Color me puzzled. The Klipsch La Scalas sound bloody marvelous!

[godofwealth]

For 30+ years, I stayed away from horn loudspeakers, no small part due to the biased opinions of many reviewers in Stereophile, TAS, etc. I largely stuck to Quad electrostatic, Harbeth, Spendor and similar loudspeakers with an occasional foray into dynamic speakers like the B&W 800Ds. I am now in my early 60s and less inclined to trust “expert” opinions and willing to trust what I hear for myself. I’m also realizing post pandemic that life is too short. Sometimes you’ve got to take that bold plunge into the unknown.

So, I broke with my past tradition, ignored “audiophile” expert opinions, and bought my first pair of horn loudspeakers, a pair of Klipsch La Scalas. Set them up yesterday with the help of my not-too-happy-but-willing-to-put-up-with-a-crazy-60+-year-old wife, who was none too thrilled about schlepping a pair of 200 pound behemoths from my garage to my adjacent listening room.

Well, the La Scalas sound bloody marvelous, to use a Brit phrase. I’m driving them with a pair of Dennis Had’s wonderful Cary 300B SET monoblocks, which use one Western Electric 300B tube per channel to produce about 8 watts. They can drive the La Scalas to frightening levels. But I listen at moderate volumes. The rest of the chain is a CEC TL0 belt drive CD transport, a Lampizator Pacific DAC with KR 242 tubes, a Lampizator DasKomputer server, and an Audio Research Reference 3 preamp.

I always listen to choral music to judge coloration in a loudspeaker. Madetoja’s magnificent choral music sung by the 100+ year old Helsinki University Chorus is playing now. Absolutely gorgeous sound of a large group of male voices that is pouring into my listening room, transporting me thousands of miles away to a recording venue in Finland where this CD was recorded. Stunning dynamics from soft to loud. No hint of compression. No brightness or horn coloration that I, a grizzled audiophile of 35+ years trained on Quads and Harbeth’s can detect. But unlike those wonderful Brit models, the La Scala does not compress or sound harsh at any volume. When the singers go loud, you hear the hundred+ voices in unison moving real air. Arvo Part‘s magnificent choral music streamed in high resolution on Qobuz was equally transfixing. The speakers disappeared, quite a feat for such large refrigerator sized behemoths.

Dave Brubeck’s Time Further Out was a revelation. The drum kit sounded spookily real. No stat compression here. It goes from 0 to 90+ dB instantly and louder still if I risk my hearing. The funky track where they clap the weird beat that Brubeck always liked sounded like real people clapping in the room with me.

Early days, I know, but I know enough to realize I’ve been a fool these past few decades to trust “expert” opinion. Nothing matters but your own. These are true American classics, made for 60+ years, and the latest versions sound hugely better than ancient pairs you may have heard at flea markets. The build quality is stunning and the woodwork is gorgeous. The speaker binding posts are very high quality.

I paid ten grand for these. A steal. There are teensy weensy bookshelf audiophile models that sell for more. Yes, they weigh close to 200 pounds each. You need some room. A very good tube amplifier, and matching front end. But these are true classics. Long may the House of Klipsch prevail. As the cartons put it, “Keepers of the Sound”. Well put. Refusing to succumb to the audiophile fashion of teensy weensy slim profile loudspeakers, the La Scalas inhabit their own universe. Try them out. You might be surprised.

 

[Don Reid]

I've heard many Klipsch speakers and even owned the big Klipschorns for a while years ago. The LaScala is my favorite Klipsch speaker. It shares with the Klipschorns the advantage of being fully horn loaded, but it is not limited to being placed in the corners where the mids and highs fail to image as well as would be the case if they were out in the room.

 

[Sablon Audio]

A good friend heard them at a recent UK show and spoke highly of them also.

 

[ddk]

For 30+ years, I stayed away from horn loudspeakers, no small part due to the biased opinions of many reviewers in Stereophile, TAS, etc. I largely stuck to Quad electrostatic, Harbeth, Spendor and similar loudspeakers with an occasional foray into dynamic speakers like the B&W 800Ds. I am now in my early 60s and less inclined to trust “expert” opinions and willing to trust what I hear for myself. I’m also realizing post pandemic that life is too short. Sometimes you’ve got to take that bold plunge into the unknown.

