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Advent Love or no Love?

Krosya

Krosya

Well-Known Member
For some reason many Advent speakers dont get much love it seems. I know some do like Advents, but impression I get is that most people think that they are just Ok. I know it is different from model to model, but overall this is what it looks like to me.
I have had my pair of Advent Heritage for a while and I think they are very nice speakers. Do I have better ones? Sure. But they are still very good, IMO.
Well, recently I added to my collection a couple more - Advent /9 and Advent Legacy I. Based on some opinions I came across, I really didnt expect all that much from either of them, but both really surprised me. Both are 2 way speakers, 9 having 8 inch woofer and a simple looking cone tweeter and Legacy (something I would guess more people are familiar) - 10inch woofer and a dome tweeter. Advent 9 doesnt seem to have a lot of info about it online, Legacy - a lot more, yet there are other 2 Legacy versions out there.
Anyway, I am very surprised how good they sound. That little paper tweeter on 9 - is very clear and detailed and 8inch woofer has very respectable low end. I really enjoy they so far.
Legacy, another surprise - very good low end - compares to a couple of 12 inchers I have and very balanced and clean sounding speaker that looks good too!
I really didnt need any more speakers and main reason I got them was - price was just too good to walk away. But now that I had a chance to listen to them - I'm glad I did get them. I guess you just never know.
So, I was wondering - those that have experience with these speakers - whats your opinion of them?
 
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Krosya said:
For some reason many Advent speakers dont get much love it seems. I know some do like Advents, but impression I get is that most people think that they are just Ok. I know it is different from model to model, but overall this is what it looks like to me.
I have had my pair of Advent Heritage for a while and I think they are very nice speakers. Do I have better ones? Sure. But they are still very good, IMO.
Well, recently I added to my collection a couple more - Advent /9 and Advent Legacy I. Based on some opinions I came across, I really didnt expect all that much from either of them, but both really surprised me. Both are 2 way speakers, 9 having 8 inch woofer and a simple looking cone tweeter and Legacy (something I would guess more people are familiar) - 10inch woofer and a dome tweeter. Advent 9 doesnt seem to have a lot of info about it online, Legacy - a lot more, yet there are other 2 Legacy versions out there.
Anyway, I am very surprised how good they sound. That little paper tweeter on 9 - is very clear and detailed and 8inch woofer has very respectable low end. I really enjoy they so far.
Legacy, another surprise - very good low end - compares to a couple of 12 inchers I have and very balanced and clean sounding speaker that looks good too!
I really didnt need any more speakers and main reason I got them was - price was just too good to walk away. But now that I had a chance to listen to them - I'm glad I did get them. I guess you just never know.
So, I was wondering - those that have experience with these speakers - whats your opinion of them?
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There are so many other speakers available that are better than these.
 
I just put my OLAs out in my digital room (on 16" high speaker stands), and they sound very nice. I have the latest revision cross-over network in them with the usual fried egg tweeter (orange) with guard. The woofer surrounds are also in great shape.

They are just fun to have. I wonder how they would compare to an AR-3a?
 
IME on all the forums, Advents are pretty well-respected and have a rather large following. They are not the "end all, be all" of speakers, but for those that like the "east coast sound", they are well-respected. I am more of a "west coast sound" sort of guy, so to me, they are just OK, but I would never bash them--I'm more into Infinity and Magneplanar for detail, and JBL for FUN--but that is just me.
 
They aren't the best but they are especially attractive from a price/performance standpoint. You can usually find a decent pair of OLAs for around $200.
 
I had 2 pairs of walnut Original Large Advents stacked in my main system for about 30 years. I also had a pair Advent/1 and Advent 4002. All are gone now, but my son still has one pair of the OLA in his apartment. I have a soft spot for the Originals, the NLA, and the 5002. I never heard the later Jensen Advents, but IMO, they are not really Advents.

Below is the link to the AK Advent reference thread. There is even mention and a photo of the /9.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/identifying-your-advent-loudspeakers.126376/
 
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I've had the Advent Legacy III's since new. I have purchased better speakers used very cheaply.

The Legacys should not be dismissed so easily, however. They have great bass and the soft dome tweeters are considered by some to be better than the original "eggs".
 
I have a pair of OLA's I picked up at a decent price with new surrounds and new caps. Over all, not bad. I do find them lacking some on the bottom end though. Maybe im just too used to ported speakers though.
 
WaynerN said:
I just put my OLAs out in my digital room (on 16" high speaker stands), and they sound very nice. I have the latest revision cross-over network in them with the usual fried egg tweeter (orange) with guard. The woofer surrounds are also in great shape.

They are just fun to have. I wonder how they would compare to an AR-3a?
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Is the latest version crossover a DIY thing or a factory version after a certain serial number? And what does it address?
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Don't mistake ported bass for acoustic suspension bass. Very different. Also, bear in mind that Advent acoustic suspension classics are less efficient than ported designs.
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Ive had and have acoustic suspention speakers that I like. The OLA's just sound too rolled off on the bottom end to me.
 
