The Best 3-way with 10" or larger woofer

[jamiecantar]

Who bought up & ruined the Altec brand? They don’t even sell speakers anymore just Bluetooth trash.
http://www.alteclansing.com/product-category/all-speakers/
Are vintage affordable, probably can’t use em for home theater unless as rears cuz no matching center.
Most newer brands don’t MAKe speakers with big woofers over 8” , if s there a few grand a piece .
I’m still sad Igot duel 6.5” klipsch I wanted the 8s.
Klipsch sold out to baby woofers no longer offer a 10 or 12” model. Unless you pay 30 grand a Set wich I’ll never be Be able to afford.
Wich is a joke cuz golden Triton are better.

Yes the real Altec company is long gone. They went through a few design transformations in the late 80's/90's and then went bankrupt and the name got bought out. In the early days James B. Lansing joined the company in the 1940's and then left to form his new company JBL. He died in 1949 but both legends live on.

 

[Pete B]

PSB Stratus Gold

 

[KrautNotRice]

Here's another idea, not sure if it was mentioned:
Buy a set of Dynaudio raw drivers on ebay out of a Volvo C70, build custom cabs to look like ATC SCM 50 towers.
The Dyns are 8.75" woofers, 3" dome mids & 1" dome tweet. Very nice.
If you can pull it off they could look similar to this:

 

[Ross6860]

Big woofers, and smallish rooms...

Klipsch Chorus II. A 15" woofer and a 15" passive radiator. I just pulled mine from HT Main duty last weekend and moved them to the main "listening room". Approximately 12' x 15' but one 12' wall is missing and open to the full basement, so no reflecting wall behind the listening position.

The room is OK if the speakers are out 4-5 feet from the rear wall and 20 inches or so from the side walls. Bass is terrible if the speakers are too close to the rear wall.

I was always in the "big woofers" are better camp, but I've changed my mind over the last year or so. Some nice smaller bookshelf speakers (5"-6" woofers) and a sub can sure sound good.

Now what am I going to do with all these big speakers?

 

[Silentnet]

If budget and the space will allow (they have to be away from the walls a couple feet) the more modern, smaller Martin Logan models would work for you. They start at an 8" woofer but there are some with 10s... Though usually paired with larger panels. If going vintage, something like the Sequel / Sequel II.

 

[E-Stat]

that's what this thread title should have been. "Where have all the big woofers gone?"

To larger rooms than a small cubicle.

 

[Spence]

Find a nice pair of JBL L166 Horizons and thank me later.

 

[ultumax]

Big woofers, and smallish rooms...

Klipsch Chorus II. A 15" woofer and a 15" passive radiator. I just pulled mine from HT Main duty last weekend and moved them to the main "listening room". Approximately 12' x 15' but one 12' wall is missing and open to the full basement, so no reflecting wall behind the listening position.

The room is OK if the speakers are out 4-5 feet from the rear wall and 20 inches or so from the side walls. Bass is terrible if the speakers are too close to the rear wall.

I was always in the "big woofers" are better camp, but I've changed my mind over the last year or so. Some nice smaller bookshelf speakers (5"-6" woofers) and a sub can sure sound good.

Now what am I going to do with all these big speakers?

Put them in a big room haha. Slim towers have as much bass as most of your larger woofer speakers but maybe less output of lower octave of bass.
Sometimes bigger woofers mesh better with a sub . But I see maybe you could use them somewhere else?
Sometimes a quality speaker will beat one that has a big woofer and underperforming tweeter. I’m sadly only using 2 way klipsch at the moment , I’d like quality 3 way speakers but I’m happy for now plenty good sound .
Seens multiple small woofers seem to be common now.

 

[Drugolf]

Yamaha NS-5000
Got $18k?

See, they know.

 

[Darren James]

Find a nice pair of JBL L166 Horizons and thank me later.

My JBL bucket list item

 

[Sharpstik]

Of the large bookshelf speakers I have the Bozak 301A tempo is the only one I haven't gotten completely familiar with yet. It uses the 12inch 199 woofer and small aluminum tweeter from the 302A and a smaller aluminum mid. It's sounds similar to the 302a but needs more power. At this point I like it better than these I have.
KLH 5
OLA
Dynaco A40XL
Fisher XP7B
AR3
Optimus5
And less than half a dozen bigger speakers I have.

In short it looks like the Bozak 301A Tempo acoustic suspension speaker is a fine vintage bookshelf speaker. Great bass in spades, but old.

I've owned the 5, currently own the 6. OLA' s are here, so are the Optimus 5.. NONE of these are bookshelf. Neither is the Bozak Tempo 301a's which also were here. They are heavy. And big.