So, I broke with my past tradition, ignored “audiophile” expert opinions, and bought my first pair of horn loudspeakers, a pair of Klipsch La Scalas. Set them up yesterday with the help of my not-too-happy-but-willing-to-put-up-with-a-crazy-60+-year-old wife, who was none too thrilled about schlepping a pair of 200 pound behemoths from my garage to my adjacent listening room.

Well, the La Scalas sound bloody marvelous, to use a Brit phrase. I’m driving them with a pair of Dennis Had’s wonderful Cary 300B SET monoblocks, which use one Western Electric 300B tube per channel to produce about 8 watts. They can drive the La Scalas to frightening levels. But I listen at moderate volumes. The rest of the chain is a CEC TL0 belt drive CD transport, a Lampizator Pacific DAC with KR 242 tubes, a Lampizator DasKomputer server, and an Audio Research Reference 3 preamp.

I always listen to choral music to judge coloration in a loudspeaker. Madetoja’s magnificent choral music sung by the 100+ year old Helsinki University Chorus is playing now. Absolutely gorgeous sound of a large group of male voices that is pouring into my listening room, transporting me thousands of miles away to a recording venue in Finland where this CD was recorded. Stunning dynamics from soft to loud. No hint of compression. No brightness or horn coloration that I, a grizzled audiophile of 35+ years trained on Quads and Harbeth’s can detect. But unlike those wonderful Brit models, the La Scala does not compress or sound harsh at any volume. When the singers go loud, you hear the hundred+ voices in unison moving real air. Arvo Part‘s magnificent choral music streamed in high resolution on Qobuz was equally transfixing. The speakers disappeared, quite a feat for such large refrigerator sized behemoths.

Dave Brubeck’s Time Further Out was a revelation. The drum kit sounded spookily real. No stat compression here. It goes from 0 to 90+ dB instantly and louder still if I risk my hearing. The funky track where they clap the weird beat that Brubeck always liked sounded like real people clapping in the room with me.

Early days, I know, but I know enough to realize I’ve been a fool these past few decades to trust “expert” opinion. Nothing matters but your own. These are true American classics, made for 60+ years, and the latest versions sound hugely better than ancient pairs you may have heard at flea markets. The build quality is stunning and the woodwork is gorgeous. The speaker binding posts are very high quality.

I paid ten grand for these. A steal. There are teensy weensy bookshelf audiophile models that sell for more. Yes, they weigh close to 200 pounds each. You need some room. A very good tube amplifier, and matching front end. But these are true classics. Long may the House of Klipsch prevail. As the cartons put it, “Keepers of the Sound”. Well put. Refusing to succumb to the audiophile fashion of teensy weensy slim profile loudspeakers, the La Scalas inhabit their own universe. Try them out. You might be surprised.

View attachment 97289

Good to see others find joy with horns, nice discovery!

david

 

[Gregadd]

I'ts just easier to make a good horn speaker.

 

[godofwealth]

Hi Fi News did a nice review of the AL5 La Scala model about 3 years ago. The reviewer did a stellar analysis of describing its sound.

Klipsch La Scala AL5 Loudspeaker

Producing monumental SPLs from next-to-no-power, this refreshed American behemoth is no brick in the PA wall. Prepare to be stunned by the La Scala's scintillating sound... Efficiency, sensitivity and coverage pattern – all attributes that are hard to beat,' says Klipsch's Principal Engineer Roy...

www.hifinews.com

‘Downsides? Well, this loudspeaker proved rather tricky to criticise, particularly as its sound performance readily exceeded my expectations of the design's original 'auditorium' remit. Sure enough, it's not the sort of loudspeaker you can slump back on the sofa with, as you nod off to your favourite cocktail jazz playlist. Instead, it exists to deliver a vivid and visceral rendition of any recording you care to throw at it – and this the big Klipsch does brilliantly.”

They also did measurements, which they described as challenging. As usual, horn loudspeakers are not the flattest measuring, but here’s the real insight into what makes the La Scalas special. Look at the distortion measurements. At 90 dB, the distortion is around 0.1-0.2% across the entire audio band from 100 Hz to 10 kHz. . Take the most expensive pro JBL speaker on the planet, like the JBL M2 or even the huge Everest 6700s that sell for 8 times the price of the La Scalas. They have distortion measurements that are hugely worse by 30-40 dB. Audiophile speakers? Except for Quads, which match the distortion of the La Scalas, but not at 90 dB, but lower volumes, the rest of the you-know-the-models-I’m-referring-to all have terrible distortion performances. It’s no wonder Stereophile never reports on distortion measurements. They all look so dreadful.

