Another fun thread renewed!
Always wanted a pair since the late ‘70s.
Didn’t end up with an Original Large Advent pair until about 8 years ago. Still love what they do! Musical as all get out. Worked really well on my lowboy 9” angled ADS L810 stands driven by a Sony TA-A1ES & matching HAP-Z1ES as an office system, usually streaming Radio Paradise 🎶
My pair responded well to an Audience capacitor & wire upgrade. OLA’s definitely sound their best with the grill baffles installed to prevent midrange suckout from their raised tweeter. Removing the 2 layers of fabric and rattle-can painting the grill boards a satin black was a nice sonic improvement too.
Have a matching second pair with the good factory x-over inductors along with a matching set of upgrade parts for yet another elusive project - Double Stack system . . .
|
+1 large Advents and blown tweeter. I did like all Henry Kloss speakers even though they weren't efficient.
|
Large Advents since 1974, stacked with the 25th Anniversary version. Pulled them out last year for Jimmy Smith’s Hammond B-3 and massive pipe organ music. I’m giving my ZU DRUIDs a rest because these are a lot of FUN. The electronics upstream are tube.
|
Out of my budget back then. Had Dynaco A-25s then JR 149s. |
I had a Pr. of Advents back in the early 80s bought at a Audio Show in Giants Stadium in Jersey. I cant remember the model but I think they were fitted with 6.5" woofers, sound was good 3way, oak cherry in color. Geez that's all my folder has in it. Lol |
Great title!I remember Tech Hifi doing Presidents Day sales circa 1978 for various things, but always two pairs of Large Advents for $100. People would get in line at 6 am. 1980 I finally got up early and went down the line asking what people were in line to get. Of course the Advents were gone by the time I hit the fifth person in a twenty person line ;-) They had got in line at 3 am, which was not really heard of then.
I finally found a nice pair in early aughts at a flea market for $40. Was ecstatic at finally acquiring that holy grail. Blew the crossover within a week. Got it repaired at a speaker dealer. Fired it up again, and blew the foam on the woofers. Finally refoamed them a few years later, and had the idea of getting some sparkling high end in them to go with the legendary bass and Frankenstein together something all purpose high end. I had some Pinnacle tweeters installed and had it bench tested at the lab for two days until tweaked to the technicians exacting standards of perfection.
I did have a question for the group. I encountered this site searching around for info on the advisability of pairing these large Advents with a refurbed Marantz 2230 receiver. I'd just done an upgrade on turntable (since stereo time is now expanded during the day), and put in a Fluance rt84 with an Ortofon 2m blue and it was light years beyond my B&O Beogram. So I thought the phono preamp in the marantz, despite its 30 or more wpc would be an improvement on a Pioneer 604s, which I just realized was 130 wpc. The sound is different with the Marantz, still great, but I wonder: is the trade off worth losing the significant power boost with the Pioneer? The bass is close, but the extra power seemed to really bring the Advents to life.
My first post, thanks in advance for any and all opinions. (running 90/10 ratio of vinyl to cd if that matters)
|
Started with Dynaco A25 love them still. |
I certainly did. Powered by a Harman Kardon receiver.
Heard a pair recently at an event. Thought they sounded muddy by modern standards. |
Advents were best for Rock , AR's a bit better on Acoustic music.Best buy was the KLH _17 which still sounds good on Classical music .
I sold all three of them .
|
Yup my first pair of speakers (after I cobbled some together using TV and console stereo throw-aways) were the Large Advents. Love those speakers, got 'em in the early 70's had them until just ~5 years ago. Replaced the drivers at least twice due to foam rot. I paid $100 each. My old man almost had a heart attack, but I had earned the $.
How much did you pay?
|
Never owned a pair of advents but this post piqued my interest. Checking these out online I was amused by this paragraph from a Stereophile post by dalethorn-
"The Advent was my first serious speaker system, inspired by the Stereophile review and embellished by the literature supplied by Mr Henry Kloss, containing such classic phrases as "Hoffman’s Iron Law" and "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line or the line that’s the straightest under the circumstances."
Great doubletalk
|
First high end speakers were Rectlinear 3s.
Advents from 1977-1994. Used a Marantz 2270 to power them.
have owned a few pairs since, just for fun
|
1976, first real job and spent weeks listening to two local dealers and their gear. I was taken with the large Advents in walnut for their solid, non-boomy bass and adjustable treble in a furniture-grade cabinet. Paired with a Marantz 2230 receiver and AR-something manual turntable with Shure cartridge. About $700 at the time (roughly $4300 in so in today’s dollars). I had gotten into classical music a couple of years earlier and liked the Advent’s heft with orchestral and organ works and its light touch on the piano. They did OK with rock, too, but better with acoustic/folk.
