Clean sound - no hiss

Sub-woofing - but if you want this feature, go buy a Klipsch sub-woofer

Another fellow and I have a sound company and are currently using 8 La Scalas as the main platform to do all the shows. Fact is, all the speaker we use are Klipsch (vintage heresy wedge floor monitors - KP320's, KP201's) powered exclusively by QSC Amps (although I've also used a crown amp on mine).

We do acoustic music shows and find these speakers to be FABULOUS for that application. With the QSC;s there is virtually no "hiss". The magic of La Scalas is their ability to throw out sound in a live situaion, have plenty of "umph" without causing pain to the audience. Clean, clear, and consistent sound is the thing we look for and these speakers do that extremely well.

Other reviews talk about the lack of the sub-woofer frequencies with these, but I have found they will handle the bass loads I throw into them. With 22 feet of folded horn internally, they have all the bass I need for the applications I have used them for.

Using 8 La Scalas is enough sound to do very large events (upward of 5,000 people) and deliver great sound quality. I used two La Scalas for a show in a grandstand at a county fair in Nebraska with seating for about 2,000 and the sound was crystal clear. Using a copule of 300 watt QSC's didn't hurt anything, but I wasn't really pushing the speakers all that hard. These speakers are just exceptionally clean and will handle almost anything you can send their way.

Buys some now...you won't regret it.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch Heresy's - KP320's, KP201's, Klipsch floor monitors

Very life like sound reproduction

Just a little bit light on the bass response,

Type= LS BR These babies were produced in July 1982 wih type AA crossovers and like the other people who have wrote in this column I too have owned K-HORN, Corwalls, Belle, Heresy, and these things by far are built like tanks, and should not be driven with crappy equipment. Spend a little bucks and get youself good wires, a good amp, sit back and enjoy them you won't regret it!

Everything with the right equipment

Everything with the wrong equipment

this speaker is the finest speaker ever made at any price only bested by the Klipsch K-Horn and that is a matter of debate. Tubed equipment a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interal silver wire a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!! Silver speaker wire a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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everything worth listening to

Well I have had my 2004 La Scalas for 10 months now and they sound even better!! The first thing I want to stress again is do not buy these speakers if you have cheap gear!!!If you have a $300 audio/video reciever these speakers will sound terible!! If you have a bad recorded cd or LP then with these speakers the music will sound terrible. That is why good equipment is such a must with the La Scalas. But if you pair them with the right equipment they sound incredible! Another thing about these speakers is that they are horn loaded so they are very efficient at 104 DB. What that means is a speaker that is say 90 DB will need 10 watts of power to get the same sound level that 1 watt of power going into the La Scalas. So 10 watts into the La Scalas is like 100 watts into the other speakers to get the same sound level. My tube amp has 35 watts and I doubt I have used more than 15 watts. Now another thing about these speakers is the bass does not go below 50hz maybe to 45hz. If you want bass that is tight and will hit you in your chest then this speaker can do it but if you want bass that goes below 45hz that is more boomy(like a sub) then you will need a sub with these speakers. I have a sub and have never used it with my speakers only when watching home theater. Now these are excellent home theater left and right speakers but to match the center and rear speakers is tough unless you can buy 5 La Scalas or find other Klisch speakers that work. I built 6 inch risers for my speakers and that also helped get rid of the harshness that some people talk about with these speakers. La Scalas are 35 inches tall which puts the tweeter around chin level and the midrange horn at chest level when sitting on the couch. With my risers the tweeter is just above the ears and the midrange horn is just about centered on my face. This really smoothed things out. The best thing about the La Scalas is the felling that you are listening to live music. Other speakers, many very good speakers, do many things very good: excellent bass or excellent midrange and highs, or all three but they still sound like they are speakers in a living room reproducing music. When La Scalas, KlipschHorns and many other Klipsch speakers are set up right with the right gear you feel like the band, orchestra, or even events in a movie are right in front of you LIVE! These speakers are not for everyone but if you can find someone who has some go listen and it is possible you might buy a pair!

Superb clarity, incredible soundstage! Built like a tank!

A little thin for big bass!

