Does anyone listen to modern music on vintage speakers?

MOEB74

Active Member
So I listen to pretty much everything and I was wondering if anyone uses vintage speakers on modern music? Say for instance, something like EDM or the like, pretty much any electronic based music is going to be bass heavy... What about excursion and damage etc? Can you not play it loud or have much if any added bass via the knobs? I know about tearing the speaker is a potential issue, but basically can they safely play any and all music at moderately loud volumes?

Or would that be where rubber surround and modern speakers should be used? I was also told that they can make a noise like a fart sounds noise.. Is it a warning sign, or is that a sign of failure in the spider? Are there any warning signs that its being pushed too hard before failure?
 
Love EDM, Electronic and The Sound of SceneSat music on my CS-910A's - playing through a Pioneer SA-7700 Amp - I also stream from my I-Phone with a Bose Soundlink Mini II. Crank it up and enjoy!
 
The 12" woofers, in my Acoustic Research AR58s speakers, can handle high wattage without issue, and produce low bass. For a 12" woofer, it's very tight and fast. It blends very well with the dome midrange in the speaker. A dynamic speaker too. Good for rock, or 'harder' forms of music. I wouldn't be afraid to play dub-step or EDM through them.
 
Lanterns on the Lake - Live with Royal Northern Sinfonia (2016 recording)
Enjoyed that Saturday on my JBL L-212 with the Volkswoofer sub, via Jolida integrated tube amp ...
 
I do wonder what music my vintage speakers have reproduced in the past . What was the first song played ? What was the last song played . Stuff like that . Whoever gets my Klipsch RF7 II's , the first song was Boston's More Than a Feeling .

I get that same feeling with really old records and cylinders. I wonder who was the first person to listen to it and especially with cylinders, feel like I'm looking through a window into the past since those things weren't edited.
 
I suppose about as "modern" as I get with respect to electronic music would be Daft Punk. (As an aside, why synthesize everything and then stick Nathan East in there on bass? . . . not that I'm complaining about it!)

Nearly every speaker I own is vintage, with the exception being my powered near-field monitor JBL LSR305s. I'm pretty sure my vintage JBL 4345s with their 18-inch woofers can handle just about everything. Especially since the woofer was used in the original iMax installations.
 
My main system uses Marantz Imperial 6s that can play modern bass heavy music at a level that actually surprises me. When I was setting the stations on the HD tuner I got last week it found the local hip hop station. I stopped the search function and cranked it up and my wife and I started laughing our asses off. I truly wish people could hear how freaking loud and low Hip Hop can sound on the old Imperials and 2220. Another song that kills me with bass is Tom Jones' cover of "Black Betty".......

Our bedroom system has two sets of speakers, Nova 6s and Polk RT25i. The Novas are better with more modern bass heavy music and the Polks are better with classical and more detailed music. A good speaker is a good speaker, some are better with different types of music.
 
My Infinity Column II from 1977 have ridiculous amounts of bass (I often have to EQ it back) and handle very high power with ease. Everything sounds good on them from EDM and hip-hop to the finest jazz trio. They're crystal clear with dialog and offer thunderous bass effects with action movies. My Ohm Fs are far better speakers, but don't get nearly as much playing time as my Infinities because I can play absolutely anything through them at any volume without worry.

Another, slightly newer speaker that is great with any type of music, including hard-hitting EDM is anything from the Polk SDA or RTA series. Beautifully low, balanced, low distortion, and plentiful bass and extremely high power handling capabilities. My SDA SRS 2 ruined a lot of other speakers for me. The bass just never sounds right in them after hearing SDAs.
 
My vintage speakers are JBL titaniums --JBL 120Tis, JBL L20Ts, JBL 4410. They behave like modern speakers, actually. Flat, clinical, and can take plenty of powers. And I do listen to modern music, mostly trance and ambient trance. If anything, the speakers mercilessly reveal the not-so-good quality of non-stop trance mix albums.
 
I guess my mindset was if the speaker is old, and only played say Al Jolson for YEARS, then I throw something on with bass. My concern was if the spider never stretched that far or the surround never did, could the surround crease, could ths pider or surround pull off etc. Just a though, thats all.

What I love about this place is that you can pretty much ask anything and not get knocked back by someone else's post. Good place..
 
Back
Top Bottom