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Post by jayson on Jan 6, 2018 9:54:52 GMT -6
I just realized that I've been steadily winding up with all of the family's old stereo gear from when I was a kid - particularly speakers. My dad has always been a huge audiophile so as we were growing up there were always really cool hand-me-downs.
This year my oldest brother gave me his old set of ESS AMT1. My God - I forgot how good midrange can sound! They have really sweet highs too, first time I had ever seen ribbon tweeters before and every time I see Adam monitors I think of 'em. One of 'em needs a 10" driver replaced, but even so they sound amazing. Apparently Heil has kept them alive and spare parts are easy to get.
A few years back I also wound up with his old set of Vandersteen Model 2. Nothing wrong with them!
Hearing speakers like these paired against what's being sold these days is pretty eye-opening. I feel kind of like the frog in the proverbial pot of boiling water; I had never really paid much attention to the fact that commercially available speakers were having more and more of the mids scooped out of them as the years went by.
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Post by EmRR on Jan 6, 2018 10:45:09 GMT -6
My Advent 2002's are holding up great. They may actually be early 80's. Got new surrounds and crossover caps. Seem made for room corner placement, can get too much apparent bass out of them if you want. I remember coming home from the Recording Workshop in 1990 and thinking they were gonna suck after 3 weeks of listening to real monitors....they didn't.
I think my Klipsch La Scala are 1970's models, before I rebuilt them. People complain about 'shouty' horn speakers, and one of these without attention to parts and use can be for sure...but that's all that midrange you're talking about, where we actually live. With those I can do 55dB late night listening, and they sound big and detailed at that volume, feel bass transients through the floor, not wake the wife.
I remember the first time I heard Altec 604's with Altec tube amps playing equivalent period records....those records sounded better than they ever had; no wonder, they were probably mixed on that same rig.
Happy listening!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2018 15:00:42 GMT -6
I grew up listening to my dad's Celestion Ditton 15s from the early 70's, powered by a class A Sugden A21SE. He got rid of the speakers in the 90's, which was a real shame, but that amp is still going! I think he bought the whole system around 1972 for £25, before I was born. I keep telling him the power supply caps are probably due a change by now, but it never gets done, and the amp just keeps on going (and sounding great)!
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Post by gouge on Jan 6, 2018 18:11:07 GMT -6
My home stereo has b&w dm220 speakers.
Whilst not the greatest speakers ever built I love them.
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Post by gar381 on Jan 11, 2018 21:42:50 GMT -6
Advent 4005. Using 4 of them in the corners of my 5.1 surround. Sound fabulous.
In the shop I got a pair of Tri-amped JBL4333.
(McIntosh 2105 Low/Dynaco St70 mid /BGW 100 Hi/ Crossover Pioneer SF850)
In the living room, A pair of Micro Acoustics MA1.
All great sounding classic systems.
Gary
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 7:02:56 GMT -6
Loved my Dynaco A25's. They're long gone, but introduced me to a lot of great music.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 12, 2018 12:39:28 GMT -6
First was a pair of Jensens, they each a single in no highs no real lows eventually the drivers ended up in a sealed box that was used with a freinds late 80's Fender Champ or Super Champ tube amp that we built a "head" cabinet for, they screamed as guitar speakers nice breakup.
Then inherited Dad's HK20/s 2 pairs, 8in with 2in cone tweet's in a seals box sounded best stacked tweet next to tweet my quest for lowend led to home built Jbl E140's with elimar 1 inch bow ties.
These were all powered by a Fisher TX500 receiver then a Dynaco ST120 & Conrad Johnson PV3
Next my first true love Speakers Magnepan Tympani 1d & Flame Linear 700, couldn't fit them in a dorm room so traded for Vandersteen 2ci ( still own ) powered by a Belles and then a Bedini
Then the Magnepan 2 ways with the true Ribbon that I lost in Hurricane Ike that were replaced by the Magnepan 3.5's sitting right here!
Lots of studio monitors and home builds as well in there as well.
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Post by dror520 on Jan 19, 2018 18:07:47 GMT -6
I have an old pair of the JBL 4311 (recapped the crossover) that I got almost a year ago, I use them in my home studio. I think they sound great!
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Post by johneppstein on Jan 20, 2018 14:27:17 GMT -6
Used to have a pair of Smaller Advents, ex girlfriend took them in the breakup along with the AR turntable and the Dyna MK IVs, PAS-2 and FM-!.
