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Advent Loudspeaker based stereo system

Jason Grace

Jason Grace

Active Member
aadvent pic.jpg
Hello,
After reading so many positive reviews on these speakers I had to own a set. I just ordered the refoam kit, and I have a local electronics store that offered to recap them but said they more than likely wouldn't need it but they'd happily test them.
I've read of bracing and using polyfill to improve the response. I may just foam them and play them for a while..

I really like the look of these, which originally were going to be for my garage system I believe will come to my living room instead. On this forum, I've read to have nothing smaller than 60wpc to power these... with this being said I'm having some difficulty finding a receiver.
I've found an Integrated Amp a Kenwood KA 501 rated at 65wpc and a few Pioneer Receivers in the 35-45 range. I'm trying to stay of the same time frame, and I love the look of the equipment from that era.
What's would you say plays nicely with these?
 
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I’ve powered OLAs with various receivers/integrateds. Around 30-35wpc has been what I usually end up with powering them. You can push them pretty hard with that amount of power.

Caps are cheap, and while you have the woofers out you should consider a recap. Replacing NPE caps with the same is the cheapest. Or you could use film caps (I’ve used PP and PET and they both sounded good).

You’ll have to open up the speakers to see what caps they have, as there were different crossover versions. It easy to replace the caps if you can do basic soldering.

Also don’t forget about making sure the seal around the woofers is good when you reinstall them. If you push the woofer gently, it should spring back slowly. I use duct seal from HD, and roll a little duct seal rope to go around the woofer. It compresses when you tighten the woofer screws and provides an almost air tight seal.

I would not replace the factory filling material. It’s either fiberglass or foam blocks. Both are good to reuse.
 
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Jason Grace said:
View attachment 1958129
Hello,
After reading so many positive reviews on these speakers I had to own a set. I just ordered the refoam kit, and I have a local electronics store that offered to recap them but said they more than likely wouldn't need it but they'd happily test them.
I've read of bracing and using polyfill to improve the response. I may just foam them and play them for a while..
Click to expand...

I've had several Advents, and they all needed to be recapped. Advents are not known to use good quality caps. There are many threads here about recapping Advents. It is almost unanimous that poly/film caps should be used to replace the original electrolytics. Check out this page for info on the different crossover variations:
http://baselaudiolab.com/ADVENT_LA_XO.html

I would be careful about any "technician" who doubts Advents need to be recapped. That immediately tells me that the tech is not familiar with vintage speakers and is indicative of a lack of knowledge and experience. As for testing caps, it is a waste of money if you are paying a tech. Testing requires as much work (time) as replacing the caps because the caps need to be removed to properly test them. So you might just as well replace the caps and be done with it. Dayton caps are not expensive and fine for Advents.

If you plan on acquiring more vintage speakers (careful, it can be addictive), I suggest learning how to recap speakers. All you need is a soldering iron and some rosin cored solder. The Advents are a good speaker to learn on. You can get good results, and the speakers are not so valuable that you need to fret about ruining them.
 
pio sx.jpg I will give it a shot. Thank you for your input RTally.
As a kid my mom didn't have a sitting room or places I wasn't allowed to go. Instead, she had a monster sound system in the living room that I wasn't allowed to touch. The speakers would rattle your guts, and I loved laying and watching the audio signal hands bounce to the frequency. The warm yellow light was something otherworldly, bouncing off the clean white crisp face. Chrome and wood... Yeah, I want the Kenwood for the power. And I don't listen to Radio much but I'm going to put it on my desk in my living room and I would really like to look at something like this rather than just a metal box.
I understand that aesthetics aren't anywhere near the value of sound quality, but even the thought of something like this on my desk makes me nostalgic. My Mom's was either a fisher or a lafayette, I remember how smooth the tuner knob was more than the brand.
I have a few different options lined up and I have a little to invest in what I want. I really appreciate all the info you guys have shared, thank you kindly.
 
Jason Grace said:
View attachment 1958129
Hello,
After reading so many positive reviews on these speakers I had to own a set. I just ordered the refoam kit, and I have a local electronics store that offered to recap them but said they more than likely wouldn't need it but they'd happily test them.
I've read of bracing and using polyfill to improve the response. I may just foam them and play them for a while..

I really like the look of these, which originally were going to be for my garage system I believe will come to my living room instead. On this forum, I've read to have nothing smaller than 60wpc to power these... with this being said I'm having some difficulty finding a receiver.
I've found an Integrated Amp a Kenwood KA 501 rated at 65wpc and a few Pioneer Receivers in the 35-45 range. I'm trying to stay of the same time frame, and I love the look of the equipment from that era.
What's would you say plays nicely with these?
Click to expand...
Recap them yourself, it's easy, it really is... especially those. Many of those were sold with amps in the thirty to seventy watt range and sound good. That being said, like many speaker systems, they do like more power and you'll hear it in the headroom afforded more than increase in volume. In my experience they like one hundred watts per channel but, depending on how you listen, are perfectly satisfactory with thirty watts per channel. What ever you use to not overdrive the amplifier because those are known to lose tweeters... not that they are fragile but clipping an amplifier will destroy them... especially an amplifier in the higher power range... driven into clipping, that is, asking too much from it, driving it into the area referred to as power compression.
 
