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Speaker choice for a (kind of) vintage system?

rgiskad

rgiskad

Member
Greetings -

I'm looking for some advice from ppl who have already been down this road...

After putting away my stereo system, and/or donating components to others, I have now decided to pull out my turntable and put a system back together. I have a Rega Planar 2 that I rebuilt with all new/upgraded components, that has been sitting for awhile now. The Denon receiver and Acoustic Research speakers I had paired with it years ago are long donated and gone. But I have my fathers old Denon AVR-689 receiver, and Nakamichi CD4 player. So I really only need a set of speakers to pair.

So...I've been looking at both vintage and more modern speakers...and tbh am not sure which direction I should take. My budget is less than $500. Later I might upgrade, but for now I just want to have something that is at least close to on par with the Acoustic Research speakers I had. They were Classic 8s...not breathtaking, but held their own imo.

Denon AVR-689
ProJect Phono Box SE II preamp
Nakamichi CD4
Rega Planar 2 (upgraded)

Speakers I have been perusing:
Boston Acoustic A70 (pro re-foamed, etc., on Ebay)
Advent 2 way (pro re-foamed, etc., on Ebay)
ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2
Q Acoustics 3020i
Dali Spektor 2
Monoprice Monolith Audtion T5 towers

So that's a wide cross section of speakers I know. And I could make a case, and get the wife's approval for any, lol, but curious if others have been down one road and if any would definitely be a mistake, etc., etc. (ie, the modern selections)
Appreciate any thoughts on this!
 
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I own the elac debut 2.0 6.2 and they are a great value. Nothing exciting though.

I would look for a nice set of floor standers.
Jbl, Klipsch or wharfedale lintons.

From the choices you shared, I’d go Boston acoustics or advent.
 
The A70's (which I once owned) are a very nice smooth sounding speaker. But they're small, and they sound small.

I'd look into a pair of NHT SuperOne's (which I currently own), also available on ebay. Mine are the original, made in USA version. I demoed the newer, made in China 2.1 version, and promptly returned them.

Here's a review of the original. https://www.hifi-classic.net/review/nht-superone-530.html As the review implies, there's just so much good, quality sound that comes out of those little boxes.
 
Went down the same road: get out old receiver and turntable, even old speakers (BIC Venturi 2)First I got Focal Aria 906 speakers. Much improved over the old BIC's, in fact, so improved I started learning more – and could not stay satisfied. Went through some amps and preamps. Got a new turntable (Rega P2). And then ... Spendor A1 speakers.

Moral of the story: if I had figured components for an endpoint budget at the beginning, I'd have saved money in the losses I took on buying and selling components.
 
I've tried a lot of different speakers in the last 12 months, with vintage and modern equipment. I think a pair of Dynaco A-25 would sound good with your equipment and in many locations they can be had for < $200. Boston Acoustics makes some very good sounding speakers as others have mentioned. I have a pair of A-120's that sound very good, and a pair of VR2 towers that sound pretty decent. A while back someone on here offered a pair of Martin Logan Motion 40's for under your budget and they are very fine sounding speakers. Polk Audio makes some nice sounding speakers, old and new. Newer not new towers would be under your budget. Craigslist and facebook marketplace are good places to look.
 
If you're in the midwest where DLKs are easy to find the 1&1/2s are hard to beat for the small amount of money they bring. I bought my daughter a pair last year and had a hard time giving them up.
 
Pretty much all my system is “vintage”. The one thing that is not is the speakers.

I have tried several vintage sets and while they sounded great, I ended up with a more modern set of Polk’s. They’re “pre-buyout”, but not by much. They are actually orginally intended for HT use, but they slam in my audio system with the powered sub. Polk RTi-A5’s and a polk psw-111 sub. They suck up every watt my Sansui 8080DB can throw at them without breaking a sweat.

IMG_7556.jpeg

I’ve actually tried to max them out a couple times and before the 8080DB tops out, I have to either leave the room or turn it down because its just too damned loud. Speakers never even sound like they’re working hard. They just take it all with a “is that all ya got?”.

They’re a little “bright/forward” for most, but my hearing is rolled off in the higher freqs (hearing damage from work), so they don’t sound that way to me. As I age, I’m actually committing the ultimate audio “sin” of using a 12 band graphic eq to “boost” the upper freqs because they just keep rolling off more and more as time goes by. Thats on every media: vinyl, tape, digital. But that a personal limitation directly related to my condtion.

Speakers are one of the areas where I now think modern equipment is a better choice. Have to do your homework, be selective and pony up the cash they ask for the good stuff, but a better choice IMHO.

I still have my vintage speakers and pull them out for a listen once in a while and its fun keeping them in good shape (ie: caps, re-foaming, cabs, etc), but daily drivers are modern speakers for me now.

All that said, by two sets of AR4x's aren't going anywhere. They'll leave my possession when they show up in my estate sale....
 
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Just realized the local used vinyl store has a used vintage speakers...feels like a trip is in my future!
Guy said they have a bunch of bookshelf, but also mentioned a set of Yamaha NS690. Will see what he's asking for those.
 
