Looking for good quality vintage speakers

For those of you who suggest that no vintage speakers are worth considering:

Are you DEALERS, by any chance?

Why dont you write this kind of stuff in your classified ads and spare the forums?

Casey, you make excellent and admirably sincere points regarding your interests.

I agree with several posters that there are some excellent values in vintage equipment and for the purpose of your vintage store, I might suggest they are also, well, COOL!

With coolness in mind, you could consider vintage speakers which are still well bid on the used market and respected by audiophiles, but also have interesting or quirky shapes.

Might be tough, but not impossible, for $300:

Spica TC 50's
DCM Time Windows
Magneplanar MG-Is (benefit from higher power)or MMGs
Polk 10's (with covers removed to show 1980's passive radiator design)

Good luck and have fun,

cwlondon

You guys are awesome...thanks for all the great feedback...especially you Macrojack...I'm definitely going to take you up on that!

**CASEY**

08-11-08: Cwlondon
For those of you who suggest that no vintage speakers are worth considering:

Are you DEALERS, by any chance?

Why dont you write this kind of stuff in your classified ads and spare the forums?

Why the hostility? Ed and I aren't dealers. Ed reviews for Positive Feedback Online. I'm a 54-yr-old lifetime enthusiast who sold audio gear in SoCal in the mid-'70s when these vintage speakers were brand new. I know what they can--and can't--do.

The original post did not mention the limited funds or that the vintage speakers would provide atmosphere for a vintage clothing store. That changes everything.

I'm not averse to vintage gear--I have 5 amplifiers and two preamps from the mid-'80s and a couple more preamps from the mid-'90s. The stereo pair in my HT surround rig are 12-yr-old Mirage M5si's. But finding vintage speakers for cheap that give you what you want is a crap shoot. Many, many speakers at all price ranges in the '70s had foam surrounds, and they ALWAYS disintegrate. Next, driver technology has improved mightily in the 30+ years since the Dahlquist DQ-10, Larger Advent. and AR 3a.

You CAN find good value vintage or used speakers, but there are many more, even if they have a legendary reputation, that are a box full of headaches for a novice. If you go used or vintage, try to pick something with butyl surrounds, like ADS or Snell, not foam-surrounded speakers like Dahlquist and Advent unless the foam surrounds have been replaced. ESS AMT 1a or 1b's were so cool, they'd be worth replacing the foam surrounds. To me, they're iconic of the '70s.

Once he explained himself, the idea of putting a vintage system in a vintage clothing store is very cool, and we're all on the same page to help him find something that sounds good, is very affordable, and looks retro-cool. The Cambridge sat/sub system is a good start. I hope he lucks into some full-range ADS spkrs. They were ahead of the resolution curve and they're extremely well built with top-notch drivers.

Another great one is Celestion-Ditton if you can find'em.

I loved the Snell stuff back in the 80s. If your pal is offering you a pair of E3s, I think you'll be happy.

What about these "a/d/s HT300?" They are going crazy cheap on eBay but have a $500 retail value? Something seems fishy...Yay or nay?

**CASEY**