Klipsch La Scala Dilemma

I would take the La Scalas and don't look back. Since it didn't cost me anything, I wouldn't sell either. Man, I wish this would happen to me but only if I owned Harbeth's. I'll quote Jack Handy (and I'm not this type of person, but in your situation........) Jack Handy quote - "I hope that when I die, people say about me, 'Boy, that guy sure owed me a lot of money".

I found the dynamics of the Lascala's illuminating and intense and energizing and wonderful, for a time. However, it proved too much of a good thing over time. I never tried them with tubes, though, and maybe I should have. I also never really had them in a space where they really had the room they need. Most of my critical listening was in a 12X13ish space with one side wall opening to a kitchen space of smaller dimension, although I did have them in a 20X15 space for a time, but with lesser electronics. I do admit to being curious what they would sound like with my current electronics, many times more expensive and better quality than anything I had when I owned the Lascalas.

Good luck with your decision. I do agree with others it would be best for you to hear the Lascalas for yourself before making a decision, but if there are other personal considerations and pressures, it may not be the best situation for experimenting with your acoustic tastes.

La Scala's have the unique quality of a fine aged wine, only a connoisseur can appreciate them.

I agree that a 12X13 room is way too small for K-Horns, La Scala, or Cornwalls, for that matter, and marginal even for the Heresy. if for no other reason than its simply not long enough to allow generation of LF wavelengths (40 Hz has a wavelength of 28 ft so the room needs a 14 ft wall just to support a 1/2 wave) and more subjectively, horn mids in my experience need a good 15 to 20 feet to keep from being literally 'in your face'.

My first serious exposure to K-horns was in a smaller room, where they were driven by a big Pioneer receiver. They sounded ragged and hard at every level and the mids were simply too much. Visiting a couple years later, The horns had been replaced with Heresies, and the system seemed much more relaxed. The owner just shrugged his shoulders "These just work better in here." 

He sold his K-horns to a friend with a huge bonus room. It was the only time I ever heard K-horns sound 'right'. The room was about 16 X 30+ feet long, and the couch was set about 20 feet back. They were driven by an old McIntosh MC240 tube amp, and they sounded glorious - open and dynamic. Listening at live sound levels (upwards of 100 dBa) the system was not sounding stressed, as there was still a good 15-20 dB headroom left. 

Full disclosure - The K-horns were Speakerlab clones (using the same Electrovoice Mids and T-3500 tweeter as Klipsch used at the time) and built by a Boeing engineer 'to aerospace standards' which included 11-ply Baltic birch plywood, stainless screws, epoxy glue, upgraded caps and resistors in the crossovers, T-nut threaded inserts for driver mounting and some extra bracing to reduce panel resonance. The tops and front panel holding the mids and tweeter were Corian. I don't think a better executed K-Horn exists. The Heresies were stock, except the crossovers which were upgraded to Sprague 'Orange Drop' capacitors.

10 year old thread. Please try harder when you Internet...............