Seeking Owner's Manual for Advent Legacy Loudspeakers

[Ricktptman]

I don't see anything specifying "II" or "III" on them, so I presume they're "I" 's.

None of the usual websites have anything even close to an OM for them. I've used them in my remote workshop for about twenty years (I replaced the Woofers with some Polk Subs that dropped right in) and while it's the definition of a "Frankenspeaker" now, it sounds pretty good. I have the original woofers stored away and I might re-cone/replace the surrounds in them at some point. If anyone has a copy, please get in touch. Thanks and stay safe!

 

[sparklow]

There is no owner's manual for these speakers, at least none that I haver ever heard of. The closest that you are going to get is the Advent section on the "Classic Speaker Pages Discussion Forums". Join this group and you will find all you want or need to know about classic Advent speakers, all the experts are there.

 

[Ricktptman]

Thanks for the tip! I'll head on over...

 

[Dswankey]

https://community.classicspeakerpages.net/topic/9397-advent-legacy-vs-legacy-ii/

 

[Ricktptman]

Thanks, Dswankey! Copied and saved...

 

[RTally]

I don't see anything specifying "II" or "III" on them, so I presume they're "I" 's.

The easiest way to tell an Advent Legacy from a Legacy II is the orientation of the tweeter on the baffle. My Legacy II have the tweeter vertical with "Advent" printed below the dome. The original Legacy speakers that I have seen have the tweeter oriented horizontally.

My Legacy II:


The label on the back of mine show Legacy II. I had to glue it down because it was peeling off. If your label does not show the "II" then you have the first Legacy model.

 

[Ricktptman]

It's a "I".

 

[hornbostel]

The Advent Legacy was the second set of speakers I bought with my own hard earned teenage $$. They were great. First pair were Boston Acoustics A40s. Still have the BAs. Sold the Advents when I went to college.

 

[Ricktptman]

I actually picked mine up in a thrift store in the late '90s. (About $25.00/pr.) They're in GREAT shape, and I use them in my remote workshop system. It's driven by a Denon PMA-860. It's not an "elaborate" system, but it's reliable and it sounds pretty good for the amount of wherewithal invested.
As noted previously, I did replace the woofers, and I think it both increased power handling and output. But what that really means is dynamics are improved but it won't accept being overdriven (even with clean power) because of the shallow cabinet's reflected back wave. It was the cheapest solution I could find in the late '90s.
I still have the original woofers somewhere. If I sell them, I'll dig them out and include them, but frankly, the speakers sound better this way. They still have the original tweeters and they sound very clean and have great extension. I'm just updating my inventory lists and I usually include the S.N.'s and original MSRP/replacement statistics on the O.M.'s for insurance purposes. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Fred DuBuron]

Well this is as good as anywhere to post my problem(s)
I have wandered into ownership of a pair of Legacy1s with intact grills that someone removed the original tweeter from. I have been unable to locate original replacements
I also found a pair of intact Legacy IIs at a local thrift store for $19.99. so I jumped on that deal.

So let's talk about the Legacy I's first.

I have just finished refoaming the Woofer surrounds and am now thinking about the tweeters and recapping the crossover
Original Tweeter looks like this

I search of eBay and the net only turned up this option

...which requires filling a couple of the old tweeter screw holes and redrilling two new ones.
My first question is; Has anyone done this install and how did it work out?

Now the Crossover.
Seems both Legacy I and Legacy II use 6mfd and 32mfd caps

Here is the Legacy I Crossover


...and here is the Legacy II crossover.


So I have found a source for 6mfd caps but they only have one on hand
So looks like each crossover is getting two Dayton Audio (1% tol) 3mfd caps in parallel for the 6mfd cap (EIGHT TOTAL or $31.60) and a Dayton Audio (5% tol) 33mfd for the 32mfd cap Close enough I guess (FOUR TOTAL or $52.72).
At just over $98 Shipping + Tax... I am thinking I might just unsolder the original caps and check values to make sure they are OK to run as is.
Any thoughts on this??

 

[Fred DuBuron]

Here is a pic of the Legacy II cabinet and Tweeter. The woofers are out on the bench getting new foam surrounds. The Legacy I woofers are done and the other Legacy II woofers are being cleaned up. Hope to have them done tomorrow

 

[RTally]

At just over $98 Shipping + Tax... I am thinking I might just unsolder the original caps and check values to make sure they are OK to run as is.
Any thoughts on this??

Rather than test the original caps, you could replace the 33 uF caps with new electrolytics for just over a buck apiece. That is what I did for my Legacy II. They are nice speakers, but not ones I consider worth paying too much for parts. My unsuccessful attempts at moving them on seem to say that the Legacy series are not that valuable of a speaker, at least in my area. I may donate them to the thrift I originally got them from. They make great garage speakers (I had them stacked with OLA), but I have better speakers I can use in the garage.

