown out of the room when running either the 4W SET or 200W SS amps. Yes, these speakers can be heinously bright if you don't do the mods, or pair them up with the wrong amp, use a mediocre source, and don't treat the room acoustically. The worst offender for us in terms of brightness and tonal abrasion (like that term?) was the stock internal wiring. When I went to silver, the high frequencies becaume much cleaner. No more smearing of the piano or sax. Man, that was giving me a headache!

How big is your room, Snakenuckles? And what CD player/TT are you using? Also, are you prepared to follow my lead into the land of $1500 speaker cables and interconnects? Because if you're gonna go this route, you've got to feed your little MacKlipsches only the best nutrition. Only kidding, here. Put your wallet back, Snake. Go on, put it away.

Marco, since attenuating the horn up a couple of notches, I look forward to getting your take on the midrange now. Be prepared to have your ears tickled. Close your eyes, and you won't be able to tell if it's the vocalist, or maybe just a frisky Jack Russell who thinks of his tongue as a Q-tip. And do bring the Sawzall....along with a big dumpster. We must get rid of any evidence.