[listening]

Greetings All,

Great forum!  I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of large Advents for $125 from a local seller.  They are the utility cabinets, and the seller has told me the foam has been replaced on the woofers recently.  The woofers don't have the masonite (?) edges on the frames, but do have the non-inverted surrounds.  It also appears that the tweeter is flush mounted in the cabinet and not surface mounted like some I've seen.  The price also seems reasonable.

Anyway, I will get a chance to listen to them before I buy them (tomorrow), but if there is anything I should be looking for on these to indicate any potential problem I would very much appreciate your feedback.  I do have some technical background so detailed info is OK.

Thanks in advance!

Listening

[Tubes 4 Ever]

IMHO 125 seems a bit high for any Advent unless it is something extraordinary. Just my humble pie.
Tubes

[nodiak]

if you haven't already also try audiokarma.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27

[Scottdazzle]

The utility cabinet Advents did not sound as good as the walnuts.  I suspect the thinner cabinet was to blame.  The tweeters were never flush mounted. These sound like they've been altered, perhaps in a negative way.  I'd pass.

[listening]

Thanks all.

Just after I posted I found these:
http://denver.craigslist.org/ele/718628747.html

Other than original surrounds that the seller claims are fine, it looks like this may be a better choice?

[ArthurDent]

Welcome Listening -

While writing this with several interuptions, I see several others have spoken up so will self edit. I think the proof is in the hearing. As noted in an earlier post I'm still running my Utilities, woofer re-coned due to age, original tweeters (surface mtd), purchased circa 1974. They currently run the front channels on the living room TV surround, powered by an older Yamaha HT receiver.

Not great for long term high volume listening, but still adequate for low to mid level. A lot will depend on your system as to what can be brought out of them, and what you want to hear 'sound-wise'. I think I paid $107 ea originally when new, at which time they were close to top of the mid-line market. They've probably been as close to bullet-proof as they could get. I've never tweaked them, or had a problem, the age thing aside. And they actually held out slightly longer than my Dahlquist DQM-C7 monitor's woofers which required re-coning as well, but were almost 15 years newer.

Disintegration gets us all in one way or another, and why should speakers be any different. In any case I expect you should get some good recommendations and suggestions from the folks here. They were an invaluable resource when I put together my first new system in 20 years last fall. Good luck & Good listening.

[listening]

After examining the "Identifying Your Advent Loudspeakers" on AudioKarma (thanks nodiak), I pulled the trigger on the first pair.  Apparently models made between 79 & 83 had flush mount tweeters.

Anyway, I snagged them for $100.  They sound quite good.  Brings back some good memories.

I still going to check out the walnut pair when their owner gets back into town.  Maybe stacked Advents are in my future!!

Thanks again for the advice everyone! 

[S Clark]

A very long time ago, I had a pair of stacked Advents.  I quickly replaced them with a much superior Design Acoustics D-12,  which are now delegated to home theater use. I now suspect that there are severe phase problems in stacking them.   For stereo, there are so many options that are soooooo superior to the old Advent technology, that unless you have an attachment to them, I think you can do much better for not much more investment.

But, it's all about what pleases your ear. 

[Wayner]

Just remember that the capacitors in the cross-over are getting to be very old and have probably changed values (becoming less capacitive) meaning the cross over point is getting lower and lower from design spec, which means tweeter is probably starting to see frequencies meant for the woofer. The caps should be replaced before you get too wild with the volume control.

Wayner

[listening]

Thanks Wayner.  I figured there would be a need to "tweak" some of the internals.  They do sound pretty damn good in my basement right now.

edit>  I purchased the other pair too.  They do need new surrounds, but are in fantastic cosmetic condition.  I've purchased a refoam kit, and new capacitors for all 4 speakers.  I'm enjoying stacked Advents as we speak....albeit without laying into the volume control until I get the surrounds and capacitors replaced.  I'll have about $275 (plus time) into both sets with the mods.  I have 4 of the 5 channels of my Fosgate Audionics FAA1000.5 amplifier on them.  Can't wait to let it stretch it's legs!!

Thanks everyone!   

[audiobasics]

They do sound pretty damn good in my basement right now.

As did mine.

Shortly after I got them I yanked them apart to "upgrade" the components. I did measure the capacitors in there and although not exact to what the labels said they should be, they were both within 10%. I let them be and enjoyed them as they were. I gave them to a friend last year and he still tells me how great they sound.

As always, your mileage may vary!

 

[Wayner]

If your caps are only 10% off of spec, I wouldn't replace them either. That probably was the tolerance for caps back then. I'm surprised they were that close.

Good to check though and new caps are cheap....unless you start buying stuff like Musicaps or Wondercaps. I'm not going to pay $40 for a damn 8uf cap!

Wayner 

[audiobasics]

If your caps are only 10% off of spec, I wouldn't replace them either. That probably was the tolerance for caps back then. I'm surprised they were that close.

Good to check though and new caps are cheap....unless you start buying stuff like Musicaps or Wondercaps. I'm not going to pay $40 for a damn 8uf cap!

Wayner 

Don't get me wrong, I am not a tightwad and love improving old gear!

 aa

I got my former Advents at a yard sale and was amazed at how good they sounded when I set them up. No, they were not the most accurate but they were sure musical. In discussing them on another forum I got comments to upgrade the internal parts as the caps were likely bad after all these years. But if the parts were bad how could they sound so good and if I replaced the parts might I get a de-improvement? The crossovers are pretty modest by any standard and the caps anything but esoteric. In my example they sure did last. It could be that they were just well taken care of and never abused by the original owner. I'd bet that regular amplifier overdrive or storage in a garage with temp extremes could cause the capacitors to drift off spec.

[Thump553]

I have a similar situation.  My brother has a pair of the original (large, walnut cabinet) Advents from the very early seventies.  Cabinets are in great shape but the woofers are shot.  He'd like to replace the woofers-any idea where to get them?  Anyone know of any shops that work on these around Memphis, TN?

I also had a pair of (large, walnut cabinets) Advents that I purchased new in 1971 for $125 each.  I absolutely loved those speakers but got rid of them in a moment of stupidity in the eighties to "upgrade."

[audiobasics]

I have a similar situation.  My brother has a pair of the original (large, walnut cabinet) Advents from the very early seventies.  Cabinets are in great shape but the woofers are shot.  He'd like to replace the woofers-any idea where to get them?  Anyone know of any shops that work on these around Memphis, TN?

I also had a pair of (large, walnut cabinets) Advents that I purchased new in 1971 for $125 each.  I absolutely loved those speakers but got rid of them in a moment of stupidity in the eighties to "upgrade."

When you say "shot" are the woofers electrically bad, i.e. voice-coils burned up or are just the surrounds rotted away?

[Wayner]

If your caps are "old and out of value", that means the cross-over frequency has changed and has gone down. Now your tweeter can be seeing 750 cycles at full power. You may not hear it, but it is energy and the tweeter has to deal with it and it will, until it fails. That is the only reason for concern. Most woofers of the early day vintage speakers were designed to roll off naturally, so there is really nothin' that can really go wrong. But you guys are checking the caps, so all is good.

Just trying to point out the potential dangers of old caps.

Wayner