First off let me address the negative reviews.There is no rational thinking person that could say that these loudspeakers sound bad unless you have total junk hooked up to them and have concrete walls and floors.I am using what I think is a pair of 1980-81 La scalla's. They are the industrial models with the side handles and raw birch finish. They have the Type AA crossovers. I am powering them with a Pass Labs Aleph 3 amplifier and switch between a Audio Research Sp5 and Audio Research SP6b(tube) pre-amps. I am using a Technics DVD A10 DVD audio player and all monster speaker cables and wires. I must say that these are wonderful sounding loudspeakers. Sweet highs and mids, stunning soundstage, and of course are wildly efficent. Positioning them is important and a little experimentation is needed to get just the right imaging. But man do these babies sing! I am hearing things in my CD's that I have NEVER heard. In part due to the La Scala's and the newly acquired Pass Labs amp.The Aleph 3 amp is only 30wpc and it will literally blow you out of the room with the volume control barely up. The bass is a bit thin, so I have a very small and fast 8 inch powered subwoofer hooked up also. And that is the best of both worlds. I played some music for some friends the other night and they were simply awe struck at the sound. These are so good that my Canton Ergo 32dc monitors(1500.00 a pair new) are now hooked up to another system.They say size matters and that could not be more true in this case. The La Scala's produce beautiful music. I have owned VOT's, Thiels,Cantons,B&W,Snells,and many other Klipsch loudspeakers and NONE have even came close to the La Scala's! These are keepers!

Similar Products Used:

Canton Ergo 32, Klipsch KG2, Altec VOT, Snell Type E2, Thiel CS 3.5.B&W DM series.

In small rooms midrange can be overpowering and bass does not go below 45 hz

Bought my 2004 La Scalas and picked them up at the begining of April so they are still burning in but sound great!! The previous post made very good observations about the La Scalas. My best friend used La Scalas back in the 80's to DJ at parties with a 100 watt amp. He would have the speakers up to 60 feet apart in a high school gym and they would fill up the gym with sound. I'm talking about having trouble hearing the person next to you anywhere in the gym! So if you want these speakers for your home a large living room is best. My living room, 16X16X8 is almost too small for them! The midrange can be overpowering but by the time it starts to overpower my room the volume is already past the point I listen so it is not a issue. Another extremely important point is the equipment used with the speakers!!!!! If you have a $300 home theater receiver and don't plan to upgrade to a much better preamp and amp then don't buy these speakers!! These speakers will sound terrible with cheap equipment!! However you don't have to spend $30,000 to get good equipment today. I have a $800 Cayin TA 30 integrated tube amp 35 watts that sounds great! Then get a good CD player and you are good to go. I have a NAD C540 CD player that sounds great and I plan to get the C542 later this year which runs around $500. You can find these speakers used on Ebay from $800 up to 1500 and they will last for 30-50 years. If you love going out and seeing and listening to live music then the La Scalas are one of the best speakers that give you the sound of the music being live in your living room and these are the best speakers for outside parties. These speakers have been used in concert halls ,recording studios, dance clubs, DJ's use them at parties so that lets you know these speakers reproduce music as close to live sound without being live. The bass is tight and will hit you with every beat but the bass does not go deep for things like home theater. So if you like your bass to be more boomy and plan to use these speakers in home theater(which they sound incredible) a subwoofer is a must. But if you want tight bass that will hit you in your chest then all you will need is these speakers!

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KLF 20s-excellent almost same sound in small and medium rooms!

Superb Bass, Mid and High end response, efficienty is unmatched. Price was great in the 80's and they have led me to purchase other products in the Klipsch line.

Cabinet cosmetics

Now these are what the Klipsch line is all about, I never had a set of K Horns but nI ever had perfect corners for them either. Base reproduction in a free field is astounding, mid's and highs are exceptional although room acoustics can make the mids a little overpowering. I have loved these speakers from day one. They have outlasted my original Denon/Dbx system. Now they are the cornerstones of my HT System. They still sound as good as the day I purchased them. I may appear to be rambling here but these speakers deliver solid performance day in and day out. I only wish Klipsch had dressed the cabinets a little more, I’ve added the grill but plywood appearance is still plywood. I’ve heard of people who have overhauled/upgraded their Crossovers and I may one day but its not an eminent task that needs to be done. I would recommend these to anyone who wants a speaker system that will outlast their grandchildren.

