good match for lascala's?

[TedB]

I have a pair of lascala's and am looking for feedback on what integrated amp would work well with. I posted before and got a lot of debate between members i.e. tube vs solid state. I'm open to either but am new at this and am thinking that a tube might be a little much. Lots of folks claim that my speaks demand a tube amp. Looking to keep it under $1300 if possible but am open to suggestion.

Anybody who owns a pair of these bad boys using solid state?

[Mr Peabody]

I think either SS or tube would be fine, people probably said tube because of your speakers high efficiency. You could get a nice little ss integrated in your price and if you like to Rock, that may very well be the best way to go. You would have a pretty good variety to pick from, Creek, Arcam, Musical Fidelity, Adcom separates.... In tubes new, you are probably looking at Cayin, Prima Luna or Jolida.

[Florian]

I would very much look into Jolida electronics!

[Vardo]

I would very much look into Jolida electronics!

I owned a pair of La Scalla's for about 10 yrs. Although I
never used a tube amp, I'm told a tube amp is the way to go.

The type of amp used with with horn loaded speakers
makes a HUGE difference in sound. As far as SS amps I originally used
an SAE amp...and that sounded awful, I was always
using a graphic equlizer to lower the midrange, because
it was so harsh it would make your ears bleed. The
next amp I bought was a NAD amp, which made a world
of differnce (NAD amps at that time had a very nice, layed
back, warm sound). Adcom amps (at least my GFA- 555II) also
paired with the La Scalla's sounded very good. I've since sold
the La Scalla's (got older and musical tastes changed)
and bought Mirage M5si, paired with a Great American
Sound Preamp (Thalia), and the aforementioned Adcom amp.

A friend of mine bought the larger K-Horns and his SS
amp (Phase Linear, if I remember correctly)
made his sistem almost unlistenable. I sold him my NAD
amp any he was very pleased with the sound.

Good luck, and try not to piss off your neighbors when you
turn up your speakers, as that they can play louder than any
speaker I have owned or heard.....vardo

[Vardo]

PS...you might try the Jolida JD 102B integrated tube amp
(25W per chan, but that's all you need) It retails for about
$580. Next step up from that is Jolida JD 502B tube amp
(85W chan). Retails for about $1000......vardo

[TedB]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Most appreciated !

Was curious as to which model Nad amp Vardo was using ?

Will look into to the jolida and have been looking at the Nad already but am concerned because of reported over heating issues.

[Vardo]

Ted, the NAD amp was a 3150 (if memory serves)....that was over
10 yrs ago, so I don't know really how good a NAD int amp would
sound now. Over the years NAD has had from time to time quality
issues. I recommended to a friend, and also my brother, a NAD
3160 (the 3150 didn't even have a remote) but the 3160 did.
My brother and friend bought the 3160's and both units had problems
with there output transistors, which was embarrasing to me 'cause
I recommended them. I'm not knocking NAD because that was a
long time ago, and companies change design philosophies and
quality control procedures.

My advice is if you want a solid state amp like NAD take it home and
listen to it with your La Scalla's. If you like it, great. Don't worry
to much about the quality, 'cause if something goes wrong with
the unit it will probably show up long before the warranty has
expired.

As far as Jolida is concerned, I'm only recommending them because
they make very nice tube amps for the money. When Paul
Klipich built the first Klipshorn back in 1949, no solid state amps
existed (to my knowledge)...everything was tube, and horns type
speakers sound better with tube amps IMO....good luck..vardo

[jrhymeammo]

How about Class A Transistor amp, or SET amp? If you need more than 15 watts, I'll say you are nuts:out:

Do you hangout at the Klipsch Audio Forum? If you havent already, that gotta be the best place to acquire info.

JRA

[JGD]

I had a pair of La Scalas for about ten years. They sounded their best with tube electronics. I used a Golden Tube 40 watt amp, and it sounded wonderful. I think Audio Research sells a 50 watt integrated tube amp that would be glorious.

Jim