Modern Speakers vs Vintage?

[ultumax]

I know a lot of vintage designs , are very impressively built maybe more so then tiny bookshelves of today. I love them all
How do modern Flagship speakers stack up against vintage, Flagship?

Floorstanders vs Large vintage speakers? soundstage/sound quality

How did tiny 5-8" bookshelves become the standard? affordable speaker size.
How did older speakers start out so bulky? like PA monitors, and end up slim floor-standers today?

I like vintage speakers a lot, but how do they compete with newer speakers. Vintage is king for budget though.
Note: I am way too broke to consider Flagship speakers, just using it as a comparison method.

Any thoughts on this??

 

[virii01]

A topic that's been much discussed and debated. There really isn't a right answer.

There were junk speakers from the vintage era, there were very good speakers from the vintage era.

There are junk modern speakers, there are very good modern speakers.

IMO, as someone who has and loves some very nice vintage speakers, modern flagship speakers will beat vintage. Technology, manufacturing, R&D, materials you name it have all evolved.

A good quality well engineered vintage speaker will sound better than many cheaper modern speakers.

Large vintage speakers turned into slim floor standers of today mainly because of the influence of HT and dual purpose stereos. They'll typically disappear into the room easier which when you already have a a 60" TV and such can be a pretty big selling point...

Very generally speaking however is that you can find great value in certain vintage speakers which will out perform modern speakers comparing used $ versus new. On the flip side, higher end modern speakers will not be matched by vintage unless someone is specifically seeking a vintage sound.

Not sure why I typed so much considering these threads typically turn into a mess and are deleted....

 

[illinoisteve]

I think the tiny 5-8" speakers are considered big speakers in an age when people think a stereo is something you plug your I-something into the top of so people can hear your playlist without earphones.

 

[ultumax]

I think the tiny 5-8" speakers are considered big speakers in an age when people think a stereo is something you plug your I-something into the top of so people can hear your playlist without earphones.

I guess so IPOD docks are considers speakers now days.

 

[Grizzog]

I'd give the edge to vintage for the point made above. Dollar for dollar it is very tough to beat the good vintage gear. If funds are unlimited, then you could probably find a set of modern speakers to beat most any vintage gear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tiga]

Whew...getting worried - haven't seen a vintage vs. modern thread in a while.

 

[Rob.]

Most vintage anything used more precious metals.
You decide whats best for you.
I pefer vintage.

 

[chadnliz]

Whew...getting worried - haven't seen a vintage vs. modern thread in a while.

Lol,
Forget the money because used values on modern speakers make so many great models very affordable, not junk store affordable but still within reach.
I find it hard to swallow when I see folks say vintage speakers are as good or better than today's offerings....that's just laughable. I'll let turntables slide, amps and pre's start to get into grey area but speakers are so much better today that its no contest. Factor inflation and used markets like Audiogon and most anyone with a serious passion for music and some fiscal discipline to save up for a worthy model can own lots of speakers that put vintage ones to shame. Cabinet technology, materials, bracing and drivers have all evolved to the point where I wish more found it hard to argue....... But here we go again.

 

[chadnliz]

Most vintage anything used more precious metals.
You decide whats best for you.
I pefer vintage.

What's that got to do with speakers? Personally I'd ban the metal dome tweeter if I was king.

 

[vonclod]

I think the smaller diameter drivers in modern units might be quicker or punchier, I think a 10 is considered big nowdays..tweeters have probably evolved a bit. I have both vintage and modern..I enjoy the shit out of whatever I listen to..they all bring something unique, but I lean towards modern..my floorsta.nders have 10s

 

[luddite]

A lot of what the affordable new speakers need to finish off the sound is the subwoofer.
A big old speaker does it all in one go for the price.
If you like the look of a furnished wood cabinet and grille cloth, then you have to go with that.
Soundwise, it's a large kettle of fish out there.

 

[CLS500]

Seems to me that back in the day Subwoofers were not part of the mainstream stereo scene, hence, 15" woofers/mids/tweets in a large floor standing cab. Now they basically just break it all up for more efficient use with HT set ups. Highs and mids in the bookshelf size unit and low freq. in the powered subwoofer box.
The modern configuration is probably more flexible but I still like the old way better, but then, i'm old so that probably explains it.

 

[OMGCat!]

It's all about what you're looking for. I'd say for the money used modern speakers are absolute killer. You can get a few year old set of $2000 speakers for $500 or less all day long on CL. You don't have to do anything but hook them up and bask in the sound.

If you like rebuilding and improving then restoring vintage speakers can be an excellent hobby to get into. My family had various AR speakers as I was growing up and I'm still very partial to the sound but regardless I have a set of modern B&Ws in the main system.

 

[RamblinE]

Just because subwoofers were not a thing necessarily twenty five to thirty (plus) years ago, that doesn't mean that the speakers of the day could properly render down to 20hz or lower. Most absolutely cannot. Even the largest vintage speakers will still benefit from a properly integrated subwoofer which will pick up where the speaker leaves off and fill out the bottom of the frequency range giving you a properly full range sound.