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None they are the first pair of serious speakers I ever purchased. I have since picked up a Klipsch RC 3 II center channel and a set of effect speakers RB 15's. (The RB 15's were a big mistake see that section for my review)

Low power requirement. Extremely clean. Extremely fast (low power requirement!)Durable. Good resale based on E-Bay values but there aren't many available.

Big, heavy, not pretty, directional. You have to play 'em pretty big to enjoy the sound fully. Weaknesses are really just a matter of taste and space. The speakers are hard to fault in any genuine way.

One of my life long friends bought four Klipsch LaScalas around 1980 (he's still excessive about many things even after all these years). Anyway, his first wife thought that $3,000 for speakers was a little over the top and forced him to sell two. In retrospect he agrees that he should have sold her and kept the extra speakers but I digress. I was happy to get a pair for half price and, after discovering NAD amplifiers in the early 80's, I started to appreciate these big, ugly boxes even more. At the time I bought these, $750 was a big step for me but over the years that has proven to be the entertainment bargain of a lifetime. This is a fine speaker if you have room for it and enjoy your music in reasonably large quantities. Like every other speaker that has ever been made, they have some conditions to be considered but, on balance, I think this is a time tested, well reviewed speaker model worthy of serious consideration. Most people that spend heavily on an item are reluctant to talk badly about their purchase. I mean who wants to admit a stupid mistake particularly if it cost three grand? However, if you look at most of the reviews on these speakers, people LOVE these things. They are positively emotional about this speaker. LaScalas are very directional and you have to work just a little at placing them and finding your seat if critical listening is your intention. The "soundstage" is impressive and there is an open, big sound to these speakers that you'll probably find surprising and pleasant. The power and input requirements are worth considering. I like to joke that these speakers can be powered with a Walkman as long as the AA's are fresh. Modest sized, clean amplification is best with these. If you feed them mud, mud you'll receive and a powerful amplifier will never see any demand. The efficiency is astounding so don't feed them with a big old nasty amplifier unless you want big old nasty sound. They're at their best providing moderate to high sound levels. They're especially nice when handling vocals and horns. If you like jazz...oooh baby these horn loaded antiques will satisfy. And, if you ever listen to Linda Ronstadt sing Ooooh Baby Baby you can hear her suck air between lines....it's scary clean....la la la la) Whatever your particular musical taste I think you're likely to find these very listenable and reasonably cheap when you consider the comparable products. There are several things worth considering regarding these speakers. They can still be bought new for less than $3,000. And, any design that lasts for 40 years is worth a look if you have money and space available. They aren't cheap new or used. They aren't small and they aren't pretty. They will dominate whatever is happening at your house when you play them at volumes large enough to study and enjoy the music unless you have a really, really big house. For me....they SATISFY even after all of these years. Don't listen to a pair if you don't want to spend a little money; they hook fast and deep.

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I've never owned any other speaker systems in the $2-3000 cost category. Nothing has ever sounded clearly superior to the Klipsch. (Pun intended)

The Music, man oh man, the music..

Are you kidding me?

What can one say about these speakers that hasn''t already been said? Truly remarkable? an incredible experience? larger than life?...I think it''s all been said for almost 4 decades now! By the way, an earlier reviewer''s friend had called these "PA speakers"...not entirely wrong...Paul Klipsch designed these speakers in 1963 to be used in the P.A. system for Winthrop Rockefeller''s gubernatorial race!

Similar Products Used:

K-Horns, Heresy

Beautiful reproduction of live music....incredible to sat the least!

Huge and heavy but thats why my freind got rid of them and I own them today.

Really just some questions as to how to know what year they were made and how to restore them. mine look like they startes out plain birch and then were painted black. However they could have had a black laquer finish also. They have a few dents and dings bot overall look to be in great shape. The first time I heard a pair of these speakers was when I was 15 at my buddies house. His dad had a pair and I have been looking for a pair my whole life. I DJ a freinds party every year and saw him two weeks ago and he said he had a pair of PA speakers he would give me in return for DJing his party......holy $%#! what a bargain. Please if anybody could e-mail me with tips on how to refinish these works of musical art it would be much appreciated.

Similar Products Used:

Corner horns