Love My Advent A3 and am looking to stack with similar vintage

[Stuart B]

Hi everyone,

I'm listening to my New Large Advent driven by a 2325. Recently I have been thinking about stacking to enhance the sound, something I never thought about in almost 45 years of listening to my setup.

Other than finding the same exact speaker, I am looking for suggestions on another speaker that would pair well.

I know that different efficiency ratings between speakers would mean that one pair would play louder than the other....

Any suggestions for a good compliment pair? Dynaco A25, Wharfedale W60D, Dahlquist DQM-9?

Thank you all

Joel

 

[62vauxhall]

I am showing my age.

I continually have a hard time understanding why there are repeated posts regarding stacking or doubling speakers pairs. It can be successful but not often.

The age comment has to do with The Absolute Sound's issue circa 1972 that reviewed the Double Advent system. To the best of my knowldge that was the only Advent model out at the time and would in these forums be refered to as OLA.

This is a quote from that nearly 50 year old review:

"Double Advents do not, for some reason unknown to us, exhibit any of the difficulties that other speakers do when they are used two per channel".

That exerpt has remained in my head ever since I read it. That Double Advent system was one of the most impressive systems I heard back then and I raised the subject at stereo shops I frequented. Some sales people who didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground seemed to think using multiples of any speakers was better because they would play louder.

Whether Double Advents back then was intended by design or not, doubling up on other speakers, different Advent models included, do not work well together. It baffles me further when I read how much people like two pairs of totally different speakers used in tandem. At least with two pair of the same make/model, there is a chance they won't sound horrible.

EDIT: FWIW, in the mid 1970's I did try a pair of Dynaco A25's on my at the time, single pair of Advents and the combo stunk. You didn't even know the A25's were there as they were drowned out by the Advents.

 

[Dswankey]

Often asked question, I would try and search for similar queries over in the speakers section here at AK

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?search/53790199/&q="stacked+speakers"&o=date&c[node]=27

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/speakers.27/

For example

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/i...-speakers-and-you.876554/page-3#post-12890964

 

[E-Stat]

You really want the same speaker with the upper inverted to minimize comb filtering effects. I ran them for many years in the garage. HP even heard my set in Atlanta many years ago and commented that he'd like to hear them with modern diffraction-free cabinets.

I now run singles as they image better, but doubles can be fun and have a more lifelike image size. Make sure your amplifier is up to low impedance loads as they fall to 2.3 ohms in a couple of regions.

 

[RunOutGroove]

If you have a bit of money burning a hole in your pocket and you want to experiment with some different speakers (but don't want to give up the ones that you own) why not run another set of speakers to another room in your house? My home is pretty small, but I have everything wired so that the main system is in the living room but runs another set of speakers in a bedroom... I like the fact that I can use two sets of speakers this way because I like both pairs that I own...

 

[spicer]

Hi everyone,

I'm listening to my New Large Advent driven by a 2325. Recently I have been thinking about stacking to enhance the sound, something I never thought about in almost 45 years of listening to my setup.

Other than finding the same exact speaker, I am looking for suggestions on another speaker that would pair well.

I know that different efficiency ratings between speakers would mean that one pair would play louder than the other....

Any suggestions for a good compliment pair? Dynaco A25, Wharfedale W60D, Dahlquist DQM-9?

Thank you all

Joel

This subject with the Advents has come up numerous times and I have posted more than once once that I have had stacked Advents at different times in life beginning with four out of the box new ones in 1975. Stacked with the top speaker inverted four are much different then two... a whole different experience, everything to the good. Tried it with multiples of other brands, same model, and it did not work the same... not always bad but not like doubling up the Advents. At one time I had six of them, three pair, stacked pair on outside of a raised stone fireplace bench area and two on the bench area maybe 14 inches high... a big room with 15 feet between the single inside pair. Six were better yet... great sound field, great integration, who knows why but they sounded great. The six pair I drove in parallel with a Kenwood KR 9400, 120 watts per, and turned up loud, just before dynamic compression, it ran quite hot but other than that no demonstrated signs of distress. I wasn't really worried about the amp cause if it smoked I'd take it to work and fix it but it never showed a problem... I would never recommend this though, it is asking for trouble... get two amps and level match.

 

[Rybeam]

The sound will likely be smeared and your power is compromised for IMO no gain.

 

[cube-tube]

I am showing my age.

I continually have a hard time understanding why there are repeated posts regarding stacking or doubling speakers pairs.

The sound will likely be smeared and your power is compromised for IMO no gain.

The ONLY benefit of running multiples of anything and getting something good out of them are subwoofers... Or if you're blasting music at an outdoor party where sound quality doesn't matter and the people don't care. Other than that, stacking is total nonsense.

And all of this praise over old Advent speakers is silly as well. Sure, they seemed great back in the late 60's, early 70's because there wasn't much else out there to choose from and Advent was sort of ahead of the game back then. But they don't hold a candle to even budget speakers designed and built today. Ever see the "crossover" in one of those old Advent's? Just a coil to roll off the woofer and just a simple cap and resistor to protect the tweeter and level match it to the woofer. There was no Zobel networks, no baffle step correction network, no equalization network, no nothing. I designed and built much more complex and comprehensive designs when I was 14 thanks to the several speaker design books I had back then... Way before the internet.

I'm sure I'll get roasted for saying all of that, but oh well. It's the truth whether you like it or not.

Simply put, ff you want better sound, buy better speakers, period.

 

[Rybeam]

I found Advents with the bull nose cabinet to be among the best looking speakers made. For what it is worth sound wise I found them too bright.

 

[Old Guy8]

I had New Large Advents. Came across Advent model Ones. Same drivers in smaller box. Stacked top set inverted, would play louder. But not better. Less focused to me. But if you was Rock louder, try it. Maybe you will like it.
I've also stacked ADS L880's. Same, not better to me. For mostly jazz.

 

[Elekbu]

Hi everyone,

I'm listening to my New Large Advent driven by a 2325. Recently I have been thinking about stacking to enhance the sound, something I never thought about in almost 45 years of listening to my setup.

Other than finding the same exact speaker, I am looking for suggestions on another speaker that would pair well.

I know that different efficiency ratings between speakers would mean that one pair would play louder than the other....

Any suggestions for a good compliment pair? Dynaco A25, Wharfedale W60D, Dahlquist DQM-9?

Thank you all

Joel

I had New Large Advents. Came across Advent model Ones. Same drivers in smaller box. Stacked top set inverted, would play louder. But not better. Less focused to me. But if you was Rock louder, try it. Maybe you will like it.
I've also stacked ADS L880's. Same, not better to me. For mostly jazz.

 

[Elekbu]

Hi there! My experience was with double stack L26 And to my ear nothing special the other member is right by saying just less focus when listening. Recently got a nice pair of a-25 and they sound ok to me paired with a low power marantz. I guess my opinion is you can always have another pair for two purpose , for rotation (A,B comparison) or for double stack.

Hi everyone,

I'm listening to my New Large Advent driven by a 2325. Recently I have been thinking about stacking to enhance the sound, something I never thought about in almost 45 years of listening to my setup.

Other than finding the same exact speaker, I am looking for suggestions on another speaker that would pair well.

I know that different efficiency ratings between speakers would mean that one pair would play louder than the other....

Any suggestions for a good compliment pair? Dynaco A25, Wharfedale W60D, Dahlquist DQM-9?

Thank you all

Joel

 

[quiet]

It's good for organ music. Otherwise it almost always turns a good clean sound into mud.
The exception is my no treble Bozak and no bass KLH 17. A true co-dependent relationship.