Advent vs. HPM 100

Which ever one sounds best to you. Seriously.

But as for me and my house, we'll take the Advents.
 
Neither, or both. They are certainly different but which is 'better' is going to be largely a matter of personal taste and synergy (or not) with the electronics you hook them up to.
 
Thanks, I have the advents and I love them, but I have read a lot about the HPMs and was wondering if it was worth looking on ebay for some.
 
They are so dissimilar it is impossible to say. On this one it's true, trust your own ears and decide for youself.

cubdog
 
Thanks for the replies. The thing is though, is that I have never heard or seen the HPMs, so I don't know how they sound. How is the sound dissimilar between them and the advents?
 
Large Advents are pretty much the standard for the 'East Coast' sound, where the priority was smooth frequency response over wide frequency range and dynamics. The HPM-100 was designed to compete with the JBL L100 and has a similar sound which is very 'West Coast', which is to say extended frequency response (both on the high end and low end) and better dynamics but the frequency response isn't terribly smooth. The HPMs have a punchy, kind of forward sound with good low bass which is great for rock but the high end can get a little tiring after a while. The Advents are smoother and probably easier to listen to for extended periods but lack the bottom end punch that the HPMs have.
 
The Advents are nice fairly balanced speakers with good bass response and nice overall 2 way sound. The HPM's are brighter and much more in your face / forced on you sound. Also the HPMs do much better with loud aggressive rock where the Advents will do all types well and much more versatile. I find the HPMs confused and hard to control or get a nice balanced sound from.

These are strictly my opinions.
 
As dissimilar as whiskey and vodka. They both are designed to meet the same end, but by different people with different perspectives and different resources to start with.
I have both. I like both. I'm keeping the Advents, but that's as much a function of value of the HPMs and lack of an amp that matches well with them as anything else (yes, I had one that sounded wonderful, but it went back to its rightful owner). Plus I'm emotionally attached to the Advents, my first speaker.
They sound (and feel) neat stacked together.
I hear the major differences in the woofer tone and response. The HPM woofer is carbon fiber, and has a more wooden sound - in a good way. The upper range of it sounds like a stringed instrument (especially the body, as was mentioned in another now closed thread) instead of the strings of the instrument. Hard to explain, but everything sounds more like a human voice.
It's also a little boomy in response, as has been discussed ad nauseum here. The "mid-bass hump" is increased response in the rock n roll bass range, around 60-80 Hz. Stands, tilting, and stuffed ports seem to help, but not eliminate that.
Maybe they're a little brighter too. No, they are brighter. Sort of like a loudness button: the top and bottom have a boost.
"Better" is always a bad question in audio. That's like asking which religion is better in a room full of zealots. Everyone will have their preferences, East/West coast, flat/contoured, 2-way vs 3+way, ports vs sealed. Best bet is to decide what kind of sounds you like, listen, and judge accordingly.
 
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The Advents are the better speaker overall. The bass has deeper extension and while the fried egg tweeter is fatiguing, it is not as harsh as that in the HPM-100s. The comments about the flatter response are mostly valid as aside from a ~10dB peak around 3kHz with the Large Advent is isn't so great as the +12dB ledge that dominates the HPM's treble. In addition, the ported design of the HPM creates a hump around 50Hz that tricks one into thinking that there is deeper bass than there is -- it actually brick walls by ~48Hz vs. the ~35Hz extension enjoyed by the Advent.

To give objective data to back up these and others' comments ...

This is the frequency response graph of the HPM-100:
attachment.php

You'll want to also pay attention to the dotted line -- the HPM has rather poor off-axis response. So, if you like moving around while listening to your music, bear in mind that the sound will be much harsher out of the sweet spot.

I neglected to copy the equivalent for the Large Advent, but I do have one for the Smaller Advent (same tweeter, same woofer, just a smaller cabinet and a massy dust cap to extend bass response).
attachment.php

The peak (dotted line is on-axis here or what you'd be hearing at your sweet spot) is a bit less prominent on the Larger Advent and is smoothed out over a slightly greater frequency spread. There is a sharp dip ~1800Hz where the drivers cross over, but dips are a great deal less offensive to the ears than sharp, extended peaks. As you can see, the off-axis response isn't too bad thanks to the design of the fried egg tweeter.

- JP
 
The beauty of vintage gear is that it's reasonably priced and you can usually resell at your cost or for a profit. Due to all of the discussion here on AK I also had questions regarding the sound of HPM 100's as it had been many years since I had listened to them. So I purchased a decent pair off my local craigslist and spent several hours listening to them. I decided they were not to my taste so I cleaned them up, relisted them on craigslist and made a nice little profit. If you can get a pair for $150 or less you will most likely have no trouble flipping them should you decide not to keep them so go buy a pair and give them a listen. They do have nice cabinets and can be refinished easily if needed.
 
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EvanG,

I hope you can get both. I really like the East Coast style of speaker like the Advent, it is my favorite for classical, jazz, vocals, ect... but for rock and roll, would prefer the HPMs, just my 2¢.

I guess this would be kinda like comparing a musclecar to a sportscar- both desireable and fun to own, and both perform the same basic duties, getting you from point A to B, but the rides are markedly different.
 
Good luck, Evan. Some may want to lynch me for saying this, but I'll say it anyway. Some Cerwin Vegas are great for rock as well- I've heard the best about the "D" line of them, the rest are not up to audiophile standards in general, save a few, like member Thor's frightening towers of power, some real early models that featured some innovative cabinets (floorstanding woofers and wallmounting tweets and mids), and my favorites, a rare pair of HED CV-3000s (HED was a division of Cerwin Vega- a kind of short-lived experiment). The Cerwin Vegas are a good cheap way to get into a good rock speaker. The D-3 is a great all-around model, and can usually be had for $50-$75.
 
14????

I have underwear older than you, kid! But BIG ups to you for going vintage. You're WAY ahead of the curve.

At 14, I thought that my Sanyo Integrated setup was a force (farce) to be reckoned with...

Sorta like what Mark Twain once said.."When I was 18, my father was a fool, and I knew everything. It is amazing what he learned in 3 years."

Good luck, and keep on rockin'! :thmbsp:
 
I have JBL L-96's stacked on top of Advent 5002's. I do not typically listen to them in tandem however they sound better together than did the 96's on top of the JBL L-112's. Go figure.

cubdog
 
I have the Advent Loudspeaker (utility cab) and the HPM-900. The HPM-900 is hands down the superior loudspeaker system.
Note that the Advent is also in one of my five stereos, and a dozen other pairs of speaker systems are in the spare bedroom.
The HPM-900 is, IMO, a smoother-sounding system than the earlier HPM-100.
Using the Stereophile test disk, the HPM-900 has real bass output into the low 30s, that is, you could hear and feel it.
Can't complain about the Advent, either. It is in my vintage system with the Nikko NR-1015 and it is a wonderfully synergystic system. 85 watts really opens the Advent up.
 
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