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TOTL Vintage bass speakers

teal'c said:
Nice. What happened to it?
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I was trying to think about that, and I honestly can't remember.

It wasn't in what I would call pristine shape. The cab was felt covered and smelled like a bar (I'm sure it had drinks spilled on it nightly for over a decade) and the dust cap on the voice coil had been cut out. My best guess it was left behind at my folks place when I moved to California and they probably sold it or gave it away at a garage sale. Sucker would move some air though.
 
hitek11 said:
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 .
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JBL L220/222 can get down to about 35-40Hz (depending which you go with) with serious authority. Not as deep as AR9 or SL7. The JBLs sound much, much better on top than the SL7.

IMO, if you want vintage sound and deep bass, your best bet is to buy a pair of speakers that you like the sound of, and then add a sub that will go as deep and as loud as you require.
 
Yes, the LWE was basically a servo controlled speaker. Big 15" CTS woofer in a too-small cabinet, pushed to higher performance with equalized feedback. I think the LWE 1 came out around 1968. I showed the plate amp to AKer Echowars one time and the first thing out of his mouth was "When was this thing made, 1968?!" Yep, I says, that's just about right!
 
http://www.audioreview.com/product/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/lwe/1.html

If you scroll down to the June 10 1999 entry by Winebrenner it's a very engaging explanation of the design philosophy on the LWE 1 and how it actually achieved the low bass output. It could stress an amp so it was not suitable for just any amp. The LWE 1 was rated down to 22 Hz but I'm not sure what -db level that was. My dad played his 1A's for years (still have em, without a suitable working amp at present) and they could shake the house.
 
One interesting thing about the selection of speakers in this thread is how much they differ in basic design philosophy and especially how much power they require. From the KHorns (which may not have been mentioned yet but they go down into the low 30s at least), at 104 db/1W, driveable to thunderous levels with a few watts, and at the other end, something like the AR9, -3 db at 28 Hz, rated at 87 db/1W. The AR9 requires hundreds of watts for its 4 ohm load. Of course watts became a lot cheaper when solid state came on the scene, which is exactly when the AR9 made its debut (about 1980). The LWE 1 was actually similar to the Klipsch Heresy in some ways, i.e. getting low bass out of a small box with an oversized woofer, but with the feedback feature it would eat the Heresy for lunch and was efficient enough to give even the KHorn a run for its money. I think that's what was in Louis' mind when he developed it. But I digress. This is not an LWE thread. Just that my love for extended bass came from growing up with them.
 
MarZutra said:
Epi M1000 would be the top of the heap in my opinion however others like the AR9, D9 and ADS L2030 would be up there...
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My memory said - and it took me a while to confirm it, but there is a spec sheet on AKDB - that the CV D9 is only rated to 29 Hz... but an astonishing 101dB efficiency! So it'll pump out the bass for sure but not quite as deep as some of the others mentioned at least on paper. Oddly, the smaller D7 is rated to 25 Hz but is less efficient.

Now of course you have to take a spec sheet with a grain of salt... because really, I think my Infinity RS-5bs are only rated to 45 Hz or similar but they sure don't seem lacking in deep bass compared to some other speakers where the glossy factory littrachur says they will go much deeper...
 
Prior to the popularity of powered subwoofers, I think the bottom octave was mostly the provenance of DIY'ers. If you think of a powered subwoofer as a 'kit', it still is.
 
If the spec sheet isn't giving a " -X db at Y Hz" it's a total crapshoot. Preachin' to the choir I know. I respect a brand that will do that though. And even more if they'll give a -3 AND -6 or -10 db point. :thumbsup:
 
hitek11 said:
Yes TOTL but not something like the infinity irs-v or the jbl 4355 as they cost thousands lol .
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Well that kind of is the point... Maybe your question is what are somewhat affordable vintage speakers that still have excellent bass response, otherwise you will get responses recommending IRSs, big RTRs, things like that. I didn't, because I can't play those games either :/
 
"Top of the line" (also "top of the range") literally refers to the best or highest model in series of models. So by that definition, the AR-9 and L-2030 are both TOTL of their respective manufacturers (the AR-9 can probably be had at a fairly reasonable price, but I think you're still talking upwards of $1.5K for a 2030). The EPI 1000 would probably also qualify. You didn't exactly quantify what you meant in your original post (you didn't even say what you meant by "deep bass").

I would posit that the Definitive BP-2000 fits what appear to be your criteria - it can get down to the mid 20s, it was TOTL at the time of its release, and is attainable by anyone who can afford an AR-9. Does the fact that it has a built-in powered subwoofer disqualify it?
 
I would also add the Klipsch Cornwalls, if they haven’t been mentioned yet. They weren’t top of the line, but pretty close, and can still be had for reasonable money, if you are ready to pounce when they show up.

For really good bass, I recommend a big solid state. They sound good with 75 watts from a Sansui au-9900 or a McIntosh MA6200, but best so far with my MC2205 a 200 watts a side.

I use Avril Lavigne’s Sk8tr Boi as my test for lows on a system. With a good (what I consider good) system, you get an almost subsonic bass out of them that is pretty impressive! That is the last song in my custom audio test cd. I don’t expect to hear it unless I am trying out an exceptional system. But that doesn’t mean I won’t buy something lesser if I’m interested. I found some strange combinations that sound exceptional, even though they didn’t pass the test in first trying them out.
 
swechsler said:
"Top of the line" (also "top of the range") literally refers to the best or highest model in series of models. So by that definition, the AR-9 and L-2030 are both TOTL of their respective manufacturers (the AR-9 can probably be had at a fairly reasonable price, but I think you're still talking upwards of $1.5K for a 2030). The EPI 1000 would probably also qualify. You didn't exactly quantify what you meant in your original post (you didn't even say what you meant by "deep bass").

I would posit that the Definitive BP-2000 fits what appear to be your criteria - it can get down to the mid 20s, it was TOTL at the time of its release, and is attainable by anyone who can afford an AR-9. Does the fact that it has a built-in powered subwoofer disqualify it?
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Yes I thought that the jvc zero 9,kef 107, electro voice interface ds and ar-9 where TOTL and that the jbl 4355 and infinity irs-v would be high end.It would be fun if someone did some bass tests on the speakers that where know to hit say 30hz and but them in a top ten list.
 
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