Also, I would not bother with 1% tolerance caps. Crossovers are not precision circuits and 5% tolerance caps are fine, particularly considering that my Legacy II speakers had 20% tolerance caps installed originally. Also, 6.2uF caps would be fine instead of two parallel 3 uF caps. After all, 0.2uF is only about 3% off of the original 6 uF value. That is well within the original 20% tolerance and would only result in a very slight lowering of the crossover point.

 

[Fred DuBuron]

WOW!
I have the (Cost me $19.99) Legacy II speakers up and running with the old caps (which checked out within tolerance)
I must say they are impressive-sounding!
The Klipsch KSB 3.1s are really great-sounding ported speakers but they are completely outclassed by the Legacy IIs. Hard to beat the timbre of a large sealed enclosure speaker

(NOTE: The flash reflected off the VC through the mesh dust cover resulting in some shiny reflections)

 

[Dolby_1000]

I don't see anything specifying "II" or "III" on them, so I presume they're "I" 's.

None of the usual websites have anything even close to an OM for them. I've used them in my remote workshop for about twenty years (I replaced the Woofers with some Polk Subs that dropped right in) and while it's the definition of a "Frankenspeaker" now, it sounds pretty good. I have the original woofers stored away and I might re-cone/replace the surrounds in them at some point. If anyone has a copy, please get in touch. Thanks and stay safe!

I found these photos of a Legacy brochure on a Facebook Marketplace listing, might be handy. Also, including a photo of the original boxes.

 

[Ricktptman]

Thank you, Dolby_1000! That really helps me out! Much appreciated! Mine sound terrific, however, I'm sure I've compromised the value of my set as I modified the woofer enclosures. It's more efficient and reaches deeper into the bottom octave (not that the originals didn't, I THINK I still have them somewhere) but they're perfect for the application in which they're being used.

 

[Dolby_1000]

Thank you, Dolby_1000! That really helps me out! Much appreciated! Mine sound terrific, however, I'm sure I've compromised the value of my set as I modified the woofer enclosures. It's more efficient and reaches deeper into the bottom octave (not that the originals didn't, I THINK I still have them somewhere) but they're perfect for the application in which they're being used.

Glad it helped! I just got finished doing my first foam surround replacement on my Legacy 1's. Didn't exactly come out neat, but hopefully they will hold. I also ordered some Solen, 33uf and 6.2uF caps, and a pair of Mundorf 1.2 Ohm, 10 Watt resistors to upgrade the crossovers. Complete overkill for this quality of speaker but I just wanted to see if better parts would actually make a difference. Wish me luck!

 

[Ricktptman]

Best of luck always! Same here. I'm closing in on the last of the number of restorable pieces I've acquired over the years. What's left are mostly parts inventory for maintenance. I have a LOT of systems set up (as I suspect most of us here do) and maintenance has seemed to hit a temporal "resonance point" i.e., every so many years (belts on tape decks for example) I wind up staying busy just keeping everything to spec. But there are a few pieces for which I still have an intimidation factor with respect to a full recap. It's a short list, and periodic maintenance has whittled them down to just a few that present brutally unsavory options. Sending an 80 lb. receiver across an entire continent and waiting years vs. taking a run at it myself when the sheer manipulation and disassembly of the thing is no small task, for example. I wish us all luck. As time passes, we're all going to need as much of it as we can get!

 

[Dolby_1000]

Best of luck always! Same here. I'm closing in on the last of the number of restorable pieces I've acquired over the years. What's left are mostly parts inventory for maintenance. I have a LOT of systems set up (as I suspect most of us here do) and maintenance has seemed to hit a temporal "resonance point" i.e., every so many years (belts on tape decks for example) I wind up staying busy just keeping everything to spec. But there are a few pieces for which I still have an intimidation factor with respect to a full recap. It's a short list, and periodic maintenance has whittled them down to just a few that present brutally unsavory options. Sending an 80 lb. receiver across an entire continent and waiting years vs. taking a run at it myself when the sheer manipulation and disassembly of the thing is no small task, for example. I wish us all luck. As time passes, we're all going to need as much of it as we can get!

Sounds like you have a ton of equipment - very nice! It's great you're able to preserve and maintain a wonderful collection of audio equipment. There's plenty of amazing modern audio equipment out there, but the 60's to the 80's produced some of the most beautiful and ground breaking audio ever, in my opinion.

I've owned quite a lot of modern and vintage equipment over the past 45 years, but I always get the itch to try something else and end up selling a component to finance the purchase. I have limited space available so I don't keep too much on hand, but I'm a sucker for speakers.

I just finished upgrading my Legacy 1's. I replaced the foam surrounds, upgraded to Solen, 33uf and 6.2uF caps and Mundorf 1.2 Ohm, 10 Watt resistor, and replaced the spring terminals with banana jack binding posts. This was my first "major" speaker repair-upgrade, and it was pretty intimidating! The results ain't pretty but the speakers sound great, and it gave me a real sense of accomplishment to do it. I'll post some photos when I get a chance, but I'm a bit embarrassed to do so because my work is pretty sloppy. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, but I'm 58 years old!