Vintage Speakers - 25 yrs and older

[Lordfoo]

Yes sir narayan. It is now my main speaker at the sala na naging bodega because of ongoing constructions. It has a tweeter, two mids, and two sidefiring woofers.

Closer picture of the side woofer


To think that the original AR9s are about 3 or 4 inches taller than these and are much much heavier than the AR90.

I usually start off auditioning speakers with an A and B comparison with the AR90s. All my vintage acquisitions except the NS1000m have been trounced by the AR90s. The NS1000m is upstairs though and i havent really done a good comparison with the AR90s. I hesitate to do this since I don't want to lose the mystique of the NS1000m that is in my mind right now. heheh.
I would have liked to match it also with a pair of Infinity Kappa 7 but the infinity is in the province. I suspect that the Ar90 will also trounce the kappa 7. Maybe the Kappa 8 and 9 can face up to the Ar90.

[sandawa]

taob ako sa vintage speaker collection mo. wala akong kasing lalaki niyang AR-90 or NS-1000 mo. pinakamalaki ko rito ESS, mid-low model, at Sansui and Pioneer floorstanders na "forgettables" (good performers but low market value - never praised by hifi publications).

[Lordfoo]

KLH Six

Here's another old two way speaker designed by Kloss i recently acquired.




The KLH Model six is a 2-way loudspeaker system housed in a 23 1/2 H x 12 " W X 11 " D cabinet made of veneered plywood completely filled with fiber blass.

The woofer ia 12 " acoustic suspension type. the tweeter is a small cone-type direct radiator.
A 3 position switch is provided.

Weight 1s 36 lbs.

It's almost the same size as my surplus Yamaha NS690.



KLH speakers site
www.arsenal.net/speakers/klh/klh.htm

[sandawa]

had made a modification on my Design Acoustics' Point Source 10, which was issued in early '80s (almost a quarter of a century ago.) i changed the 10-inch downfiring woofer, still in mint condition, with a locally made woofer with magnet three times the originals' size.

i was a bit hesitant about this since the designer obviously tuned the box to the small magnet of the original woofer. i satisfied my curiosity, however, made the changes, and the result is deeper bass but reduced mid-frequency volume. the bottom line: i like the new sound better.

a week ago, Design Acoustics owners in the US discussed at Audio Karma the possbility of modifying their PS-10 units. so, i shared my experience. Design Acoustics is an American firm that was eventually bought by Signet and Audio Technica. the last two brands are controlled by Japanese investors.

here are some photos of my pair, showing the speakers, covered and without the grill; the woofers the one with smaller magnet is the original; and the original woofer's front view showing it is in mint condition:

[sandawa]

just got a vintage Yamaha NS-650 (made in 1973) from Diego last night for a giveaway price. this pair is bookshelf type with a 10-inch woofer, old tweeter and squawker. it requires good placement though to reach its potential - ideally elevated at ear level and separated by at least two meters. sound is excellent especially on upper mid frequencies.

i'm using it now as HT front speaker in my living room, moving the smaller Diatone 300V to my room's HT. while the Diatone was good on vocals and dialogue, the Yamaha is truly a musical speaker and performs very well despite its age. this model came several years, to almost a decade, ahead of the NS-690III and the NS-1000M. it was originally retailed at 66,000 yen a pair and currently selling at less than 10,000 yen.

below are the photos (pardon the 'abubots' surrounding the speakers, i simply can't live without them. truth is my books are losing spaces since i increased the number of my bookshelf pairs to over a dozen in the last few years.)

[Lordfoo]

Great addtition to your collection sir Sandawa!!!

[sandawa]

thanks, meron pang isa. but i have yet to pick it up since baka magulpi ako ng misis ko pag nakita. it's a pair of monster floorstander Inkel speakers priced at P3K. my imression of Inkel brand was boosted by the fact that it bought Sherwood from its US owners back in late '80s. very different speakers, ang laki at mabigat roughly 30kgs. each ibang iba sa mga Korean speakers.

i was actually shopping for a pair of raw 12-inch woofers with big magnets i could experiment with my ESS speakers - woofer has relatively small magnet. i saw several that were good/heavy enough (made in China) priced from P1.5K to P1.8K per piece. suddenly, i chanced upon a Korean surplus shop announcing "Speaker Sale."

i looked around and found about half a dozen good-looking and huge 12-inch woofer floorstanders branded Goldstar, Samsung, Anam and Inkel. i lifted each one but i was not impressed, until i saw a huge pair with the label "Pro 125" on one corner. to cut the story short, i had it tested and i'm impressed with its deep bass even if it was only hooked to a midi-compo i would say is good only for 5 watts of clean power.

