The Best 1960-1965 Speaker? Opinions?

tybrad

tybrad

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Good afternoon all,
I am on another quest! I already have a pair of KLH Six's in my mid-century room connected to a 1964-manufactured HK TA5000X receiver. I want a second speaker pair and want to solicit your opinions on what you consider to be the best speaker from that time (let's say the 1960-1965 window).

I listen to nearly everything- from Terpsichore to Mozart to Neil Young to Don Gibson to Dire Straits to Def Leppard to Disco to modern indie stuff... well... you get the idea. I'm looking for pretty good dynamics, speed, accuracy, transparency, and response all in a <$300 range. Is that too much to ask from that time period?

Brands that I can think of would be Fisher, Altec, KLH(?), Advent(?). What about University? Voice Of Music?
Whatcha got for moi?

Smiles! :wave:,
Tyler
 
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For my ears and taste - Altec 604E Duplex, Altec Voice of the Theatre family, AR-3... and of course whatever Tannoy and KEF were building at the time. Bozak would've had some contenders, as well. Some EV Patrician model was in production at that time, as well.

Too early for Advent (Henry was still at KLH); Fisher speakers were junk (as far as I am concerned).

EDIT: Ooops, just saw the $200. AR-3 is probably about all that will be available for that sum at more than just a chance level of probability (and even then...).
Maybe some littler Bozaks of the time - I am no expert.

Good sound, then and now, ain't cheap (on the average).
 
Good call... Wharfedales are worth a peek, too. I don't think they're in extra-high demand; they're decent and well-built, and were made in several sizes/price ranges.
Perusal of early 1960s catalogs at www.radioshackcatalogs.com will shed some light on the many models of that era (I am not a Wharfie expert, either; sorry).
 
Didn't notice the price limit. Just about any Altec and JBL is going to be out of that range unless you get lucky at a garage/estate sale or Craigslist. One speaker from that era that has consistently amazed me is the Kanzawa KS-54H. They're incredibly well-built Japanese speakers using Coral drivers and a pretty impressive crossover (though I need to replace the ancient electrolytic caps with modern film parts). Since almost no one knows anything about Kanzawa speakers, they can be picked up for next to nothing if you run across them.
 
Old H.H. Scott? Eico? There was also a Realistic model; the pair were built into end tables that were very well constructed. I've only seen and have not heard these. The owners (original) said that they liked them, and wouldn't consider selling them.
 
Sam Cogley said:
Didn't notice the price limit. Just about any Altec and JBL is going to be out of that range unless you get lucky at a garage/estate sale or Craigslist. One speaker from that era that has consistently amazed me is the Kanzawa KS-54H. They're incredibly well-built Japanese speakers using Coral drivers and a pretty impressive crossover (though I need to replace the ancient electrolytic caps with modern film parts). Since almost no one knows anything about Kanzawa speakers, they can be picked up for next to nothing if you run across them.
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He could maybe do Altec 601's, if he bought them raw and DIY'd a cabinet solution. I can't really think of any other way to get into "good" Altecs from that vintage in that price range.
 
You may want to consider the JBL L77. IME, those, connected to a Stromberg-Carlson ASR333 or ASR433, were amazingly good for what they were. Good balance, nice bass extension, and pretty smooth response. I'd expect the HK amp would do similar things for them.

Of course, whatever pair you got, you'd want to make SURE they have the woofer and passive radiator surrounds replaced with PROPER foam surrounds (there is one specifically MADE for the LE10 and PR10, and that's the ONLY one that should be used on these). Original Lansalloy (yellow/tan color) surrounds will degrade performance drastically...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
bowtie427ss said:
He could maybe do Altec 601's, if he bought them raw and DIY'd a cabinet solution. I can't really think of any other way to get into "good" Altecs from that vintage in that price range.
Click to expand...

Altec 601 prices have been spiking a bit lately, I think the market finally rediscovered them. A good working pair with crossovers for $300 would be pretty lucky.

eBay pricing - the last pair of 601Cs sold went north of $400, a single 601A brought about $225, and "for repair" units are pulling in $50-$120. A pair of 601As in very pretty mid-century cabinets brought an eye-burning $910! I have about $225 in my pair of 601As and I got very lucky on both purchases.
 
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eurasian said:
A real sleeper from this era within your budget is the Leak Sandwich. It is pretty compact and efficient and sounds great. The other speakers mentioned so far are very nice, too, but unless you are lucky, I doubt you'll find a working pair <200 clams.

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/May 1962/97/803899/The+LEAK+Sandwich
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Ha, not many people go around recommending them, but then that explains you calling them sleepers. ;) I agree, these sound great, other than the rolled off highs. I listened to mine for quite awhile, with a little horn tweeter, & loved the midrange & bass. :music:
 
Hi,

I have had KLH model 6 speakers and old AR2 and 3 speakers and the ones I found I liked the best from this early to mid 60's era were the H.H. Scott S-3 speakers. These are the bookshelf three way Scott speakers that use a 10" woofer, 3 (or 4") midrange and a vintage dome tweeter. These speakers use a small port in the cabinet. They have good bass, smooth mids and reasonable highs for a speaker of this vintage. I prefer the highs from these speakers over the highs that come from speakers of this size that use horns for tweeters. The S-3 in my one system is delightfully devoid of listening fatigue issues. The speakers are also efficient enough to use with my smaller 2A3 SET amp. They are physically about the same size as a KLH model 6.
 
Thank you everyone for weighing in! This has given me a lot to choose from and I see some of them for sale now, others not. I am looking hard at Dynaco 25's. Are these the right vintage?
 
The dynacos are worth a look.

Also consider some of Jensen's offering, particularly the Tri-ettes.

Knight, Allied, and Heath all made some nice speakers, often loaded with Jensen and Altec drivers.
 
Alright...
On a visual glance, the Dynaco 25, KLH Six, and AR3/4 all look like they would sound the same or similar; similar sizes, materials, construction, specs, drivers. It is almost like nowadays when there are different brands offering the same type of product that were all made in the same factory. I know this is not the case with these, but their appearances remind me of it.

And what's with the tic-tac-toe glue bands on the AR woofers? Was it a stiffening technique?

What are the audible differences among the three or four listed above?
 
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Alternates to bookshelves

Am old enough to have been there back then -- early sixties.

What I've not heard from anyone is using good drivers from that period, ie. ElectroVoice, Jensen, et al, and building your own enclosure. In particular, some of the old cornerhorn enclosures were very good indeed, and can be done on a budget. There are a good number of enclosure kit plans floating around, and some of them make darn good units -- budget or not.
 
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