Does anyone like vintage speakers?

Been using vintage speakers/drivers for the past 3 years.

Other than the two pairs listed with my system I own/have owned the following vintage drivers...

-R&A (Reproducer & Amplifier, UK) 12" full-range drivers
-Foster (early Fostex, Japan) full-range drivers
-Stephens Tru-sonic, USA 15" coaxials/8 cell horn tweeters
-Herald (UK) 8" full range drivers
-various other rebadged Foster/Coral full range drivers

My favorite is the Stephens Tru-sonic 80FR.

Also familiar with vintage Lowther and Klipsch front/back horn speakers, though it's been 20+ years since I've listened to any (with the exception of Chorus II's I borrowed 3-4 years ago).

I prefer modern line/phono sections, but don't have a problem listening to some of the vintage/older stuff.

I sometimes use a vintage Pilot 232 push/pull EL84 tube power amplifier from the late 1950's.

the golden age of loudspeaker design include many models which like lots more juice than the trendy vintage amp revival can muster. classic ar,advent,allison,dahlquist,apogee,fried,kef,epi,snell duntech,n.e.a.r.,and maybe the most underrated of all, hales and chapman, do like power ss or tubes. some classic jbl and klipsch models can marry pretty well with the mini watt sets, but the majority of models that still sound good to my ears are best served by more powerful stuff. one of the reasons for the d.i.y. boom is that many current overpriced hi-end loudspeakers just are not designed to be.... 1.neutral and 2.tonally accurate. anyone with money can build an impressive speaker, but not a design for the ages. your local hi fi store would love nothing more than to have you buy a set of loudspeakers based on listening to a audiophile cd or lp of a female singer or other smooth jazz. vintage bill evans, the rolling stones, bill monroe, yes, or any other real-world music will 'out' a mediocre design no matter what the driver, wire and cabinet material are. this is a gruesome fact. there are a handful of companies that still are trying to build a music lover's speaker for the marketplace, shahinian, castle, pmc, totem, gradient.....even the maligned 901 is tonally more accurate than most exotic european and asian imports and the highest priced domestic brands which cost more than a new car.

Newbee, So your saying that regardless of the quality & design of older speakers, they can not 'compete' with modern speakers? Assuming the foam surrounds on older speakers are addressed (i.e. updating any mechanical or age flaws in older speakers) what is it that makes them outdated? (crossovers?, crossover design?, parts used? wiring? the drivers themselves?)

Naturally there is a cost consideration too...with older costing less & new can cost quite a bit more.

We often hear that older speaker XYZ couldn't be matched with new speakers "costing less than 3, 4, 5000 dollars". Is this waxing nostalgic or can it be true in some cases?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm as interested in them as much as Mechans is.

Usblues...you're right. I had a real muscle car (442). The cars today are a weak attempt of days gone by. Slap a buzz-bomb muffler on a 2 liter engine and you have...well...a loud 2 liter engine. :-)

Aside from the popular Altec, tannoy and JBL.
Love the vintage Jensens from the 50s and 60s.
Many also love the EV coaxial speakers from that era.

Fishboat, When/if you or Mechans define what is a vintage speaker, or when the golden age of audio occurred, I would be better able to comment.

When I think of vintage, I think of products from the 50's and 60's. Being a lot younger than I (if you are) you may think of 'vintage' as being from the 80's or 90's.


Regarding speakers and their design, before the advent of high power SS amps, most speakers were driven by low powered tube amps and had to be designed accordingly. No sealed boxes (an optimum design on paper) or low effiency ported multiple driver speakers existed. With the advent of the perfect sound forever, SS amps, came sealed boxes and large multidriver ported, vented, or having passive radiators, designs requiring mucho watts, current, or both. So the 70's were a transitional period for amp and speaker design. My golden age for speaker design really began in the late 70's and ended in the early 90's. Most improvements since then have been incremental IMHO.

For example I can't, offhand, think of any dynamic speaker from times earlier than the mid/late 70's that can compare with todays high resolution speakers IF your criterion in judging speakers is resolution, linearity, and maximizing of imaging (those are my issues). Depth of imaging, air etc were not things that were even discussed much until the early 80's.

If you have other priorities then you might well find some "vintage speakers" that will float your boat. You can go back to the Quads from the late 50's - a lot of folks still love them, for what they bring to the table. I'm sure as much can be said for a lot of older horn speakers as well, such as Klip's and Altec's, DIY speakers using various highly regarded drivers, etc. And, for folks who like dynamic speakers but aren't all bound up in imaging and resolution, speakers with a wide baffle can work quite well.

Now if you want to talk about vintage speakers in terms of the 80's and 90's compared to today's that is an intirely different issue and the changes are not all that clear, to me at least.

Of passing interest is the completion of the circle - the renewed interest in horn's and small tube amps. 50's technology with upgraded parts.

Defining 'vintage' or 'golden age' is essential to this discussion. :-)