Does anyone like vintage speakers?

HI,

I have a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls from 1979. I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are dynamic, musical, and present a wide soundstage with good imaging. The 15" woofer has a visceral impact a lot of modern stuff with 6, 7 or 8 inch woofers can't match.

Larry

Newbee,
I don't want to hijack Mechan's thread, but I guess I've wondered the same thing as he has though never actually formed the question in my head. For me, vintage would be from about the mid 70's up to, maybe the mid 90's. A 20-25 year old speaker is old enough to have some age issues (foam surrounds..., components of questionable quality or getting weak) and yet 'young' enough to have benefited from some very good designers that were around back then.

I do have an active interest here as I just picked up a puuurfect pair of Snell Model A's (foams were updated) for a good price...a steal compared to the prices of some speakers today. Everything I've read says the A's can be a real delight & I just wanted to find out what that meant. I haven't got them powered right yet, but I'm looking for the right pre & amp combo.

If the 70's to 90's 'vintage' speakers have some component/design warts...what would the warts be? Are there cures for the warts or has recent designs sort of made them obsolete in some respects?
thanks

Larry, I had those same Cornwalls back in '87...I could knock the pictures off the walls playing the 1812 Overture with my 40W Yamaha integrated! I wish I had the proper amplification with them at the time however..

My Dad has a pair of the JansZen 130 E-stats/KLH Model 1 bass driver hybrid speakers from the late 50's. They still sound very good to this day. They were a design that were definately ahead of their time!

Newbee hit it. I have an updated HK 730 that i'm running an LP12 through into Tannoy R3's. Smokes the Parasound separates I was using.

Don't know if they classify as from the "Golden age of HiFi (vintage), but I have a pair of Yamaha NS1000m speakers (driven with a Quad 44/606). Now 25 years old. They still look and sound fantastic to me. My other speakers are B&W N801s (driven by a Krell HTS-1 and KSA-250). Both systems are equally satisfying to me in their own way.