AR4x
Active Member
AR2a's sound pretty good after rehab.
So nice, I got the same amplifier, driving my 4x, but it will pair my AR5 soon
Whats your best sounding speaker Prior to 1970 You ever Listened To
- Thread starter vinny55
- Start date
So nice, I got the same amplifier, driving my 4x, but it will pair my AR5 soon
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Bozak Concert Grands definitely... You don't hear them... You FEEL them. Listening to classical music with them is like listening to a real orchestra in a symphony hall or outdoor theater/pavilion (I always thought of it as like being at Tanglewood with the volume turned up)... Amazing...So much power, and yet totally-smooth and not the slightest hint of listener-fatigue.
I would love to score a pair of Spendor BC-1's...
Also, I really like my W60E's, which are essentially the 1971 update of a late '60's design... Been very-happy with these.
I would love to score a pair of Spendor BC-1's...
Also, I really like my W60E's, which are essentially the 1971 update of a late '60's design... Been very-happy with these.
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I just picked up a pair in nice cosmetic condition but needing the pots changed out and general rehab in that sense. I'm going to have to research how best to do that in terms of components etc. Good modern parts would be nice where possible.AR2a's sound pretty good after rehab.
I got the same X stands with mine as you show in the photo. Any idea where they sourced from? Factory items or? I'm not sure how good they are acoustically speaking, but they do look nice!
johnnyboy70
Active Member
another vote for the KLH Model 5
Frazier Mark Vs from my limited experience. Haven't heard the KLH 5s or 9s but I sure like the KLH Twenty 
Roger
Roger
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
(each cabinet contains one of these...)
frommerstop
Super Member
KLH 9s
Quad ESL-57s
Quad ESL-57s
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
ESL-57s do indeed predate 1970 (heh, 1957... imagine that)... but mine don't, so given the title of the thread, I couldn't post 'em.
Besides, all in all, day in and day out, I prefer the 604Es in the real world - the ol' ESLs are something special, though. Everyone who considers him/herself an "audiophile" and/or just loves reproduced sound should own a pair of ESL-57s or '63s... or at least spend some quality time listening to them.
Never heard a pair of properly working KLH9s to date (nor a Jensen G-610 yet, either) :-(
I've heard some amazing, amazing and very vintage field coil drivers, but again, they're not mine... and the title of the thread is:
Besides, all in all, day in and day out, I prefer the 604Es in the real world - the ol' ESLs are something special, though. Everyone who considers him/herself an "audiophile" and/or just loves reproduced sound should own a pair of ESL-57s or '63s... or at least spend some quality time listening to them.
Never heard a pair of properly working KLH9s to date (nor a Jensen G-610 yet, either) :-(
I've heard some amazing, amazing and very vintage field coil drivers, but again, they're not mine... and the title of the thread is:
frommerstop
Super Member
I'm not sure when my 57s were made, but they were unchanged (except for a minor dispersion change before '60 for stereo) through their production life, so I think any 57s should count.
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Wharfedale W70's. Although I've only heard it in mono..
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
That's the one I wanna' hear.... I have the early W90's (with the Super 3 tweeters), but I suspect that two SFB's positioned right might be the best that Wharfedale ever made. Don't know. Two SFB's together is a pretty-big setup, although so are the W90's (The SFB was sold as a single speaker, and not in pairs, but I'd sure love to own two of them).
It's funny how the Quad ESL, the Wharfedale SFB, and the Dahlquist DQ10 are very-much-alike in both looks AND sound, and yet each one uses a completely-different design to GET that sound. I suspect a pair of SFB's would beat a pair of DQ10's, but I think the Quad would put up a considerably-tougher fight than the DQ10, and might even best the SFB, although that comparison would probably be just a matter of taste rather than performance, since the SFB is probably the warmest speaker of the bunch.
I did read somewhere that Gilbert Briggs preferred the SFB3 as a mono speaker rather than in pairs, but I'd still love to try it. The W90 is the best mono speaker I've ever heard. But the W90 also sounds fantastic running in pairs, so who knows... Oh, I forgot another thing... Sadly, the SFB3 was the model that used those dreaded foam surrounds (and I think the foam on those deteriorated even-quicker than the foam we know today).
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I bet you'd absolutely-love the W90's. The first night I sat down and listened to mine, they left me wanting nothing. The bass was just right, the mids were stone-perfection, and the highs were an airy delight. And this was in an old cottage on a lake with the front door wide-open (screen door closed) and all the windows open, plus we had several house fans running (It was hot that week). I still have yet to try them at home with some space between them. When I was in Maine, I just put them 4-5 feet apart and toe'd them a bit. No measuring or any of that, and they still sounded fantastic. An incredibly-easy speaker to position. You can just point them straight ahead if you want. I only angled them because I wanted a good soundstage for two people (one on the couch and one sitting in a chair 5 feet away).
I haven't heard the ported W70's yet, but I bet they're a lot like the W90's, only less of it. While I wait to bring home my W90's, I've been enjoying the W60's I got with the deal. I really-love the sound of that Super 3 tweeter. It's really a mid/tweeter rather than just a tweeter, so even though the W60's are only two-ways, they have exceptional mids AND highs. Totally-seamless. Plus, these speakers, like the W90's, put out one hell of a soundstage. I'm listening to some live Albert Collins right now (the audio from his first Austin City Limits performance). Just like the W90's, these speakers LOVE blues...
In terms of just pure listening pleasure, the early, alnico-driven Wharfedale stuff is damn-hard to beat...
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freQ(*)Oddio
Super Member
ar3a, until i blew one up. The big sansui never sounded better but it was to much for them at a party.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Ouch.... That would devastate me. Thankfully, I've never blown a speaker
scratch2, although I HAVE blown an amp once scratch2. It was a Soundstream Reference 500 car amp. Wasn't my fault. The installer accidentally-stapled through one of the speaker cables, so it was just a matter of time. I cranked it up one day, and bzzzt!!! That was it. It had a 5 year warranty though, so I just brought it back to the dealer and they handed me a new one. Very-cool. Soundstream made a badass car amp. Great class A models too. Plus, they made at least one full-size pro amp that was probably for studio use or something. Didn't look like an amp for home-listening. Incredible build-quality with super-sturdy rack handles and monster-sized caps inside. There's an AK'er who has one, and he says it's the best amp he's ever owned/heard (This is the only non-car-audio-type Soundstream amp I've ever seen).Whoops, I almost forgot... The best pre-1970 speakers I ever heard are a toss-up between the Bozak Concert Grand and the Wharfedale W90. The W90 wins in my smallish listening room though. The Bozak CG needs a big room to truly-shine (What a speaker though... They literally-sound like the sort of speaker that would be used for a classical performance in some large auditorium in the 1960's... BIG sound with glorious mids and highs and big, effortless bass that doesn't sound over-hyped in any way... I heard them many times as a kid, and I've been dreaming about that sound ever since... Truly one of the all-time best ever made... period).
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