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Vintage Speakers Worth Owning Today?

watchnerd

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Are there any vintage speakers worth owning today?

In particular, I'm thinking of big-ish speakers, of the size of the JBL Century or larger.

Have recently heard some lovingly restored Acoustic Research (AR-5, I think) vintage speakers, I was surprised at how decent they sounded. They gave up some detail relative to modern designs, but they seemed to play loud easily without getting compressed, and they had a good sense of 'scale'.

Something seems to have been lost when we transitioned to smaller boxes as decor-friendliness demands, as opposed to the big chonks of the past.

I'm now thinking I should pick up a vintage set of speakers just for fun.

What are some vintage speakers worth owning today?
 

Willem

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My Quad 2805s had to go in for repair the other day, so I pulled my Quad ELS 57s out of storage. They were not as good as their modern decendants, but still very good. By now they have become fragile, however.
Traditional dynamic speakers have their own problems with ageing, of course, with foam surrounds being the most obvious problem. Speakers do age.
The famous BBC designed ls3/5a is a case in point. It was never easy to produce them to spec, and none of the original 15 Ohm specimens are still remotely on spec. This is why the later 11 Ohm version is better, even though audiophiles pay much bigger money to get the 15 Ohm's colouration.... The modern Harbeth P3ESR is a distant relative and far better again. I have both the 11 Ohm LS3/5a and the P3ESR and the latter is better in all respects. Technology has moved on.
 

Blumlein 88

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Odd, I'd say mostly ESL's or Horns. Can't think of any vintage cone and box speakers I'd recommend. Horns are their own thing, and ESLs that are aged have their own problems. ESL57's Willem mentioned would still be good, as would later ESL63's which are basically equivalent I think to the 2805. Acoustats are one. Old Maggies are not bad, but not different than new Maggies. Like less refined versions of what they make now.

If you have the time and inclination, I think DIY speakers in a great looking cabinet would be a better idea.

Linn Isobarik's maybe. Dalquists. Apogee's (sorry I'm just a panel speaker guy and old boxes just never did it for me).
 

restorer-john

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Are there any vintage speakers worth owning today?

OK. We need to draw a line in the sand and define what exactly is "vintage" in terms of age, due to it being a moving goal-post as time goes on. Old model today- vintage tomorrow.

Throw me a number in years as a starting point...

Edit: If you are talking "classic" instead of "vintage", it's a whole other ball-game...
 
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Julf

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Linn Isobarik's maybe.

I'll second that, but only when active (and a digital crossover / DSP unit helps deal with the bextrene "quack"), but the sound distribution in the room is a marmite thing.
 

Cosmik

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Something seems to have been lost when we transitioned to smaller boxes as decor-friendliness demands, as opposed to the big chonks of the past.
Two very obvious things:
1. The old woofers were usually sealed
2. The baffles were wider, placing the baffle step at a lower frequency - a fundamental difference that cannot be eliminated with EQ.

I recently had some pretty large three-way Goodmans speakers from the 70s and they were really quite good.
 

KozmoNaut

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Measurement-wise, big old boxy speakers will be at a disadvantage compared to modern designs with fancy simulation-designed waveguides and dispersion characteristics. They can still be massively enjoyable, JBL's classic "west coast" sound and Cerwin-Vega's lively PA-like sound were/are both very popular for rock music in particular.

By far the most fun speakers I've had were a set of restored JBL 4410s, those beautiful walnut veneer boxy things (25kg "bookshelf speakers") did things with hard rock that just made it come alive. I still haven't forgiven myself for selling them a couple of years ago. My parents also used to have a nice set of Pioneer HPM-60s that they gave away because they were old, big and needed new woofer surrounds. I should have kept them and saved up for the woofer repairs, but alas I was a teenager living at home, with other priorities and not yet a proper appreciation for vintage gear.

