Home Vintage Asylum

Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time.

RE: I always thought...

To David, and all the rest.

The A25 and A25XL used a 10" woofer with no low pass filter - they just let it roll off naturally. The tweeter was then blended in with just a series R (switchable) and a series capacitor. The contemporary KLH 17 did something very similar; but used a cone tweeter with some compensation networks, although the basic crossover was still first order.

Years ago, I had a chance to compare the two on both SS and tube amps. The A25's had stronger bass and a warmer balance, and the KLH 17's had a better high end. However, the SS amps were not direct coupled; but had capacitively coupled output stages; so the source impedance was more like a tube amp at low frequencies. Although the A25's had more and seemingly deeper bass, the KLH 17's had tighter and more detailed bass.

When the Advents came out, I compared the KLH 17's to the Advents using a Pioneer SX990 receiver, also capacitively coupled. They sounded remarkably alike over most of the range; but if really low bass was present, the Advents were better and more extended thanks to a larger cabinet and a 1/2" larger woofer cone. The A25 has a true 10" cone, the KLH 17 was sold as a 10"; but the cone is more like a 9 or 9.5". The Advent 10" has a slightly larger cone than the A25. It's all about cone size, not the frame size.

I have not done a 1:1 comparison of the A25 or KLH 17 with Advents; but I have done a modern direct coupled SS amp Vs ST70 tube amp compare with the Advents. The SS amp sounded better balanced and more accurate, the ST70 sounded overblown to me. Kloss stated in his literature that the Advents were designed for use with moderate priced SS receivers. The KLH 17 is a 1962 design, so it was surely designed for use with moderately priced tube gear of that era. My take on the A25 is that it was designed for the Dynaco ST120 amp. It worked well with tubes; but you have to realize that the ST120 was capacitively coupled at the output and advertising notwithstanding, at lower frequencies, the damping factor was higher and more like a tube amp at lower frequencies.

Jerry


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Amplified Parts  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.