The woofers have been refoamed twice and my brother has them in his living room at the moment with an old Sherwood receiver. The Marantz, after a refurb about 20 years ago, is also still going strong but I only use the tuner these days. If you told me I had to chuck my Magnepans I’d miss them but I could live with the Advents still.
|
Wow, this takes me back! My speaker journey:
large advents 1974-1978
dahlquist DQ-10s 1978-1985
b&w DM-3000s 1985-1997
b&w 603S2 as part of a home theater 1997-2012
goldenear triton 2s 2012-2016
goldenear triton 1s 2016-now
i also bought large advents and recreated my original system about five years ago, sold that off 2 years ago, and last year bought and restored Dahlquist DQ-10s and built another throwback system with a NAD preamp and Luxman DD turntable. Revisiting my wayward audio youth, I guess.
|
Began my journey with AR 4x speakers which were quickly replaced with the original Advents. There were no Small Advents yet so I don't think the moniker "Large Advents" existed at that point. Those were driven by a McIntosh MA 5100 integrated amp and the source was a Thorens TT. Replaced the Advents with McIntosh ML-1's and an Advent "Frequency Balance Control" equalizer which was used in place of the McIntosh equalizer which was made for their speakers. This was in the early 70's, and was the initiation of my decent into audio madness...
|
Yeah, me too. I was broke and did not have a TV but managed to scrape together enough to buy the Advents. Powered with a amp and pre-amp I made. I've never regretted any money I spent on stereos and enjoyed listening to the Advents for years.
Scott
|
|
My first loudspeakers were Realistic Nova 7’s from Radio Shack. Within a few years, I was able to replace them with walnut large Advents. That was definitely an improvement, though it seemed that the Advents didn’t have some of the highs (or was it brightness?) of some of my friends’ speakers. I played them via a Pioneer SX-626, which only put out about 27 wpc, which wasn’t bad in my bedroom. When I moved to an apt., I took them with me and they got stolen along with the rest of my equipment. |
My first speakers were Acoustic Research 3A’s. Then I went to Large Advents, then B&W 802s ($1700 at the time). My last three pairs of speakers have been successively larger Maggie’s. I love the 3.7i’s the most. |
Like you offered in the subject line Interesting but useless! . Brings back a ton of fine memories . Although I went with the JBL 26's my best friend in the music world choose the large Advents . The 100' were to pricey even though they were my first choice . Heck I didn't even go for the L-36's . it was probably 1974 and we were 16 . We listened and listened to the differences in the speakers. We both voted for the ones we owned but acknowledged the others was every bit as fun to listen to. They both made it through 4 years of college unscathed and until we had real jobs and real money to play with. |
Darn auto corrector on these smart phones...
...some tweeters = dome tweeters
... cone some miss = cone midrange
This story all started in the early '70s right before disco, that explains the deviation to LOUD... Regret getting rid of my smaller Advents because of this. |
I started out with AR-11's great bass, good midrange, weak tweeters that blew at the drop of a hat.
|
I started with a stack pair of smaller Advents with an array of 4 Philips some tweeters on top of the stack to increase power handling of that fried egg. Sold those off. Later built my own speakers using Philips 15", cone some miss and those dome tweeters... Was into loud instead of listening...
Eventually got a pair of Advent 2002 for many years.
I now have 2 sets of OLA (walnut and utility), a set of NLA bullnose, and a set of newer small Advent with the 2 cone tweeters mounted on a V shaped plate and 8" woofer. Also have a pair of A25. Would love to get a pair of original smaller Advents, but are rare and far between in decent shape or priced over anyone's budget.
The OLA with green tweeters (recapped) are in use everyday powered by a H/K 930 twin power. The others are in use in my tech room powered by a Yamaha C6 / M4 combo. Always liked the relaxed sound. It was the first speaker I heard where the FM announcer sounded like he was talking right in front of me.
|
My first "real" system had a pair of Dynaco A25 bookshelf speakers, driven by a modest Kenwood integrated amp. That combination sounded pretty good...but not as good as my large Advents driven by a McIntosh MC225 with a Dynaco PAT4 preamp.
