Vintage VS new: KEF 105/3 or Focal Aria 948

[FRQ]

I've had a couple of 1500a's and they're great amps if you can still get the bias set correctly. The trim pots are low quality and get quite imprecise/unstable over time. I replaced mine on the last amp through here with high quality multi-turn trim pots.

I've been meaning to see if everything is still in spec. Would you know if there's a service manual available? I've only found the schematics. Without the manual, I'll probably take it to a professional, I'm just a multimeter monkey.

Recently bought it in pristine condition along with a PL/D-2000 pre amp, its remote and a set of 200+€ snake oil interconnects for the princely sum of 250€. Bang for buck hard to beat. Too bad the matching DAC and CD player are weirdly expensive in Europe, it'd be fun to assemble a full stack. At least the tuner is cheap, if you can find one.

 

[tw 2022]

kef, hands down. if you only knew how much they measured and tested even decades ago.

I got that lesson when I lucked into finding a pair of infinity crescendo bookshelf speakers that were mid 1990s era... They retained for about $900 A pair back then , I think they hold up extremely well vs anything near that price point today ...

 

[raindance]

I've been meaning to see if everything is still in spec. Would you know if there's a service manual available? I've only found the schematics. Without the manual, I'll probably take it to a professional, I'm just a multimeter monkey.

Recently bought it in pristine condition along with a PL/D-2000 pre amp, its remote and a set of 200+€ snake oil interconnects for the princely sum of 250€. Bang for buck hard to beat. Too bad the matching DAC and CD player are weirdly expensive in Europe, it'd be fun to assemble a full stack. At least the tuner is cheap, if you can find one.

I can no longer find the service manual as the amp is long gone. I believe the bias voltage on the emitter resistors was 15mV (at idle with no load).

I had the preamp also and, sadly, was not a fan. The DAC's were decent but not special by today's standards. The CD players were extremely unreliable.

I think it is a great amp. You can barely give one away here in the USA these days though.

 

[FRQ]

I can no longer find the service manual as the amp is long gone. I believe the bias voltage on the emitter resistors was 15mV (at idle with no load).

I had the preamp also and, sadly, was not a fan. The DAC's were decent but not special by today's standards. The CD players were extremely unreliable.

I think it is a great amp. You can barely give one away here in the USA these days though.

I seem to recall reading it was 10mV according to Parasound at the time of release, but found a message saying John Curl advised to set it somewhere between 15 and 20, based on heatsink temperature.

There is a rarity tax on these components in Europe, you'll be hard pressed to find any P/LD pre-amp for less than 350€ here, the HCA series goes all the way past 1000€ for the more powerful models. Any CD transport a few hundred euro and the D/AC are the silliest money at 500 to over 1000. Not worth it at those prices and I should really quit while I'm ahead, but there is something about the look of a full stack of them that's growing on me. Darth Vader's CPAP machine.

 

[steve59]

I had the 105/3's 25 years and did damage a tweeter when I plugged it into an amp with a short in 1 channel. Guys have successfully used tweeters from the reference line that followed but I played mine at 104db levels with 110 peaks for years and wow the woofers couldn't keep up the tweeters never failed

 

[EJ3]

First and foremost, let me apologize for this at first glance silly question that opens the vintage vs. new can of worms. I promise I can explain!

Over the last few years, I've been renovating a 150 year old house, which has resulted in endless dust and a series of temporary furniture layouts moving from room to room. To accomodate this sad state of affairs, a set of active Loewe L2A floorstanders (built/designed by Linn) and a Khadas Toneboard DAC were purchased which have served me well. Durable plastic, metal grills, 80wpc active, easy to move, even easier on the wallet.

They performed better than expected and over the last year they've been hooked up to a 70wpc 1978 Denon PMA 701, but now the dust has literally settled and it's time to upgrade.

I did some research and landed on the Focal Aria 948 for a 5x8m room. These can be bought on the secondhand market for about 1300€ which seems a lot of bang for buck and almost a no brainer, but... I've always lusted after a pair of KEF 105/3.

I like vintage stuff. Sometimes to my detriment.

The KEF design is timeless and half the price of the Arias to boot. I can't exactly audition both and am wondering about the real world performance gap between the modern Focals and the 30 year old KEF. My current baseline is the 20 year old Loewes so either would be a big step up.

In both cases, they would be driven by a Parasound HCA-1500 amp & P/LD-2000 pre amp.

I'm also open to suggestions regarding an alternative for the Focals, as long as they have similar dimensions, pricepoint (or cheaper of course) and classic/neutral looks.

Joining here for some insights from more knowledgeable people that share my strange audio affliction seemed like a logical next move.

So, what would you do?

Sometimes older is really good (I run 1990 Dahlquist M-905's that have an FR of 26 Hz-20 KHz +-2 Db without any type of EQ). I don't have much in the way of other measurements but they suit me & my 1970 home just fine.
Here is another example of some older speakers with a full blown test by Erin's Audio Corner (Like everything else, you pick your poison & take your chances):