Some of the speakers I was really impressed with in that time period included Irving M Fried mini-monitors, some assorted KEFs, JBL Paragons, Magneplanars, and Quad and KLH electrostatics with appropriate subwoofer.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 24, 2018 2:35:45 GMT -6
Used to have a pair of Smaller Advents, ex girlfriend took them in the breakup along with the AR turntable and the Dyna MK IVs, PAS-2 and FM-!. Some of the speakers I was really impressed with in that time period included Irving M Fried mini-monitors, some assorted KEFs, JBL Paragons, Magneplanars, and Quad and KLH electrostatics with appropriate subwoofer. Quads are great for getting of that girlfriend you just couldn't bring your self to dump, her car would use them as scratching posts and cat was fried girlfriend was gone. Not they I would ever have done such a thing in my younger life, never. Though Original and ESL 63's still sound mighty good with a modded Dynaco ST70! You know John other than the SOTA turntable I lost in IKE, The late 80's AR reissue was my favorite, though the Oracle I saw the other day was tempting! |
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Post by johneppstein on Jan 24, 2018 16:19:12 GMT -6
Used to have a pair of Smaller Advents, ex girlfriend took them in the breakup along with the AR turntable and the Dyna MK IVs, PAS-2 and FM-!. Some of the speakers I was really impressed with in that time period included Irving M Fried mini-monitors, some assorted KEFs, JBL Paragons, Magneplanars, and Quad and KLH electrostatics with appropriate subwoofer. Quads are great for getting of that girlfriend you just couldn't bring your self to dump, her car would use them as scratching posts and cat was fried girlfriend was gone. Not they I would ever have done such a thing in my younger life, never. Though Original and ESL 63's still sound mighty good with a modded Dynaco ST70! You know John other than the SOTA turntable I lost in IKE, The late 80's AR reissue was my favorite, though the Oracle I saw the other day was tempting! I've always been fond of the Transcriptors turntable with the Vestigal tone arm. A good friend had a modified Rabco SL8E radial tracking arm mounted on a Thorens TD 150 that was great when it worked but took a fair bit of care keeping it working correctly. |
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Post by johneppstein on Jan 24, 2018 16:20:11 GMT -6
Anyone here have any experience with Lowther speakers?
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Post by nobtwiddler on Apr 1, 2018 18:33:43 GMT -6
John,
I had a pair in custom built cabinets by "Moth" audio years ago.
Simply put, hey were wonderful.
At the time I was getting into acoustic "Americana material, and wanted something new as far as monitors.
So I paired them with "single ended triode" mono block amps. The speakers were a perfect fit for those amps.
Then a few years ago when I moved into my new smaller space, I had to let them, and 12 other pairs of speakers / monitors go....
But they (were) are wonderful monitors, albeit a little restricted at both ends.
Truth be told, they really show you the crux of what is there.
I loved them.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Apr 4, 2018 15:19:13 GMT -6
My first speaker was an EV Aristocrat corner horn. Then I "graduated" to an AR3a. I got a second one when I moved into my first apartment in San Francisco. I always figured I'd rather have higher quality mono than stereo.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2018 16:49:05 GMT -6
I remember hearing (I think it was one of the hi-fi magazines of the day) of a guy who had knocked out a wall of his house and rebuilt the wall into an enormous horn, with the driver tucked way back in there. I suppose it was the early 50s. Shortly afterward, the stereo LP came along. I can only imagine the conversation he had with his wife.
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Post by jimwilliams on Apr 28, 2018 19:37:24 GMT -6
I have an old pair of the JBL 4311 (recapped the crossover) that I got almost a year ago, I use them in my home studio. I think they sound great! Those were the standard LA studio control room speakers back then. |
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Post by dror520 on Apr 28, 2018 20:10:37 GMT -6
I have an old pair of the JBL 4311 (recapped the crossover) that I got almost a year ago, I use them in my home studio. I think they sound great! Those were the standard LA studio control room speakers back then. Are the speakers in the studios these days so much better than these? |
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Apr 29, 2018 11:15:50 GMT -6
I used 4311s for over a decade and even sent back a pair of Meyer HD-1s because they didn't translate as well.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Apr 30, 2018 21:03:43 GMT -6
Those were the standard LA studio control room speakers back then. Are the speakers in the studios these days so much better than these? The speakers in most of what are called studios today sure don’t go as low! |
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