My favorite vintage speakers...

doug s. · « **Reply #80 on:** 31 Aug 2007, 07:59 pm »

presently, my faves are my sansui sp2500's that i picked up for $20. really nice sound. easy to drive at 98db-efficient & 8 ohms. but, they're the only wintage speakers i have recent familiarity with!

http://www.classicsansui.net/Speakers.htm#SP2500

i recently picked up two matching pairs of vintage fostex fe-103 drivers, installed in pioneer cabinets. i will run them stacked; i suspect they will sound nice, based upon all the research i did on the 'net about 'em. also lotsa mods awailable for them. they should work great w/my modded almarro a205a mkll

also lotsa web info on building different cabinets as well...

doug s.

rhart · « **Reply #81 on:** 31 Aug 2007, 11:29 pm »

I just bought an old pair of rare Tangent Acoustics RS2. They have the same tweeter as the LS3/5a and an 8" Audax woofer. These things are bizzarely good: soundstage is wide and deep, not at all boxy, incredibly smooth. Not as resolving as my PMC DB1s, but maybe a little better at rendering voices.

I'm kinda shocked at how much I'm loving these things. They are ugly though. So when my girl gets home from her vacation, she'll want the PMCs back in (she's demanded that I never sell the PMCs, since she loves the sound so much).

Ray R · « **Reply #82 on:** 17 Sep 2007, 05:02 am »

My favorite is the Dynaco A25. I own a pair of these babies that my dad bought for $120/pair in 1975, then bequeathed to me in 1990 when he changed equipment. I wish I could say mine were all-original, but I replaced the blown tweeters with some SEAS 27TDFC's that were as close to original as I could get, but well worth the investment. I built new grille frames, used standard brown grille cloth (maybe one day I'll look further and look for the light colored fabric that Dynaco used and find some Dynaco logos to go with them), and re-oiled the cabinets. They look and sound fantastic! I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Another fave is the Boston Acoustics A40. One of my college roommates had a pair that he let me borrow when I bought my first receiver - why I chose a pair of Technics SB-L31's over the Bostons still remains a mystery. What the heck was I thinking - that for the same price bigger was better???

The A40's were by no means a powerhouse speaker, but were very clear in the midrange and highs. I do know that for $400.00 (in 1985) you could combine them with a Yamaha subwoofer and blow away a pair of ADS speakers costing twice as much.

TONEPUB · « **Reply #83 on:** 17 Sep 2007, 05:42 am »

ESS AMT-1's....

Freo-1 · « **Reply #84 on:** 27 Sep 2007, 09:09 pm »

Acoustat Spectra 33's

A speaker who's potential is almost limitless, yet almost impossible to live with. It is TOO revealing, pointing out all the flaws in the audio chain it is connected to.

The other cool thing about them, is that they are almost bulletproof. The only long term maintenance is to replace the caps in the transformer modules every 10 years or so. An amazing product.

GMuffley · « **Reply #85 on:** 4 Jan 2008, 03:53 am »

KLH-9s and Rogers LS3/5A (15 ohm version).

Legendlime · « **Reply #86 on:** 16 Jan 2008, 07:56 pm »

My current favorite is a pair of Sansui Sp 3500's, that I got for $10. I had to vacuum the cob webs out of them

Alan · « **Reply #87 on:** 17 Jan 2008, 05:19 pm »

Altec Valencia

Found mine at a garage sale. These aren't the home version with the nice cabinet and funky grill to repair, but the theater version in basic black. The guy was asking $200 for the pair and had them hooked up to an old all in one receiver (with turntable and 8 track built in). They sounded HORRIBLE, really thought they needed work. Told him so and offered $150, took them home and hooked them up to a Scott 222 with AR CDP. They sounded GLORIOUS. Still using them for my background music system with a Trends amp. Ready to rock the house anytime.

Second favorite... sure wish I never sold my JBL L100's.

boycephoto · « **Reply #88 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 04:37 am »

I have some great memories of Stacked Audioanalyst A100-X (they just spanked Stacked Advents but, I still own the Advents, go figure), Still at home under my roof are DQ-10's/Regnar updates, 1980 Rogers LS3/5'a 15 ohm in new Stirling Broadcast reference cabnits, the stacked large Advents, Dynaco A25's and the latest, Magnepan 3.6's.

The last to go would be the Rogers.

Dave

grillebilly · « **Reply #89 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 05:00 am »

hey-I am new here and still wet behind the ears. I have a slew of old speakers so the first post should end up here.
My fave vintage speaker for "noisy" stuff like rock and roll and punk are Cannon TLS 1232's. Big horn tweeters.
For more instrumental stuff Polk Monitors rank up there, maybe the 7b. They have the Peerless dome tweeter.
Stacked Large Advents are good at filling up a room, and since Dad had 'em growing up they gotta be cool.

bunnyma357 · « **Reply #90 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 06:09 am »

I really like my Allison CD-9's - very musical. I think it was great that Roy Allison designed speakers to work best where people actually want to put them, like against walls and in corners. They still sound great today, although no longer in the primary system.

Jim C

denjo · « **Reply #91 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 10:25 am »

Rogers LS3/5a (15 ohm version). Classic BBC monitor speakers.

Also owned a Linaeum bookshelf speakers - wonderful ribbon tweeters.

nature boy · « **Reply #92 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 12:14 pm »

Always liked my Snell model 1's. Sorta semi-vintage.

NB

S Clark · « **Reply #93 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 12:34 pm »

Without doubt, my Design Acoustics D-12's. Bought them in 76 and still like the sound on spacious orchestral music.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #94 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 01:57 pm »

I have bought and sold the Epos ES-11...for whatever it is worth, it was a relatively easy load and it sounded punchy and very clear in the mid to high ranges.

Another pair of speaker which had my jaws dropped when I was just 16 years old, a pair of Energy 22 Reference Connoiseurs floorstanding models which put out as effortless as a sound as a pair of 6 ft Infinity Kappa 9s, this was back in 1988, in a small audio dealer on the shadows of the now gone Twin Towers.

Paul

WGH · « **Reply #95 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 02:57 pm »

The JBL L100/4310 is my favorite, a modified a pair with an upgraded crossover and heavily braced cabinet is still used daily in my wood shop.

Wayne

bummrush · « **Reply #96 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 04:22 pm »

from 76 a pair of altec lansing powered speakers,used with a nice Sony str 7065,and i pretty much listened close to what would be called near field listening,and God almighty they could blow the walls down and sounded outstanding.

JackD201 · « **Reply #97 on:** 8 Feb 2009, 05:36 pm »

Hearing the Beveridge Model 3 of my friend's dad at the age of 13 got me into this mess. They couldn't play very loud (what was the end all be all for me at the time

) but it was the very first time I experienced what is now referred to as a walk-in soundstage. Because of how they influenced my tastes later in life, they are definitely my vote for my favorite vintage loudspeaker. Funny how I can describe it now. Then all I could say was WOW.

stone deaf · « **Reply #98 on:** 13 Mar 2009, 02:09 am »

Rogers or Spendor LS3/5a
Stacked Large Advents
Snell Type A
Quad 63
JBL L-3

Plink · « **Reply #99 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 04:28 am »

wow, some really interesting speakers in this thread....

for me, it's the Altec 19s. I also like Jensen Duettes. The horn tweeter on the Duette is nice. There are models without the horn tweeter and these are also good but not as smooth.