Are vintage speakers really that good?


I was browsing the forums here in Audiogon and I happened to stumble across an Audiogon members' systems and I was so intrigued when I see that this guy is using a vintage speakers that cost a mere $350 with some very expensive electronics. Pls. click this link and tell me your opinions. Are these speakers really better than today's improved technology compared to before?
royy
My experience is that even real crappy speakers can sound pretty good with decent amplification.

I have a set of old radioshack speakers that im running with a Denon POA-2800, granted, i would love some better speakers, had to sell my last ones, but these sound suprisingly good when giving them decent amplification.

Im sure his speakers outperform my radioshackers in every aspect, i wouldnt doubt that the system sounds pretty good.

There are plenty of vintage speakers out there, check out the old-school, klipsch speakers, there are people on this site that swear by these things.

newer is not always better ya know. There will always be "Classics"
The mains and surrounds in my HT system were designed and sold in 1979. The mains cost me $250 for the pair and weighed appr 140 lbs apiece from the factory, not including the box. The surrounds are slightly smaller versions and weigh just a bit less, but they set me back just a tad more i.e. $300. Both have been upgraded quite a bit by me, but the basic design is currently being emulated by many, many manufacturers today. If i had to buy these speakers today, they would probably cost somewhere around $15,000 - $20,000 for all four. These were all 100% functional when i purchased them and the surrounds even came with multiple spare drivers.

The speakers in my office system were first released in 1972. Like the others, i've performed quite a few mods to them. When they stopped production on them in 1984, they sold for $4000 a pair. I paid $200 for one set and my spare set ran $175 if i remember correctly. Both were in need of repair when i purchased them.

The speakers in my "vintage" tube based system were first released back in 1963 and are still in production today. Current value on a new pair is appr $3000. I traded $150 worth of radio communications gear to one of my customers for them. These were fully functional, but they were just too big for him to take with him when they moved. While these are not even remotely close to being production models anymore, they look very much the same with a few alterations.

In other words, yes, some older speakers are definitely worth having and tinkering with. Having said that, there have been many advances in driver technology, crossover design and the quality of passive parts used. As a general rule though, applying current levels of technology and upgrading the passive parts to current standards can produce pretty astounding results for pennies on the dollar. This is especially true if one takes the time to properly brace and damp the cabinet, etc... Sean
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PS... Many speakers are built by manufacturers / independent folks that know very little about speaker design, acoustics or electronics. This is evidenced by the poor performance that we see in current day multi-thousand dollar designs. Believe me, i've pulled apart some highly regarded, highly reviewed speakers only to laugh my ass off once i saw the insides. When one spends THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dollars for a speaker and it can't even do 40 or 50 Hz cleanly, there isn't much of a comparison that one can make to an original 1970's "Large" Advent that you can buy for $100 - $150 a pair. Granted, the newer speaker may do some things measurably better, but you might be surprised at how close that $150 investment in some "antiques" can come, especially with another hundred or two and some elbow grease thrown in. This is not to mention what you can end up with when you're starting off with some "old boat anchors" like Quad's, Beveridge's, Plasmatronic's, etc... Most of the companies "way back when" got into speaker manufacturing because they knew what they were doing and it was a challenge to build the best that they could offer. Nowadays, anybody can shove drivers into a box and push them out the door at a high profit margin. Modern day speaker "designers" are the folks that are using computers to do all of their thinking for them. Take their computer away and they would be lost. Sure, they might be able to build something decent, but my guess is that none of you would want to own it. Yes, there are a few exceptions to this generalization, but you get the point. All the great speakers of today are based on the groundwork and models of the past.
You can get some excellent deals on some older speakers, it depends on what they are. The price of many current speakers are , frankly , a joke. But when you go back beyond the early 70s you will be in an era where the treble on most are not competitive with to days standards. I have had the opposite experience, a good speaker will sound good with only moderate electronics.But both are probably true, I use to use Spendor SP 2s , which then cost $650 or so to demo Krell electronics which were much more expensive. But I also used Hafler and Apt Homan on B&W 801s. The bottom line is you have to know what you are buying. In almost every line in almost every time period some are good and some are not. Stan
I could not agree more with Sean.It amazing some of the so called "audiphile speakers" that are available today for big dollars than can be outirgihtly be beat by some older "vintage"speakers that cost minimal amounts.I even have a pair of Sotas That were designed way before a maunufacturer,who shall remain nameless,claims it is his design when in fact it is nothing but a inexpensive copy,made in China,doesn't even come close to performance and
and probably does not cost more than 500.00 to procuce,but demands 4k forto 6k list.