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TOTL Vintage bass speakers

hitek11

hitek11

Active Member
Just interested in what are the most deepest bass vintage speakers that are designed for deep bass. i know jvc zero 9, kef 107 and electro voice interface Ds can dig deep.Is there like a list of the top 10 vintage deepest bass speakers.
 
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Could we keep it to the vintage speakers that where more common in the price off the three speakers i posted .
 
For me, it's always the big Acoustic Research speakers. AR9s and AR90s come to mind first. But, any of the models with a 12" woofer, are good. AR9LS(i), AR98, AR78, AR3/a, AR91, and AR58. From those, it's easy to see that I like the AR dome midrange models too.
 
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The Interface series of speakers don't go particularly deep - only about 30 Hz. They're amazing for their size and efficiency, no doubt; they're one of the earliest applications of Thiele-Small vented box tuning, and unlike the B*se speakers, they don't use the EQ to make up for lack of low end. [I had an extended conversation with Don Keele, one of the designers, as I was working on a college project of my own and he kindly provided some design info] But the KEF/IMF and some ARs go quite a bit lower, as do many of the Infinity models. The Interface was designed to cut off well above 20 Hz because those were the days of turntables and vinyl, where record warp and rumble could cause excessive excursion at the low end. The KEFs are particularly vulnerable to it; I have no idea whether it affects the sound quality noticeably.
 
Since I've acquired a pair of IMF TLS 50 ... nothing goes lower, effortlessly and in a clean way.
 
teal'c said:
Cerwin-Vega participated in Sensurround technology which was developed in conjunction with MCA and Universal Studios in the 1970s.[6] Sensurround was a movie theater special effects speaker system which used multiple Cerwin-Vega folded horn subwoofers triggered by an optical soundtrack system to create low frequency effects which simulated vibrations felt during an earthquake or a battle scene. Sensurround was premiered in the 1974 movie Earthquake,[7] and was a great success, but most Sensurround units were later dismantled due to structural damage caused by the vibrations.
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When I was young and growing up in Portland OR there was a nightclub called "Earthquake Ethels", and their big thing was once every hour they had a simulated earthquake, as popularized by the movie referenced. Sometime in the late 80's Ethels went under and the company I was working for at the time (part time school job) bought the building and its contents, so I went over with a bunch of other guys to scavenge what we could and I ended with one of the 18" Cerwin Vega drivers and cab.

I put in the trunk of my car hooked up to high powered/crappy sounding amp, cab and all. Just about blew the trunk lid off my '71 Deville.

*ETA* Should have made clear, the simulated earthquake at Earthquake Ethels was all based on Senssuround technology. Never was old enough to go there when they were open, my Dad said they had good drinks but the simulated "earthquake" got annoying, after a couple of times the novelty wore off I guess :)
 
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The LWE feedback speakers from the late 60s/early 70s reached down into the 20s as I recall - don't have the specs in front of me. Those had to be wired into the feedback circuit of your amp unless you got the self-powered LWE 1. Which is why hardly anyone has heard of them. The idea didn't really take off.
 
I've never actually swept them, but completely by ear, Rectilinear IIIs seem to dig pretty deep.

Advertising lit from back in the day claims 20-18,500 Hz, +/- 4dB.
 
Skid Vicious said:
When I was young and growing up in Portland OR there was a nightclub called "Earthquake Ethels", and their big thing was once every hour they had a simulated earthquake, as popularized by the movie referenced. Sometime in the late 80's Ethels went under and the company I was working for at the time (part time school job) bought the building and its contents, so I went over with a bunch of other guys to scavenge what we could and I ended with one of the 18" Cerwin Vega drivers and cab.

I put in the trunk of my car hooked up to high powered/crappy sounding amp, cab and all. Just about blew the trunk lid off my '71 Deville.

*ETA* Should have made clear, the simulated earthquake at Earthquake Ethels was all based on Senssuround technology. Never was old enough to go there when they were open, my Dad said they had good drinks but the simulated "earthquake" got annoying, after a couple of times the novelty wore off I guess :)
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Nice. What happened to it?
 
N8Nagel said:
I've never actually swept them, but completely by ear, Rectilinear IIIs seem to dig pretty deep.

Advertising lit from back in the day claims 20-18,500 Hz, +/- 4dB.
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I got those also, in the real world the Fisher XP10 goes much lower but is uses "much" more power doing it.
Love'em both.
 
tarior said:
Deep bass in a vintage, non-self powered, somewhat common speaker? AR9 and Speakerlab 7 are just about the kings for deep bass with any real output.
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I like speakers from the later 70s and them AR9 and speakerlab 7 look very well build and designed really nice would they beat the three i mentioned above and what about jbl 222A .
 
toxcrusadr said:
The LWE feedback speakers from the late 60s/early 70s reached down into the 20s as I recall - don't have the specs in front of me. Those had to be wired into the feedback circuit of your amp unless you got the self-powered LWE 1. Which is why hardly anyone has heard of them. The idea didn't really take off.
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So they were basically "servo controlled" before that was a thing?
 
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