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What are your favorite vintage speakers?
I have a pair of Allied speakers and an excellent 1950's Fisher console (w/ El84 amp & tube preamp) that both have AlNico speakers. Both are acoustic suspension as well. They sound great! Paper cone tweeters are smoother than silk dome. I don't believe they're not as fast responding- but still sound good.
The two systems do not sound excessively warm, but do have a richness to them.
Follow Ups:
Spendor BC1, Leak Sandwich.
Favorite Vintage(s) would be Rectilinear IIIa's
Rectilinear XII's
My favorite vintage speakers that I own are the Tannoy Monitor Golds with doped paper surrounds mounted in custom cabinets and updated crossovers.
Warmest regards,
No Regrets
I have a pair of JBL L110's that I'm using in a vintage system. I've always been impressed with their midrange depth and tight bass. Well designed woofers with heavy Alnico magnets.I also have a pair of L100's, but prefer the sound of the L110's (they're more accurate).
Edits: 01/01/11
The ones with the Walsh WTL ("ice-cream-cone") tweeter on top.
Unique 4-way design. First-order crossovers throughout. Unbelievable treble. Dynamic, sensitive, full-range.
I bought off eBay for <$400, and I'm rebuilding the crossover circuit.
Recommended.
Bob
The Infinity WTLC (Wave Line Transmission Column) was my first pair of "real" speakers - about 1976. Got a demo pair at "Thieves Audio" in New Orleans. ;-}
Powered them with a Sony V-Fet integrated amp. That put me one the road and the rest is history!
Doak
BIC Formula 6 Venturi. I still use mine for the big tv. It's not hard to go from them to my Dunlavy SC IVs with the big rig.
Ya'll don't laugh at me...but I have a pair of Dynaco A25's and a pair of A25XL's stacked and hooked to a Marantz receiver that will WOW you all day.
My Betasound D-7's
RADIO K.A.O.S.
Sonab OA-14 and Magnepan MG-IIIA's. I'm not sure if the Maggies are really vintage, but they are, in my opinion, very special speakers at a very reasonable used price.
bb
Easy to drive and they looked fantastic. Kef 104.2 gets my vote
604s with my 2a3 and female recordings, the Normans for everything else. Deep, wide, wall to wall sound thats clean and clear.
Rectilinear IIIa speakers. Coupled with a Kenwood 80wpc integrated amp, and a Thorens td125ab mk 11 turntable and shure v15 type 2 cartridge was a heavenly sound back in the 70's. Of course, never being satisified, I sold everything and bought more expensive, but not so good sounding replacements.
Bob
I throw my windows open wide and call to you across the sky.
I agree that the Rectilinears were really great to listen to. I bought a pair in 1978 and later sold them to a close friend. I re-connected with him and found that he had recently married. I asked if he still had the Rectilinears and to my surprise he did. I bought them back for $100.00 and they are now in a vintage system with an 80 wpc Yamaha amp, Thorens TD160 table, TEAC R2R, and a Sony cd player with AMC DAC. Really nice as a second system in a bonus room.
I have several favorites:
IMF TLS80
Dahlquist DQ-10
Dynaco A-25
I could live with the Large Advent in place of the A-25's.
Bought them new in late 70's and early 80's, have kept and intermittently used them ever since. Can't seem to part with them....
B & W 801F's
Rogers LS3/5a 15ohm
(nt)
Back in my vintage era, with a very limited budget, I'll throw-out the EPI line of speakers. The original line (73-75) stormed onto the scene and for about $200/pr on up, offered high value and excellent sound. Not the most analytical, but they did have deep bass, a fast midrange, and well dispersed highs. With enough power they would open-up with a natural sound that made many audiophiles take notice. A Marantz 250 power amp drove my EPI 202's for a couple of years. It was a special system that provided a ton of enjoyment to me and my college friends...
Perhaps a bit youthful to be considered "vintage", but my vote goes to the JSE Model 1.
However some of the first high end speakers I ever heard were Magneplanar Tympanis and DQ10s, and they made indelible impressions on me.
KLH 9, Quad 63, 1+1, Omnistat, MG-1, RTR tops. Wish I never got rid of em..
Purchased new about 1980 and I still use them despite repeated failed attempts to find a better sounding loudspeaker (auditioned many products up to $20k/pair).
