Are vintage speakers really that good?

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.

Royy, apart from the fact that Sean speaks for me too -- better than I would have done -- the speakers listed are the Tannoy GRF & the JBL 4311!

The 4311 is a 3-way control speaker used in professional applications. The other pair is a legendary model from Tannoy. Not just *any* vintage product of the discount variety...!

My a/d/s 810s and 710s can sound fantastic and beat lots of speakers in the proper set up. The newer high end speakers from Aerial or ProAc for example that I have are much better but at a super notch up in price.

My Thiel CS3.6's are currently in for some repairs (still trying to figure out the culprit on that one), so I moved my recently acquired vintage AR-2ax's and Large Advents upstairs to fill in while the Thiels were down. Just for kicks, I stacked the AR-2ax's on top of the Advents, and let me tell you this setup does not sound bad at all, especially once you dial in the mid's and hi's on the AR-2ax. Granted, they don't compare to my CS3.6's, but considering their age and the price that they sold for new, they are quite impressive. Both are Henry Kloss designs, and I prefer the more natural mids of the AR-2ax (which is a 3-way design) versus the two-way Large Advents, but the Advents have a slight advantage in the low end.

If you want to hear more from people who love their vintage speakers, check out the Classic Speaker Pages at http://arsenal.net/speakers/index.htm.

Tom.