Best Vintage Speakers?

IME, Altec Seville 847a. Excellent nearfield and midfield, decent bass to about 40hz with tones, on music it's represented as lean. Highly dynamic, they really get into overdriven guitars such as those found on CCRevisited's live album. Rock and Classical both shine, as does everything in between. Incredible detail. Available from $200 to $800.

Depends on what you're looking for.

Here's a few examples in the under $500 category - If you want rockin' and thumpin' then vintage JBL's. If you want low level horn-y detail and dynamics, Klipsch Heresy's. If you want "Audiophile" quality sound - detailed, accurate, smooth, and non-fatiguing with decent bass extension then Dahlquist DQ-20i's (or DQ-20's).

Spica's - have a real magical midrange, but a pretty weak low end. Excellent for a small room, and bass improves if placed close to the corners. But in this vein - a used pair of Green Mountain Europa's should be considered, even though they're not "vintage".

moderate to smaller size american classics include/ar 2, epi 100, the large advent, klipsh heresy, jbl 4312, 4412 alison 4, dynaco 25 several early snell and boston acoustic designs.....they all still sound great

With out going older than the 70's models:

Snell Type A's
ADS 2030's
KEF 107's

Each of these could more than hold their own today IMO.

Dave

I agree with Muralman1, the Apogees are spectacular buys now that there are digital amps that can easily drive them with little heat. Replacement ribbons are also available should you ever need it. I can't wait to go home and listen to my pair of rebuilt Scintillas (from about 1986) tonight. They are as good as anything that I have ever heard.