Best vintage speakers you ever heard?

[baeron]

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

Altec

 

[Dave N.]

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.

These KLH model 6 keep coming up. There must be a good reason. I know its wierd but in my head a speaker should have 3 drivers at least. I've got to get past that and listen to a great pair of 2 ways one day

 

[Dave N.]

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.

Wow. Those are something else. Bet you can't find a pair of those on Craigslist.

 

[Dave N.]

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.

Way to be thrifty. Nice.

 

[Dave N.]

View attachment 2580068

What are these little speakers here?

 

[Dave N.]

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

KLH model 23 over the oh so cherished JBL l-100?

 

[Dave N.]

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 !
View attachment 2612475View attachment 2612475

Sounds like you have quite a few rare speakers. Nice.

 

[Dave N.]

My "sleepers" the Technics Linear Phase SB-6060's, time aligned and smooth as could be.View attachment 2612563 View attachment 2612564

Cool. You surely don't see Technics come up in articles about great speakers. But those look exceptional

 

[Dave N.]

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.

View attachment 2613283

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

View attachment 2613284

Those look nice. Get those tweeters done. Lol

 

[Dave N.]

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.

I also bought a set of HPM-900 speakers with non original woofers. I ended up putting Eminence woofers in them. They sound pretty damn good .Haven't heard 500's though.

 

[Dave N.]

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!

I've never seen or heard a pair of ESS speakers. I have heard about the HPM 1500 though.

 

[Dave N.]

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

That's quite a list. And Im learnimg , but still haven't really known about only a couple on your list. Thanks!

 

[Jnevill]

OP - how about you sum up the top, say, 10 on this list, maybe by brand only, or even better, brand/model, and post it up for us all to see?

 

[Dave N.]

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.

I've not even heard of a lot of them in this thread. I'm learning. I'll have my eyes out for Altec and a few others now though. Thanks

 

[alteclipsch]

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

Those are Altecs.

 

[Dave N.]

OP - how about you sum up the top, say, 10 on this list, maybe by brand only, or even better, brand/model, and post it up for us all to see?

It's getting to be quite a big thread. I don't know if I want to take time for that. But a speaker that keeps coming up and surprises me a little is the KLH model 6. Altec is coming up a lot.

 

[triple20]

Two pair I currently own, JBL L 150A and McIntosh ML1C.
Love both of these pairs!

 

[Chrisxo55441]

My friends Tannoy Ardens are probably the best vintage ive heard. I dont have the space for the Ardens so i got a pair of Berkeleys which are the same speakers just in a bit smaller box. The Ardens go a bit lower in the bass so get the edge 30Hz vs 35Hz. 35Hz is plenty for me though and I dont use my sub with them.
My Berkeleys

 

[alteclipsch]

It's getting to be quite a big thread. I don't know if I want to take time for that. But a speaker that keeps coming up and surprises me a little is the KLH model 6. Altec is coming up a lot.

KLH Model Six was a fantastic speaker, built back in the day. Most of the KLH line was good to great back then. I've had a lot of them, Six, Five, Twenty Three, Seventeen, Twenty, and a smattering of the smaller ones. Each has its qualities, all of them are nice and non-fatiguing. The 5s and 23s compete with each other for my favorite spot, the 17s stand beside my Dynaco A25s in the smaller family room.

I had a 45 year love affair with a pair of Altec 846A Valencias that I sold a few weeks ago and I miss them dearly. I'm now building a pair of 846B now to bring that sound back. They're heavenly.

It's really no wonder KLH and Altec keep coming up, IMO.

 

[fxer1982]

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

Altec Lansing model 14 with 12" woofer and Horn. 1974 issue due to the large round brand Altec Lansing nameplate on front of speaker cloth