Best vintage speakers you ever heard?

[lacrosplayer]

View attachment 2580068

What are they?

 

[djnagle]

They are Electro Voice Patrician 700s. Here is a link to an article detailing them.

starts on page 34.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/60s/Audio-1961-Jan.pdf

 

[katana1100]

Best I’ve ever heard ?
Hill Plasmatronic
2nd best Accoustat 2+2 ( in my system)
3rd best GNP Valkeryies
I did the unthinkable- I upgraded them . I replaced the mid dome with the upgraded textile covered that Scanspeak made, replaced oringinal seas tweeter withVifa d25sf tweeter (was used in in M&K second generation of speakers), changed all grill material from dreary black to more modern looking white.
I think they sound close to my accoustat 2+2’s and better than my ADS L1230, Boston a400 and Energy Veritas 2.8 !

 

[jek57]

Rectilinear 3s back in the 60s my brother had them great sounding speakers

 

[Dr. Ears]

My "sleepers" the Technics Linear Phase SB-6060's, time aligned and smooth as could be.

 

[BlooLoo]

My 1978 AR9s - still going but need to replace the tweeters now as they've become a bit soft and lost the sparkle over the years. Had the caps replaced a decade ago and the rubbers twice since new. They take a hefty amp to make them sing but when they do it's magnificent.

Last had them run by Emotiva gear, the power amps being 100watts each (out of shot). Was very good but not as good as the old ME class A amps from the 80s that used to run them.



I now have them out back in the shed unused - waiting to get those tweeters done.

 

[300man]

The first very good vintage speakers I ever heard were Altec VOTT Probably A7 model. Single 15 inch woofer and large multi-cell horn bolted to the top. They were setup in a large room and powered by a big Marantz amp. It was in the mid 70s and they left a lasting memory...

Up until that day I had heard a limited amount of middle of the road home stereo gear...

Very soon after that my friend bought new AR9s that had just been released and a big yamaha amp and although they were in a smallish room they were very impressive.

Those two speakers and experiences got me hooked and I have been into good quality stereo equipment ever since.

I currently own a pair of JBL 4430s and a custom pair of Altec 604 - 8Gs in 10 Cu. Ft. cabinets that I like very much.

 

[absolve2525]

Yes! Big NHT fan here.

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.

 

[HPMguy]

Lol, that's easy -- but they weren't vintage when I bought them. HPM-500s, bought new in 1982, still in use after a re-foam. Recently bought a pair of very battered but mostly intact HPM-900's and a repairable woofer. Don't look great, but the sound fine to me. I did re-cap them, but it probably wasn't worth the effort as the sound didn't change, at least as far as I can hear anyway. Ears aren't so good any more at 66.

Not everyone likes them, but I do and I don't care what other people think about them.

 

[gizzyman47]

From what I own:
Yamaha NS-1000m
Ess Amt 1a
ADS L810
Pioneer HPM 1500
The Ess are great vintage speakers but the Yamaha's are giving them a real run for the money. Totally different speakers and presentation but I really like both!

 

[Tom Brennan]

There are several I put in a top class, listed in no particular order

Dayton-Wright electrostats
Quad ESL
Quad ESL63
Altec Model 19
Altec Barcelona
Altec A7, A7-500 and A5
EV Patrician, the early one with the 18 in a corner horn
EV Sentry III
Fulton Model J
Heath AS-21
KHorn
Klipsch LaScala (which I once loved, and owned two pairs of, and then grew to dislike)
Acoustat Model 8
Crown ES-224 electrostat

 

[BlooLoo]

Yes! Big NHT fan here.

Indeed - I've heard these played through some ME amps I had back in the day - stunning. Very similar to my AR9s I just posted in terms of presence and character, and yes, both did not require a sub at all.

 

[efzt]

Dang Tom you really like horns and stats bro. Not one dynamic! What about JBL(non-horns) like 112 or 150? Have you ever heard a full dynamic system in a well treated room with traps and diffusors? Horns and Panels are essentially directional and don't need as much room treatment if any. Roland

 

[maxhifi]

Klipsch LaScala (which I once loved, and owned two pairs of, and then grew to dislike)

That was exactly how I felt about mine... first I loved them, then I started to notice their defects, and finally I got tired of all the space they occupied. I looked into modifications like adding an additional chamber under the speaker, or adding stiffeners to the fairly lively sides, but I concluded that nothing would actually make them into what I wanted, so cut them loose.

 

[fxer1982]

Altec Lansing Model 17's

 

[JoeESP9]

Dang Tom you really like horns and stats bro. Not one dynamic! What about JBL(non-horns) like 112 or 150? Have you ever heard a full dynamic system in a well treated room with traps and diffusors? Horns and Panels are essentially directional and don't need as much room treatment if any. Roland

I can't comment of horns because I don't like most of them. Panels and OB's (must not have closed back tweeters) are more to my taste. For me their major attraction is they do the human voice better than anything else I've ever heard.

They get the midrange right. That's where the "meat" of music lies.

 

[billyz]

I would have to vote for the Altec Model 19's. I have owned and heard most of the speakers mentioned in this thread and I do like most of them, but the Altec's take the cake for me.

 

[Megaladoink]

I'll go with what I've owned. Dahlquist DQ-12's

I had found a single boxed DQ-12 and I never found a matching speaker so I sold it. Ive been hearing its praise so Im sort of kicking my self for getting rid of it. I know i didnt pay more than 40 bucks for it.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Dang Tom you really like horns and stats bro. Not one dynamic! What about JBL(non-horns) like 112 or 150? Have you ever heard a full dynamic system in a well treated room with traps and diffusors? Horns and Panels are essentially directional and don't need as much room treatment if any. Roland

Well, to be a little pedantic horns are dynamic speakers but I get your meaning. Many of the speakers I liked (and have owned) are horn-direct radiator or electrostat-dynamic direct radiator hybrids: that is using horn or electrostatic treble with direct radiating cone woofers. I've heard many excellent cone and dome type speakers and owned some too, I just don't rate them at the very top.

Horns don't necessarily have narrow directivity, that depends on the horn. I had horn systems with horizontal directivity of 130 degrees and the Sentry III was a 120 degree system. A horn with that wide a pattern can produce a huge shimmering soundfield.

Regards

 

[Dave N.]

View attachment 2577764 Model 14

Help me out. What brand are they? They look nice. And unique.