Dave N.
Active Member
I'm amazed by this thread. So glad I started it. I havent heard of so many of these speakers. I've never heard of either of those. Thank you for you reply.
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Best vintage speakers you ever heard?
- Thread starter Dave N.
- Start date
Dave N.
Active Member
This thread I started is way cooler than I imagined it would be. I havent heard of half of these speakers before. What a wealth of information. Thank you and everyone who is responding.McIntosh XRT-22s, which just barely meet the 1989 criteria. Truly jaw-dropping in every way. Here's the story from the engineer that designed them: http://www.roger-russell.com/xrt22pg.htm
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Chris Brown
Super Member
Each speaker has it's strengths. Where the 590 stands out is the upper-midrange and treble. The compression driver and waveguide creates fantastic imaging and sound-stage, and does vocals amazingly well. The treble is not harsh at all, although it is a bit bright. In comparison the treble and upper-midrange from the L150 is still very good, but more laid-back, and the sound-stage is not as present. The dual 8" drivers in the 590 gives it a very slight edge when it comes to midbass punch but the L150 has considerably better bass overall, both in terms of quantity as well as texture. The bass from the 590 rolls-off gradually below 69Hz whereas the L150 has a bass peak that extends all the way down to ~40Hz before rolling off steeply. The way the bass is tuned in the L150 is only possible because of the passive radiator. While the passive radiator serves the same function as a port, it enables bass tuning that would not be practical with a port (required port dimensions would be too big/long for the enclosure, etc). The 590 and L150 also compliment each other nicely when run simultaneously during louder listening sessions.
I LOVE to brag
I'm from New England originally and have been a fan of early AR and KLH speakers for decades. Been through several pairs of AR's(2's, 3's, 3a's, 4's, 5's, etc) and KLH 5's and 6's. The Allison's while still in the family of the great lineage are relatively new to me. When a pair of One's came up locally awhile back, I couldn't pass them up even though I was full of speakers and got them. They really are a marvelous speaker very much in the tradition of the others, and like the others sound great in a smaller room with my vintage McIntosh tube gear.
I've also had several pairs of Klipsch's over the years. Presently it's the La Scala's, plus a pair of Cornwall's. They both came locally fairly recently, and got them both because of acquisition of the Mac tube gear that's in my signature.
Over the years there have been many speaker companies that have made good to great speakers but have come and gone for various reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of their sound. In the halcyon days of the 70's some multi-store operations designed their own systems that matched or bested big names but are now known mostly by people who came from the same region. Hang out at the speaker forum for a few years and you may read their stories.
frankmarsi
Active Member
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Dave N.
Active Member
They both look nice to me. Thanks for your answer.
Dave N.
Active Member
Cool. I will look them up also. Hope you've still got some good ones to listen to still.
Dave N.
Active Member
Great. What model are the ones you like?
So Bozak Symphony. I've got so many speakers to look up. Thank you for your input.
Dave N.
Active Member
Yep. Never heard of them. Until today that is. What year were they made? And when did you last listen to them? I'm not sure I could have a set of great speakers and not listen to them.
Dave N.
Active Member
Ok great. Sounds like some cool speakers. I have never seen either one. Lots of rare speakers coming up in this thread. Thank you.
Dave N.
Active Member
Now Magnepan I've heard of. Have never heard a set. Or saw them in person. But I did just take my Sony STR-6800sd to the tech and he said he has some Magnepans. I've got to get him to let me hear them. Thank you for your answer.
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Dave N.
Active Member
I've heard of all these. But never heard a single one. Thank you for your answer.
Dave N.
Active Member
Ok now this one surprises me. I've heard Zenith Allegro 4000 were good. But nothing else on Zenith. Thank you.
quiet
Addicted Member
I have 20 pair of the usual vintage speakers that were popular in the day. They all fail to do something for the most part. And a few commit a sin or two. They're just not that good. And all sound drastically different from each other.
The only pair I have that I recommend getting is the Electro Voice Empire with the 15-inch woofer and two horns per cabinet. It is better than average vintage speaker. The rest are just good speakers. If that weren't available, I would settle for the Fisher XP7b. For rock, it's the Kenwood KL777a.
The E/V Empire.
The only pair I have that I recommend getting is the Electro Voice Empire with the 15-inch woofer and two horns per cabinet. It is better than average vintage speaker. The rest are just good speakers. If that weren't available, I would settle for the Fisher XP7b. For rock, it's the Kenwood KL777a.
The E/V Empire.
I’ve listened to them many times as I own a set. I’ve got them in storage currently as my listening space is rather small. I do pull them out from time to time. I think I have a few threads up about them somewhere on AK. I’ll check and tag you in it.
they have an odd size woofer, it’s an 11” basket, a 10” inner lip and the cone is 7” so I had to have the foam work professionally done. There was no way I was going to source that odd size foam so I took them to our local guy and they had to order the foam, they wouldn’t give me their sources info either lol
Late 70s I think, let me try to find some pictures for ya.
