Speakers from last century that you love

[Albiepalbie]

Altough i rate new speakers like the ones from Neumann high, i still love vintage speakers also, with their quirks and so. I have these old 1976 Goodman Mezzo SL speakers (grills are removed for inspection) that i use from time to time and they are so good sounding i should use them more. And even after 47 years of age, they are still technically mint (and still decent looking). I only recapped the crossover and replaced the resistor in it also about 5 years ago as the elco's were dried out. New caps are non polar elco's (Mundorf because i could get them cheap and easy), and the resistor is a simple jantzen ceramic one... And i rate these far above a lot of modern ones while i paid (long time ago) about 50€ for them...

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What are the speaker from the past (pre 2000) that you still love?

I still love and use the pair of Quad Esl 57s I bought in 1974
I’ve blown them up a few times in their long life but as I live in the UK Quad are always up for repairing them - and probably anything else they have ever made
I have up to date 21st century ancillary equipment plus sub woofers and don’t ever stress them out now
I think they sound the best in some respects of my 3 setups - vocally sublime

 

[Hollywood_Bob]

I have a pair of Rogers LS3/5A's that I bought used in the early-1980's, serial number SO5064A/B, date stamp inside 17 July 1978.

And a pair of Thiel CS .5's that I bought used in 1999.

Everyday listening are the KEF Q's.

Reading these forums has got me pumped for buying an amp, probably a Sabaj a30a, and I am looking forward to listening to the Rogers and Thiels with a streamer connected to the Sabaj.

 

[Poultrygeist]

The 12" Zenith alnico's from 1957 are my favorite wide banders. The rear firing Japanese Realistic super tweeters from Radio Shack made by Fostex are becoming difficult to find these days.

 

[fpitas]

Tannoy DMT 15 main monitors were my first exposure to those magnificent large coaxials in the 90ies and at the time their very industrial look also impressed me.
Random internet video:

The pro audio aesthetic. I like it, too.

 

[tprevett]

My dad has a pair of the original Klipsch Forte speakers, and to this day, they are still a great sounding speaker.

 

[doug s.]

VMPS SUPER TOWER III - 1994
• Mass loaded with user adjustable bass damping; -3dB at 14Hz.
• Sensitivity 95dB/1W/1m.
• Power handling 800W rms into 6 Ohms.
• 78" height, 18.5" wide, 18" deep.
• Drivers: 15", 12", 2-10" Woofers, 4-5" Mid-Ranges, 4-1" Soft-Dome & 1 Ribbon Tweeter.
• Weight approx. 150 lbs.

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I bought the VMPS SuperTower III in 1994. They have been amazingly sturdy and were moved between an office and several different homes. The bottom of the cabinet contains a 15" passive radiator. It's accessible by removing the bottom wood stand. The foam surround on the passive radiator required a replacement but everything else is original. They can fill a room unlike any other speaker I own.

i heard them at a dealer (who sold vmps out of his home in dc) in the early 90's. i'm pretty sure they weigh significantly more than 150lbs; 250 sounds more like it. i bought a pair of the vmps larger subs from him, which comprise the low end of the super tower iii - active 15" & 12" drivers and passive slot loaded 15" driver - and they weigh 140lbs each. the dealer bought a copy of kraftwerk's electric cafe, which i'd brought over to demo the speakers. yes, the s/t iii's are great speakers, but my budget was only looking for subs to pair w/my thiel 3.5's. i still have my larger subs, w/upgraded drivers; recently supplemented by another pair of the lowboy style larger subs. they provide a truly accurate tuneful low end, flat to 17hz, and they do a decent job of pressurizing my almost 20k cu/ft space, when called for.

i'd love to hear the s/t iii's again...

doug s.

 

[lkanies]

While at a stereo shop in the early 80s, browsing at upper mid-fi, the dealer said "listen to this new-fangled satellite speakers plus a subwoofer system by M&K." Took 'em home. Used 'em for over 20 years, replaced satellite drivers twice and crossovers once, subwoofer driver and plate amp once, always with help from the factory.

In the early 2000s, I upgraded to their active studio monitors, the MPS-2510, and a MPS-5410 sub (also 20th century models), and used these for ~15 years, until a lightning surge ended their life.

If you remember, "bookshelf speakers" in the 1970s were actually kinda large, if you wanted any bass at all, at least. M&K (Miller & Kreisel, MKSound, M&K Sound) downsized the box by limiting the satellite/bookshelf to 80 Hz bass, and made the subwoofer handle the rest. And the move towards 5.1 was born. I don't know if they were "first" in any of this, but they were pretty influential.

I was also going to say M&K - I bought a pair of their satellite speakers (1b, I think) used in 2005 or so, and paired them with an NAD camp/preamp from around then. They have color, but they still sound great, even compared to my modern KEF and Linn speakers.

