Dueling speakers: Vintage Electro Voice EVS 16B drivers verses modern drivers

[MRX37]

I had a roommate who had a pair of Royals (EV's cheapo brand) that were rather similar, and sounded great. No, they (and these) were not high end, but for what people had in college back then, they were just fine - you could play them at room filling volume with low distortion and satisfying bass. To the degree that rock albums had left/right separation, they did well, but I don't remember even asking myself if they had depth and imaging - it simply wasn't on the horizon of most listeners of the time.
But no - they weren't Quads, IMFs, Fultons, or KLH 9s. And the drivers were not Peerless, if I am not mistaken. Peerless was a competitor of EVs - they both primarily made raw drivers - and the Peerless tweeters had the impedance printed on the cone, which I don't see there (but my eyesight isn't what is was).
Having said this - I think this is a very interesting thread idea. I recognize that its implementation isn't perfect, but as a start, it is worthwhile.
Speaker design and building is complex, and everyone goes through the randowm swapping drivers phase, but I think the original question is intriguing - would a modern speaker sound better than an older one of the same price adjusted price? And I like the fact that the OP didn't take a well known outstanding vintage speaker as the standard.

Hey! You get it!

Yeah I wouldn't mind doing this test again with comparably priced higher end speaker drivers, or even full speakers. Alas I do not have the resources to pull this off. But here are my thoughts on a more scientific test for those that have the time and resources:

Frequency generator that outputs a 20 to 20,000 hz range (There's free software that can do this)
A decibel meter to measure actual volume at various frequency ranges (A phone app could do this, but you run into limitations of the phone's microphone)
A recording setup with a good microphone and good room acoustics
A sampling of several well known songs.

 

[toddalin]

Just to show that "old stuff" can sound as good, or better than most modern stuff, none of the drivers in these speakers is newer than the '80s, and none have ever been reconed nor have the Heils been "diaphragmed." None of these speakers have foams to deteriorate and all are in like new condition. In fact, the woofers (18" and 10") are actually "PA" speakers. Total cost to put this all together for the two speakers was <$1,500. And these can play as loud as one would like, regardless of their taste.

There is no eq, room correction (electronic or physical), subwoofer, or digital processing going on. This is a regular CD in an Oppo-95 though a Yamaha RX-Z9 receiver in "CD Direct" mode. The sound goes from the Oppo to the Yamaha's volume control, to the main channel amps, to the two speakers.

Many, many, many hours of listening and measurements with dozens of schematic changes, with the most current shown below. Recording is from the last version of the crossover and is a bit tubbier.

 

[potoooooooo]

What are your plans for the EVs?

I found a pair (Also garbage picked this past season) without original subs. If you're planning on keeping the cabs and parting out with the drivers, i might be interested for the right price.

Otherwise I'll probably find a period correct but better sub for the otherwise stock setup.

 

[MRX37]

Well I have no plans for the original drivers, so if you want them and will pay for shipping you can have em. PM me and we can work out the details.

 

[mhardy6647]

And the drivers were not Peerless, if I am not mistaken. Peerless was a competitor of EVs - they both primarily made raw drivers - and the Peerless tweeters had the impedance printed on the cone, which I don't see there (but my eyesight isn't what is was).

Yes, they do, and yes, they do, respectively Well, at least the MR driver does. Screen capture from the video. Click on it and it'll get a little larger.
The tweeter on this one doesn't, but no doubt at least some of the cheap EV monkey coffins used Peerless AlNiCo cone tweeters -- I have some "pulls" inna basement



I reckon the profit margin didn't accommodate EV drivers in the cheap consumer speakers, so they used OEM drivers. I don't know whose woofers they used, though (FWIW).

EDIT: Per good ol' Roger Russell not all Peerless OEM drivers had the impedance stamped on 'em. McIntosh used them, too, as you likely recall.

http://www.roger-russell.com/driverst.htm

Peerless MT-25, per Roger Russell.