Does anyone like vintage speakers?

Erm, Greg, audio specialty stores, at least when I was shopping in the 60's - 70's to around 1980, peddled tons of receivers, from modest little 20-50 watt jobbers to the behemoths you mention. Not just junk, but classics from Scott, Fisher, Marantz, Luxman, Yamaha, Harmon Kardon, Kenwood, Pioneer etc. Yeah, I agree there was a lot of high watt garbage starting in the late 70's but there were some perfectly decent sounding receivers as well, especially since so many speakers weren't as resolving as they are now.

I dunno if it was the appliance stores that killed audio...I seem to remember a lot of big ol' stereo consoles in appliance stores in the late 50's and 60's.

Beemerrider, I'm glad you've found bliss with those B&Ws. Nothing quite like achieving the dream. I bet they sound better than my old ARs do now.

Those JBLs could rock though!

Thanks, Rackon. When I bought the JBL Lancer S-99s I compared them with the ARs and thought the former were clearer and more open sounding. That was about the extent of my listening expertise back in c. 1972.

This weekend I'll be getting a pair of Tannoy Little Gold Monitors that utilize the 12" Monitor Gold Dual-Concentric drivers. These are early to mid '70s vintage. I'm having fun with this old stuff but think I will be keeping my Tyler Linbrook Monitors as my primaries.

That was about the extent of my expertise back then too.

Tannoy Golds - that sounds like fun!

I've got Alon Lil Rascals (Nola Minis) hooked upt to a Luxman receiver in the office, and when they go back into the HT set-up I may play with some vintage speakers.

Not contemplating replacing by big Alon Vs with vintage, of course.

Yes I sure do. Many cool interesting a good sounding designs if your in the know.

The vintage speakers from the so called Golden age (when they are of the brands known for top engineers)will go head to head with anything and everything in audio today. Altec, Western Electric, certain EV, certain JBL have the finest mids and highs ever reproduced. No voice or tenor sax is more accurate than from a hand tuned aluminum diaphragm Altec 288 on a tar filled 1005 or 805 horn. It is simply like having the artist standing in your room. An old AR, Advent, or Cornwall is not in this league by a wide margain. These lesser vintage offerings often taint the group as a whole.