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Vintage speakers for Luxman R-1040

Gurkov

Gurkov

Active Member
On the lookout for a pair of new, or rather vintage, speakers for my Luxman R-1040. Would love to hear from fellow Luxman owners what speakers have worked best for them, and why.

Currently alternating (and sometimes running simultaneously) Monitor Audio Silver RX1’s and Pioneer CS-F51’s but really not happy with either of them. The MA’s are just lacking in everything and the Pioneers are too dark (plenty of bass but too little and too undefined treble - turning up the treble knob reveals their lacking quality). They’re better together, but not good enough.

When listening with my ATH M50X headphones, everything just sounds so right. The receiver has a clear, detailed sound, which together with the warmth of an Empire cart or a Shure M91 is just magical... Even with my iPod ”5th late gen”, it sings.

Some options I’ve heard mentioned, which are also available for me (Sweden) are:

Dynaco A25
Epicure 100
Celestion Ditton 17 or 44

I could try the auction site for sellers in the EU, but not sure how good it is to ship vintage speakers. Advents are hard to come by here, Bostons are more available, but mostly newer budget lines...
 
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Should add my musical preferences.

Listen mostly to guitar based stuff - folk rock, folk, indie/new wave. Some jazz and the occasional electronic and/or ambient stuff.
 
Luxman fan here and I've always liked the pairing of Polk Audio Monitors with the various Luxman pieces I had such as Monitor 5's, 7's & 10's.

I'm not sure how prevalent they are in Sweden.
 
Folks seem to like the Cantons and they are from Germany so may be more easily found than many US brands.
The A25 is rolled off on the top end. The Epicure 10 (EPI 100) is a nice speaker but a smaller speaker so not as much sound energy.

My brother has the R-1040 I have him as a wedding gift hooked up to a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce speakers.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Folks seem to like the Cantons and they are from Germany so may be more easily found than many US brands.
The A25 is rolled off on the top end. The Epicure 10 (EPI 100) is a nice speaker but a smaller speaker so not as much sound energy.

My brother has the R-1040 I have him as a wedding gift hooked up to a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce speakers.
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Cool, I might try some Cantons, though most of the available ones are cheap satellites for people's home cinema setups, or really ugly gigantic floor-standing pieces of plastic, haha!

The A25 is of course in another league, look-wise. :) But yeah, I heard about the top end roll off. Would that be bettered by just turning the treble knob? I don't mind doing that for getting the right speaker sound (as opposed to, for instance, a cartridge I'm using for archiving some of my records), as long as the treble still retains its quality...

I could swap the MA's for an EPI 100 and use it together with the Pioneers to use te latter's bass and still get the sparkle of the former. But prolly preferable with just one pair that does it all...

@Dswankey There seem to be some Polks around, but mainly newer, smaller ones. Did see a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 2, but maybe that's the bottom of the line and not up to snuff...?

@rickb119 Are Braun speakers mainly from the 60's? I.e. more sparkle but not so much bass? :) Saw a couple of L 710's that had the looks at least.
 
What about Wharfedale? Linton or other vintage models?

EDIT: Prolly not, veiled and lacking in highs seem to be people's impressions of the Lintons...
 
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Gurkov said:
Are Braun speakers mainly from the 60's? I.e. more sparkle but not so much bass? :) Saw a couple of L 710's that had the looks at least.
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They will have plenty of bass, and good upper end sparkle. Do a little research on them and then go check them out. I'll bet you'll be surprised at how good they sound. (If they're in good shape and all drivers work ;).)
The only problem is, I understand that they are 4 ohm so you would need to find out if your amp is capable of running them. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/braun_hi_fi_lautsprechereinhei_5.html
The ADS L710 is modeled after the Braun L710, and is very popular in the US. (I have a pair.)
 
rickb119 said:
They will have plenty of bass, and good upper end sparkle. Do a little research on them and then go check them out. I'll bet you'll be surprised at how good they sound. (If they're in good shape and all drivers work ;).)
The only problem is, I understand that they are 4 ohm so you would need to find out if your amp is capable of running them. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/braun_hi_fi_lautsprechereinhei_5.html
The ADS L710 is modeled after the Braun L710, and is very popular in the US. (I have a pair.)
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Sounds promising! :) Are you referring to the L710 specifically? Any other models you recommend?

