[guest48077]

Hi,

Just came back from a thrift shop. I saw a pair of ADVENT LOUD SPEAKERS. Both Woofers had to be replaced. They were selling for 19.95 each. THESE ARE NOT THE ACTUAL SPEAKERS BUT THYE LOOK JUST LIKE THIS


Overall they looked to be in pretty good shape.

Would these be a good deal? I have heard a lot about these speakers. Of course I would fix them up.

Any advice is appreciated

[earplay]

Not for a flea amp. If you own otherwise, I would buy.

[guest48077]

Not for a flea amp. If you own otherwise, I would buy.

Sorry I dont understand "not for a flea amp" Are you saying if i own a nice amp I should buy these?

[thunderbrick]

You sure they just don't need new foam surrounds?

Where's this thrift shop located?  Don't post the info, just PM me.   

[guest48077]

You sure they just don't need new foam surrounds?

Where's this thrift shop located?  Don't post the info, just PM me.   

well the cones are still there , just around the cone is gone. is this just foam surrounds?

[thunderbrick]

Yup.  Should be $100 or less to re-foam the pair.

I think a "flea" amp is a low-power (5-10 watts ?) amp.  Just a guess.

I'd grab 'em, especially if the grills and cabinets are nice.

You can also find surround replacement kits on 'bay for around $25 and DIY.  I've not done it but a friend of mine says the first time he did it he found it very easy.

[earplay]

Flea amps are low-power amps, such as sold by Mini-Watt, DecWare, Yamamoto, Vaughn Audio, etc. They typically supply from about 1.5 to 10 watts per channel. Really good ones can cost $1000 per watt. Whew!

Advents are not sufficiently sensitive to sound well with so little power. They sound well with lots of power and high damping factor... speaking from experience. I've owned a couple of pairs.

By the way, your picture shows the walnut cabs. Quite a buy, I'd say.

[S Clark]

I had a pair way back when that I drove with a Marantz 1060 integrated amp - 30 wpc of reasonably clean, mid fi power.  It was a good match and definitely loud even in a pretty big room. 

[Bill A]

Yours look like Large Advents, but the woofers don't look original.  The originals had a masonite ring to allow a smaller cone to work with the larger basket.  Here's a pic I found on the net with the original woofers.



Bill

[guest48077]

Yours look like Large Advents, but the woofers don't look original.  The originals had a masonite ring to allow a smaller cone to work with the larger basket.  Here's a pic I found on the net with the original woofers.

Bill

Well I went back and bought them. (THE PICTURE I POSTED WAS NOT THE PAIR I BOUGHT, mine do have the original masonite ring )

I asked the manager for a discount because the foam was gone and they were broken. She gave me 5 dollars off each speaker. Total cost was 32.50. They are the walnut cabnet, most of the cab s are in good shape, the top of one speaker is pretty scuffed up. The grills are in good shape but do not have the logo in the corners anymore.

In the future I plan to re-foam them maybe put a different wooden veneer on them.

So was this a good buy or what, I am still not sure

[Bill A]

Well,they are classic speakers.  If they are original, then you should be able to get out of them what you have in them, including the cost of refoaming the woofers.

For me, I'd say that is a good buy.  I don't think I would do anything to the cabs except maybe oil them up a bit.

Bill

[Wayne1]

For $32.50, you got a steal.

Take a look on E-bay. You can find those speakers selling for upwards of $250.00 a pair.

Large Advent on the 'bay

The surrounds can be replaced. There are lots of places on the web with advice on how to do just that. With some patience, you can find already refoamed woofers for about the price of the kit to rebuild them. I would also suggest, at a minimum, to replace the capacitors in the crossover. After 30+ years the component values have changed a bit.

Personally I would suggest changing out the tweeter for something a bit more modern. I have installed Waveguides and compression drivers in a couple of pair of Advents. The sound of these "FrankenAdvents has been compared to some of the best speakers made today and not come up wanting.



Geddes Abbey, Modded Advent and Yorkville Unity listening session

For information on refoaming and rebuilding the Original Large Advent, check out this thread.

For information on how to convert them with Waveguides, check out this thread.

The Advents DO like power. A good 100-200 watt solid state amp will make them just sing.

[guest48077]

Well it looks like I have my next project . I followed the above links and they are selling for 250$, 300$ 315$

Was it the cabinets that made this speaker special or was it the woofer and tweeter?

Should I just considerate on making them look good and re foaming. Or should I replace woofers and tweeters?

Thanks all for your comments
 

[thunderbrick]

The sound.      

Seriously, at a recent GAS GTG at Scott F.'s, a vintage Scott tube preamp and AR TT made wonderful sounds with that model of Advent.

[Bill A]

Personally I would suggest changing out the tweeter for something a bit more modern.

Nooooo    Don't do that!  You won't have a pair of Large Advents then.  Just replace the woofer surrounds and maybe the capacitors in the x-over, polish up the cabs and presto: New speakers!

The guy that added the waveguide didn't have the original speakers to start with, so no loss there.  All he has that's Advent is the cabinet, and only part of it at that!  If you repair the surrounds on yours and don't like the sound, then dump them for $250 or so and use the money to buy a custom speaker kit and save the vintage Advents.  You are likely to get much better results with a custom kit from a reputable source than from hacking up your thrift store find.

Just my $0.02

Bill

[thunderbrick]

+1

[guest48077]

thank you for the advice, I will most likley not mess with them to much. Then again I mey mess with the appearance only

[toobluvr]

You can get the re-foaming supplies here:

http://www.speakerworks.com/speaker_repair_kits_s/65.htm

I'm gonna help a buddy refoam his Infinity RS525.  Never done it before, but after watching the video, it looks like cake.  From what I see, the only requirement is a steady hand and careful approach.

Just placed the order earlier this week...about 20 bux including s/h for two drivers.

Be sure to click on "speaker repair video" on top of the page.

Also, search on Ebay member geoaliwil.  He sells these refoam kits for roughly same price, maybe a few $$ more after s/h.

[Wayne1]

Bill,

I don't live in the past and what is most important to me is the sound. I owned a pair of New Larger Advents for over 25 years. I replaced the foam for the woofers twice. The offset tweeters don't image and don't have any definition. The bass is boomy because the cabinet is under damped.

Mr. Kloss designed a great woofer. The 1.5 cubic feet of the cabinet is perfect for it. When used with a modern designed crossover and high end section it DOES rival some of the best speakers made at any time. The original Advent cannot do that.

If you prefer a more analytical approach to the sound of the Larger Advents, you may want to look through this thread

Here is the frequency response of the OLA in a utility cabinet



Here is the frequency response of the same cabinet and woofer with a waveguide and new crossover.



Here are measurements made by John Atkinson of Stereophile of the Smaller Advent Loudspeaker. This speaker used exactly the same woofer, crossover and tweeter but in a smaller box.

Stereophile measurements

"Some aspects of the Smaller Advent's measured performance were positive. For example, it reminded me of the benefits for bass performance of a well-tuned sealed box, compared with the reflex designs that are now ubiquitous. But despite its relatively even balance through the midrange and low treble, the Advent's tweeter is a total underperformer compared with modern designs, and its cabinet is way too resonant".?John Atkinson

You can preserve the looks of the speaker, but make it more enjoyable to listen to.

[richidoo]

http://speakerrepair.com for refoaming supplies.  I recently did a set of Cerwin Vega D9s. Easy as pie, they have instructions in the kit.

Here's your kit