[dB Cooper]

My handyman/hoarder landlord dragged this POS home for some reason. In them you see some of the traits that defined mid-fi in the 1970s:

• The biggest woofer they could possibly cram into the selected enclosure;
• As many drivers as they could fit on the front panel (Dig the bizarre driver layout);
• As complicated-looking a design as they could execute at the selected budget (this appears to be a four-way design)

All of this was probably done for marketing reasons: A big woofer is better than a smaller woofer;  a four-way is better than a three-way which is better than a two-way, because more is better; and four crappy tweeters/ supertweeters (I guess) are better than two good ones for the same reason.

Just thought somebody else might get a chuckle out of this like I did. Criterion was Lafayette's house brand IIRC. Noteworthy is that despite having no fewer than six drivers, the system is labeled '50 Watts program material'.






This is apparently what one in decent condition looks like:

[charmerci]

 


 

[drphoto]

Yep. Hey I grew up when big Pioneer and/or Marantz receivers and JBL L-100's were the 'thing'. It was good loud, thumpin' fun. Wouldn't mind owning today in second system, except all that stuff fetches crazy money these days. Talking early 70's. My world changed in the 80's when a crazy guy introduced me to modded Dynaco amps, British monitors and Linn tables. Soundstage and imaging......who'd of thought???

 

On the other hand, chasing 'sound' can sort of ruin the enjoyment of music. I stopped listening to my system for a few years because I would just get hypercritical and hear all the faults instead of just enjoying it. I think the fun of one of those old mid fi rigs would be zero expectations other that it look cool and play loud. Sometimes......that's good enough.

[dB Cooper]

.

[dB Cooper]

Yep. Hey I grew up when big Pioneer and/or Marantz receivers and JBL L-100's were the 'thing'. It was good loud, thumpin' fun. Wouldn't mind owning today in second system, except all that stuff fetches crazy money these days. Talking early 70's. My world changed in the 80's when a crazy guy introduced me to modded Dynaco amps, British monitors and Linn tables. Soundstage and imaging......who'd of thought???

 

On the other hand, chasing 'sound' can sort of ruin the enjoyment of music. I stopped listening to my system for a few years because I would just get hypercritical and hear all the faults instead of just enjoying it. I think the fun of one of those old mid fi rigs would be zero expectations other that it look cool and play loud. Sometimes......that's good enough.

Well put. We all have fallen into that trap. Equipment has gotten better and better over time, as have recordings, but it is as easy to tell live versus recorded as ever. AudioNote has had the cellist Vincent Belánger at their room at CAF the last couple shows and I've heard him play the same selection back-to-back with the recording, on the same cello. You can tell the difference, and the same would be true in any show room. So I say get the nicest system you think you can afford, but keep your perspective, don't expect the impossible, and set some aside for concert tickets. Not only is live music important, it's a great reality check, especially when upgraditis rears its head.

[sturgus]

My handyman/hoarder landlord dragged this POS home for some reason. In them you see some of the traits that defined mid-fi in the 1970s:

• The biggest woofer they could possibly cram into the selected enclosure;
• As many drivers as they could fit on the front panel (Dig the bizarre driver layout);
• As complicated-looking a design as they could execute at the selected budget (this appears to be a four-way design)

All of this was probably done for marketing reasons: A big woofer is better than a smaller woofer;  a four-way is better than a three-way which is better than a two-way, because more is better; and four crappy tweeters/ supertweeters (I guess) are better than two good ones for the same reason.

Just thought somebody else might get a chuckle out of this like I did. Criterion was Lafayette's house brand IIRC. Noteworthy is that despite having no fewer than six drivers, the system is labeled '50 Watts program material'.






This is apparently what one in decent condition looks like:

I had a pair of those in the early 70's. My first real speakers. All  in all they were not that bad of a speaker.  I kept them for around 3 years and bought some JBL century 100's. For around 6 months I was in heaven and then slowly I started to think maybe these $300 speakers weren't as good as everybody said they were. I kinda wished for the old Criterion's. I ended up getting some larger Advents in the cheap boxes and things were much better. 

[dB Cooper]

The large Advents were a classic, and a completely different concept- two really good, well-designed drivers in a well-tuned cabinet. Not designed to impress the "look at all those speakers" crowd. My next door neighbor had a pair, also in the 'budget' cabinet. A different league than these to be sure.

[S Clark]

The large Advents weren't bad.  I had a pair with a Marantz 1060 integrated, a Sony RTR, and a Dual TT.  Music sounded pretty good for a kid in college.

[charmerci]

The large Advents weren't bad.  I had a pair with a Marantz 1060 integrated, a Sony RTR, and a Dual TT.  Music sounded pretty good for a kid in college.

Had a pair in college too! With a Kenwood integrated - not good compared to the SR-x20 series Yammy receiver, then Crown home separates before I moved up to ADS.

