Vintage Audio part 5 - Speakers

[pjm]

Pro studio monitors are kind of a different breed. Usually they are active designs (self powered) and designed for nearfield listening.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by mcteague

I....Tim

They were more than adequate for a small dorm room hooked up to a Hafler DH-200 amp in 1983....hence the joke about getting spare fuses!

[jghall]

Originally Posted by jmoore

Audio dorks are worse than bike dorks when it comes to equipment. Camera dorks are right up there too.

This^. As already seen, you're going to get so many different suggestions it would make some heads spin. And like bike stuff, everybody is their own movie critic.

As mentioned, start with the Bose to see what you think. No sense sending unnecessary money. Especially when it could become bike money.

By chance they do not float your boat, start with budget first.

I'd also mention to not necessarily buy into the whole stand vs. tower thing. For example Totem Arro speakers, very nice speakers for what it's worth, are extremely small and thin, and be more pleasing than something on a stand.

There are also other alternatives such as in-wall. Or even small footprint stuff like Gallo, Orb. etc.

Good luck in the hunt.

[Ken Robb]

I know what a real piano sounds like. We have a grand in the music room that is tuned twice a year. So when I hear recorded piano music sound good when reproduced on a given system I know that system is pretty accurate. When I listen to rock on electric instruments I can't tell how much distortion might be a deliberate part of the musicians' performance and how much might be created in the recording or playback systems.

[daker13]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

When my parents were downsizing about ten years ago I ended up selling a pair of huge floorstanding KEF's that they purchased for $9K in the mid-80's for roughly $300, so the depreciation math was pretty similar.

For replacements, got a set of Revel bookshelves that are still there today and that kicked the crap out of the old KEF's by a good margin with the exception of bass. Whether it was because of the old capacitors starting to effect the crossover, or the tweeters and mid-range cones getting old I'll never know, but doing a side to side with a 180gram pressing of Pet Sounds on a VPI/Trichord/Sonic Frontiers/Krell setup the difference was palpable.

Some components hold their value, some don't. I'm not surprised a $9k pair of KEF's from the mid-80s sold for $300, but I AM surprised a pair of Proac's from the mid-90s were only worth $100. There are tons of components from the 70s, 80s and 90s that really didn't sound very good when they were new and sound even worse now. Spendors are considered great speakers if you like the 'British sound' and Proac's are pretty close to that, although I think their monitors sounded better than their floor standers. Glad that you're happy with your Revels though, that's the important thing.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by woodworker

It's true, audiophiles are even worse than those with bike addictions.
In this area, though, you should look to what the commercial studios used when recording albums. ....
That's not me talking--it's the people who depended on sound quality for a living.

This is NOT a very good way to go about testing speakers for home usage. It would be like saying you should only ride a time trial bike since that's what the people who make their living going fast depend on.

And in the years since the mid-70's the mantle of most widely-used nearfield studio monitors passed from the JBLs to Yamaha NS10s, which were chosen not necessarily because of their fidelity but rather because it was REALLY HARD to make something sound good on them; if your tunes sound good on the NS10s they'll sound good on everything! Also, the NS10s were and are pretty cheap.

In the last ten years for passive nearfield studio monitors the ones I see used the most are B&W 805s and Amphion One18s, and the Neumann KH310A for powered. All are very revealing (sometimes to a fault) but that's what works in professional environments.

[TonyG]

I went down this slippery slope a few years back. I decided to finally get what would sound really good. It was some of the best money I ever spent!

My only advice is don't pay attention to anyone; just pay attention to what you hear and what you like. It wasn't productive for me to chase down speakers based on reviews. I wasted a lot of time and money doing that. Now the best speakers I have ever heard are in my living room. I 'm not sure a review existed at the time.


AND most important; a good room!

[djg]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

When my parents were downsizing about ten years ago I ended up selling a pair of huge floorstanding KEF's that they purchased for $9K in the mid-80's for roughly $300, so the depreciation math was pretty similar.

Do you recall the model KEF speakers? I sold those back in the '80s when I was in grad school -- I don't recall the reference line including anything that expensive, although there may well have been something we decided not to carry. The drivers, surrounds, or crossovers from the old KEFs might not be what they used to be -- I have a pair of the less expensive C80s that I'm about to leave out by the curb any day now -- they held up credibly a good long while but now they need work that I'm not prepared to do.

That's neither here nor there for the OP, given what he's looking at -- just curious.

[William]

Thank you for all your suggestions folks, I'm going to demo some Klipsch units today.









William

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by djg

Do you recall the model KEF speakers? I sold those back in the '80s when I was in grad school -- I don't recall the reference line including anything that expensive, although there may well have been something we decided not to carry. The drivers, surrounds, or crossovers from the old KEFs might not be what they used to be -- I have a pair of the less expensive C80s that I'm about to leave out by the curb any day now -- they held up credibly a good long while but now they need work that I'm not prepared to do.

That's neither here nor there for the OP, given what he's looking at -- just curious.

Don't remember the exact model, but I do remember they were part of the Reference line, the top model. Wasn't exactly sure if the price included cables or not, but they were well above $6K. They looked kind of like Wilson Watt Puppies, with the top tweeter and midrange assembly able to rotate so as to adjust toe-in on the fly instead of having to move the super heavy wooden assemblies. And the bass from them was out of control.

Originally Posted by William

Thank you for all your suggestions folks, I'm going to demo some Klipsch units today.
William

Klipsch might just be the standard for bang for buck in the less than $500 category, almost like the Camry for audio. Good thing is they're widely available so plenty of places to try them out. That being said, since they're widely available try to find a place where they have a dedicated listening room as opposed to a big box store when auditioning, will make a world of difference.

[MattTuck]

You should check out Bose, if it hasn't already been mentioned. lol.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

You should check out Bose, if it hasn't already been mentioned. lol.

Might want to reread post #1.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

They looked kind of like Wilson Watt Puppies, with the top tweeter and midrange assembly able to rotate so as to adjust toe-in on the fly instead of having to move the super heavy wooden assemblies. And the bass from them was out of control.

Sounds like the KEF 105.4 or 105.2. Absolutely lovely sounding speaker in the right room with the right amp.

105.4


105.2

[djg]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

Sounds like the KEF 105.4 or 105.2. Absolutely lovely sounding speaker in the right room with the right amp.

...

Oh sure, I remember those -- not at 9k, and maybe not at 6, but the fact is that I don't recall the 1980s retail prices and I could be way off. I still have a pair of the little KEF Reference 102 bookshelf speakers from around that time -- maybe 1986 or so?

[William]

I'm sure these Revel Ultima Gem speakers sound amazing...but they look like a telephone booth to me.






William