Horns and the challenges of Scale - Klipsch La Scala

[Fiftyfifty]

Friends,

Been spending some time with the Klipsch La Scala, and it’s made me rethink a lot about setup needs in terms of room size, placement, and amplification. Speakers like these have a presence that’s hard to ignore: dynamic, immediate, and alive. But they’re also incredibly sensitive to the room and the gear behind them!

Curious how others have approached it:

• Do La Scalas need a big room to work well?
• What kind of amps have you found they pair best with.....tubes, low wattage, high damping?
• How fussy are they about placement and toe-in in your experience?
• And do you love that horn sound… or find it a bit overwhelming?

If you’ve lived with horns or even just heard them in a well-set-up system, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

These are big ones




Cheers!

 

[prem]

You shouldn’t raise La Scalas. They should be on the floor. Ideally no air gap between floor and the speaker base.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

You shouldn’t raise La Scalas. They should be on the floor.

Yeah, that's true of many of my speakers. But I'll need to employ a couple of muscle men!

 

[prem]

It’s especially true for speakers using front loading bass horn. Your other speakers won’t be so affected. In Klipsch the floor acts as extension of the bass horn.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

It’s especially true for speakers using front loading bass horn. Your other speakers won’t be so affected. In Klipsch the floor acts as extension of the bass horn.

Thanks Prem! Will definitely try placing them on the floor when i have some help around. I wish i could keep them in one place permanently, but they also interfere the most with the sound of other speakers just by being in the same room.

 

[prem]

I can understand. Try them once directly on floor. See if you like it better. After that pack them and keep them aside for a prospective buyer

 

[reignofchaos]

Beautiful! Aren't La Scalas designed to be placed in the corner?

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Beautiful! Aren't La Scalas designed to be placed in the corner?

Thanks @reignofchaos . As far as i know, it's the Klipschhorns that are designed to be placed in the corners. I believe all other klipschs are best placed slightly away from corners and walls

 

[muralimmreddy]

Sharing my observations of owning la scala's over last 6 months

Curious how others have approached it:

• Do La Scalas need a big room to work well?

I think they shine when given 15 feet separation (as recommended minimum distance) and listening at moderate to high SPL.

But i also listened in small 10x12 ish room in intimate near-field setup with low volume listening, still very good, but can not match my earlier Ls3/5a (falcon acoustic gold badge)

• What kind of amps have you found they pair best with.....tubes, low wattage, high damping?

I tried tube el34, 300b, El84 SET amps, and monster 450W solid state amp (though all with <20-30 damping factor), from what i can hear they just need clean signal. Extremely revealing of the components, cables etc

• How fussy are they about placement and toe-in in your experience?

Not so fussy, but very flexible IMO, you can place them in corners to boost low end. But i am not particular of imaging, sound stage, layering etc, good tone, timbre and live presentation is good enough for me.

• And do you love that horn sound… or find it a bit overwhelming?

If you’ve lived with horns or even just heard them in a well-set-up system, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Heard avantgarde mezzo, uno, and acapella's they are exceptional, but Klipsch heritage series is more accessible.

La scala Horn woofer is the biggest difficult thing for me to adjust initially, regular speakers low-end sounded bloated and not-truthful to me after listening to horn woofer. My only issue with la scala's is i wish it went down to 40's to be perfect.

 

[prem]

I have never heard La Scala but it’s a speaker I had wanted to own at one point of time. Later I realised my room is not big enough for La Scala. From whatever I have read, i honestly feel La Scala needs a sub for the lower end

 

[muralimmreddy]

I can understand. Try them once directly on floor. See if you like it better. After that pack them and keep them aside for a prospective buyer

Paul W. Klipsch 8 cardinal rules​

Paul W. Klipsch’s Eight Cardinal Points to Sound Reproduction | In Sheeps Clothing

Essential tips from Paul W. Klipsch featured in a vintage brochure. Klipsch loudspeakers are the next best thing to original sound. It’s like being there. Klipsch loudspeaker systems, throughout their extended range - more than the human ear can hear - respond with definition of tone and...

insheepsclothinghifi.com

5. Freedom from cavities​

Keep speakers on solid ground. Mounted on legs, the space under the speaker can destroy the bottom octave of response and deteriorate the next two octaves.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Sharing my observations of owning la scala's over last 6 months

Hey!

Thank you for sharing your insights. They closely match my own observations.