Other old favorites I remember fondly:
Infinity IRS (overall best, but who has the space for these monsters?)
Infinity Reference Standard 2.5
DQ10 (had a long conversation with Saul Marantz at their unveiling at NY audio show)
AR2ax
Large Advent
ADS 910
ADS 980
KEF 105.2
KEF 104
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tannoy DualConcentrics of any vintage from 1948 to present day.
The Apogee Divas in the Smithsonian
I still haven't heard better.
JBL Lancer 99's
Infinity 2000a's
Dynaco A25's
Magnapan MG 1's
AR4xa's
Sequerra Met 7's (v1)
Fisher XP9's (with tubes only!!!)
both way over the top in terms of too much speaker for most rooms.
My favourite speakers would be JBL Ti5000 (in that time I had not enough money).
KLH Nines, demonstrated by Roger Modjeski in Richmond, VA. These are the speakers that taught me that house brand box speakers were not really all that wonderful. Couldn't afford the Nines, so I bought the closest affordable alternative - Magnepan MG-1s.
I guess this depends on what you consider vintage, but here is a list of my favorites by decade -- I list only speakers that I have owned:
Altec 604 in 606 corner reflex box/ A5 VOTT -- 50's
Bozak Symphony -- 60's
Beveridge System 2 -- 70's Wonderful speakers when they are working properly in a good room; my overall favorites
Quad 63 -- 80's
Tannoy Westminster -- 90's
NHT Xd -- 00's
Best bang for the buck, extreme near field, non-fatiguing, quasi-vintage and musical: Original Kloss The Soundworks from late 80's/early 90's
...Dahlquist DQ-10s.
Listened to everything I could find and was blown away when I heard them.
Bought a pair in 1977 and it ushered me into the world of high end audio.
Shortly after I bought them, Dahlquist came out with subwoofers.
I had to have them so I bought a pair.
And an electronic crossover - so that meant bi-amping.
I didn't stop upgrading and changing equipment for the next 23 years.
All because of the DQ-10s.
Has anyone ever heard of a custom speaker named Electrical acoutical -From a store in new york called 6th ave stereo.? I'm told that 2 of the greatest speaker builders were involved in their creations.Anyone???
I put them in the title because I used a pair for about 18 years. Their on axis dispersion was was pretty flat, their off axis dispersion was not so they required careful placement to get the best result. By today's standards the crossover between the 8 inch woofer and the 3/4 tweeter at 3 kHz was too high (but had to be because tweeters in those days were generally not as robust as post-digital one, so there was an off axis flare in the response when the tweeter cut in. It was excellent on piano and voices, very good on orchestra, and the impulse response was superb. I'm not at all sure the new 104aB crossover was an improvement, but still the Kef 104aB was also very good.
Others I liked were:
Altec 19--with the controls adjusted properly, it could have a very even response and a 3 dimensional image.
Quad ESL -- the original model. I liked it but did not consider it an all-rounder, like the Kef 104.
IMF Monitors TLS 50 and TLS 80
Quad ESL-63 -- I had these for a dozen years. Can sound excellent in many respects if one can place them properly. They needs lots of room. Tough to get piano to sound right on them.
AR-9
Allison 4
-----
"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser
I had a roommate in college that had a Dynaco sytem that he built himself. He set it up with Dual turntable and a couple of Altec VOT speakers elevated about 2' and spaced around 10' apart. Then he had Bose 901s hooked up as well on stands in the corners. It was a big room, maybe 18 by 30 or so.
Deep Purple sounded awfully good.
-Rod
Have a Brother-In-Law in Italy who's done photo work for "established" bands, such as DP, U-Heep et cetera and he got a kick out of this.
I have a small collection of Koto bands/orchestras on vinyl, which is why/how I found this offering on a WWW search.
Not a DP fan (seen them as an opening act many times), but love this rendition.
I've got 15 inch TANNOYS IN ONE PLACE AND PIONEER HPM 100S IN A NTHER. DO A Search
Long gone.
ADS 710's.
"Lock up when you're done and don't touch the piano."
-Greg House
The Gales, an English speaker, were groundbreaking when they came out in the 1970s for providing a sound years ahead of their time in terms of clarity and slam in a large bookshelf.
