Best vintage speakers you ever heard?

[Aethelstan]

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.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think they are truly great speakers. The mids on the SP-3000s are a little harsh. But the SP-3000s are also not deserving of the bad rap that Japanese speakers get... at least not any more than is deserved by many of the popular vintage speakers mentioned in these kinds of threads.

That said, my impression might be biased because I replaced the original surrounds, which could have been a problem from the start. I was not old enough in the early 1970s to hear them new.

 

[JRhoBurton]

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

Memories. Never heard LSTs but I recall reading about them IIRC in High Fidelity magazine. I might still have the copy, need to dig for it.

 

[Ken Boyd]

Best I have heard are the Infinity RS-1b's. There upper line ups I am sure sound better but I have not gotten a chance to hear any.

 

[djnagle]

 

[Christian B]

ADS L1590 They just sounded right to me, from the first listen. Still have them, and they're not going anywhere.
(Photo from the interwebnet thingy)

 

[SleeperSupra]

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.

The ARC amplifier looks like a D350. I owned one briefly.

 

[SleeperSupra]

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.

View attachment 2579409

Awesome lightning fast upper mid-range and treble, mediocre lower mids and bass in comparison... That sounds like my ESS speakers.

The ESS AMT-1b, original Carver Amazing Loudspeaker, Thiel CS2, Infinity Kappa 8, Infinity Kappa 9, and Infinity Quantum 3, and Magnapan SMG in that order would be the best I've ever owned.

 

[SleeperSupra]

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.

I had a pair that were in and out really quick. The sound was exactly as you describe.

 

[gbroot]

3 best that I have owned in order of preference:
Klipsch Forte still own
KLH Model 23 still own
JBL - L100T

 

[sqlsavior]

 

[mrswakka]

Just got my KLH 5s back from my good friend, who did a killer job on them.
Totally beautiful sounding set of speakers!

 

[RS Steve]

Snell A-II's are just plain good, and I've had many others.

 

[newenglandj]

I've heard many very nice sounding speakers, don't know if I can really pick just one. But if I had to, I'd go with a tie between two very different speakers: Altec 604 and Coral Beta 8.

 

[pdardeau]

Love this thread. I summarized the speakers mentioned so far. For speaker models mentioned multiple times, I include the number of times mentioned in square brackets. Apologies for any mistakes.

Acoustat (I forget the model) electrostatics
Acoustat 2+2
Acoustat 4
Acoustic Research AR2, AR3 [3], AR3a [3], AR4, AR5, AR12, LST-2s
Advent OLAs
ADS 910s
ADS L980
ADS L1590
Allison One
Altec Model 19 [2]
Altec Valencia 846A
Altec 601c
Altec 604
Altec 817
Apogee Duettas
Apogee Grands
Axiom AX5
B&W Matrix 3 S2
B&W 808
Beveridge Model 2
Boston Acoustics A200 [2], A100s, 70s, 60s
Bozak Concert Grands
Bozak Symphony [2]
Burhoe Blues
Carver Amazing Loudspeaker
Celestion SL6S
Coral Beta 8
Dahlquist DQ-10
Dahlquist DQ-12
Dahlquist DQ-20
Dayton-Wright XG-8
Electro Voice Empire
Electro-Voice Sentry III
Energy 22
EPI 500
Epicure 3.0 [2]
ESS AMT-1b
EV SP12
Fisher XP7b
Frazier Model 7
Fulton Premiers
Hartley Holton A
Hartly Zodiac 74
Hegeman Model 2
Hill Plasmatronics [3]
IMF TLS-50
Infinity IRS-V
Infinity Kappa 8
Infinity Kappa 9
Infinity QLS
Infinity Quantum 3
Infinity RS-1b's
JBL 4350
JBL 590
JBL L100T
JBL L110
JBL L150 [2], L150A [2]
JBL L-300 Summits
Kenwood KL777a (for rock)
KLH Model 5 [4]
KLH Model 6 [7]
KLH Model 23 [2]
Klipsch Cornwall [2], Cornwall 1.5
Klipsch Forte
Klipsch La Scala [3]
Leak 3090
Magnat Magnasphere Gamma
Magnepan MG-20
Magnapan SMG
Magnapan with the 4 woofer panels
Magneplanars
Martin Logan Monolith
McIntosh XRT-22
Mission 767
North American Sound (NAS) Squires
NAS Studio Monitors
NHT 3.3
Ohm F
Pioneer HPM-100
QUAD ESL
Quads
Quad 57
RBH-1261
Rectilinear III Highboys
Sansui SP-300
Sansui SP-3000s
Sinus 44f
Snell A-II's
Thiel CS2
Tympani Magneplanar 1C
VOTT A7
Zenith 49CZ852

 

[idf.bts]

KEF 107/2 belongs on this list.

 

[Lou G]

I would certainly include the KEF 107/2 and the KEF 104/2 on the list. Also the KEF Calinda and KEF Cantata from the 70s should be on the list.

 

[orsen]

been thru lots and lots of speakers


timeframe tf 1000 had to flip, they were just too big

these are keepers and in rotation
kef 104/2
kef 105/2
yamaha ns 1000
energy veritas 2.3
mission 770

 

[alteclipsch]

Maybe not the end-all, but very fine speakers were made by Dynaco. I had A35, now have A25, and they sound really great. Some of the most popular speakers ever made, and for good reason!

 

[MJB1959]

ADS

 

[E-Stat]

The ARC amplifier looks like a D350. I owned one briefly.

Close, but it doesn't have the cathode meter switch as you see here. Either a D79 or D150.

See Audio Research database: https://arcdb.ws/model/D150