If you're looking for vintage speakers, try the following :

Mission 700 --> 717 --> 770
AR 18S --> 28S --> 94S
KEF Corelli --> 104aB --> Cantata
Advent Prodigy --> Legacy
Boston A60 --> A70 --> A100
Polk Monitor 5JR --> 7 --> 10

These are going from smaller --> larger.

A few notes : The Missions are the originals from the 1980s, there are new models with the same numbers at much higher prices. The Advents give a similar sound to the earlier Small Advent and Large Advent models, but without the price premium.
 
leesonic said:
If you're looking for vintage speakers, try the following :

Mission 700 --> 717 --> 770
AR 18S --> 28S --> 94S
KEF Corelli --> 104aB --> Cantata
Advent Prodigy --> Legacy
Boston A60 --> A70 --> A100
Polk Monitor 5JR --> 7 --> 10

These are going from smaller --> larger.

A few notes : The Missions are the originals from the 1980s, there are new models with the same numbers at much higher prices. The Advents give a similar sound to the earlier Small Advent and Large Advent models, but without the price premium.
Click to expand...
That's very helpful!!
Will note and hopefully the place has something in my price range and available in decent condition.
It's gonna have to be after Thanksgiving as we're going away for the Holiday, but I just finished getting the rest of the components in place. Almost there!
 
Depending on your local market, watch the nearest CL for a while, too. I've never heard any Bostons that aren't at least decent, but I haven't heard them all, FWIW.

If you want a more "live" sound, there's usually some used Klipsch home theatre bookshelves well within that number -- actually right now it looks like you could order new RP-600M II's from the mothership at that price--but you'd want to hear them, first. There are a couple places (like Crutchfield) where you can try in-home and return if necessary, etc.
 
leesonic said:
KEF Corelli --> 104aB --> Cantata
Click to expand...
I would also include the KEF Calinda here. It was the speaker between the Corelli and Cantata in KEF's lineup. The Calinda is a computer optimized version of the 104ab. The Calinda’s sonic signature is very similar to the 104ab, (the same T27 tweeter, a slightly different B200 woofer version with a larger magnet and lower Q, a larger 44 liter cabinet volume compared to 36 liters in the 104ab in a taller, narrower, deeper configuration, the same BD139 passive radiator, and similar crossover topology). The Calinda’s drivers are mounted in a vertical array with the tweeter below the mid-woofer giving much improved dispersion and a larger and more cohesive soundstage than the 104ab. Also the Calinda’s base extends deeper (40 Hz compared to 50 Hz in the 104ab) and is more accurate than the 104ab. Unlike the 104ab which requires stands, the Calinda was engineered to be a floor stander.

The Calinda and the 104ab were two of my final choices along with the Mission 770 when I was upgrading my system in 1979. I spent numerous hours comparing them and finally decided on the Calinda. It is still going strong in my office system.
 
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Nothing at the local stores...

Looking at a few...I've never refoamed speakers, but suspect it cannot be that hard. ie, I rebuilt the Planar 2, so figure it's easier than that.
So, would these be a strong contender re-foamed?
Advent Prodigy Towers

I'm wondering where they would fall in comparison to my old AR Classic 8s, and vs. something like these:
Polk Audio 5JR
Polk Audio 7C
Or these Advent Prodigy IIs

I almost bought these...still considering: Boston A70

I figure it'll be one of those 5. Guess I'm wondering if there are any clear winners in that group?
Thanks for all the input!
 
Just throwing this in, but Craigslist always has a ton of good (and some not so good) speakers for sale. It's worth checking out, there are a ton in the $500 range.
 
Thanks, there hasn't been much in Charlotte, but I'll keep looking.
Polk 7C seems to be where I am leaning. Just not sure about those exact ones...
 
Patience is your friend. When shopping for used audio gear. Take your time. New opportunities can show up at any time.

You could check out record shops. Ones around here sell used gear. Sometimes with short term warranties. Seeing and hearing before purchase has advantages.

Estate sales and garage sales sometimes have gear. These take time and lot of effort.

$25/ for year to become an AK Subscriber gives you access to buy/sell in a marketplace, Bartertown thread.

Some likely in your $500 budget, I have experience with and liked. Size of your listening room would influence choice:

ADS L880 three-way 10" I like the soft dome mids and tweeters. Detailed but not fatigueing. They have a wide dispersion from convex domes. ADS was a great line of speakers.

Boston Acoustics A100 series 1, two-way 10" with Seas tweeter. Haven't heard series 2, to comment on them.

Ohm C2 three-way 10". OEM upgraded the woofers on mine.

KLH 5. three-way 12". Really thier flagship model. Made to compete with AR3A. Great bass. They made larger speakers but in very small numbers, to find them.

Canton Karat 200, three-way 8" compact cabinet bookshelf. Soft domes alike ADS. They made many other models with soft dome drivers.
 
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If you're willing to push that 500 dollar top end of your budget and have patience you can get into some JBL L5s pretty easily. A lot of people actually prefer them to the larger L7s and they're supposed to be easier to set up correctly. I've never heard the L5s but my L7s are never going anywhere, and FWIW I only paid 650 for them last year.
 
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