Now what's impressive today is how small you can go and still get a respectable showing of bass. I just recently purchased the Fluance SX6 bookshelf speakers for $129.99 new and like my favorite pair of headphones they don't exagerate any bass. They reproduce it faithfully to the recording and do a decent enough job in a nearfield desktop setup.

While I don't care for the warmer bassier Andrew Jones SP-BS22s, for the same price the bass in those little speakers is even more astounding. Warmer sound is not my thing but if it is the BS22s are really a treat. They had a little too much thump for my taste and the amazing part is that compared to the Fluance speakers I chose to go with in the long run the Pioneers have a smaller woofer and smaller cabinet volume.

Incredible what modern design and materials can do. This question does not even deserve to be posed.

 

[Bevo]

Modern Hi-Fi was hijacked by consumerism a long time ago, don't forget "Watts aren't decibels". Consumers are now forced to buy bigger amps because their speakers won't even run on 25watts. Don't try and run your modern speakers on your vintage amp but turn this around and your vintage speakers will work just fine on your modern amp if you don't blow them.

There has always been great speakers built over the years and still today. There are just so many more companies marketing their speakers in such cunning ways that it's getting harder and harder to find what is actually a good speaker. Bring on the vintage, it has stood the test of time, it's still good and in 30 years time we will still be scouring the planet for the great speakers of today that have past the test of time.

First post

 

[RamblinE]

Modern Hi-Fi was hijacked by consumerism a long time ago, don't forget "Watts aren't decibels". Consumers are now forced to buy bigger amps because their speakers won't even run on 25watts. Don't try and run your modern speakers on your vintage amp but turn this around and your vintage speakers will work just fine on your modern amp if you don't blow them.

There has always been great speakers built over the years and still today. There are just so many more companies marketing their speakers in such cunning ways that it's getting harder and harder to find what is actually a good speaker. Bring on the vintage, it has stood the test of time, it's still good and in 30 years time we will still be scouring the planet for the great speakers of today that have past the test of time.

First post

Careful there. The Infinity Kappa series are not new, they definitely fall under the vintage umbrella. If you do not run them on an amp that is beefy enough to be stable down to 1 ohm you're running the risk of your amp going up in smoke.

On the other hand sensitive designs are still coming out today. I run my speakers with an Adcom GFA 535, but at 94db/1w/1m I'd plug them into my battery powered chip amp and they'd do fine. Or a SET if I had access to one.

 

[kermit z]

There are many great speakers being made today. Sadly I cannot afford those, so I stick with vintage. Why I posted in this overdone topic is beyond me *sigh*

 

[OMGCat!]

Just because subwoofers were not a thing necessarily twenty five to thirty (plus) years ago, that doesn't mean that the speakers of the day could properly render down to 20hz or lower. Most absolutely cannot. Even the largest vintage speakers will still benefit from a properly integrated subwoofer which will pick up where the speaker leaves off and fill out the bottom of the frequency range giving you a properly full range sound.

Now what's impressive today is how small you can go and still get a respectable showing of bass. I just recently purchased the Fluance SX6 bookshelf speakers for $129.99 new and like my favorite pair of headphones they don't exagerate any bass. They reproduce it faithfully to the recording and do a decent enough job in a nearfield desktop setup.

While I don't care for the warmer bassier Andrew Jones SP-BS22s, for the same price the bass in those little speakers is even more astounding. Warmer sound is not my thing but if it is the BS22s are really a treat. They had a little too much thump for my taste and the amazing part is that compared to the Fluance speakers I chose to go with in the long run the Pioneers have a smaller woofer and smaller cabinet volume.

Incredible what modern design and materials can do. This question does not even deserve to be posed.

Totally agree about the Pioneers. I have a set in my bedroom and the bass that those little woofers put out is astounding considering there is only a little 55wpc Onkyo receiver driving them. Personally I am not huge on warmer speakers either but my girlfriend absolutely loves the bedroom system far above my Yamaha/Luxman/B&W main system.

 

[zebra03]

Lol,
Forget the money because used values on modern speakers make so many great models very affordable, not junk store affordable but still within reach.
I find it hard to swallow when I see folks say vintage speakers are as good or better than today's offerings....that's just laughable. I'll let turntables slide, amps and pre's start to get into grey area but speakers are so much better today that its no contest. Factor inflation and used markets like Audiogon and most anyone with a serious passion for music and some fiscal discipline to save up for a worthy model can own lots of speakers that put vintage ones to shame. Cabinet technology, materials, bracing and drivers have all evolved to the point where I wish more found it hard to argue....... But here we go again.

Blanket statements are almost always full of holes .

 

[ultumax]

Seems to me that back in the day Subwoofers were not part of the mainstream stereo scene, hence, 15" woofers/mids/tweets in a large floor standing cab. Now they basically just break it all up for more efficient use with HT set ups. Highs and mids in the bookshelf size unit and low freq. in the powered subwoofer box.
The modern configuration is probably more flexible but I still like the old way better, but then, i'm old so that probably explains it.

I do agree I like the look of big woofers the best , right now my 15" sub is about all I can consider big. My vintage 8" sealed bookshelves do not produce hardly any bass , Xt32 crossed them over at 100hz.