Vintage TOTL Speaker - Contestants Please ?

1975-77 Kenwood Model Seven. Made entirely by Kenwood in Japan. No outsourced drivers. Billet aluminum frames. There's so much beef in these suckers that I swear I hear them go "mooooo!" about 130 lbs each and only 3 feet tall. Baffles are 1 inch thick quadruple crosslaid lumber core with hand crafted birch veneer, simply beautiful! Backside of woofer cone has hand written sequence number with signature by Japanese tech. :eek: Without a doubt, one of the cleanest, most real sounding, "purest" speakers I've EVER heard. No shrill from the real titanium dome super tweeter, and no coloration or "crying" from the 3 inch daphne pulp midrange dome either. I hear very low notes even at the softest, almost inaudible volume level! At the time Kenwood released these, they were really not known in the world of high quality speakers, but these EASILY compete with other variants in the world of high fidelity. The USA made LS-400 Series were a direct design descendant of these and are equally overlooked and nearly as impressive sound-wise(so long as they still have original drivers).
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Wooow is right! Thanks for the correction. I never got a good look at the CA30, but I can see that what I'd seen before must have been mislabeled. That's a serious set of drivers! All self-amplified. You just use that setup with a preamp. Takes away the versatility and glory of a monster amplifier in your rack, but the sound is supposed to be amazing. :)

I did not mean to correct you, myu701.I was just delighted with sound (tube preamp Octave HP 500 and Gamut CD) :music:,and there is so little information and pictures on the Internet about CA30.
 
Here is me with my PRISTINE 1962 Electro Voice Patrician 700s. They were polished once a year by a honest to goodness Butler.

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Wow, now those are indeed stunning AND with a good back story. VERY nice!! The attention to detail of the cabinets are obvious, made to be SEEN as part of the decor which differentiates this type of speaker a bit from the other beauties that are beautiful "speaker designs".
 
Vintage: JBL 4300 series. But they don't come cheap. Used: $4500-$5000+...plus shipping. And from JN shipping gets outrageously expensive, darn near cost prohibited.
 
I'll cast my vote for JSE Infinite Slope speakers since no one else has mentioned them
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I have a pair (1.8's I think - they're 4-ways, they don't look like the picture) that I'm in the process of getting refoamed. I've heard lots of good about these speakers, really interested in hearing them once fixed.
 
Canton CA15's

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Canton CA30 speakers (~$10k MSRP). The ones shown are actually the CA20, but they look pretty much the same. TOTL for Canton at that time, in the late 1980's. I've not heard them but did research one of the lesser models in that line (the CA15), and I can only imagine how they must sound...

:banana: Been searching the net for a week and this is the most I've found on the CA15's I just picked up. Expecting delivery tomorrow from PA and can only hope the weather doesn't holdem up. You mentioned you researched the 15's, hoping you might have some info I can use. Was looking to pick up some Mac XR19's when I came across these on Ebay. You may have seen them. Anyway, I was so impressed by the opinions of anyone who has listened to a Canton that I said screw it I'm not going toregret passing these up and jumped on the but-it-now. Besides, for the money you can't find such efficiency with the tri-amps inside these. Can anyone direct me on how to get a copy of the schematics, or service manual? I'm told the owners manual is coming with the pair. I'm looking to fully restore although they look pretty good. Much appreciation to you guys...
 
what about the epicure 3.0's they are right there with the 1000's technically the epicure lines was the more of the top line then epi
 
And I believe this was called the Mark Levinson HQD 3 or something like that. I think it was largely made up of stacked Quad ESL 57s.

I would love to have this setup. Somewhere I think I have a flyer for it given to me by a friend at an audio store.

This is the system I have and use. I have a McIntosh 240 I got to run one set of 57s. I am trying to find another 240 as they were one of the best and most stable to run the 57s. There are Decca ribbons in between the panels.
 
I was hoping for:
VINTAGE
TOTL (does not have to be highest model # or watts, just TOTL)
We can have a couple from the same brand...but, still, vintage, TOTL in general...
The point is having fun...

I think there may have been some confusion in this thread about what "TOTL" means. Literally, it stands for Top Of The Line; in other words, the top model in a given line of models. Since most companies introduced new models annually, sometimes it also refers to the top model within a given year, but generally TOTL status would be maintained until the model in question was either discontinued, or superseded by an even better model (which would then be the new TOTL model).

As for having fun, it's all fun! :thmbsp: :yes: :D

Infinity IRS V.

THE ULTIMATE TOTL speaker system, in a league of its own. I've heard a lot of high-end and TOTL speakers, and nothing has even approached these for superb realism and sonics. Not for everyone, though: you need a big space and big bucks for support gear, to make the most of these ultimate "statement pieces".

JBL massive goodness perfectly at home amongst the teakwood and Eames furniture in your Herman Miller built house....

Does having a Herman Miller Aeron chair count? I'm sitting on mine at this moment. :D You also need a decent-sized room for these; originally designed to function as the center speakers for movie/cinema installations, they're pretty big for most rooms in most modern houses.

You'd have to put the Sequerra Pyramid big system in there too... bass module, Met7 midrange module, ribbon supertweeter...

Or the big Fulton... same basic format.

Regards,
Gordon.

Yes, you'd have to! :yes: I'd put the "Signature" series in particular at the top, rather than the smaller Pyramids with the regular Met7s. The midrange box on those has easily twice the volume of the Met7s, and the sound is better!


There were many VERY GOOD high-end and now vintage speakers. The little-known Tardis Sound Field Projectors are definitely "audiophile", as are the Plasmatronics ones with the ozone-producing tweeters, and the big Acoustats and Magnapans, and many others (including ones already mentioned). I think the ESS Rock Monitors deserve a mention as excellent vintage speakers.
 
Delihaus mentioned the Epicure 1000. I've always loved this picture, from Humanspeakers website. I have the 400s, which are similar in shape/theory but about 1/2 as high and they still weigh about 100lbs. Haven't gotten around to refoaming the 8 woofers yet.

I know someone who has a pair of those that would sell them but we're talking actual negative WAF here...not to mention refoaming 8 woofers.....
 
My dad bought a pair of CA 30's last fall, and i have never heard anything as good as they are.
I currently have a pair of Canton Ergo 90's
Also pictured are The Canton Reference 9.2's which are totl book shelf speakers
and the ceilings are 11 ft so those speakers stand around 5'8 and a shy of 300 pounds a piece

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Just some nominees that come to mind...

- Infinity IRS V
- B&W 801
- Quad ESL
- Dahlquist DQ-10
- Kef Reference 104/105/107
- Klipsch Klipschorns
- Snell Type A
- Apogee Scintilla
 
I'll say. I noticed I had made a post in it.... back in 2011.

Never knew Grundig made anything like those monoliths.
 
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