EDIT: Oh no, forgot about the 4 ohm part. My receiver is 8 ohms, I'm afraid. :(
 
The older, Boston Acoustic A70-A150 line would work well. I believe they are 8 ohm and around 90db. Also nice sounding.
 
Gurkov said:
I heard about the top end roll off. Would that be bettered by just turning the treble knob?
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Not really, the tweeter doesn't go that high. But the A25 is a fine listening speaker good bass from its size. There are Seas tweeter upgrades discussed on different boards.
Gurkov said:
EDIT: Oh no, forgot about the 4 ohm part. My receiver is 8 ohms, I'm afraid.
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the back of the R-1040 says don't use below 4Ω so you are fine with a 4Ω speaker if you only use one pair at a time. Most amps are spec'd at 8Ω and then we look at the back to see what the range of impedance allowed.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Not really, the tweeter doesn't go that high. But the A25 is a fine listening speaker good bass from its size. There are Seas tweeter upgrades discussed on different boards.
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Hm, I saw an ad for a pair of A25's where apparently the cap in the crossover had been changed to a Jantzen Cross Cap. No idea if that's a good thing or just a repair... Might ask the seller for an audition at least.
 
it is an upgrade. Came with what is now an old, tired, electrolytic cap and the Jantzen is better sounding film cap.
 
Gurkov said:
How would you describe the Boston A150's? :)
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Smooth, fairly detailed, good bass, well rounded albeit a little laid back.

Since @Blue Shadow says that you can run 4 ohm with your amp, I'd give a listen to the Braun's. Yes, they are 50 year old speakers and may need/benefit from a recap. Fairly easy job. Even so, if all the drivers are working, they should sound pretty good as is. Recapping (lot's of threads here on that) will only make them sound better. Maybe. Sometimes yes, sometime no. :dunno: My ADS L710 are only 10 years newer than the Braun's, and I haven't felt the need or desire to recap them. Be sure to take something like a paper towel tube to listen to the tweeters. Makes it easier to isolate them the insure they are working. The others you can hear just by gettig your ear close to them.
 
Ah, crap!! No wonder the Monitor Audios sounded even duller than I remembered... the tweeters are blown. :(

I did think they could be livelier even when they were working, though, so won’t bother buying replacements. Should probably start a new topic for this, but I’ll ask quick for starters...

So, are there any reasonable options for replacement tweeters that are either cheaper than originals (around 250-270€ for both) but of close quality, or an upgrade for just a little more...? They are Silver RX1 bookshelves.
 
I think Dynacos are good for folk, acoustic, and jazz. With the Luxman probably having a clean, detailed sound, it should bring out a lot in the Dynacos.
 
rickb119 said:
Smooth, fairly detailed, good bass, well rounded albeit a little laid back.

Since @Blue Shadow says that you can run 4 ohm with your amp, I'd give a listen to the Braun's. Yes, they are 50 year old speakers and may need/benefit from a recap. Fairly easy job. Even so, if all the drivers are working, they should sound pretty good as is. Recapping (lot's of threads here on that) will only make them sound better. Maybe. Sometimes yes, sometime no. :dunno: My ADS L710 are only 10 years newer than the Braun's, and I haven't felt the need or desire to recap them. Be sure to take something like a paper towel tube to listen to the tweeters. Makes it easier to isolate them the insure they are working. The others you can hear just by gettig your ear close to them.
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Well, I will try a pair of Boston A40’s available locally. Might give a hint of how larger pairs from the same series sound. But I’ll be sure to look out for those Brauns/ADS’s. :)
 
I tried the Boston A40’s, but they were just too tiny. I guess it’s hard to draw any conclusions about the A120’s from them... The 40’s were really lightweight, not bad, but nothing special.

Also audioned a pair of Acoustic DIY’s from late 70’s. They, on the other hand, were gigantic - in size and sound. But for a medium sized living room I don’t need that huge bass, and the treble wasn’t too impressive really. I didn’t get to play them on my Luxman, but I got the feeling they couldn’t better my Pioneers at all...

Unfortunately I couldn’t try the Dynacos, hope I will be able to soon.
 
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