True. I still own Vandy's. Moved up from Treo to Quatro CT's....best move I've made. If I had owned the Tree CT's, I'd have gotten his new Sub 3's (a pair).
Speakers to hang on to for LIFE
After 9 years with my Proac Response 3s, I recently decided to change speakers. As you can tell, I'm not an upgrade fever patient. I want something I can live with for years & I think the best advice I'm gonna get will be from those who have & are still living with their speakers for an extended period of time. Please tell me why too. Thanks.Bob.
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How long? 63 years? Only 30 years? In 1973 I inherited my uncle's Fisher President II console made in 1956. Awesome Speakers, I yanked and still have all the components, AM tuner, FM tuner, preamp control panel, with programmable clock, Viking stereo tape deck with a switch for separate 2 track and 4 track heads (tape went stereo in 1956), pair of Mono Block amps, pair of pre-amps added in his home by Fisher techs in 1958 when phono went stereo. Ditched the Garrard record changer (tall spike, stacked 3 or 4 lps, automatically pushed them off one at a time from the top stack onto the lower stack, I digress) I burned the huge too tall console in the fireplace. The console was up on 8" bronze legs, and the 15" woofer shot out of the bottom. The speakers were a fixed distance apart, only about 5 feet center to center. The speaker drivers were/are all Electrovoice: horn tweeter, compound diffraction midrange (2 concentric horns), and 15" woofer, two rear controls: 'brilliance', and 'presence'. Woofer is 15w, 37 lbs, the brother of the 15B used in the monster corner Klipschhorn. https://reverb.com/item/2307415-electro-voice-model-15w-alnico-magnet-15-woofer-new-in-original-box-nos I have gone thru 2 sets of custom enclosures, to put anywhere I wanted, separate from the other components. The first separate enclosures: modern rift oak, absolutely identical to the chambers in the huge console, up on 8" high chrome frames. Woofer still firing out the bottom. Simply put new fabric on the front panel, left the drivers mounted, Moved both front and rear panels into the new enclosures. Tightened all the drivers, they were a bit loose. I had the woofers professionally re-coned then, 1976 (no audible or visible problems, but they were 20 years old, and out, transportable). After a few years, I wanted to face the 15" woofers forward, and, having read too much, I decided I would vent them, to squeak even more bass than anyone ever heard. I had Tom, my Audio Visual consultant who helped me design corporate office boardrooms, training rooms, etc, and, I Joe, Electrovoice service manager, and the whole team of Electrovoice engineers eager to help me. Taller enclosures to face the woofer forward, increased volume to 6 cubic feet, and a rear port that could be open or closed ...... Big space, multiband equalizer, pro sound meter, charts, graphs, left the ports open. Never needed, but the itch was scratched. Moved here, only 13 foot wide room, roll them out of the corners to use, ... after a few years I closed the ports, they remain closed. I bought a set of spare drivers, both horns and a 15B lurk downstairs, and, I re-coned the woofers a second time, myself this time. Perfect! Did I mention they are 16 OHM, and need about 1 watt to drive them, incredibly efficient. I drove them for years with the original Fisher EL37 mono blocks, then Fisher 500c EL34 receiver, now modern tube integrated tube amp K88/6550, Integrated preamp, Cayin A88T, remote volume and inputs. Replaced the Fisher receiver with a McIntosh Tuner/Preamp mx110z. Along the way, I used different speakers, JSE Infinite Slope, model 2, driven by McIntosh MC2250 SS. They are awesome speakers, only 30 years old, my son has them now, I went back to horns and tubes. btw, the horns are only 63 years old, working as well as when new. Elliott |
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