Right Speakers for Restored SX-1250

[spark1]

SX1250 A and B are wired in parallel.


Power required is a function of a) speaker sensitivity, b) how loud you want to be able to listen, c) at what distance from the speakers, and d) the amount of headroom one believes necessary for signal peaks (to keep clipping to a minimum).

Played loud, and using a high quality recording, the 1250 would be far from "idling" with either the Advents or the Dahlquists in a decent-sized room at a 10-12 listenig distance.

 

[the skipper]

The request is for speakers that pair well with the SX-1250. Speakers should be recommended that sound great (implicit in the request) and pair well with the SX-1250 (specifically asked in the question).

There is no magical mizpah relationship between this receiver and any speaker. He's got enough power to drive virtually any speaker he wants as long as he uses his head, Now, if he wants speaker that can absorb gobs of power, that's one thing but that's not what's implied here.

It seems he wants particular speaker recommendations that sounds good with that particular receiver, which is not a logical request, Good speakers sound good with virtually any receiver. As such, people are offering their recommendations for good sounding speakers, which s a good thing.

 

[peterp1]

There is no magical mizpah relationship between this receiver and any speaker. He's got enough power to drive virtually any speaker he wants as long as he uses his head, Now, if he wants speaker that can absorb gobs of power, that's one thing but that's not what's implied here.

It seems he wants particular speaker recommendations that sounds good with that particular receiver, which is not a logical request, Good speakers sound good with virtually any receiver. As such, people are offering their recommendations for good sounding speakers, which s a good thing.

Totally agree that there is no magical relationship between the receiver and any speaker. What is fairly unique about his receiver (and the very few other receivers in this power range) is simply that he doesn't have to be concerned about speaker efficiency. Nobody wants a speaker that absorbs power for the sake of absorbing power, but there are great sounding speakers that require more power that would normally be prohibitive to most receivers/amps (like mine for example) that he can easily use. If he had a lower power receiver, I would recommend speakers that sound great but specifically not recommend low-efficieny speakers. Since he has a ton of capacity, we can recommend any speaker without concern for efficiency. I'd still always recommend the most efficient speaker for a given sound quality level, but the fact is that some great sounding speakers require more power to achieve a given volume level and that isn't an issue for his receiver. That flexibility in being able to pick any speaker without regard for efficiency is unique to his power level, if not his specific brand/model of receiver.

 

[Thocom]

It’s kind of funny that no one mentioned the speaker that pioneer built to run on the SX-1250 (at least I think it was) and that’s the HPM-100.
Not that I’m recommending it, just find it funny.

I completely restored my SX-1250 and have found two speakers that I really like with it. Sony SS-M7’s and Ohm Walsh 2’s.
JBL L100’s and HPM-100 sound pretty damn good too.
Klipsch Cornwalls, while I love with tube gear, got a bit boomy with the Pioneer. I haven’t hooked it up to my newly acquired Magnepans, but plan to soon.

 

[peterp1]

Not sure. I hooked up some 70's era Yamaha speakers (these were free) on the A channel with a couple of Bose 301's on the B channel I picked up at a yard sale. So four speakers at the same time. Not a bad sound. The Yamaha's have bass, but no high end - I think the crossover is gone on both,

Oddly enough, I owned the Bose 301's for about two weeks in the late 70's. I listened to both the 301's and the Advents extensively in the store and bought the 301's. I listened to both jazz and rock and thought the 301's were more musical overall, especially for jazz. When I brought them home, I liked them, but they just didn't have the dynamics for rock (which I used to crank a bit at the time). I brought my brother's Advents into my room to compare, and ended up exchanging the 301's for Advents (I think they were both around $200 a pair at the time). I'm not a Bose fan generally, but I liked the 301's a lot (actually most of Bose speakers with a traditional design sound much better than their online reputation would have you believe). At modest levels, the Bose 301's might win out over Advents, but at any higher volumes the Advents are probably better. It might be worth recapping your 301's if you think that is needed, they can sound very nice. There are much better speakers than either the Advent or the 301's though, and they aren't expensive today if you are looking for a vintage speaker.

 

[toxcrusadr]

BTW the 1250 also allows connection of 3 pairs of speakers, but the selector buttons on the front only allow you select 1 or 2 pairs at a time. Actually it's a rather clever setup, I wonder how you make buttons do that. If two are pushed in and you punch in the third button, one or both of the others will pop out. Pretty cool. But I'm easily impressed by mechanical stuff.

