LaScalla "horn" sound compared to "maggie" sound

Please keep us updated if you end up taking the plunge.

You are talking about radically different sound qualities from what you have now.  I suspect you would find the La Scalas very bright in your rig, perhaps to the point of being unlistenable.  300W is far too much for that design, IMO.  The stories you've heard about the old school Klipsch speakers liking tubes is true; having heard Klipschorns, La Scalas in both home and pro versions, home Cornwalls and both home and pro Heresys in several different environments, every time I heard them with tubes, they just sounded more natural.  Solid state amps tended to make them bright to the point of brash.  Bass never seemed to be lacking to me; all of them were fitted with comparatively large woofers.

If you can get a good deal on the La Scalas, you might find it fun to experiment with tube power.  That would be for your budget to decide.  Being totally objective however, unless you really, really want a completely different sound, you should probably pass.  La Scalas are very large, heavy and don't take kindly to cramped spaces, low ceilings or hard floors.  They were designed at a time when amplifiers didn't have much power, so Paul Klipsch designed them to be hyper-efficient and handle up to 100W continuous.  I believe he was quoted as saying "Now if only someone would make a decent 100W amp..."

Your call either way.  Good luck & happy listening!

Magneplanar wants you to avoid using subs with their speakers (tho many people do).

If you like the 1.7, you might want to try the 3.7i (which is acoustically smaller than the 1.7s).  You can reinforce the bass with their DWM panels also (these can be disguised as coffee tables too as long as they are as far away as the speakers).

Then there are the 20s....

How large is your room?

effischer,

Thanks, that's the kind of info I'm looking for.

randy-11,

I am very satisfied with the sound of the 1.7s and have not intention of replacing them.  I'm just looking for something different and wondered about the sound of the LaScalas.

I have only heard Maggies in stores but I owned a pair of La Scalas for a couple of years.  They are extremely dynamic speakers that can give a feeling of listening to live music.  The bass doesn't go extremely low but it is very quick and realistic sounding.  Depending on the room, you can probably get usable bass response into the mid to upper 40's.  I put Bob Crites crossovers and tweeters in mine and it really opened up the sound, but the crossovers had 30 year old capacitors in them, so it was time for replacement of those parts.  They really like a big room, the bigger the better, although I thought they worked well in my 21 x 12 foot room.  The downside, other than the shear size of the suckers, is they are bright in the upper midrange/lower treble region.  Some folks seem more sensitive to this than others.  Also, they don't do detail as well as many modern designs.  I never heard them with tubes, but many say they really shine with low power tube amps.  Oh, and if you like to tinker, there are a million things you can do to them to tailor the sound to your liking.  Kind of reminds me of the muscle cars of my youth -- no one ran them stock.  Definitely a different experience than your Maggies.