Does anyone like vintage speakers?

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older speakers are addressed (i.e. updating any mechanical or age flaws in older speakers) what is it that makes them outdated?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. :-)

I have a nice pair of Rectilinear III speakers from 1970.
They have a nice, natural sound, go plenty low without boom and are non fatiguing in the upper registers and this is when driven with late model Parasound products. I have a pair of JBL D35s from the early '60s that are DYNAMIC, but I guess I'm not a horn guy because they can get harsh, even when driven by my MC240.

I have a Jensen G610 that sounds great driven by a Harmon Kardon 15 watt mono amp.

I think there are plenty of decent vintage speakers around depending on what the individual likes to hear.

I believe that some vintage amp designs are 'classic', like the McIntosh Unity Coupled circuit. The latest incarnation of the MC275 shows what can be done with "old" topology combined with up to date components. Of course, some vintage products were junk....just like some are junk today!!

While I wouldn't call my 1994 Klipsch Epic CF3's vintage, they provide something my magnepans and audio physic tempos and most other speakers that I have had and heard can't touch, impact at all volumes. They play beautifully at low volumes with full and detailed bass and play like a concert monitor when cranked up. 100dB at 1 watt. Clear, uncompressed, undistorted and effortless slam. They are a lot of fun and I only paid $700 for the pair.
Another cool aspect of the older Klipsch speakers is that there value actually goes up over time. Not to many speakers do that.