By: Greg Roberts

I wish I could offer you a complete upgrade package for the La Scala similar to what I offer for the Khorn and Belle, but for various reasons, it is not viable.  

To significantly upgrade the sound of the La Scala, it is imperative that the unfortunate stock midrange horn be replaced with one that is larger and better designed (like a Tractrix flare horn).  To do this requires cutting the cabinets, which is something I've learned over the years La Scala owners, by and large are not willing to do.

Smaller replacement midrange horns that fit into the existing hole cutout in the cabinet are not adequate in size (Fc cutoff) to fully reach down in the lower midrange frequencies and integrate properly with the low mids that are coming from the bass horn.  It makes no sense to replace the midrange horn in the La Scala with a better sounding one that leaves a 'hole' in the response between the midrange and the bass horn.  One of the main reasons to have a speaker with a bass horn in the first place is that is it an extension of the midrange and we get superior mid-to-bass integration.  This is a key feature that sets a fully horn loaded speaker apart from a hybrid bass reflex/horn speaker (like the Cornwall).

So how do you get a nicely designed, modern, great sounding midrange horn upgrade into La Scalas?  You've got to cut out the front upper part of the cabinet to make room for a larger horn, or place a new mid horn on top of the existing cabinet and bypass the old horn.  Those are your choices.   I am willing to help you with either of those options.  Just send me an email or call.  But please think about a little bit first before you contact me.  Those are the only two options I can help you with in regards to upgrading the midrange horns.

As part of that restoration, I changed out the midrange horns, tweeters and crossovers and the sound became much more refined, with wider bandwidth, and the colorations and harshness associated with the old La Scala parts were eliminated.  They became modern sounding horn speakers, far superior to anything Klipsch has ever produced.

The crossovers used in the restoration are the NEW VX crossover networks which are available for purchase for stock or upgraded La Scalas.  They provide a nice improvement in the quality of sound as compared to the old stock crossover networks, and they offer you the ability to adjust output levels of the midrange and tweeter, as well as an upper-bass contour that is extremely helpful in tuning your system.

La Scala Bass Horn Braces and Grills

We offer bass horn braces and bass horn grill frames for the La Scala I.

La Scala I speakers have known resonance problems with the large, unbraced sides of the bass horn, and adding bracing to the sides is one way to reduce those resonances and improve the quality of the bass, mid-bass, and upper-bass (lower midrange) sound from the horn.

However, installing these braces can be very tricky and you should carefully evaluate your ability to do the work necessary to install these braces before you decide to purchase a set.

The first issue is that the braces are installed between the outside short side of the doghouse and the inside of the side of the bass horn - a space that is approximately 2-3/4" wide.  The problem is that this space is not the same from speaker to speaker, or from one side to another on the same speaker.  Different plywood batch thicknesses, along with production anomolies, cause this space to be slightly different size, and the braces must be cut and/or sanded to fit tightly in each one.

So I make these braces slightly oversized (2-7/8") so that you can sand them individually to fit tightly into each side.  This requires that you have the tools and a fair knowledge of working with wood to properly fit each brace.  Here's a picture of a brace just stuck into the side opening of the bass horn.   Note that the braces start out very close to the proper size, which is why I could stick it in there and have it hold in place for the picture.  But it is much too tight to actually push into the opening at this point.

The way I fit each brace is to use a random orbit sander to remove some of the material along the side (left side in this picture) of the brace, until I can easily slide it into the opening.

Once I get the brace tight against the angled part of the doghouse, I scribe and fit the angled part until it is tight.  So here it is fit into place, not too tight, but tight enough that it will sit there on its own.

After fitting the braces, now we have to figure out how to install them.  If you're doing a restoration on the cabinets anyway, then the job becomes much easier.  You can simply glue and screw and then finish over any mess that's left behind.  But if you're cabinets are not going to be restored, then you want to be much more careful about the install.

A glue like this one,

polyurethane construction adhesive, will definately hold the brace in place without the need for screws.  But neatly putting the glue on the braces and sliding them in place without making a mess is nearly impossible.  It's a messy and smelly product and should be used with caution.

Another option would be to make cleats of wood and attach those to the sides of the cabinet and then glue and/or screw/brad nail the braces down into the cleats.

As you can see, I'm reluctant to make a recommendation on how to install these.  It's a tricky job and I would rather leave it up to you to figure out how you want to do it or if you do it at all.

Here's a picture of a set of braces I put into a new LS cabinet.  Very easy to do, since it was all new construction.

If you decide you want to do this, I have the braces in stock, made from 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood, unfinished, for $75 plus shipping.

The braces are made so that grills can be installed in the front of them to create the "Voltiscala" look, with the double-V in the front, like these pictures show.

This is a real nice looking modification, and the grills completely hide the braces.  You don't need to have the braces to install the grill frames.

Here's what one of the grill frames looks like installed in front of the brace.  (please note this is one of the old grill frames made of luan - the braces are now made with Baltic Birch plywood)

These grill frames can be wrapped with regular stretchy grill cloth that is glued on, or covered with the original Klipsch cloth that is stapled on the backs.  Then they would be installed by first attaching small angle brackets to the top and bottom of the inside doghouse area, and velcro tabs installed on the angle brackets and the backs of the grills.

A set of four grill frames, in unfinished 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood is $75 plus shipping.