Jason Grace said:
View attachment 1958202 I will give it a shot. Thank you for your input RTally.
As a kid my mom didn't have a sitting room or places I wasn't allowed to go. Instead, she had a monster sound system in the living room that I wasn't allowed to touch. The speakers would rattle your guts, and I loved laying and watching the audio signal hands bounce to the frequency. The warm yellow light was something otherworldly, bouncing off the clean white crisp face. Chrome and wood... Yeah, I want the Kenwood for the power. And I don't listen to Radio much but I'm going to put it on my desk in my living room and I would really like to look at something like this rather than just a metal box.
I understand that aesthetics aren't anywhere near the value of sound quality, but even the thought of something like this on my desk makes me nostalgic. My Mom's was either a fisher or a lafayette, I remember how smooth the tuner knob was more than the brand.
I have a few different options lined up and I have a little to invest in what I want. I really appreciate all the info you guys have shared, thank you kindly.
Click to expand...
That 1050 would be nice as would a 950, or so. You gave all the reasons necessary for the aesthetics plus the basic performance. I agree but/and/or prefer the blackout look of the generation before... the SX 1010, 930, 838... think I got those model numbers right... anyway, what we used to call the blackout look. If you really like the sound of the Advents... many do... get another pair and stack them... entirely different listening experience.
 
Yes, I'm working a deal on another set. There's a 949 and an sx 3600 and sx3700 not too far from me. The 3700 is the best looking, the 949 would be the coolest completely redone.
 
How much power you need depends on the size of your room and how loud you like it. Small room and moderate volume, 20WPC may do but don't turn it up to much or the amp will clip. The 60+ WPC from that era were fairly robust and may do well. My preference for Large Advents is 100WPC but my family room is about 500 sqft with a cathedral ceiling. Currently running 125WPC: can get very loud without clipping.
That Pioneer in the picture looks real pretty.
 
The room is 20x16 roughly with a 10' ceiling. I listen to mostly classic rock and R&B, with a little country and blues mixed in. It doesn't need to be crazy loud, but I like to hear everything that was intended, or not.
 
Jason Grace said:
The room is 20x16 roughly with a 10' ceiling. I listen to mostly classic rock and R&B, with a little country and blues mixed in. It doesn't need to be crazy loud, but I like to hear everything that was intended, or not.
Click to expand...
putting it simplistically, the difference between 35watts and 60watts is less than 3db output. most listening will be done at less than 1watt, and why it's often said the first watt is the most important.
 
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RTally said:
I've had several Advents, and they all needed to be recapped. Advents are not known to use good quality caps. There are many threads here about recapping Advents. It is almost unanimous that poly/film caps should be used to replace the original electrolytics. Check out this page for info on the different crossover variations:
http://baselaudiolab.com/ADVENT_LA_XO.html

I would be careful about any "technician" who doubts Advents need to be recapped. That immediately tells me that the tech is not familiar with vintage speakers and is indicative of a lack of knowledge and experience. As for testing caps, it is a waste of money if you are paying a tech. Testing requires as much work (time) as replacing the caps because the caps need to be removed to properly test them. So you might just as well replace the caps and be done with it. Dayton caps are not expensive and fine for Advents.

If you plan on acquiring more vintage speakers (careful, it can be addictive), I suggest learning how to recap speakers. All you need is a soldering iron and some rosin cored solder. The Advents are a good speaker to learn on. You can get good results, and the speakers are not so valuable that you need to fret about ruining them.
Click to expand...

I just refoamed and recapped a set of first gen Smaller Advents with green tweeter (1972). Amazingly the caps were all within 10% of spec! I replaced them anyway with Dayton poly pro caps. Advents punch way above their weight.

OP, as you can see there is plenty of room to work once the woofer is removed for refoaming. Might as well replace the caps while you’re in there.
 
hornbostel said:
View attachment 1958410 View attachment 1958411 View attachment 1958412

I just refoamed and recapped a set of first gen Smaller Advents with green tweeter (1972). Amazingly the caps were all within 10% of spec! I replaced them anyway with Dayton poly pro caps. Advents punch way above their weight.

OP, as you can see there is plenty of room to work once the woofer is removed for refoaming. Might as well replace the caps while you’re in there.
Click to expand...

Capacitance value is only one of two variables that are likely to change over time for electrolytic caps such as those caps in your pic. The other variable is equivalent series resistance (ESR). Generally, ESR increases over time, making the speaker sound like it is muffled by a heavy blanket when it gets really bad. ESR is also hard to measure at audio frequencies unless special equipment is used. Most inexpensive ESR meters measure at a frequency well above the audio range, and since ESR varies with frequency, measuring above the audio range is useless.
 
Rtally! The speakers I just inherited have that exact issue. It sounds like they really want to open up but are just muted. But They are Allegro 2000's in rough shape, that my Grandpa bought new.
 
RTally said:
Capacitance value is only one of two variables that are likely to change over time for electrolytic caps such as those caps in your pic. The other variable is equivalent series resistance (ESR). Generally, ESR increases over time, making the speaker sound like it is muffled by a heavy blanket when it gets really bad. ESR is also hard to measure at audio frequencies unless special equipment is used. Most inexpensive ESR meters measure at a frequency well above the audio range, and since ESR varies with frequency, measuring above the audio range is useless.
Click to expand...

I totally agree about the importance of ESR. Unfortunately I don't have the means to measure it so I always replace the caps in any speaker I get my mitts on that's over ~20 years old. Typically if I am refoaming I just go ahead and replace the cap while the surrounds are curing.
 
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