Best vintage speakers you ever heard?

[GD70]

For me, it’s a range of favorites. AR3s, AR12s, LST-2s, ADS 910s, and L980s.
I switch a lot, but usually it can be a month or more listening to just one set.

 

[Dave N.]

Over the years there have been many speaker companies that have made good to great speakers but have come and gone for various reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of their sound. In the halcyon days of the 70's some multi-store operations designed their own systems that matched or bested big names but are now known mostly by people who came from the same region. Hang out at the speaker forum for a few years and you may read their stories.

I live in the Saint Louis vicinity. I recently saw a speaker like that on marketplace. Said it was designed at Saint Louis Speaker and Stereo Store I think it was. I disregarded it. Maybe a mistake.

 

[Dave N.]

For me, it’s a range of favorites. AR3s, AR12s, LST-2s, ADS 910s, and L980s.
I switch a lot, but usually it can be a month or more listening to just one set.

Thanks Glen. What are LST? Sounds like you have some nice sets there to listen to.

 

[Dave N.]

View attachment 2577624

Those look very cool. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Dave N.]

I have 20 pair of the usual vintage speakers that were popular in the day. They all fail to do something for the most part. And a few commit a sin or two. They're just not that good. And all sound drastically different from each other.
The only pair I have that I recommend getting is the Electro Voice Empire with the 15-inch woofer and two horns per cabinet. It is better than average vintage speaker. The rest are just good speakers. If that weren't available, I would settle for the Fisher XP7b. For rock, it's the Kenwood KL777a.

The E/V Empire.

View attachment 2577608

Ok. I've heard of Electrovoice. Funny thing is. Not long ago before learning new things on here, I saw Electrovoice speakers for sale , and thought it was a cheap speaker like Sound Design since I hadn't heard of them. I will be sure to look for them now. And nice to see a Fisher speaker make this list. I think that is the first one someone has put in this thread . But I'm most thrown for a loop by your mention of Kenwood KL-777a. Someone recently had a KL-777z for sale local. I was under the assumption it was Kabuki and not desired. Thanks for you input. I will look these all up.

 

[JoeESP9]

Wow . 1957. I do not know of these at all. I will try and look all these up when I have some time for it. Thanks.

The Quad ESL 57's (electrostatic) were first introduced in 1956. They were incorporated into one of the first super high end speaker systems. They used two stacked pairs of Quads, a Decca ribbon tweeter and a Hartley powered subwoofer. The picture below shows them being driven by an Audio Research amplifier (with meters) and another amplifier I can't quite make out.

They were and still are of the very highest audio quality.

FWIW: Paul McGowan of PS Audio uses a pair of Infinity IRS-V's I previously mentioned for his listening and testing.

 

[JoeESP9]

The Hill Plasmatronic speakers had the best upper midrange and treble I've ever heard. The bass and lower mids weren't nearly as good.

Here are the Pass full massless speakers. They were very inefficient didn't play very loud and produced copious amounts of (highly toxic) Ozone. He demoed them at a CES and subsequently spent time in hospital for Ozone poisoning. I've never heard them.

Here is another unique speaker (Martin Logan CLS-II). They have midrange and treble to die for but not much bass. I like them a lot.

 

[Crang]

Cornwalls running off a SET amp.

 

[SimplerTimes]

JBL L-300 Summits. But then again, I haven’t heard nearly what’s out there as far as vintage speakers go.

 

[8-Tracked]

Magnat Magnasphere Gamma

 

[GD70]

Thanks Glen. What are LST? Sounds like you have some nice sets there to listen to.

AR LST, and the smaller version LST-2. The LST has a 12 inch woofer, 4 tweeters, 4 mids. LST-2 has a 10 inch woofer, 3 mids, 3 tweeters.
Grabbed from the web for reference.

 

[MaxP]

AR LST, and the smaller version LST-2. The LST has a 12 inch woofer, 4 tweeters, 4 mids. LST-2 has a 10 inch woofer, 3 mids, 3 tweeters.
Grabbed from the web for reference.
View attachment 2579773
View attachment 2579774

I almost bought a pair of the LSTs a couple years ago…wish I had.

 

[Dave N.]

AR LST, and the smaller version LST-2. The LST has a 12 inch woofer, 4 tweeters, 4 mids. LST-2 has a 10 inch woofer, 3 mids, 3 tweeters.
Grabbed from the web for reference.
View attachment 2579773
View attachment 2579774

Damn! Thise are cool. Im sure these aren't available for purchace very often. And expensive if they are.

 

[MaxP]

Damn! Thise are cool. Im sure thise.arent available for purchace very often. And expensive if they are.

They’re out there, just gotta search. I picked up a pair of AR 2AXs yesterday - not that I needed them - LOL

 

[rajoo]

I own and also have gone through quite a few vintage speakers.
The two that impressed me the most considering what they cost me are KLH 6 and DQ 20.

 

[MaxP]

I own and also have gone through quite a few vintage speakers.
The two that impressed me the most considering what they cost me are KLH 6 and DQ 20.

I still have a pair of KLH 6s in my office system, and they always make me smile.

 

[JoeESP9]

Damn! Thise are cool. Im sure thise.arent available for purchace very often. And expensive if they are.

The NHT 3.3 deserves mentioning. They are one of the few floor standers that don't need a subwoofer. They were and still are very reasonably priced. They are real sleepers.

 

[Aethelstan]

Cool. I want real bad to find a set of Sansui speakers I like some day. It just hasn't happened yet.

I am currently refurbishing a pair of Sansui SP-3000s. What I am realizing is that most people have a misguided impression of them (and many other higher end Japanese speakers) because they have not listened to a pair that has been properly refurbished. Most notably, the woofer surrounds harden over time, leaving the speakers sounding harshly forward and bass-shy. In the case of the 4-way SP-3000s, the caps and connecting wires go bad too. Re-foamed & re-capped, they sound pretty good.

 

[JoeESP9]

I heard them and many other Japanese speakers from that era when they were new. I was underwhelmed with their sound then and still am now. Re-foamed and re-capped they sound like they originally did. IOW, very underwhelming.

 

[Aethelstan]

My favorite vintage speakers right now are a pair of New Advent Loudspeakers that I just got for $50 because stacking Advents with poor quality speakers can end up producing excellent sound. Advents are amazingly neutral from ~40Hz up to 20kHz with the exception of the notorious crossover dip between 1kHz and 3kHz that veils vocals and other midrange sounds. Poor quality speakers often do a reasonable job of covering the midrange frequencies even though they suck at everything else. The net result of combining them with Advents is a full, rich sound that I would put up against a lot of vintage speakers that cost 5-10 times as much as the combined cost of the Advents and the poor quality.