I also really liked the Bozaks.
Also, both long gone.
(nt)
Infinity RS2.5 and RS4.5, B&W 801 v3, Symdex Sigma, Spica TC50, Infinity Gamma/Delta, B&O M70, B&O M100, Tannoy Devon. In no particular order.
1) Quad electrostatics - still my main speaker, w/ 24" Hartley dipole subwoofer.2) Spendor BC-1
3) Rectilinear III
I am hopelessly retro :-)
Edits: 11/23/10
Bozak B3000 (Symphony) and KLH Nine full range electrostatic. Very different from each other. Both very listenable.
Altec Lansing Model 19
Quad ESL-63 with Gradient SW-63 subs
George
I also liked the Altec 19, if adjusted properly. I had the Quad ESL-63's for a number of years, too.
-----
"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser
If it's my favorite vintage speaker that I've heard, it would have to be Mark Levinson's HQD speaker system. Each channel consisted of a H artley 24 in super-woofer, a pair of stacked Q uad electrostatics and a single D ecca ribbon tweeter in a "D'Appolito Configuration" powered by three Mark Levinson ML-2 Class-A, 25W/ch monoblocks.
However if it's my favorite vintage speaker that I've owned it would be a toss-up between either the large Carver Amazing ---{ the ones with the two-piece 60" yellow ribbon }--- and four 12 inch dipole woofers per channel or the Infinity RS-2.5. Both of those were absolutely "amazing" and ahead of their time. They also both required critical placement in the right room with sufficient power!
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
SETriodes Forum -- Central Florida Audio Society -- Fullrange Drivers
==============================================================
"The man that hath no music in himself nor is not moved with concord of
sweet sounds is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils."
- William Shakespeare
30 years and still going...
Those, Linn Saras and Some Maggie panel got me hooked on the high end (I was all of 17 years old!)...
-There she goes again!
She's tidied up and I can't find anything!
and I did like my Time Windows as well. Honorable mention to the Altec Corona.
My first speaker was DCM QED's with a M&K subwoofer. That combo saw alot of action until I found Spica TC-50's and I was totally hooked on the high-end
Dahlquist DQ-10s and Large Advents. Owned them both and loved them for what they were capable of!
I'd also give props to the Dynaco A-25s.
My Mentor still uses them for HT (realistically, just stereo on either side of his plasma TV)...
-There she goes again!
She's tidied up and I can't find anything!
I second that on the Dahlquist DQ10,s. I had just bought a set of Magnepan 3.3's (just got finished repairing loose wires and replaced the ribbon tweeters) but I'm still having a hard time parting with the DQ's. I bought them 30years and 2 wifes ago.
I still remember my DQ-10s- I sold them two years ago when I had my DIY speakers up and running to my liking.
The best thing about the 10 (at least to me) was its mid-range imaging, very 3-D. Incredible!!!
-There she goes again!
She's tidied up and I can't find anything!
The Infinity RS1.5 and Delta/Gamma. Two of the best speakers ever made!
Allison Three
ADS L1230
Snell A
JBL L166
Large Advents
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Bozak 302 & Rectilinear III
Wayne
I also liked the Altec Voice of the Theatre and the KLH electrostatics,
as well as most of the larger Klipsch and Bozak pieces.
MK
Sansui 8080DB, AR-XA, Klipsch Forte I's.
Freedom is the right to discipline yourself.
I'm defining vintage as pre-1975
Quad ESL 57 - makes most other speakers of the era sound absolutely opaque
Spendor BC1 - colored but beguiling
I'm defining vintage as 20 years old, the accepted standard. I nominate and select the Klipsch Fortes, mine are from 1986.
Freedom is the right to discipline yourself.
Mcintosh ML11C - I can remember hearing a pr stacked with Pink Floyd DSOTM the whole block shaked run with MC2300 C28 and Thorens 126MkIII
ADS - 910
Bozak 302?
AR11 and AR9
DCM Time Window
a vintage audiophile?
I'm afraid that I know the answer ... :(
Best regards,
Jim Smith
JBL 4311s. Still sound great to me. I bought them the year they came out.
A studio is a financial black hole with good acoustics.
It is only vintage if it works. Other wise it is just old crap.
nt
-There she goes again!
She's tidied up and I can't find anything!
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