I thought that huge and heavy pair (needs two guys to carry one box), priced equivalent to a pair of 12-inch woofers, could be a sleeper. so, i paid immediately but would get it Friday when my wife goes out town. masyadong pansinin, dahil malaki. i'd post photos on Friday.

[diego]

sir sandawa,
glad you liked the 650's . no regrets selling one of my babies knowing it will be well taken cared of.

[sandawa]

as previously posted, below are photos of my latest monster toys, a pair of Inkel Pro 125 floorstander: 19 X 15 X33 dimension in inches, about 30 kgs each, a 12-inch woofer, 3-inch mid, and two 1.5-inch tweeters. i suspect this model was built for professional use, installed in Korean cafe, or bars to small restaurants.

my initial assessment after an hour of A/B comparison is that it's not in same league as my EV Interface A, or the big Diatones i have (two more floorstander models were acquired lately). it's comparable with my Sansui SP-K3000 with recent Yahoo Japan price of roughly $160/pair. the weak link i think, are the tweeters - not as high or as clean as those in US or UK speakers. if i can replace its tweeters with good ones, i would expect a remarkable improvement.

i'd say it's a steal at P3K per pair, okay from P4K to P5K but not over P5K. woofer has an orange flat rubber-like dust cap, mid has no nipple, err.. dust cap i mean, and tweeters are almost flat. grill cover is wood and net and looks more expensive compared with US or UK speaker covers.

[southpeak]

congrats on your "new" monster toys sir. how i wish i have the space to collect such items here in laguna. i have a feeling some of my vintage amps could make some of these vintage speakers sing...

[sandawa]

just made adjustments on my monster speakers and found they compare favorably with my old Velodyne ULD12, which my ears have grown tired of after hearing it for over a decade. my new biggies go lower on organ notes, probably due to big speaker box internal volume, which is a bit more musical compared with what the Velodyne would do. the difference could also be on placements though.

[sandawa]

finally pulled out from a tight corner of my room another pair of oldies, ESS Performance 12C. the brand is of course famous for Dr. Oscar Heil's legendary air motion transformer speakers. the Performance 12C was top of the ESS line aimed at the middle income market with an original price of $720 per pair back in 1981. that price is less than half of the cheapest AMT speakers still much sought after among US and European audiophiles.

if you look at the photos, the tweeter unit is electrostatic (ESS stands for Electrostatic Speaker Systems, Inc. based in Sacramento, CA) and woofer is 12-inch. at the back of the speaker box is a dummy woofer, no magnet or coil, to boost the low-frequency response. here are the photos:

[Lordfoo]

Large Advents

I finally got hold of a pair of Advents, Large.
One more and I'd have the Stacked Advents I'm so curious about.



The unit needs some finish. Also a check on the capacitors. They sound great. I've been using them with a sony TA5650 the last two days. Spun various LPs and CDs and the Advents lived up to its reknown.

Its definitely not tiring. I've revisited such oldies as woodstock, CSNY, some Eagles, some Jazz and the advents performed well in all frequencies for me. Even though its only a 2-way speaker.

Well, a small caveat. The bass is not as low or strong as in the NS1000m or the AR90. This makes the speaker seem a bit strong on the high and the mids. However, when I listen to vocals, speacialy acappella recordings, and the acoustic recordings, I'm so delighted.







Stereophile made a great review of the Large Advents.

www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/171advent/

"They were, in fact, the least-colored loudspeakers we have ever heard, and this includes the highest-priced systems currently available. " - so said John Holt the reviewer in 1976.

About the Double Advent I want to target, here's an article on the subject matter. A lot of audiophiles at the AK forum are estatic about their Stacked Advent setups it got me so curious.
They say that when stacked, the speakers take on a new dimension. Four large advents are stacked 2 & 2 where the top speaker is set upside down on the bottom to align the speaker components with good results
Half a million pairs of these were sold eventually so somewhere out there is my next pair.
www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/30thAnniversary/143_double_advent.html


And... i tried turning the volume up...somewhere before I couldn't stand the volume, the bass failed to deliver. So i guess the newer Bass hungry tracks nowadays are off limits for this speaker.

[Lordfoo]

Just to update... the stacked advent has been completed more than a month ago. The 2nd pair is an original Large Advent. The advents are as reviewed by stereophile. Awesome sound for the price. I had to replace the capacitors though and would do some woodwork on the units.

[Lordfoo]

Updated pictures of speakers:

HPM100, the latest. Woofer cones replaced.
NS690
KLH Six on top of NS690
NS1000m
stacked Large advents

[suhian]

I just bought a pair of Dalquist DQ-10 made from 1977, which is pretty much unmolested in its original form.