Klipsch La Scala AL5 Loudspeaker Lab Report

Lab Report Measuring a horn speaker such as the La Scala AL5 using a quasi-anechoic, time-windowed technique is complicated by the time delays associated with the path lengths through the midrange and bass horns. If the measured impulse response is windowed to remove the first (floor) reflection...

www.hifinews.com

 

[morricab]

For 30+ years, I stayed away from horn loudspeakers, no small part due to the biased opinions of many reviewers in Stereophile, TAS, etc. I largely stuck to Quad electrostatic, Harbeth, Spendor and similar loudspeakers with an occasional foray into dynamic speakers like the B&W 800Ds. I am now in my early 60s and less inclined to trust “expert” opinions and willing to trust what I hear for myself. I’m also realizing post pandemic that life is too short. Sometimes you’ve got to take that bold plunge into the unknown.

So, I broke with my past tradition, ignored “audiophile” expert opinions, and bought my first pair of horn loudspeakers, a pair of Klipsch La Scalas. Set them up yesterday with the help of my not-too-happy-but-willing-to-put-up-with-a-crazy-60+-year-old wife, who was none too thrilled about schlepping a pair of 200 pound behemoths from my garage to my adjacent listening room.

Well, the La Scalas sound bloody marvelous, to use a Brit phrase. I’m driving them with a pair of Dennis Had’s wonderful Cary 300B SET monoblocks, which use one Western Electric 300B tube per channel to produce about 8 watts. They can drive the La Scalas to frightening levels. But I listen at moderate volumes. The rest of the chain is a CEC TL0 belt drive CD transport, a Lampizator Pacific DAC with KR 242 tubes, a Lampizator DasKomputer server, and an Audio Research Reference 3 preamp.

I always listen to choral music to judge coloration in a loudspeaker. Madetoja’s magnificent choral music sung by the 100+ year old Helsinki University Chorus is playing now. Absolutely gorgeous sound of a large group of male voices that is pouring into my listening room, transporting me thousands of miles away to a recording venue in Finland where this CD was recorded. Stunning dynamics from soft to loud. No hint of compression. No brightness or horn coloration that I, a grizzled audiophile of 35+ years trained on Quads and Harbeth’s can detect. But unlike those wonderful Brit models, the La Scala does not compress or sound harsh at any volume. When the singers go loud, you hear the hundred+ voices in unison moving real air. Arvo Part‘s magnificent choral music streamed in high resolution on Qobuz was equally transfixing. The speakers disappeared, quite a feat for such large refrigerator sized behemoths.

Dave Brubeck’s Time Further Out was a revelation. The drum kit sounded spookily real. No stat compression here. It goes from 0 to 90+ dB instantly and louder still if I risk my hearing. The funky track where they clap the weird beat that Brubeck always liked sounded like real people clapping in the room with me.

Early days, I know, but I know enough to realize I’ve been a fool these past few decades to trust “expert” opinion. Nothing matters but your own. These are true American classics, made for 60+ years, and the latest versions sound hugely better than ancient pairs you may have heard at flea markets. The build quality is stunning and the woodwork is gorgeous. The speaker binding posts are very high quality.

I paid ten grand for these. A steal. There are teensy weensy bookshelf audiophile models that sell for more. Yes, they weigh close to 200 pounds each. You need some room. A very good tube amplifier, and matching front end. But these are true classics. Long may the House of Klipsch prevail. As the cartons put it, “Keepers of the Sound”. Well put. Refusing to succumb to the audiophile fashion of teensy weensy slim profile loudspeakers, the La Scalas inhabit their own universe. Try them out. You might be surprised.

View attachment 97289

Had a pair back in college...best party speakers ever! As good as they are, there are even better horns out there, so maybe not the end for you.

 

[Al M.]

Had a pair back in college...best party speakers ever! As good as they are, there are even better horns out there, so maybe not the end for you.

What do you think are the shortcomings?

 

[morricab]

What do you think are the shortcomings?

Horn colorations primarily and the bass extension is fairly limited.

 

[godofwealth]

Had a pair back in college...best party speakers ever! As good as they are, there are even better horns out there, so maybe not the end for you.

