Bogen speakers
- Thread starter dunadan
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Hello, Dunadan, and welcome.
I briefly owned a pair of small Bogen bookshelf speakers several years ago. I don't remember precisely which model they were, but I do recall they had six inch or so woofers with sticky black surrounds, cone tweeters, and, I think, metal trim on the grilles, which were covered in a rust-colored tweedy sort of fabric. To my ears they sounded decent, but not good enough to keep, so I re-donated them shortly after trying them out. If what you saw is these, or even the next step up the line, I think it's safe to say they're not worth anywhere near $75. (As a frame of reference to your question I think I paid $5.)
Fun fact: the LS in your LS-20 stands for Lear-Siegel, Bogen's parent company at the time. This is the same Lear behind the Lear jet.
Best of luck.
I briefly owned a pair of small Bogen bookshelf speakers several years ago. I don't remember precisely which model they were, but I do recall they had six inch or so woofers with sticky black surrounds, cone tweeters, and, I think, metal trim on the grilles, which were covered in a rust-colored tweedy sort of fabric. To my ears they sounded decent, but not good enough to keep, so I re-donated them shortly after trying them out. If what you saw is these, or even the next step up the line, I think it's safe to say they're not worth anywhere near $75. (As a frame of reference to your question I think I paid $5.)
Fun fact: the LS in your LS-20 stands for Lear-Siegel, Bogen's parent company at the time. This is the same Lear behind the Lear jet.
Best of luck.
strat68
Member
Old thread, but since there's not a lot of info on these... I found a pair in a thrift shop for $5. They were cosmetically rough, but drivers in good condition. I wouldn't pay more than $20 even if mint now that I heard them, ok but nothing special. I currently use them in the garage for low volume listening.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Sounds like they were much better at making amps and stuff than they were at making speakers. A Bogen into a pair of early '60's Wharfedales is supposed to be pretty-damn-good.
strat68
Member
Yeah you know what. Right after I posted the above, I went home for my lunch break and put them in my main system along with an older velodyne sub which is new to me, in working order. Not so bad- it did well with Sting's Nothing like the Sun. But not so much with Soul Cages which has a warm sound- beautiful mids with less top end- that album always felt that way to me. On vintage side- did OK with jazz, and on Pet Sounds it sounded kind of boxy.
On an aesthetic note, I got some of the Howards restore and Bees Wax for the banged up exterior. WOW... I am stoked on the veneer of these old cabs, I think some of my 90s stuff like polk monitor 2 series are synthetic veneer.... I went from so-so on these to "now I've got to make these Bogens work" because they look so nice.
I took some pics and a sample vid... will post soon.
strat68
Member
Bogen LS-20 Before
Some pics I snapped and a video I took when I went home for lunch to listen closer after writing the above assesment. It seemed someone sprayed the grills with gold spray paint and did not remove the Bogen badge but covered it with tape. I removed the badge and cleaned them in the bathtub (left pic shows gold with black circle where the badge was, right still had soap suds when I took the pic). I returned them to black. Will post the oiled and restored wood next. The pics here show the dry looking wood but after I lightly sanded them and cleaned with a damp cloth. (Sorry about rotation, I will take future pics horizontal=wide).
Sound sample taken with Galaxy S5: http://youtu.be/9VSGfEUDcI0
Some pics I snapped and a video I took when I went home for lunch to listen closer after writing the above assesment. It seemed someone sprayed the grills with gold spray paint and did not remove the Bogen badge but covered it with tape. I removed the badge and cleaned them in the bathtub (left pic shows gold with black circle where the badge was, right still had soap suds when I took the pic). I returned them to black. Will post the oiled and restored wood next. The pics here show the dry looking wood but after I lightly sanded them and cleaned with a damp cloth. (Sorry about rotation, I will take future pics horizontal=wide).
Sound sample taken with Galaxy S5: http://youtu.be/9VSGfEUDcI0
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strat68
Member
Bogen LS-20 after a little TLC
Here are the speakers after using Howard's Restor-A-Finish and Feed 'n Wax. Also, audio link recorded on the same system and similar music with Polk Monitor 2, M5's for comparison:
https://youtu.be/QeL-5_31EWw
Here are the speakers after using Howard's Restor-A-Finish and Feed 'n Wax. Also, audio link recorded on the same system and similar music with Polk Monitor 2, M5's for comparison:
https://youtu.be/QeL-5_31EWw
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I also picked up a pair of these speakers. And they too left me greatly unimpressed. However, the cabinets are beautiful and in great condition. I was wondering if anyone has tried mounting new speakers and a new crossover in them to get get much better sound. If so I'd ike to hear what you did. I hate to just junk them because of the really nice cabinets.