Tin
Club Member
Back a couple of weeks ago, Marc (marc@autolavish) picked up a pair of the venerable Klipsch La Scalas, or Maytags as I call them, because theyre the side of washing machines. Marc contacted me, as he felt something sounded off on them, as if there was no bass, leaving him with a bad taste of a famous speaker. I told Marc the crossovers were probably shot, so he ended up bringing them to me last night to take some measurements. These crossovers are over 30 years old, and use large motor run capacitors. Motor runs are cheap and plentiful, but not really suited to audio use. Manufacturers have to meet a price point, the first thing to suffer is always the crossover. Upon taking measurements, I noted the large 13uF caps, that cross over the woofer to the mid-horn, were way out of spec, definitely in need of replacement. One of the tweeter caps was also bad on one unit. One thing I didnt do when Marc was here last night, but did this morning, was check the mid caps for continuity. I noticed last night I had a hard time getting a reading, and decided to check em over again and found that I had difficulty getting a reading. The transformers on the crossover will be reused, as they dont go bad like capacitors, but everything else will go. We didnt go crazy on the caps, just ordered some Dayton poly caps for the tweeters and Solen Fastcaps for the mids. All in all, about $25 worth of parts. Afterwards, they should be better than new, but retain the factory specifications.
Here are the culprits Im dealing with. Once these work, Ill see if Marc would want to change over to Soviet oil capacitors, as theyll take the fire out of the tweeter and give a spacey sound signature.
Here are the speakers, originally designed for the gubernatorial campaign race of Winthrop Rockefeller, to be used as PA speakers. Well, he lost the race, but many decided they wanted the La Scala for their living room...a legend is born. Theyve been in continuous production since 1963...retailing for $7000 per pair these days. Pricey, but way worth it when working correctly.
Once these crossovers are reworked, I think Marc will be astounded by the sound. Marc, it was cool hanging out...glad you liked my system. It looked to me that was the first time you experienced music, not just listened to it :lol:
Here are the culprits Im dealing with. Once these work, Ill see if Marc would want to change over to Soviet oil capacitors, as theyll take the fire out of the tweeter and give a spacey sound signature.
Here are the speakers, originally designed for the gubernatorial campaign race of Winthrop Rockefeller, to be used as PA speakers. Well, he lost the race, but many decided they wanted the La Scala for their living room...a legend is born. Theyve been in continuous production since 1963...retailing for $7000 per pair these days. Pricey, but way worth it when working correctly.
Once these crossovers are reworked, I think Marc will be astounded by the sound. Marc, it was cool hanging out...glad you liked my system. It looked to me that was the first time you experienced music, not just listened to it :lol:
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