Yes, there are plenty of horn designs, but other than the Klipschorn, I doubt I would be interested in any of them. They are mostly all based on bad science and even worse engineering. I don't want to make a sweeping generalization, but a lot of what I see even from marquee brands like JBL strike me as silly. They seem to have forgotten basic physics.

I find designs like Avante-Garde and JBL that marry a conventional sub with a horn midrange/tweeter a bit silly. The whole point of the La Scala and KHorn design is to achieve low distortion of around 0.1% throughout the frequency spectrum, even at really concert level volumes. That’s very hard for even the most expensive $100K JBL and other standard designs to achieve. If you use a conventional bass unit, you settle for 10% harmonic distortion in the bass frequencies — see the measurements of JBL and Revel designs on audioscience.com. They coo over a loudspeaker if it manages to get -40dB distortion in the bass. Meanwhile, the La Scalas effortlessly manage -70dB distortion in the bass. That’s the secret to why this design is unmatched even today. Take a look at the measurements below of the JBL 4367, which was raved about on Stereophile, audioscience.com and Erin’s Audio Corner (from which this measurement was taken). A conventionally loaded 15” bass driver with a midrange/tweeter horn. A really stupid idea. This curve below shows why. The La Scalas have about 30 dB lower distortion in the bass. That’s huge. That’s why Paul Klipsch‘s designs remain unmatched.

Paul Klipsch was a genius. He knew what he was doing 70 years ago. He was the Peter Walker of the horn world. Solid science. Strict adherence to a clear vision. The only way to ensure low distortion in the bass is to horn load the bass driver. That’s why the La Scalas sound so good to my ears. They don’t have this slow as molasses one note bass sound that cripples so many dynamic moving coils, like my Harbeth’s that sound so lethargic. With the La Scalas, the bass notes are quick, and as fast as reality. There is no deep bass, but other than the need to reproduce a pipe organ, which you cannot do in a living room anyway, I find the bass of the La Scalas perfectly adequate. I do have a pair of massive REL G1 Mk2 subs in my room that I haven’t hooked up yet. If I feel like adding some 10% harmonic distortion in the low bass, I might just do that.

I’m glad to see that Roy Delgado, principal engineer at Klipsch, remains steadfast to these principles. Here’s a quote from the Hi Fi News review of the La Scalas. This is how engineers with a clear vision should think. A rare commodity in todays audio world.

“'There are always incremental improvements to be made with our loudspeakers,' says Klipsch's Principal Engineer Roy Delgado. 'The acoustic horn and compression driver are always up for review. For me, a properly designed horn has the same goal as an amplifier – both should act like wire with gain – so a horn is essentially an acoustic amplifier. Therefore as the efficiency of the system increases, it moves more precisely in relation to changes in amplitude, and is thus more faithful to the input signal.”

 

[DasguteOhr]

you either love klipsch speaker or hate them. i love her kick ass sound music is never boring with this .she can also play the soft tones very emotionally.

P.S
If you want a slightly softer sound, you need to dampen the tweeter horn. Glue to the back of the case with blu tack knead
don't panic, you can remove it without leaving any residue

 

[godofwealth]

Not a problem with the latest AL5 La Scalas. I hear no brightness unless it’s in the recording. Of course, I’m using a very high quality tube front end. I suspect if you fed the La Scala garden variety solid state D/As and amplification, you’d get different results. That’s the beauty of this design. All I need is one 300B Western Electric power tube producing 6-8 watts to generate an insane volume. Even 1 watt should be plenty. I might try a softer 45 tube based design that Glow in the Dark Audio sells. No need for Krells or McIntosh boat anchor amplification.

 

[Jägerst.]

Owned a pair of Simon Mears Audio Uccello's until recently. They're an homage to the Klipsch Belle, meaning essentially the same bass horn but everything else is different/better; from drivers to cross-overs and overall construction quality. Lovely speakers, but the bass horn is really too small (and the same therefore goes for the La Scala's), and you hear this especially at elevated SPL's in the upper bass area. The Khorns are better in this regard with their larger bass horn section, but issues - although less outspoken - still persist here. Also the latest version of the Khorns (haven't heard the prior ones) are too tipped up and somewhat coarse sounding in the upper octaves. A mixture of the Uccello's mids + tweeter with the bass section of the Khorns would be an intriguing blend.

Not in any way to bash the OP's experience of the La Scala's. I deeply cherished my Uccello's with their mids to die for, commendable coherency and an extremely tuneful bass. I miss them..

