You’d rarely have more than ten watts available back in the 1950s and early ’60s, and in order to fill a large space with sound, you’d need a very sensitive speaker. Klipsch back in the days before solid state made watts cheap. It’s based on the same principles laid down by Paul W. The La Scala was introduced in 1963, the year of my birth-and I like to think of myself as a heritage product, so there’s that. Heritage is certainly an apt name for this line-up, as the Klipschorn has been in constant production since 1946 and the Heresy since 1957. So I pulled the trigger and agreed to review them, and the story of their landing is right here.Īs I mentioned earlier, the La Scala AL5 is part of Klipsch’s Heritage series, which encompasses six floorstanding speakers: Heresy IV, Cornwall IV, Forte IV, La Scala AL5, Klipschorn AK6 and-biggest and newest of all-the Jubilee. In Klipsch’s photo, despite the room being much larger than my own, the speakers are pushed right against the walls, and one is in a corner. Take a look, please, at the photo below from Klipsch’s website of the La Scalas set up in a high-ceilinged industrial residence. the front baffle of the speaker already projected quite far into the room, so it wasn’t the same thing as stuffing a pair of slim towers back there, right? That’s just as well really, because I actually did have to situate the right speaker deep in the far corner of my room. According to Klipsch, the speakers are best situated against a wall, and-despite conventional audiophile wisdom-jamming them into a corner is just fine also. The 40″ height of the La Scalas certainly wasn’t an issue, but the 24 1/4″ width and 25 5/16″ depth meant they were larger than any speaker I had yet evaluated. My basement listening room isn’t huge by any means, but it’s a dedicated space and in the past has accommodated some seriously large speakers without overload or resonance issues. I spent quite a long time with a measuring tape before I committed myself to reviewing the La Scalas. The La Scala AL5 speaker ($13,198 per pair, all prices USD), part of Heritage, Klipsch’s highest-end series, is perhaps the ultimate incarnation of this concept-it’s the speaker I would have sold my soul for back in my ill-spent youth. One only has to look at a past inhabited by such speakers: ones like the La Scalas, which Klipsch has built without interruption since 1963. The Klipsch Heritage line feeds this need. It’s in my DNA, this need for torque, this need for displacement. This susceptibility, I believe, is a flaming arrow shot straight from the past-it’s genetic. There’s also a special place in my heart for large speakers in big boxes with gigantic woofers. My last car was a long-wheelbase 2004 Mercedes S500 more suited to an African dictator than a computer programmer living in the core of a big city. But growing up in suburban Toronto left me vulnerable to being impressed by obvious items like huge torquey cars. Our Saturday night entertainment often consisted of embarrassing rich kids in IROC-Zs and Trans Ams. The factors limiting its acceleration were traction (it rode on 78-series snow tires) and reliability. To say that this car was fast is an understatement. Into this bucket was shoehorned a small-block 350-cubic-inch LT1 motor. It was a Chevrolet Vega that was held together with body filler and red primer paint. My best buddy, Neil, eventually acquired one such vehicle. Around my neighborhood, we were all in awe of the older kids who had managed to stuff large V8 engines into cars that were entirely unsuited to them. I grew up on the tail end of the big-engine era. 2018-2019 EISA Awards Video Introduction.

Klipsch la scala for sale