Both systems had a Dual 1219 with a Shure V15 Type 4 cartridge. |
From 1975, Double Large Advents powered by Marantz 2270, fed by Dual 1229 and Stanton 681. Some fun rockin'. |
First "high end" system had Large Advents driven by Crown preamp/amp in college. Upgraded to stacked Advents shortly after graduation. A few years later gutted them and converted into tri-amped speakers with all-new drivers. Young and stupid... |
My first real system in the early 70’s. Large Advents, Sherwood receiver, Dual 1229 with Shure M91ED cartridge. Saved for 6 months from my first factory job, and bought it all for around $500 or so. Kept them for several years and enjoyed them until bitten by the upgrade bug in the 80’s. When I started reading Stereophile magazine. |
They were my first real speakers in the mid 70s. Kept them through college and for several years beyond. Mine were mismatched cabinets. I want to channel or Hechinger and purchased kitchen cabinet refinishing swirl finish. Painted them both with that stuff and they looked like a beautiful matched pair.My college roommate also had a pair and we stacked them. Later on I added micro acoustic add-on tweeters to mine. In the late 80s I bought a pair of the 25th anniversary large advance. They did not have the fried egg tweeter. Wish I had kept them as well. A few years ago Bill Legall at Millersound told me that he knew I was looking for a pair. He had just gotten a beautiful pair from a customer. Bill did his “magic” to them. I was amazed at how good they sounded. When an audio friend was down on his luck I gave them to him. I will probably get another pair Someday..
|
I actually started with the original smaller Advents. They were replaced by ADS L-710 in 1980, still in my bedroom system today.
|
Indeed with Dual 1209 Turntable Shure M91E cart and Kenwood integrated amp replaced by Crown IC150 & D150 then 300A which brought them alive-Double Large Advents next then heard Magneplanar T-1A and made the switch to Manepan and never looked back-own MG 3.7i now with AVA electronics-thanks to The Stereo Shop in Iowa City, IA and Richard an astute gent there who i miss to this day. Moved to Custom Electronics in Omaha...The Absolute Sound so it goes. At 69 still deep as can be into tunes... |
Yes indeed Large Advents (utility cabinets) were my first real speakers. Kept them for about 15 years! |
DQ10s were my first
Double Advent stack were my second
Followed by Fuselier Model 3
All 3 highly enjoyable.
There have been many more since then, and I mean many.
Currently a pair of ATC SCM19v2. Excellent!
|
Wow, that brings back memories! Just got my commission in the Air Force and started my first assignment at Kelly AFB. I went to a “Christmas In July”sale at the BX and there they were in glorious pecan. My first good speakers. Had them for many years until I moved overseas and faced a weight limit... |
I did, these were first real speakers sadly I lost them in transit when I moved for a job from New Jersey to London .U.K in the 70 ‘
|
Speaking of RTR, first, in 1971, senior year in HS, my very first system apart from a little JVC console type thing for a young teenager, featured, actually, Marantz speakers, which were large stand-mount and two way. This was prior to the sale of the company. I just loved these speakers. Upstream were a legendary Marantz 1060 integrated and a Lenco manual giving a hitch to a Grado elliptical. I saw and heard Large Advents often, and did not feel that they bested my Marantz's by much as configured by me. This system sounded impressive when I compared it to what I heard at frequent concerts. In the very early 70's, my hometown featured one of the nation's leading concert venues, where I was usually in attendance. But the next speakers, floor standers used with separate cabinets containing RTR electrostatic drivers, were breathtaking, mine had 6 RTR membranes, which one simply placed on the top of the floor mounted cabinet, which contained conventional drivers -- these were three-ways, called HPR 12s. With the RTR augmentation, they truly were glorious, it was was if one had very little Infinity Servo-Statik's. These came to university with me, where they were driven by Heathkit and the famous Philips table -- this is 1973 -- with the green-lit, touch-type, switch gear. When the audiophile journey genuinely took flight years later, Avalon Radians were the culmination of the speaker search, these were driven by ML 33H's, an ARC Ref 1, tubed ARC phono-stage, and an Aries with a JMW hosting an Urushi. Sound always was OMG; cavernous soundstage, imperceptible distortion so deep black noise floor, owing to uber-expensive but virtually donated to me, tri-wire networked MIT speaker cable created for the Radians & Spectral amplification. One dearly loved demo album on this system that everyone should search for given the extraordinary sound and I'd argue fairly good songwriting in some instances, don't laugh, was Gino Vanelli's Storm at Sunup. This album sounds incredible, Graham Lear on the drums.
|
I had several friends with the Advents which I remember to be warm and very listen-able. I started with AR-11s, which were a little more powerful and had a good tight bottom end.
|
I had KLH....don't remember the sound, but they bought me many hours of music discovery
|
@strindl8 Good reminder. I sometimes mention "fair trade" in my posts here and I am not sure people understand that environment.
