Vintage Audio part 5 - Speakers

[parris]

I'm running a pair of PSB B-25's right now. They do a decent job but due to setup and the room I have them in which is quite dead I've been thinking of something else.

[rwsaunders]

A lot of the newer speakers pack a lot of sound in a small space and they're very efficient to power up. I'm in the speaker stone ages though, as I'm running a pair of OLA's (original large Advents) connected to a Nakamichi Receiver 1. If you have the room, the OLA's are hard to beat for the money. You can find them on the market with refoamed woofers in the $200-250 range. Either way, pass on the Bose.

[William]

Thank you for the suggestions folks, the Bose were a "hey, if you want them..." kind of thing. I appreciate the offer but I'll politely pass for a few reasons. I'm not looking to have to dig up any of the Gold Bullion I may or may not have buried in the basement to pay for a new set of speakers, really looking for good bang for the buck units in new or suggestions/experience for more vintage units.

Towers wouldn't bother me but I do have to live with Mrs. William and unless I want to set it up out in one of the barns mid-sized to bookshelf sized is what I'm looking for. Do bookshelf units these days have decent bass response? I don't need ground thumping but good bass in proportion to midrange and high would be preferable.









William

[glepore]

Ohm 4's on my main system. Nothing matches the warmth and open sound.

[OtayBW]

I'm no audiophile, but I vividly remember the feeling I got back in the day of hearing Bose 901s. Maybe not the most technically 'articulate' speaker as some have alluded, but there was a certain feeling of spaciousness, or concert hall 3D vibe that nothing else touched. This talk makes me want to unpack my old turntable system that I've had in boxes for years....

[Road Fan]

Originally Posted by William

I know some discussion about speakers came up in the previous discussions, but i figured I would break out a separate thread...

I've got a buddy who is willing to let me adopt some BOSE 501 SERIES II speakers. Has anyone run these before? Comments? A little bigger than what I was looking for but maybe. I'm currently running some smaller JBL speakers as well as a pair of Dayton audio speakers.


What are you driving and what do you recommend? Mrs William will not be keen on big tower speakers so there is that to consider.










William

I have a few sets of Thiel CS2.

[Road Fan]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Dyna audio special 40's are good looking, high quality, bookshelf speakers. If you want to go crazy then the Devore Gibbon 3XL are at the top of the food chain.

Related to Dynaco?

[daker13]

Originally Posted by IFRider

and since you are in New England, good chance to find them locally. Highly recommend the KIII's if you can get towers. Very accurate, warm and amazing for imaging.

Like Warren, I'm also a big fan of Snell speakers, especially the early, Peter Snell designed versions. Peter Qvortrup from Audio Note (my main speakers) is pretty up front about his entire line being based Peter Snell's designs; they used to be nearly identical, not as much anymore. I have original K's (excellent) and JII's, and I had EII's at one time. The EII's are pretty easy to find. The holy grail is the A series, but you have to have lots of room, and lots of power (and I'm a tube guy).

I haven't heard the Snell KIII's but the KII's (post Peter Snell) are very nice and were designed by Kevin Voecks, who went on to design a lot of very well regarded and expensive speakers.

Originally Posted by William

Towers wouldn't bother me but I do have to live with Mrs. William and unless I want to set it up out in one of the barns mid-sized to bookshelf sized is what I'm looking for. Do bookshelf units these days have decent bass response? I don't need ground thumping but good bass in proportion to midrange and high would be preferable.

It's going to depend on the speakers, but you're definitely going to want to get good stands. You can get pretty good bass with bookshelf speakers and good stands, though. Or you can get a sub, but that's not really my thing.

Regarding Bose, I think some of their early speakers can sound okay in the right system, but there's an audio nerd joke: Amar Bose saw Paul Klipsch (who designed horn speakers) at an audio engineer's convention, and he formed his hands into a trumpet and put them around his mouth and said, "Hello, Paul!" And Paul Klipsch put his own hand OVER his mouth and replied, muffled: "Hello, Amar!"