 

[doug s.]

in the mid 80's, a really nice shop - excalibur, in alexandria, va - had a pair of infinity irs-iii's, set up perfectly, in a big room, w/conrad johnson electronics, and an oracle delphi turntable. one of the best sounds ever. i have an original (pre mkii) oracle that i've owned for >20 years, upgraded to mkv specs. i knew i'd own one someday, when i saw that thing spinning vinyl at excalibur. the irs-iii's? i knew i'd likely never have the scratch for those - heh!

another unforgettable set of speakers i heard were the jadis eurythmies, at a nyc audio show in the mid 90's. those "yosemite sams" were a knock out, both sonically and appearance-wise.

and in the late 90's i heard a pair of avantgarde duo's driven by a 1.5wpc custom made amp at a boutique shop in mclean, va - deja vu audio - owned by a guy into building custom stuff from vintage electronics. (shop has since moved to vienna, va, and is still a killer place to visit.) well, again, i doubted i'd ever be able to afford a pair of the avantgarde speakers, but i knew i'd own horns one day.

i've had these horns and lascala bass bins for ~15 years now; they were in storage for about 6 of those years; they're once again doin' their thing, in an actively quad-amped setup - subs <50hz, lascala bass bins 50hz-175hz, horns 175hz-7khz, ribbons >7khz. (the tang band w8 1772's are the only things post-y2k in the speaker system, and they just recently replaced a pair of modded fostex fe206e's: vmps larger subs - circa early 90's, fostex pa38's in the bass bins, circa mid-80's, oris horns - late 90's, lascala bass bin cabinets - mid 60's, pioneer ribbon tweets from early 80's)

doug s.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Yesterday I parted with my Cambridge Soundworks New Ensemble speakers. The non-profit thrift store truck drive took them away. l loved the idea Kloss had with the original Advent satellite/subwoofer system and remember how happy I was when I set up the CSW speakers in the '90s. They became my "office" speakers about 20 years ago.

 

[Adaboy4z]

My main speakers Yamaha NS-670

 

[Philbo King]

As a broke musician much of my life, most of my speakers were in guitar amps. 4x12" boxes driven by a Sunn Model T, 2x10" Jensen Special Design in a Fender Vibrolux Reverb, things like that.

My stereo speakers started as 'Stolen from drive-in theaters'.

 

[Poultrygeist]

These Coral Holey Basket alnico's started life in TOTL Sony reel to reel recorders. Now they have almost a cult like following but you can still snag a pair for around a hundred. Hard to believe these small drivers can produce such a huge sound. In open baffles with bass driver support they are exceptional.

Glow in the Dark Audio - Coral "Holey Basket" fe103a full range driver

Glow in the Dark Audio showcases Kevin Davis’ personal collection of small-scale, DIY and one of a kind hifi audio gear, with a focus on single ended and push pull tube amplifiers and full range open baffle speakers.

glowinthedarkaudio.com

 

[ErVikingo]

My loudspeaker journey went from AR3a to DQ10 to DCM Time Window to my current IRS Beta and Mirage M3 and M1, ML to Aerial 8b. For family listening and movies Cambridge Ensemble with Snell center and side augmented by 2 Sunfire Signature subs

The Betas never cease to amaze me

 

[Rotiv]

My top of the line from 77
B&W DM6

 

[Ian Wendt]

Not sure that MTM and vertical line arrays are ground-breaking, but they are certainly a 21st century thing.

As I recall, several of the Infinity IRS series of speakers were line arrays. As for MTM/D'appollito speakers, I can recall a number of options on the market in the late 80s and 90s from various Danish manufacturers, including a brand as mainstream as Jamo, which had several offerings. Some of my favorites back then were MTM speakers, like the Audiovector 3X, or the super esoteric DIY speaker, the HF-275. Maybe not something you could find everywhere, but if it showed up in tiny Denmark... It wasn't *that* rare.

 

[fpitas]

As I recall, several of the Infinity IRS series of speakers were line arrays. As for MTM/D'appollito speakers, I can recall a number of options on the market in the late 80s and 90s from various Danish manufacturers, including a brand as mainstream as Jamo, which had several offerings. Some of my favorites back then were MTM speakers, like the Audiovector 3X, or the super esoteric DIY speaker, the HF-275. Maybe not something you could find everywhere, but if it showed up in tiny Denmark... It wasn't *that* rare.

Agreed. But the floodgates opened in the 2000s. Until then I constantly read dire warnings that MTM could not possibly work. Problem was, nobody told the MTM that!

 

[Waxx]

Agreed. But the floodgates opened in the 2000s. Until then I constantly read dire warnings that MTM could not possibly work. Problem was, nobody told the MTM that!

Maybe in the USA not, but i saw them also a lot in the 90's in Belgium. My music teacher in high school had Focal Aria 5's, and that were MTM's from the eraly 1990's, sold widely across Europe. They looked like this (picture of internet). He could not stop brag about them in the music lessons and brought them to school so we could hear them also. Denon had a variation of those. And other brands also.

 

[fpitas]

Maybe in the USA not, but i saw them also a lot in the 90's in Belgium. My music teacher in high school had Focal Aria 5's, and that were MTM's from the eraly 1990's, sold widely across Europe. They looked like this (picture of internet). He could not stop brag about them in the music lessons and brought them to school so we could hear them also. Denon had a variation of those. And other brands also.

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We all lived in mortal terror of the power dip at the crossover

 

[NIN]

The speaker model I have, Ino audio i64s, saw the light of day in the mid 90s. The speaker elements have changed over time and mine has the latest version.

 

[JiiPee]

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