It was the drum and bass/dubstep that you subjected us to earlier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_SQO3vv3p8
That guy should do a song with Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau.
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Vintage speakers/modern speakers
- Thread starter cubdog
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That guy should do a song with Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau.
tube lover
New Member
I have the Gallo Stradas, and my 30+ years old Fulton J speakers simply DESTROY them!
II beleive the goal of the good speaker manufacturers has not changed, and that is to produce a speaker to accuratly reproduce sound. The manner at which they attain those goals has changed, with simulation software more modern driver materials and higher quality capacitors its easier to produce good sounding speakers.
The cabinet design has changed over the years. accoustic suspension was the prefered box design because the back pressure helped to control driver movement. Modern materials have made speaker control movement better so ported designs became the norm to get lower bass in smaller drivers.
There is very good modern and vintage speakers to be had. Its just that technology and the trend of smaller cabinets have changed what most people want in their homes. Back in the day big drivers were needed to produce deep bass, today large speakers are deemed not neccesary by many and the ht has driven the market to subs for explosions and the current generation to embrace chest pounding sub bass in their music.
I personaly use accurate very flat frequency response speakers in my main system but I own very good vintage speakers that I enjoy also. The modern vintage debate is stupid, listen to what you like and who cares what others think, its your ears and those speakers you choose only need to please you.
The cabinet design has changed over the years. accoustic suspension was the prefered box design because the back pressure helped to control driver movement. Modern materials have made speaker control movement better so ported designs became the norm to get lower bass in smaller drivers.
There is very good modern and vintage speakers to be had. Its just that technology and the trend of smaller cabinets have changed what most people want in their homes. Back in the day big drivers were needed to produce deep bass, today large speakers are deemed not neccesary by many and the ht has driven the market to subs for explosions and the current generation to embrace chest pounding sub bass in their music.
I personaly use accurate very flat frequency response speakers in my main system but I own very good vintage speakers that I enjoy also. The modern vintage debate is stupid, listen to what you like and who cares what others think, its your ears and those speakers you choose only need to please you.
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
The goal of any speaker company is to do what is necessary to stay in business.
Actually in the current world of Hi Fi a lot of the companies have been little boutique companies with a few people, or even one person, who want to build and market speakers of the design and approach that they think is best. Because a lot of them don't play the "please the market" game, you end up with what we have. An audio landscape filled with failed companies.
Beyond that, though, the wants of the market when you get out of the Best Buy scene haven't really changed that much. You get a lot of approaches chasing an ideal that's never realized, but each approach has a different set of tradeoffs that, as a consumer, we get to choose from. There are a LOT of pretty good to excellent speakers being made with the market as it is.
It's silly to lump audio quality into just what you like. My sons "30 yr. old group" are split on what sound is good between speaks of vintage character and modern. They'll run and grab their source music (from CD,iPhone to flash drive) and I'll supply vinyl,CD and the same. Even though I'm not one to appreciate techno,rap etc...to be fair there's a lot from when I grew up that I have a real hard time appreciating too these days, and seeing where audio starts falling apart has nothing to do with what your tastes are.
Affordable,fast,sub needy modern has trounced my ADS,Dahlquist,B&W (on a regular basis) on music that I can only spend 20 min. with max. Shoe other foot and in no uncertain terms, high quality vintage adds a huge amount of "ballsy rich/detailed" to a huge range of music, and makes "affordable quality" modern sound just that.....most of the "30 somethings" agree here too.
You just can't lump audio but.....have you actually heard Wharfdale Diamonds, those little Pioneers',Sonys', etc....? Audio is not moving backwards and that's just listening to the "little guys".
Affordable,fast,sub needy modern has trounced my ADS,Dahlquist,B&W (on a regular basis) on music that I can only spend 20 min. with max. Shoe other foot and in no uncertain terms, high quality vintage adds a huge amount of "ballsy rich/detailed" to a huge range of music, and makes "affordable quality" modern sound just that.....most of the "30 somethings" agree here too.
You just can't lump audio but.....have you actually heard Wharfdale Diamonds, those little Pioneers',Sonys', etc....? Audio is not moving backwards and that's just listening to the "little guys".
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canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
With regards to speakers playing all types of music well, basically it comes down to the demands from music. Different styles have different demands and also use different instruments, but if a speaker is voiced neutrally and is capable of meeting those demands, I don't see why it would not play any music genre well.
As an example, my Kef Reference 107s do not cater to one style of music moreso than any other, to me it comes down to the recording and production quality of the music in question more than it does the actual style of music itself.
As an example, my Kef Reference 107s do not cater to one style of music moreso than any other, to me it comes down to the recording and production quality of the music in question more than it does the actual style of music itself.
Taowolf51
Well-Known Member
I think you missed my point, the Stradas do amazing things for their size, comparing them with much larger speakers isn't the point. Are there vintage speakers of a similar cabinet size that compare?
Not to mention that they're not in the same price class. The Stradas today cost the same as the Fultons in 1976, which adjusting for inflation, would make the Fultons 4x the price. I would hope the Fultons could beat the Stradas at 4x the price and easily 10-20x the cabinet size.
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jackfu
New Member
I'm pretty much old-school audio.
I think I'm on board with this statement. Newbie here, so I hope I’m not imposing. I find this thread fascinating, thanks all! The fact that issues like this can be discussed immediately (even heatedly) is a wonder! After ~15 years of not listening to speakers due to my AR-9’s needing refoaming and me not having plucked up the nerve to take it on, my listening has been confined to portable. Now, with my children having graduated college and hopefully soon joining the ranks of the gainfully employed and getting their own spaces, I plan to retake my man cave, refoam my AR’s, hopefully recap and revamp (with input from good folks like y’all) my Hafler DH-101 and DH-200 and sit back and soak up the aural delights once again. I’ve found that not only can our preferences change, but our physical abilities can as well and this has definitely affected me. I started out with Jensen’s and their 15-in woofers and loved that bass. After listening to the AR-9’s when they came out, I began to reconsider. I was torn between them and the Bose 901’s. I wound up with the AR’s as I felt my tiny apartment at the time didn’t do the 901’s justice. Some 34 years later, and with mild hearing loss in the 4KHz range and accompanying tinnitus, I find the upper-midrange an area I need help with, so I was thinking about checking out some of the newer speakers. After this thread, I guess I’ll stick with my AR-9’s for now. Thanks! - jack
I think I'm on board with this statement. Newbie here, so I hope I’m not imposing. I find this thread fascinating, thanks all! The fact that issues like this can be discussed immediately (even heatedly) is a wonder! After ~15 years of not listening to speakers due to my AR-9’s needing refoaming and me not having plucked up the nerve to take it on, my listening has been confined to portable. Now, with my children having graduated college and hopefully soon joining the ranks of the gainfully employed and getting their own spaces, I plan to retake my man cave, refoam my AR’s, hopefully recap and revamp (with input from good folks like y’all) my Hafler DH-101 and DH-200 and sit back and soak up the aural delights once again. I’ve found that not only can our preferences change, but our physical abilities can as well and this has definitely affected me. I started out with Jensen’s and their 15-in woofers and loved that bass. After listening to the AR-9’s when they came out, I began to reconsider. I was torn between them and the Bose 901’s. I wound up with the AR’s as I felt my tiny apartment at the time didn’t do the 901’s justice. Some 34 years later, and with mild hearing loss in the 4KHz range and accompanying tinnitus, I find the upper-midrange an area I need help with, so I was thinking about checking out some of the newer speakers. After this thread, I guess I’ll stick with my AR-9’s for now. Thanks! - jack