Basically, they "shopped" your store, and any discount on a fair trade item immediately lost you their line, period.
I had many arguments with customers back then over this. Sorry, the line is worth more to me than your business. Some came around, some did not. The most stubborn were, of course, the ones with the most money.
One nameless famous person flew his plane over to my city and would not leave without a discount. Sorry, he left without it. I wanted to tell him that the gas for the plane was more than the few hundred dollars we were discussing, but discretion won out.
He finally called and bought the item. He told me NO ONE in the country would discount them to him, so...fair trade was a powerful tool back then.
Cheers! |
My first real audio system was built around a pair of the original large walnut Advents. I later added a second pair to have "stacked Advents". They were $250/pr back in 74-75, and were "fair traded" meaning that dealers were prohibited by Advent with selling them for less than that. |
I love some of the age prejudice comments. With the aging of the Boomers it seems like age prejudice is the "in" prejudice. But we have to remember that Boomers are the only segment of our population that will age...all others are exempt. |
Large Advents were my first real speakers, mid 70's era. I blew a tweeter at some point in the 80'sand ended up with Polks somehow. Details are fuzzy. I held onto the Advents for years before selling the pair and the replacement tweeter about 8-10 years ago.
|
Everyone had them back in the day. We were into LOUD and they seldom broke, although a tweeter would go every now and then.
Stacked pairs were the cat's meow. Interesting how today almost all high-end speakers are 6' tall. Wonder where they got that idea (Magnepan) and how it is working out for them?
When I got my shop in 1973, I put a pair of Advents--thank you, Henry Kloss--you were the man back then!--on one of our good systems and got an instant education in how inaccurate they were when played next to our Tympani series of Maggies.
BUT, then I listened to EVERY OTHER SPEAKER in my shop and figured out that boxes were always going to be limiting to the music. The electrostatics (Quads, RTR's (hybrid) and others were almost as good as the Maggies, but listening fatigue was fast and they were rather shrill and unbalanced to us. The biggest joke and the one that had us laughing the most were the Bose 901 "direct reflecting" speakers. They were removed from the store and returned the next day. What a joke they were.
Anyway, education is a wonderful thing, and I had an opportunity not given to many as I had 30 different brands and various models in the shop. The only boxes that were passable were the Fulton 80's and 100's. I have not heard them in many years, but back then, they were several steps up from the Advents.
We loved the Advents in their day, and appreciated them at the time. But you have to move on eventually, so glad we had them and glad they are gone now.
Cheers! |
My first set of speakers way back in time. When I moved out of home, after college, my dad wouldn't let me take with me. They sounded so good with his old Grundig reel to reel.
My younger brother has them now and still uses them. |
I started with the Large Advents in the 70,s before moving on to the Spendor BC1s after approx. 5 years. After that followed Acoustats, Shahinian Obelisks, Dynaudio Contours and finally to my current speakers, Martin Logan Vantages, about 10 years ago. The latter speakers are keepers. |
I had some crappy speakers when I was playing around with crappy radios as a kid, and then I actually built a pair of crappy speakers. But when I was a sophomore or junior in high school circa '73-'74, I bought a Pioneer SA amp and a pair of Large Furniture Advents. They are sitting next to me on the floor of my family room as I type.
About 15 years ago when my son finally vacated the basement and I turned it into a man cave/home theater, I went a little nuts and acquired stacked advents on the left and right, a pair for the center, a pair for the side and a pair for the rear. I've had professional musicians tell me it's a killer setup. I also bought a pair for my daughter and came across a beautiful pair for my living room. Like I said, I went a little nuts. This was all before price inflation set in and prices are double what they were new for speakers that need surrounds.
I have over the years listened to other speakers of course. Each time it seemed I would have to spend many multiples to get anything that sounded as good.
And go easy on that Old Timer talk. "Well into middle age" is the preferred nomenclature.
|
Small Advents in 75 and Large Advents in 76. Kenwood amp. |
My Mother was listening to very bad radios and a stereo from Mongomery Ward. I purchased her a KLH compact unit (either 20 or 24 model) and it proved to me that if exposed to better sound, most could hear the difference. I also put up a mast with a great antenna and she could get many stations clearly. In the final years of her life I believe the system gave her much pleasure. Because of her age and heritage she enjoyed "big band" music and I treated her to a live performance in her later years. |
In maybe 1970 or something I bought a KLH Model 20 compact system that sounded better than pretty much anything anybody else I knew owned, other than AR3s and Advents that sounded similar. All great speakers in their day. |
Large Advents were my first speakers in 1979. They are now the front speakers in my family room surround system. |
|
