Klipsch Lascala II bin separation


A unique feature of the newer Klipsch Lascala II and AL5 is there are two bins, top and bottom (or HF and LF bins). Recently I put a cut up Purple seat cushion between the two sections and the clarity jumped significantly. Everything is better, very much better. Has anyone ever tried to seriously isolate the two bins? Is this a thing I just never heard of or is this a commonly known deal? The improvement is so huge I thought someone out there would have sounded the trumpet long before now. Sorry if I'm late to the party.....

allears4u

I have LaScala IIs, but haven’t tried that tweak. But back in the 90s I did put slightly inflated bicycle inner tubes between the upper and lower cabinets of the Von Schweikert VR4 Silvers to very good effect. I might have to try something similar to what you’ve done with the LS.

Makes sense,I'd expect isolating mids and highs from bass bin cabinet resonances would result in greater clarity. I modified my Klipschorns years ago, getting rid of top bin altogether, mid driver mounted to Volti tractrix horn,  tweeter mounted to custom fascia, finally modified crossover board, all isolated from bass bin via various type footers. 

Unfortunately, all Klipsch Lascalas have resonances and vibrations, so I am not surprised. There are many more things you can do to minimize / eliminate these annoyances, resulting in SQ, you have not experienced yet. Enjoy ! MrD.

Volti does it, but they use brass cones and dishes, which would be much better than purple foam.

I've ordered 6 Iso-pucks 76's to place between sections to see if this helps even more. As soon as I install and listen I'll report back since I know there are many Lascala owners in the family here. Crazy how much clearer these babies have become with this little tweak! Makes me wonder about all the speakers that are sticking all the speakers into one box. Could the bass reverb be disturbing the mids and tweeters? Surely. But if they're all locked into one box then there's no way to unlock them from each other. The bass seems it would be the main "disturber of the peace". This would make separate sub out very helpful. This gets that energy out of the main speaker body hence improved clarity throughout. But thats just me thinking out loud. 

@allears4u 

That's why the platforms by Live Vibe work so well. They drain the vibrational energy from the speaker box removing that source of noise from what you are hearing. It is very surprising when you first hear it.

One possible issue with this is speaker manufacturers voice their speakers in stock configuration, and that may be superior to diy mods some of us undertake. I've tried a multitude of footers over the years, they all have unique sound qualities. I've long thought about placing footers under my Klipschorns, concern is I change the quality of bass, or sound characteristics of entire speaker, I believe all Klipsch Heritage don't use footers. Don't want to hijack thread, but I'd be interested in those who've tried footers under Klipsch Heritage?

I’ve read that some people have good success with hockey pucks.

I'm yet to try it, but I will.

"I might have to try something similar to what you’ve done with the LS." ozzy62 Please post here as to what you discover by isolating the HF from LF bins. I used the purple seat cushion on a whim since cross disturbance from vibration is what manufacturers attempt to minimize by adding deadening material within speakers. (And other tricks) Even Klipsch doesn't just plop the HF bin upon the LF bin but provide 4 rubber feet. Admittedly, they are more stable than the 6 IsoAcoutics Iso-puck 76's I've got on the way. (3 per speaker)  So Klipsch wouldn't want to be liable for breakable and unstable pucks. The top section weighs 72 lbs. (Klipsch Forum) I had all but decided to sell the Lascalas to ascend to greater audiophile heights but this tweak has so clarified the overall presentation I'm sufficiently blown away to sit happy until my OCD finds fault once again. Terrible affliction (OCD Audiophile) 

Success! The Iso-puck 76's work much better than those crazy 'purple' cushion things I made. Radical enhancement of clarity in the entire frequency range. I wish another Lascala owner would try this so I can see if this really helps other as much as it improved my speakers. This may have been the Achilles heal in the Lascala all along. The rubber feet between the upper and lower Lascala bins were heading in the right direction! 

Interesting. You could make a stand that spans the width of the lower cabinet and support the top cabinet from the floor. This would completely isolate the two. It would only take a few minutes with 2x4s to “prototype”. If it works make something nice out of hard wood. gershman acoustics does something like that with their black swan speaker. The top part spans the woofer cabinet and looks like one speaker. 

@allears4u

Does the speaker sit on the isopucks without obstruction from the four rubber feet? Or did you have to remove said feet? Maybe a pic with them installed?

 

The Iso-pucks lift the top high enough so the rubber feet aren't touching at all. I've built gloss black rods to fill in the gaps where the two pieces look sweet together while these black square rods (aprox 1" X 1" X 24") do not touch top but fill in gap for cosmetic effect. Big clarity enhancement. To James633...I've thought about the total suspension of HF bin by exterior support system but haven't thought of way to do so in an artistic/non-intrusive presentation yet. I'm very curious how much improvement would come from  total true isolation. Honestly (as I mentioned) I really didn't think the Iso-pucks would make much difference. Boy, was I wrong.