3db
Addicted Member
Thats your opinion and you are entitled to it even when you are wrong.
Todays Speakers vs Vintage Speakers
- Thread starter Mark Davis
- Start date
BrianKBaur
New Member
Drivers have improved drastically. Cabinet build, not so much.
BrianKBaur
New Member
The issue with modern gear isn't the technology. It's the market-driven engineering. The market wants sound bars, not basement disco bars...
BrianKBaur
New Member
musichal
poet emeritus
I neither shop for, look at, nor consider sound bars. There seems to still be a thriving niche market for great speakers, judging by what is available. I don't see sound bars influencing their design, so I utterly miss your point. Missed the one concerning disco bars, too. Do you know the price of eggs in China right now? I have been wondering about that.
BrianKBaur
New Member
You might not, but the "market" sure does. The thriving niche of great speakers is awesome, but always more expensive than "better" sounding vintage speakers, IMO.
musichal
poet emeritus
Oh, I see. The "market" also likes iPhones, Belgian chocolate and gourmet coffee. All three of those cost more new than used, too. But there's still that egg thing gone completely unexplained. Ah, the mysteries of life...
BrianKBaur
New Member
There's still that "value" thing for most people, too. Such a mystery, indeed.
3db
Addicted Member
Lets give it 3 decades to be generous which brings one back to the 90s, which is still younger than vintage.I think computer modeling for speaker design has been around for decades
BrianKBaur
New Member
At this point I don't know whether this question can ever be answered in the absolute. Cosmetic condition has by far the most bearing on value for any given model but this has absolutely no bearing on performance, whereas cosmetic perfection with new is a given.
I recall a pair AR90s that were recently sold on the auction site that were NIB (aside of the top of the box in order to photograph) that sold for ~ $5,000. The price is not so much based on the AR90's performance (although highly regarded), but the fact of the rarity of a pair of perfectly preserved 40 year old examples that were near high end when they were new. In my mind, however there is little question that better could be had for the same $5,000 in new, and probably even for $2,500.
For all practical purposes, there is really no clear answer because again, there are simply too many variables involved. There is no question that condition will bear a significant premium in vintage - and usually the premium entailed tends to make the comparable alternatives in new that much more attractive.
I recall a pair AR90s that were recently sold on the auction site that were NIB (aside of the top of the box in order to photograph) that sold for ~ $5,000. The price is not so much based on the AR90's performance (although highly regarded), but the fact of the rarity of a pair of perfectly preserved 40 year old examples that were near high end when they were new. In my mind, however there is little question that better could be had for the same $5,000 in new, and probably even for $2,500.
For all practical purposes, there is really no clear answer because again, there are simply too many variables involved. There is no question that condition will bear a significant premium in vintage - and usually the premium entailed tends to make the comparable alternatives in new that much more attractive.
Your constant repeating of your opinion doesn't make misconceptions into facts. Painting any vintage JBL as a "west-coast" sound is simply not factual and really only applies to one speaker design which was intended to provide the same frequency response as the ubiquitous Altec studio monitors of the day but in a smaller, less expensive package which JBL called "control" monitors. Again, it's not true of JBLs before that series or since. Measurement tools were obviously available and were used to mimic the Altecs. For those who wanted a flat response there were plenty of JBLs both prior and after the 4311/L100 that would provide it. What you continue to deride as "west-coast" sound was deliberate and not an accident, but it was not the heart and soul of a JBL or, in particular, their studio monitors. And it's not what most of us look for when we choose vintage JBLs over modern speakers.
Silentnet
Super Member
Tekton would like to have a word.
musichal
poet emeritus
Value is important to all, but not all perceive value in the same way. No mystery to that. The mystery is what sound bars had to do with any of this; that was the price of eggs in China.
BrianKBaur
New Member
I can directly attribute two purchase of amazing tower speakers to the influence on the “market” that Sound Bars are exerting. You might not be buying speakers from the same “socioeconomic strata” that I am. To each Thiele own.
z-adamson
Addicted Member
If I / we have it all wrong, then set it straight.Thats your opinion and you are entitled to it even when you are wrong.
Name brand new speakers that I can purchase today at a retail store for less than $1000 that will outperform the JBL L112.
Name brand new speakers that I can purchase today at a retail store for less than $500 that will outperform JBL L110.
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
1967 Shelby Cobra - 0-60 in 6.5 sec --------- Price: Fair condition $111,000, Concours condition $252,000
2018 Shelby Cobra - 0-60 in 4.3 sec --------- Price $54,000
New cars surely have better performance, but you know you REALLY want to drive up in that '67 Shelby
2018 Shelby Cobra - 0-60 in 4.3 sec --------- Price $54,000
New cars surely have better performance, but you know you REALLY want to drive up in that '67 Shelby
musichal
poet emeritus
Depends entirely upon who assesses the performance. Your opinion is clear, but that's all it is.