The Layfayette Criterian 200 and cs 77's from Pioneer. Love em'

 

[lokerola]

Did someone say a three-way with 2 10" woofers? (I haven't whipped out a pic of these in days)

View attachment 1285057

Yea, those are awesome.

 

[quiet]

I've owned the 5, currently own the 6. OLA' s are here, so are the Optimus 5.. NONE of these are bookshelf. Neither is the Bozak Tempo 301a's which also were here. They are heavy. And big.

The Layfayette Criterian 200 and cs 77's from Pioneer. Love em'

That's the closet to bookshelf speakers I got. And I was told they're bookshelf speakers. And they fit on the shelf.

 

[Harvestor]

Here's another idea, not sure if it was mentioned:
Buy a set of Dynaudio raw drivers on ebay out of a Volvo C70, build custom cabs to look like ATC SCM 50 towers.
The Dyns are 8.75" woofers, 3" dome mids & 1" dome tweet. Very nice.
If you can pull it off they could look similar to this:

View attachment 1297927

What is up with the Ghost Face at the Bottom of the speakers on Both ......
in the wood Grain !

Wow!

 

[lojyo610]

Find a nice pair of JBL L166 Horizons and thank me later.

I had a pair of 166's that I bought new, back in the day. Phenomenal speakers, but in a 12 X 12, maybe too much. If you can find a pair, the JBL L-40 is a great two way 10" that would work in a smaller room. I also had a pair of Mission M771's, that would need a sub to work well. Very neutral speaker with a sweet midrange. Great in a small room.

 

[goodolpg]

Here's another idea, not sure if it was mentioned:
Buy a set of Dynaudio raw drivers on ebay out of a Volvo C70, build custom cabs to look like ATC SCM 50 towers.
The Dyns are 8.75" woofers, 3" dome mids & 1" dome tweet. Very nice.
If you can pull it off they could look similar to this:

View attachment 1297927

I see a wolf in the left speaker and Judy Garland (as Dorothy) in the right speaker. Upper part of both cabinets.

Ok, now that I have that out of my system, I'll suggest Infinity Reference Studio Monitor as a good 3 way with a 12" woofer.

 

[imral3]

I see a wolf in the left speaker and Judy Garland (as Dorothy) in the right speaker.

Holy crap!! Now I see them, too! Good catch!

 

[twiiii]

What's better, more efficient , then you want Klipsch Hersey's. Extended bass below 20 HZ, Mcintosh updated ML-!c, a happy compromise, good question. AR 3a, B&O 5700 series or M-70, Some of Celestron or Canton models or B&W if you like the European sound. If you want a hot forward sound there are so many different JBL's to choose from over the years. Boston and Bozak if you want an eastern New England sound. Tannoy if you want a combination of great. highs and efficiency with good bass. Cerwin Vega if you like their particular style. 20 years ago I would say run down to your local privately owned Hifi shop and do some auditioning. That can be hard to do now days, Every big city has a few good dealers. Time to put on your listening cap and go on a great safari. Make sure to take your own music.

 

[SleeperSupra]

Been doing a lot of contemplation lately about what is the best format speaker for my room which is 12' x 12'. I really enjoy the fantastic speakers you see down in my signature line with several of them being considered TOTL for those brands in their model year or close to it. The challenge I am having is that for the most part, most of them are just too darn big and are overpowering in my room, particularly at higher volumes.

I would like to find a smaller TOTL speaker that is more room fitting. To me this would be something more in the model of AR3, OLA, KLH Model 5 etc. But better. That probably translates to something a little newer than those of course which is not a bad thing.

The challenge I see as things get newer is that while speakers get better at high frequency reproduction, many ended up with smaller woofers and just don't deliver that end of the frequency range as good as something with 10" or 12" woofers can (yes a broad generalization but something I have been experiencing).

I just got done rebuilding a pair of Ar12's. They are 25" high, 13.5" wide and like 11" deep. The prototypical old style rectangular box format that was wide enough to hold a 10" or 12" (the Ar11 and AR10pi are the same cabinet size) woofer. They sound really really good and deliver all frequencies.

What would be considered the best of this format? Something along those lines that have the driver quality that were used in the larger TOTL models. Do I have to start looking at newer brands that might still be designing speakers in this format like Harbeth and Spendor etc. (I think I really like the British sound followed by east coast) Is sub/sats the only way to achieve this? Rather not.

The reality here is that many of us, and many in the market for the most part, have rooms in the 12' x 12' size range.

My thoughts here are a bit rambly, but I think you can get what my thought process is on this. Hopefully.

Where are all the great 3-ways with 10" or larger woofers that will make me say WOW!

Thiel CS3.6

 

[Goggle1824]

Thiel CS3.6