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Klipsch?

watchnerd

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Klipsch has resurrected the Forte as the Forte III and is offering it as part of their Heritage series, all of which feature great cabinetry and modest prices by audiophool standards.

What do we think of Klipsch?

Archaic speakers past their prime and no longer worth owning?

Or are they still competitive?
 

DonH56

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Klipsch is very popular among the HT crowd although less so the Heritage series. I would say as competitive as ever, given the current state of things and myriad (or is that plethora? English ain't my thang) of players. They certainly adapted better than some other favorites of by-gone days like Infinity, Altec, etc.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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Klipsch is very popular among the HT crowd although less so the Heritage series. I would say as competitive as ever, given the current state of things and myriad (or is that plethora? English ain't my thang) of players. They certainly adapted better than some other favorites of by-gone days like Infinity, Altec, etc.

I've never played the highly-efficient-speaker plus tube amp game.

Part of me is tempted to get a big ole Klipsch Heritage model and a little tube integrated...
 

DonH56

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The woofer is not horn loaded so SS might actually do better. I've listened to a variety of them over the years driven by tubes and SS.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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The woofer is not horn loaded so SS might actually do better. I've listened to a variety of them over the years driven by tubes and SS.

Thanks.

How would you compare the Klipsch horns to more modern waveguides used by JBL?
 

DonH56

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Insufficient experience. In general, while the Klipschorns were big enough and with the horn-loaded woofer were pretty cohesive to me, many of the other models exhibited some of the stereotypical horn beaminess and "honkiness". I have heard their new Tractrix horn, which presumably competes better with modern horns, but not enough to say how well it compares sonically to me. The new JBL M2 and related horn designs appear to be a significant step forward but again I've barely heard them so am not competent to say. With all that weasel-wording, to me the newer horns sound much better than the older, with smoother response and much better off-axis response and overall dispersion than the old "PA" style. Part of that (IMO) is because some of the new horns are designed for home or large studio use in contrast to crowd control. :) I have barely heard the new "HT" oriented Klipsch Reference and Premier lines but I thought the Tractrix was better than the old style horns. Still had no problem picking it out from a dome system blind (much to the salesman's dismay).
 

Sal1950

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Ran a pair of La Scala's for 32 years. Did a couple of driver and crossover updates in that time, when sold they were identical to todays LS II's With top notch electronics and sources, I never heard anything that made me want to change. They have a few faults, like all speakers, but the things they do right aren't surpassed. At today's MSRP of $7k, it will take twice that for big JBL's to do a lot better.
JMHO
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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Ran a pair of La Scala's for 32 years. Did a couple of driver and crossover updates in that time, when sold they were identical to todays LS II's With top notch electronics and sources, I never heard anything that made me want to change. They have a few faults, like all speakers, but the things they do right aren't surpassed. At today's MSRP of $7k, it will take twice that for big JBL's to do a lot better.
JMHO

Why'd you get rid of your La Scalas?

And when you had them, what did you use to power them and what was the placement?

There is a pretty big price delta between the 'regular' La Scala at $3999 each and the 70th anniversary (gorgeous) at $6999 each, which puts it in the same price category as the JBL 4367:

70th-LaScala-Pair.jpg

VS

image
 

Sal1950

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Only sold them since they'd never fit in my new little FL retirement digs, see photo in member area. :)

Last 15+ years powered by VTL 100w monoblocks with a McCormack passive preamp up front.
Supplemented on the bottom by a pair of 7' tall HSU subwoofers and NAD SS monoblock amps.
Positioned about 6' off the back wall and 3' off the sides, angled to crossover just in front of the listener.

If you want purdy you have to pay for it. LOL
You can get a mint used pair in original raw birch plywood style for around $1k.
That's how I got mine new in 1978 and stained them myself.

A photo of my doberman Max with the new La Scala in the background. LOL
EarlyLaScala.jpg
 

Sal1950

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And when you had them, what did you use to power them
There was a time back before my conversion to Audiophile-Audiophool, that I liked to play my music a bit loud,
Phase Linear 700B, Phase Linear 1000 Dynamic Range Expander, and a DBX Sub Harmonic Bass Synthesizer. :eek::eek::eek:
PhaseLinear.jpg
 

Sal1950

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That should have been like 120dB at 10 feet...!!!
This is a TRUE story.
The next door neighbor to the south of me had his house vinyl resided.
In the process he had ALL windows on that side closed in and covered over. :D
 

Sal1950

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There is a pretty big price delta between the 'regular' La Scala at $3999 each and the 70th anniversary (gorgeous) at $6999 each, which puts it in the same price category as the JBL 4367:
Absolutely.
And in all honesty if I had and were going to spend that kind of money I'd probably grab the JBL's in a minute. The modern horns are a taste better in lack of colorations and the 4367 go much deeper in the bass. But I do imagine there are trade-offs, The LaScala's roll off much quicker on the bottom, nothing much there below 50hz but, there's the quickness and low distortion of a true horn bass section? They require an excellent subwoofer system to be able to blend well and keep up dynamically. (read expensive).
Excellence never really does come cheap, does it.
 
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