Yes, the La Scalas scale beautifully and would sound their best in a large room. Obviously, not many of us can afford them a separation of 15' but to be fair, even 8' between them is good enough to provide a great soundstage with an overall cohesive sound. More tricky for me was the distance from the front wall, and I had to move these 90kg boxes back and forth quite a bit, which was so much more of a challenge after Prem's advice to place them directly on the floor.
Incidentally, removing the platforms from under the speakers and placing them on the floor made a huge difference, and so did adding a REL T9i that I had.
For amplification, I find that the lower one goes in amp power, the better the La Scalas sound. I am tempted to try them with the 1 wpc LTA mz2 or something similar. But what is impressive is that with almost every amplifier, they have that smooth yet natural presentation. And I really wonder what makes them sound so live. On more than one occasion, I've looked up from my laptop to check the source of a tap or a bell in the room, only to realise that it is part of a song playing on the speakers.

Look forward to more insights from others!

 

[caspian1985]

Sharing my observations of owning la scala's over last 6 months



I think they shine when given 15 feet separation (as recommended minimum distance) and listening at moderate to high SPL.

But i also listened in small 10x12 ish room in intimate near-field setup with low volume listening, still very good, but can not match my earlier Ls3/5a (falcon acoustic gold badge)


View attachment 90997

I tried tube el34, 300b, El84 SET amps, and monster 450W solid state amp (though all with <20-30 damping factor), from what i can hear they just need clean signal. Extremely revealing of the components, cables etc



Not so fussy, but very flexible IMO, you can place them in corners to boost low end. But i am not particular of imaging, sound stage, layering etc, good tone, timbre and live presentation is good enough for me.

Heard avantgarde mezzo, uno, and acapella's they are exceptional, but Klipsch heritage series is more accessible.

La scala Horn woofer is the biggest difficult thing for me to adjust initially, regular speakers low-end sounded bloated and not-truthful to me after listening to horn woofer. My only issue with la scala's is i wish it went down to 40's to be perfect.

Klipsch announced the newest version of the La Scalas last month. From what I can tell the 3 major changes are to the mid range horn, they go down to 40 odd Hz now, and they have an optional active crossover

 

[Beast_of_burden]

Hey!

Thank you for sharing your insights. They closely match my own observations.

Yes, the La Scalas scale beautifully and would sound their best in a large room. Obviously, not many of us can afford them a separation of 15' but to be fair, even 8' between them is good enough to provide a great soundstage with an overall cohesive sound. More tricky for me was the distance from the front wall, and I had to move these 90kg boxes back and forth quite a bit, which was so much more of a challenge after Prem's advice to place them directly on the floor.
Incidentally, removing the platforms from under the speakers and placing them on the floor made a huge difference, and so did adding a REL T9i that I had.
For amplification, I find that the lower one goes in amp power, the better the La Scalas sound. I am tempted to try them with the 1 wpc LTA mz2 or something similar. But what is impressive is that with almost every amplifier, they have that smooth yet natural presentation. And I really wonder what makes them sound so live. On more than one occasion, I've looked up from my laptop to check the source of a tap or a bell in the room, only to realise that it is part of a song playing on the speakers.

Look forward to more insights from others!

First, allow me to congratulate you for simply having the privelege of experiencing these speakers, it’s my “maybe someday” speaker.

A quiet 2A3 is what klipsch speakers need, emphasis on quiet because AC hum can sound like a jack hammer through these things. I’ve been addicted to klipsch and 2a3 for more than 20 years now, not the heritage klipsch speakers but the RB and RF series. 300B can’t seem to play my RF3 better than a 2A3, atleast that’s been my experience. Very different presentation.

Low power SS class A with which I have no experience, such as the Sugden or firstwatt might work.

 

[arj]

the the point of @muralimmreddy on comparison with the falcon is also right

Horns are not for midrange tonal richness which Ls3/5a speakers excel in. Horns give transparency , macro and micro dynamics like no other. s they need space to sound coherant

A kishore kumar will sound more richer in with the falcon and the speaker adds a warmth. It will more open and large with the horns. and both will sound intimate any warmth is dependent on the amp and not the speakers

So in the end its about what presentation you like

First, allow me to congratulate you for simply having the privelege of experiencing these speakers, it’s my “maybe someday” speaker.

A quiet 2A3 is what klipsch speakers need, emphasis on quiet because AC hum can sound like a jack hammer through these things. I’ve been addicted to klipsch and 2a3 for more than 20 years now, not the heritage klipsch speakers but the RB and RF series. 300B can’t seem to play my RF3 better than a 2A3, atleast that’s been my experience. Very different presentation.

Low power SS class A with which I have no experience, such as the Sugden or firstwatt might work.

The Heritage is very different from the Ref. I have owned the Ref3s 2 decades ago they are more agressive sounding than the heritage but can really boogie and very dependent in the amplifier for sound