[planet10]

The box design, and layout may be far from ideal, but the Coral drivers are quite decent. Lose a midrange & one of the ½” superTweeters, and a new box and XO and i bet you’d have something quite decent.

dave

[drphoto]

Oh man a 1060 and a Thorens TD165 were my very first audio purchases when I was 15. I wish I still had that amp. It would be perfect for my computer monitor setup. Fairly small chassis. And it didn't totally suck. It got killed when a coin fell through on of the vent slots and shorted something. Ended up in the rubbish heap. Probably should have had fixed as all that vintage stuff seems do be commanding pretty dear prices these days. I guess a lot of us old timers are getting nostalgic.

[dB Cooper]

The box design, and layout may be far from ideal, but the Coral drivers are quite decent. Lose a midrange & one of the ½” superTweeters, and a new box and XO and i bet you’d have something quite decent.

dave

Well, those would have been fairly extensive changes, almost to the point of being a completely different speaker. I don't remember Coral; I assume they're defunct. My original point was that it seemed to me that this was designed mainly to impress you visually when you took the grille cloth off. Compare that to the minimalist approach taken in the previously mentioned Advents, which were probably contemporaries and maybe even competitive on price.

[Don_S]

The large Advents were a classic, and a completely different concept- two really good, well-designed drivers in a well-tuned cabinet. Not designed to impress the "look at all those speakers" crowd. My next door neighbor had a pair, also in the 'budget' cabinet. A different league than these to be sure.

I am listening to re-foamed and re-capped Large Advents as I type this.  I think a resistor was replaced as well.  Surprisingly good. Just a little hard edged but very open.  They beat a lot of higher priced speakers I have heard at shows. 

I dug the Advents out of the closet until I can purchase new speakers that fit in my new home.  My Quads were too wide for the wall I have to use. No, the Advents are not Quads but I am temporarily enjoying their extra energy.

They were my first slide down the slippery slope.  I soon paired them with a McIntosh 6100 integrated and then stacked a second pair.

[tbheels]

If Criterion had found a way to move those Velcro tabs, it could've squeezed in a couple more drivers.

These speakers stand in contrast to a KLH Seventeens. Simple, no nonsense, two drivers, very sweet sound.

Also, I agree with the positive comments here about Advents.

[fredgarvin]

It looks to me to be a attempted copy of the Rectilinear III 'Highboy', or even the 'Lowboy', a well respected and well reviewed loudspeaker.







The cabinet is really too small for the woofer for sure on the Criterion.  Back then the Kabuki speakers were all about 12 or 15" woofers stuffed into too small cabinets.

Kenwood sold a gazillion of these, 15" and no bass.

[ArthurDent]

Lots of memories here. Still wish I'd spent the extra $7 for the real wood veneer on my Advent Utilities (re-foamed, $114 ea in '73), which currently reside in my garage system, driven by my an old Onkyo 8017 integrated. Source is a 35 yr old AC/DC Sony Discman used in the car mostly for road trips. Plug the cassette pickup into the player, and away you go. It all still sounds pretty good.

Original system Marantz 1060, 105B Tuner, Teac cassette deck, & Pioneer PLA-45 TT. Should probably look at re-capping the Advents at a minimum at this point. Heck, they're only 45 yrs old, what could go bad. 

Thanks for the walk down memory lane dB. 

[ohenry]

My first decent speaker was a pair of SEAS large bookshelves with twin 8" woofers and a silk dome 1.5" mid/tweeter (1973... damn I'm old).  The drivers looked to be the same as used by Dynaco.  This was an odd speaker the was badged SEAS on the grill and Sennheiser on the back.  The cabinets were sealed and easy to drive with a Dynaco ST120, making lots of volume in most rooms.  I had an AR-XB tt to go with them.

The system sounded pretty good and fairly accurate as the speakers seemed nimble and never harsh (a wonderful thing back then in a sea of speaker fatigue).  Of course, I only used the best cheap ass zip cord, captive lamp-like power cords and terrible IC's. 

And... everything survived 4 years of college/3 years of frat house without a burp!   

[dB Cooper]

My first decent speaker was a pair of SEAS large bookshelves with twin 8" woofers and a silk dome 1.5" mid/tweeter (1973... damn I'm old).  The drivers looked to be the same as used by Dynaco.

All Dynacos used 10" woofers except the A-10 (6.5"). The dome tweeter might be the same though.

[dB Cooper]

It looks to me to be a attempted copy of the Rectilinear III 'Highboy', or even the 'Lowboy', a well respected and well reviewed loudspeaker.







The cabinet is really too small for the woofer for sure on the Criterion.  Back then the Kabuki speakers were all about 12 or 15" woofers stuffed into too small cabinets.

Kenwood sold a gazillion of these, 15" and no bass.

Not too many four-ways out there anymore. Bet waterfall plots would look frightening....

[Rusty Jefferson]

I believe the term Kabuki speakers was coined to identify this type.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/what-are-kabuki-speakers.13967/page-2