Bookshelf Speaker Advice: vintage or new?

E

e30_325is

Member
Hi:

Having been bitten hard in the last couple of months by vintage components and vinyl records, I am looking for a set of bookshelf speakers to replace the Polk RTi4s that I have borrowed from my home theatre.

I am looking for something that has good definition and yet a decent bass thump -- my listening area is a corner of my home office (10x14 but odd shaped) so no space for a sub. My listening tastes are all over the map: rock, classic rock, jazz, classical -- pretty much anything but metal and rap/hip hop.

After prowling through AK and the local classifieds, I have come across some possible candidates:
Boston HD9 $150 -- this is what I'm leaning towards at the moment
B&W V202 $80 (but no grilles)
Boston A60 $65
PSB Alpha B $150

The other possibility is to look at new speakers such as the Monitor Audio Bronze BX2 or the KEF Q300 which seem to be well regarded.

Should I go vintage or new? Are there particular brands/models I should be looking for?
 
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how much do you want to spend, how big or small can you go?

the best bookshelf I can think of for thump would be the smaller advents.
 
I am hoping not to spend more than about $200.
In terms of size, ideally, the speakers would not be more than about 18" high and 12-13" wide. However, if something came along that sounded really good, I would be willing to move some furniture around to accomodate floor standers or larger speakers on stands.

I came across a set of Klipsch KG 3.2's for sale yesterday. How do these compare with say the Boston HD9's ?
 
smaller advents are ~20x11x7

at $200, I'd go used/vintage

I'd suggest AR 17/18/28S,410TSW, smaller advents

polk monitor 5,7 S6/S8

not quite vintage, AR 308HO
 
all of the Advents and Boston's at this age will need a refoam, but the cost for a pro to do them is around $75/pr and you can get the speakers for under $100 in great shape (I paid $35 for a pair of Boston A70's and am planning to refoam myself). AR's are prone to crossover failures and typically need a re-work, but have spectauclar bass from such a small enclosure and are outrageous for price these days for some strange reason (the AR3 is not and never will be a $1k speaker sonically but people on ebay seem to thing so). In the same vein, you may want to look at something like the KLH line of the late 60's early 70's (like the model 6). They have rubber surrounds IIMRC and rarely have crossover failures (and if they do, the crossovers were very simple and replacement of a single capacitor could solve the problem). Also something like the Dynaco 25 or 35 may be right up your alley as those had the Seas drivers which are also rubber, not foam, and sound excellent on an array of vintage equipment.

James R.
 
I recommend Boston Acoustics A40s if size is an issue. They sound quite nice, maybe a little light on bass, but can be picked up for cheap (I paid $1 for mine) and will definitely need a woofer refoam.
 
Why are you interested in old speakers? Is it because you think you'll get more performence for the money or because you're interested in old speakers for their own sake?

In any event I think new speakers will give you better performence overall, whether or not better for the money spent is for you to decide. Given my recent very satisfactory experience with new Monitor Audio speakers I'd be inclined to seriously consider the MAs you mentioned.

I also advise you go to a good musical instrument or pro sound shop and listen to some of the small monitors on the market, some have very good performence at low prices. Such brands as KRK, Tannoy and Fostex.
 
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For under $200, you can get these speakers new with a warranty:

Cambridge SoundWorks Model 6
Infinity Primus 162

I personally, would go with the Infinity Primus.

Good luck with your speaker search!
Steve
 
What physical dimensions are you considering? When talking vintage, bookshelf speakers could mean some pretty large speakers, including several twelve inch three ways from JBL and others. Modern bookshelf speakers are much smaller.

If it were me, and I wasn't going to use a subwoofer, I would get a two way design with at least an eight inch woofer. I once had a two way, eight inch, with titanium tweeter, JBL pair that sounded pretty impressive. They were too old to be called new, yet too new to be vintage. They were covered with a light colored vinyl veneer and probably a little less than two feet tall. If I can remember the model, I will post it.

I owned a pair of Monitor Audio R100s once. They were an eight inch two way that weren't very impressive. When I read good things about Monitor Audio, that model is never mentioned, so maybe it was one of their lesser efforts.
 
You might want to look for a pair of JBL S38's a three way with overall a very nice response hig and low they're designed for either a horizontal or vertical configuration they got great reviews back in the day and usually run around $175-225 on eBay

p3090014.jpg
 
The Mission 7xx bookshelf speakers have quite the small foot print and sounds pretty good too. Can usually be bought for $100 or less.
 
kbott said:
You might want to look for a pair of JBL S38's a three way with overall a very nice response hig and low they're designed for either a horizontal or vertical configuration they got great reviews back in the day and usually run around $175-225 on eBay

p3090014.jpg
Click to expand...

I've got a pair of the s38ii. Got em for $175 on cl. Very nice. Although they seem kinda big for being bookshelf speakers.
 
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