Snook hansel
Active Member
Good stuff here. Keep it coming. Im enjoying this discussion as well.
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Old speakers with high quality AVR
- Thread starter John Carr
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Snook hansel
Active Member
Snook hansel
Active Member
Question. The pic is of a pioneer cs-33A. I've been digging the look of the lattice grill speakers. These are up for sell locally on market place. Of course that era of speaker seem to be not highly regarded in sound. What if I bought these and reloaded them with better speakers. I've looked at the cabinet specs and they are a little on the small side in terms of physical size. But I was thinking abput converting them to a 3 way speaker. Thoughts, opinions? Did I just have the dumbest idea ever?
No blasting please. I'm just brainstorming and want opinions.
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way back in 1978 I purchased my first Kenwood gear, a KA-7100 and tuna, along with AR12's, awesome setup. AR speakers of that era will hold up to today's without question. What today's tech gives you is the ability to build them for less.
I've most likely already suggested you look for a pair of AR58s, patience will be required but not as rare as the AR12. Also not nearly as expensive they fly so far under the radar, but things are changing.
They look great with my vintage Kenny gear.
a better look at the beautiful cabinets and drivers
There are tons of speakers from the late 60 to mid 70s that sound fantastic. I have owned CS33As and they were just ok however. If you like the look of the Lattice then some of the Realistic offerings are quite nice. I have owned and still own a lot of Realistic speakers. The Realistic Nova 7B is one of the nicest smaller 10in two way speakers. Mine are recapped and have a nice detailed but not too bright sound with deep solid bass.
As for replacing drivers in older boxes, not usually a good idea.
For a slightly smaller speaker with lattice fronts I also own one of my very favorites (I got rid of my Small Advents in favor of them) the Realistic Nova 6. Either the Nova 7B (make sure you get the "B" model) or the Nova 6 will give you some really solid sound.
Nova 6 on top of Marantz Imperial 6
My set of 7Bs when I was sanding and oiling the cabinets. One thing that Realistic speaker have that is as good or better than any other speaker in their class is the beautiful real walnut veneer. They are sitting on my KLH6s, another awesome speaker. I also own Large Advents which are NEVER a bad choice. But remember, dont judge any speaker from that era too harshly without having them recapped.
Carver DPL-33, I have 3 of them lol. Easiest way to add surround to a vintage setup, and cheap now too. These sold for $450 new in 1991, have small internal amps for center and rear that work surprisingly well. But connecting dedicated power amps to its line outs is better obviously.
I purchased one new in 1991 setting up a full Carver system. With a TFM-25 for the mains, a TFM-15CB bridged mono for the center, and a second TFM-15CB powering the rear surrounds, absolutely killer setup.
I purchased the others used on eBay for $50 lol.
Snook hansel
Active Member
Nice looking cabinets. I have been looking at some AR speakers as well as old KLH speakers.
I was just brainstorming. Figured if I get a cabinet I like for cheap is rebuilding maybe even a little re-engineering a option.
Definitely not worth it to do this. It sounds good on paper, but unless there is a known "hack" for a given set of speakers, replacing or adding drivers is likely to sound worse because the original crossover and drivers are carefully designed to work together. If you change to a driver with different response characteristics, even if it's a higher quality driver, it's likely to sound worse unless you also carefully modify the crossover to make everything work together. It will be more expensive and sound worse to modify these then to just buy better quality speakers. Also 3-ways are neither better nor worse then 2-ways -- it's just the designer's preference. 3-ways can have the drivers be more specialized, but the crossover design is trickier -- 2-ways require the driver to cover broader frequencies, but it's easier to get the crossover design right because only 2 speakers need to be blended.
What is your budget for speakers? There are some brands where you can largely throw a dart at the dartboard and find a good model. I would strongly consider Dahlquist, Allison, DCM sound great and look very cool (which I know is important). AR is probably more mundane design-wise, but great speakers. DDM Timeframes might be perfect -- they sound great, look cool, are relatively inexpensive used, and are very shallow speakers (though I think many of them have rear-firing tweeters, so you couldn't inset them into the wall -- though they may still be shallower not inset than traditional speakers that are inset).
Snook hansel
Active Member
I can get some time frames for 100 bucks
Which model? They are very good speakers.
Snook hansel
Active Member
Tf350's
If they are in good shape (e.g. the woofers have been refoamed), then that's a good price and I think a very good speaker. You can probably find a larger TF's for not much more money -- at least theoretically -- those deals usually aren't around when you are looking. Hopefully some DCM experts (there are several on AK) will chime in. I'd be tempted to pick those up, probably would want to use a sub with the 350's.
Snook hansel
Active Member
I'm currently running a denon 7.1 system and once I get this kenwood system up and running I plan on pre out of the kenwood to the Denon. I will primarily be running to kenwood stand alone with whatever speakers I end up with. I'm just hand shaking the 2 systems if want to have some fun. I have 2 subs 9n my Denon system.
Snook hansel
Active Member
AR93Q's what's your opinion?
Snook hansel
Active Member
NH-MAN
Addicted Member
I know I would love to hear them, I would if I had experimentation funds I could tie up for a bit. I have not seen those here before.
NH-MAN
Addicted Member
Why exactly?
They look nice, but Panasonic isn’t really known for speakers Best to search each speaker you are considering to see what experiences are. These seem to sound decent but not great from what I saw from a quick search.
I suspect the DCMs and ARs you posted earlier would be better. For speakers, it’s better to stick with brands that are known for great sound. The brand list I posted earlier I think should be very safe bets. ADS is excellent too, but may not meet your looks criteria.
Snook hansel
Active Member
Yeah I read some older threads. There were mixed opinions. Not many new discussions with any opinions. I gathered from the older threads that panasonic speakers were relatively good during this era being late 60's early 70's. Still not much information on them out there. I couldn't even google specs on them.