 

[Dswankey]

new/used? what size small/bookshelf/floorstanders?, what genre/kinds of music will you be listening to? how loud or not loud? what is the room size? what is your budget? will you be purchasing online or via local CL or FB marketplace?.

the OP should have clarified a target budget, music types, room, volume levels and other things to help us provide recommendations. The budget is really a total unknown --

Are you looking for new speakers, or vintage, or something in between (used)? What is your budget?

@peterp1

This was asked early on and so far the OP hasn't clarified other then genre

 

[jobrewer1983]

I have been trying to find a match for my restored Pioneer SX-1250. My memories of the original Large Advent Speakers is what I am looking for. I remember listening to "The Band" second abum on these, and the bass response and overall clarity was amazing. I used to also have Bose 901's around the same time.

Sorry if this has been covered in these forums, but if anyone has recommendations for speakers to match the SX-1250, I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts.

BTW, my receiver was restored by John Wargo - http://wargoselectronics.com/ - Vintage Audio Repair & Restorations.

I ran mine with some JBL L-150s that I thought was insane...

the HPM 100s sounded good, same with the L-110As.

 

[jobrewer1983]

BTW the 1250 also allows connection of 3 pairs of speakers, but the selector buttons on the front only allow you select 1 or 2 pairs at a time. Actually it's a rather clever setup, I wonder how you make buttons do that. If two are pushed in and you punch in the third button, one or both of the others will pop out. Pretty cool. But I'm easily impressed by mechanical stuff.

You ever open up a tape deck or a CDP? Glory!!! LOL I too love mechanical machines in audio, there is just something that has been lost on modern electronics. Even buttons have gone away... Not a fan of touch screens...

 

[peterp1]

This was asked early on and so far the OP hasn't clarified other then genre

Sadly, no info.

I would have recommend Allison Speakers. Back when I bought my Advents late 70's / early 80's, I was the "go to" stereo guy for all my friends and family, so we regularly did the rounds at every stereo store and compared everything all the time. Mostly Advents were top-of-the-heap in that price range, but we stumbled upon Allison Model Six speakers, which are tiny 11 3/4" cubes with an 8" woofer (up-facing) and forward-facing tweeter. I think they were $250 per pair, about $50 more than the Advents at the time. As the expert (relative to my friends) and an Advent owner, I didn't want anything to beat the Advents, but the tiny Allison Sixes sounded better. They probably couldn't go as loud as the Advent, but they sounded better by a pretty wide margin -- crazy good highs, tight strong bass, all from a tiny cube. Fast forward 40ish years, I bought a set of the Allison Sixes I remembered so fondly. I have them in the garage and they sound awesome. They will play very loud with my 1972 25wpc Rotel receiver.

For the SX-1250, the sixes are too tiny, but would recommend the Allison One for "against the wall" placement or Allison Three's for corner placement. The great thing about Allison's, in addition to their sound quality, is that placement is easy -- they are designed to go directly against the wall (Allison One or Six) or in the corner against the wall (Allison Three). The woofers will need new surrounds if they don't have them already, the rest is pretty bulletproof The grill covers are notoriously fragile -- they will remain intact if you are careful with them, but break if you are rough with them at all.

 

[z-adamson]

I have been trying to find a match for my restored Pioneer SX-1250.

There is no such thing as a "match" for any receiver.

HPM100 is probably as close as you will get as the sx1250 was designed during the Locanthi era and Locanthi designed the HPM100. Pioneer wanted their receivers of that era to match well with their better speaker offerings of the era. In this case, HPM100.

But that does not make it a "match" and just about any good speaker will sound good with the sx1250.

I have a sx1250 and I use HPM100, L100, L110, 4311, Mach One...

 

[Deep South]

Got a nice set of AR 58Bz's that might fit the bill. $250 range in central Alabama.

 

[superdog]

There is no such thing as a "match" for any receiver.

HPM100 is probably as close as you will get as the sx1250 was designed during the Locanthi era and Locanthi designed the HPM100. Pioneer wanted their receivers of that era to match well with their better speaker offerings of the era. In this case, HPM100.

But that does not make it a "match" and just about any good speaker will sound good with the sx1250.

I have a sx1250 and I use HPM100, L100, L110, 4311, Mach One...

I like those choices.