Listen to OLA restored properly on something like a Crown DC 300A or a McIntosh MC 2100 or MC 2105, those amplifiers are ideal for Advent duty. Also, Advent bass is accurate and balanced, it's not a bass heavy speaker. Lavane, which acoustic suspension speakers do you like best? Curious.
 
Lavane said:
Ive had and have acoustic suspention speakers that I like. The OLA's just sound too rolled off on the bottom end to me.
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I would agree if you were referring to the top where that is quite measurable. My modified New Advents do a fine job with the pipe organ's first octave content on the 24/44 soundtrack to Interstellar.
 
The only Advent's I liked that I have owned were the original The Powered Advent set and a set of 3-way Maestro's. I have had the masonite ring OLA's and they do the job but seemed to have a boring sound after awhile. Some folks like to stack them which is pretty cool but I personally have not stacked speakers since I was in high school
 
The original Large Advent offered great performance at its price point. IMO, it's strongest feature was not having obvious and annoying sonic flaws. Stacked Advents with a big amp were really impressive. That said, there's only so much that can be pulled out of a 2-way design because you have to balance how low the woofer can go, yet not have a dip in the middle of the response curve. The tweeter can only come down so far before you have a power handling problem. Kloss struck that balance very well.

I traded in my Advents on the then-new Genesis II speakers, also a 2-way. They used a smaller woofer plus a passive radiator, and achieved a slightly livelier sound because the compromise was a bit easier. Early ones had a tweeter defect that caused them to go open after a time, but it was covered under warranty.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Listen to OLA restored properly on something like a Crown DC 300A or a McIntosh MC 2100 or MC 2105, those amplifiers are ideal for Advent duty. Also, Advent bass is accurate and balanced, it's not a bass heavy speaker. Lavane, which acoustic suspension speakers do you like best? Curious.
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Several KLH speakers I had years ago, not sure of the models. Even the small KLH 32? 8"woofer, 2way sounded good. I liked the Optimus 1B's low end. I have a pair of Optimus 2B's with 8" woofers I use in the garrage. They seem to have a bit more punch in the bottom end compared to the OLA's. The OLA's are currently connected to a VTA ST-70 35wpc tube amp. Maybe I should try them with one of my SS power amps. My Marantz Imperial 6's and Warfedale w-90's sound really good with this amp. But then they are ported. The little 2B's sounded good with this amp also after new crossover caps. Maybe its the room? The low end with the OLA's just sound thin and lack presence. I don't hqve tone controls and it hasn't been a problem except for these speakers. The new surrounds look right and were done nicely along with a proper seal job.
 
ConradH said:
The original Large Advent offered great performance at its price point. IMO, it's strongest feature was not having obvious and annoying sonic flaws. Stacked Advents with a big amp were really impressive. That said, there's only so much that can be pulled out of a 2-way design because you have to balance how low the woofer can go, yet not have a dip in the middle of the response curve. The tweeter can only come down so far before you have a power handling problem. Kloss struck that balance very well.

I traded in my Advents on the then-new Genesis II speakers, also a 2-way. They used a smaller woofer plus a passive radiator, and achieved a slightly livelier sound because the compromise was a bit easier. Early ones had a tweeter defect that caused them to go open after a time, but it was covered under warranty.
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Most of my speakers are 2 ways and I like them. I have passed on others with obvious overlap and holes in the midrange. These have the rings on the woofers and orange tweets with grills. Later models by the serial numbers. Maybe I should open one up and see if the crossover was messed with other than the caps replaced. Its like tou have treble, midrange and bass controls and the bass is turned down to like 9:00 and the other two set to around 2:00.
 
I've always liked Advents I have had experience with. These include NLA bullnosed I placed in my girlfriends house about 12 ft apart on stands, Large Advents stacked tweeter to tweeter on 10 inch risers, Advent 4000's (the last model of basically the large Advent line) on stands. All of these had new foam, caps replaced with Metalized Poly caps. I would say I enjoyed the 4000's over the others although the stacked pair was fun to listen too. The bass from the 4000's seemed natural similar to my Tritrix TM's. For the money it seems you can't go wrong usually finding nice pairs for well under $200 and pairs needing foam for as little as $15-20. As stated in a previous post it does seem lately there are a lot of very nice offerings out there for $200 and under in good working condition. They don't deliver a (holy crap amazing) moment but do have a nice sound relative to cost and appearance.
 
Lavane said:
Is the latest version crossover a DIY thing or a factory version after a certain serial number? And what does it address?
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The revision 1 cross-over had a foil label and it used 2 16uf caps. Revision 2 has a fiber-board panel and has 1 8uf and 1 16uf cap in its cross-overs. I have the schematic for it......it's something else.

SCHEMATIC EXTENDED.png
Wayner
 
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