EDIT: to reiterate, the "horn colorations" found in the Uccello's were from the bass horn only (as described). The stacked plywood Tractrix midrange horn + B&C DCM50 compression driver (a "modernized," permanent neo magnet version of RCA's MI-1428B field coil driver) was downright awesome sounding.

 

[PeterA]

godofwealth, I enjoyed reading your opening post. Congratulations on your new horn speakers. I have a pair of corner horns which I bought when turning 60. They are an excellent approach to music making. I can relate to your enthusiasm.

 

[godofwealth]

Thanks. Just got a pair of Triode Labs 45M SET monoblocks. They use a single 45 triode per channel to produce 2 watts or so. They sound quite amazing with the La Scalas. Never realized 2 watts could sound so powerful!

 

[godofwealth]

Thanks. Just got a pair of Triode Labs 45M SET monoblocks. They use a single 45 triode per channel to produce 2 watts or so. They sound quite amazing with the La Scalas. Never realized 2 watts could sound so powerful!

View attachment 99271

I have spent the last week listening to these magnificent triode monoblocks on my La Scalas. They sound stunning to say the least. Who could have guessed that a 2 watt amplifier could sound so entrancing. But that’s the beauty of the La Scala design. It’s so efficient you can drive it with something as low powered as a 2 watt amplifier. Just finished listening to a magnificent recording of Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil, his choral masterpiece composed in 1915 in just two weeks! It is recorded by none other than the brilliant Keith Johnson on Reference Recordings. The original 45 rpm album is unobtanium. But the version I listened to is the 24-bit 176.4 kHZ streaming version on Qobuz, and it sounds fabulous. I’ve ordered the surround sound SACD version from Amazon.

 

[adrianywu]

I am puzzled by the talk of horn coloration etc. It is kind of like taking the worst case of a dynamic speaker, or electrostatic design etc. and generalizing it to the rest of the genre. I have owned the Quad ESL for many years, and I am using horns with field coil drivers. I also part owned a pair of Living Voice VOX Olympians with the bass horn subs. In both cases, the speakers sound as open and low distortion as the Quads. By measurement, the distortion is as low as the stats, and an order of magnitude lower than the typical dynamic speaker. The greatest difference is in dynamics. The horns have seemingly unlimited dynamic expansion without any compression. The transients are also lightening fast and the sound is highly transparent.

 

[morricab]

I am puzzled by the talk of horn coloration etc. It is kind of like taking the worst case of a dynamic speaker, or electrostatic design etc. and generalizing it to the rest of the genre. I have owned the Quad ESL for many years, and I am using horns with field coil drivers. I also part owned a pair of Living Voice VOX Olympians with the bass horn subs. In both cases, the speakers sound as open and low distortion as the Quads. By measurement, the distortion is as low as the stats, and an order of magnitude lower than the typical dynamic speaker. The greatest difference is in dynamics. The horns have seemingly unlimited dynamic expansion without any compression. The transients are also lightening fast and the sound is highly transparent.

I was referring specifically to Klipsch La Scalas, which I owned in college. The horns I have now don’t have these colorations.

 

[godofwealth]

I was referring specifically to Klipsch La Scalas, which I owned in college. The horns I have now don’t have these colorations.

Keep in mind that both source and electronics have greatly improved over the past 6 decades since the La Scalas were designed. Paul Klipsch once famously said what the world needed was a good 5 watt amplifier. All you read about these days is mega watt transistor and tube models. Simplicity is a lost virtue. I run my La Scalas with two different SET amplifiers, one produces 6 watts per channel with one Western Electric 300B, the other produces 2 watts per channel with one NOS 45 tube. Both sound glorious in different ways, but either produces ample volumes in my large 6000 cubic feet listening room.

 

[morricab]

Keep in mind that both source and electronics have greatly improved over the past 6 decades since the La Scalas were designed. Paul Klipsch once famously said what the world needed was a good 5 watt amplifier. All you read about these days is mega watt transistor and tube models. Simplicity is a lost virtue. I run my La Scalas with two different SET amplifiers, one produces 6 watts per channel with one Western Electric 300B, the other produces 2 watts per channel with one NOS 45 tube. Both sound glorious in different ways, but either produces ample volumes in my large 6000 cubic feet listening room.

I heard the latest version recently and they still sound somewhat colored.