[C40_guy]

Bose speakers are a strange phenomenon. Some people love them, others hate them. Not quite sure why...but it is what it is. Long ago I sold hifi, and briefly worked at the Tweeter store just a couple of miles from the Mountain (Bose headquarters). People walked into that store knowing they wanted Bose.

If you love Bose speakers, they're a great deal. If you don't, there are many other speakers out there.

Speakers are highly subjective. Everyone's ears are different.

I'll never forget the first time I heard a pair of Maggies. Friend of mine sat me down, put a female vocalist on the turntable and said "just listen."

I fell in love. The clarity and depth of the music was phenomenal.

35 years later I still haven't owned a pair. 20 years ago I bought electronics in preparation for owning Maggies (Adcom separates) but never had the room or wifely support for dedicating space to planar loudspeakers.

So I have B&W speakers. They do the job for me, and frankly, I don't do much critical listening these days. They just work, and they don't require much fuss...just like my Record 10 components.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by Road Fan

Related to Dynaco?

Dynaudio, I misspelled the brand name. I think they are a company in Denmark. Google to confirm

[Ken Robb]

I think ADS made some wonderful bookshelf speakers. I still have some L500s in my bedroom system. The good news now is that they had butyl surrounds rather than the foam ones that disintegrate so you needn't worry about re-foaming the woofers.

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by Road Fan

I have a few sets of Thiel CS2.

I used to have the CS2s, then CS2 2 and then 2.3s. Ultimately ended up with Linkwitz Labs Orions which got me off the merry go round for good.

Tim

[martl]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Dynaudio, I misspelled the brand name. I think they are a company in Denmark. Google to confirm

Dynaudio made some *very* nice monitor-type small speakers called "Contour", back when i was into that stuff they were my personal holy grail. They still are being made in the third generation now and receive enthusiastic reviews, By no means they are cheap though..

Only problem i see is with vintage speakers is that they age and will need that foam rubber ring replaced, but it can be done at home or there are specialists ho offer the service.

@rwsanders, could you elaborate what you think is the quantum leap new speaker construction took?

It may be a bit off-topic, but recently i shopped for a small speaker system to go with the computer and smartphone. The Yamahas i wanted were out of production, so I ordered a set of bluetooth-enabled Logitechs, similar pricetag ~100€. They were test-winners in that pricerange everywhere i looked, were recommeded as a replacement for the Yamaha and were praised for their sound quality. Truth to be told, they sounded like excrement, and i located a NOS set of the Yamahas; They aren't Hifi, but at least they don't make me cringe. I wonder if today's HW testers judge by their ears rather than the feature sheet?

[19wisconsin64]

There have been some great improvements in audio technology since the mid-70's when I got hooked as a teenager into the audiophile world. There are now high resolution streaming services that bring a renewed life to recorded music, and to bring out the most of the more highly detailed sound modern speakers are needed.
You can even get a cheap digital Pyle amp for about $100 (ok, shoot me for saying that) and run a decent high end pair of modern speakers that are well priced like ELAC, and have an amazing system. I run a pair of ELAC Uni-Fi UB5, which are $499 new (and you can get used for less) with a Tandberg 3012A amp acquired from a fellow forum member. The sound is breathtaking, you are there, wow this sounds great good.
The older speakers are often reissued these days with updated drivers, or you can run an older pair. Chances are these will sound fine, but for better sound the newer speakers are just amazing.
And who's the wackadoo who started the stereo thing? Run the speakers diagonally in a room, you'll be amazed what happens. Sound stage opens up, and you'll be in the music, vs. sitting in front of the music. You can even run older speakers like that, and just envision yourself in a record shop like in the movie High Fidelity.

[Dino Suegiù]

People will make fun of me I guess, but the Andrew Jones Pioneer components (I do not remember the model numbers) are really excellent for the money, and I had some Advent and B&W speakers before. I still have the B&W but the Pioneer impressed me. But the room and other components and personal taste matter more than any abstract recommendations.

If this thread is about Bose only, I never heard them in my rooms, so I cannot say definitively, but I thought they did not sound so special at all when I did hear them. It is so subjective though.

If the Bose were locally free to try, though, of course I would try them. Why not? At least ypu learn a new thing by direct experience and not other opinions only.