The most impressive big "concert in the living room"-type sound I've heard was a home theater based on Cerwin-Vega E-315s (I think, they definitely had 15" woofers), the guy had a full 7.1 setup with six of those monsters, plus a center and a sub. Just endless dynamic capability.

If you're into the whole big boxy imposing speaker thing, with big woofers, you either have to go vintage or DIY something. There are very few speaker makers interesting in making or selling that type of speaker anymore, especially if you want a nice wood veneer. Modern full-range PA speakers come close to the old-school design principles of big low-excursion woofers and large boxy cabinets, but good luck getting any other finish than black or scratchy carpet.

I'm hoping to have the space and money to build a nice vintage setup, with a quality stereo amp from the olden days, with knobs and switches and VU meters, my 70s JVC turntable and a set of JBLs (120Ti, 240Ti, 43xx, 44xx, L300 etc.), Pioneers (HPM series), Yamaha (NS1000, probably) or Cerwin-Vegas (E or AL series). It won't measure perfectly, but it will be extremely fun.
 

Thomas_A

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If you want vintage active speakers I can think of the 1978 Audio Pro A4-14. They may need refoaming of drivers but if ok they would battle with the top monitors of today.
 

FrantzM

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Yamaha NS 1000 M ... My father had it and we loved it ( SHould never have parted ways with it, We did keep the CA 2010 that powered it) I would like to re-audition this speaker to assess how it fares with modern designs ...
Technics SB-7000. never heard it but I know the Japanese were unto something back then; too bad these efforts were mostly ignored by Western Audiophiles.
Perhaps Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater
 
OP
watchnerd

watchnerd

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OK. We need to draw a line in the sand and define what exactly is "vintage" in terms of age, due to it being a moving goal-post as time goes on. Old model today- vintage tomorrow.

Throw me a number in years as a starting point...

Edit: If you are talking "classic" instead of "vintage", it's a whole other ball-game...

>30 years
 

617

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Thiel, Dunlavy, top of the line PSB. Always wanted a pair of Stratus Golds.
 

Robin L

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Stacked Large Advents. Somehow, the flaws of single pairs go away when the speakers are doubled up, images big, reasonably cheap.
 

Willem

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However, very few 30+ year old speakers will still meet their specifications.
 

Soniclife

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I'll second that, but only when active (and a digital crossover / DSP unit helps deal with the bextrene "quack"), but the sound distribution in the room is a marmite thing.
What is their dispersion? The only pair I ever heard sounded great in the relatively small room they were in.
 

Julf

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What is their dispersion? The only pair I ever heard sounded great in the relatively small room they were in.

They have an extra mid and tweeter radiating upwards, so use reflections from back wall and ceiling. Imaging is far from precise, but they give a lovely sense of space. As I wrote, a Marmite thing, you love or hate it. Wouldn't use them as studio monitors, but that is what I have the Genelecs for.
 

Soniclife

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They have an extra mid and tweeter radiating upwards, so use reflections from back wall and ceiling. Imaging is far from precise, but they give a lovely sense of space. As I wrote, a Marmite thing, you love or hate it. Wouldn't use them as studio monitors, but that is what I have the Genelecs for.
I'd forgotten about the upward firing drivers.
What's your view on the isobaric bass drivers?
 

gene_stl

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The Yamaha NS1000 and NS500 have some extremely low distortion midrange and tweeters. Shortly after I built my monsters Martin Collums in "High Performance Loudspeakers" (Pentech Press) said the Yamaha tweeters and midranges were the lowest distortion drivers he had ever measured.
It was also very pleasant to see that in Floyd Toole's more recent book the receive a good mention too. I am trying to buy a pair myself locally for surround speakers today.
It also is very hard to beat a triamped set of JBLs.

It is true that vintage crossovers need to be checked but switching to triamping makes that much easier.
 
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Julf

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What's your view on the isobaric bass drivers?

They give a great, neutral and deep bass, but there are probably better ways to achieve that these days.
 
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