Vintage speakers What to look for ?What sounds good.?

Here I talk about how to tell what vintage speakers sound like .What to look for etc.
showing Beovox 1500, bowers and Wilkins DM 4,Monitor audio MA 4 MK 2,Monitor Audio R252, Kenwood LSp 5000and Rogers LS2a

[williamrose]

Well, that’s cleared up the basics for me .. and being in the 40+ yrs the contextual understanding even better .. thanks for sharing x

[RMASUPERFLY]

Top of the line vintage speakers paired with todays latest amps are one life's biggest pleasures...

[chrisclose]

My first setup I had when I was 13 about 2001 was my dads old technics suv3 amp, b&w dm110 speakers, denon dcd485 CD player, nad 5120 turntable, my grandads old Sony cassette player and my dad's old teleton tuner. Great and very informative video as usual

[KevKruz]

I know it's a challenge to describe to someone what a speaker will sound like, but I can definitely look at this lineup and tell you which albums are going to sound amazing playing out of each one - and which will fall short lol

[jonmason]

Very interesting breakdown on tweetersin relation to the woofers. You broke ground where other stereo reviewers have not gone. I'm a stereo/audio enthusiast from the 1960s, and caught the bug when my dad vigorously sampled various speakers to match with his system. I love the way you broke(no pun intended) it down in explanation! Thirty-five years ago I purchased a pair of vintage 2way Advents (1970s) that sat lonely in a dusty corner at thrift store. The pair cost $35USD. Large speakers, and, wow! They literally blew me away! But, I did have to replace the woofers shortly after, as they proved rotted from having been in someone's storage. They have been joyously used ever since.

[stanmyers]

Great video, being a 40 year collector, love hearing the horror stories about paper cones and rubber surrounds, would love to see a video on the AR 3a

[socksumi]

One other difference in the KEF B200 large magnet woofer is the surround is made of PVC whereas the smaller magnet B200 is neoprene. Visually that's only way to tell them apart when mounted. The large magnet B200 is less common; the smaller magnet version being the one many manufactures used most often. That Monitor Audio used the more expensive B200 on their MA4 tells you just how committed to excellence they were back then.
Great discussion of vintage speakers and their differences over the years.

[witchmonkey]

Nice work, Kelvin, it looks like you're as bad as me for hoarding gear.. it's fun to play around with different components and speakers, it never ceases to amaze the transformation that can be had by doing so.

[gordthor]

The Polk LS series are great sounding vintage speakers. Nicely balanced, very detailed, yet buttery smooth. Polk accomplished this by using a trilaminate dome made of polyamide, aluminum, and stainless steel. This layered construction produces the smooth response of a soft-dome tweeter along with the clarity and precision of a metal dome. I can't even listen to music on my Polk RTi A9s, but the LS 70s sound great with all music. These do need a decent amp to shine though, even at 90dB sensitivity, they dip to 3 ohms. With a good amp they will stay tight and clean sounding right up to about 300 watts.

If driven by a cheap mass market receiver you probably won't think they are nothing special and store them in the closet for 10 years like I did. I was blown away when I hooked them up to my JC1 mono blocks. They don't need that much of an amp, but it doesn't hurt if you want to really turn it up and feel the music. The LS 70s were $1200 in 1992. They are real gems if you can find a pair. I paid $80 for mine and they are in great shape.

[mondoenterprises]

Nice video. I just bought some mint condition Polk 7 b's and am blown away by their closed box sound paired with dual subs.

[thisisnev]

Thanks for a clear and useful guide to speakers, Kelvin!

When I was getting into hi-fi in the late 70s I did a lot of research to try and make my limited funds go further. One thing I remember is that there were generally said to be three schools of thought on speaker design, and they broke down geographically. American speakers tended to be punchy and bassy, British & European speakers had a warmer and more laid-back sound, while Japanese speakers were airy and bright. Later on, Japan Inc. addressed this by having speakers designed and built in Europe for the European market.

[panblue]

Hi! You're right, you say good things about loudspeakers.
All of my most natural sounded loudspeakers had paper cone - the Videoton Amethyst (made in Hungary in the 70s) the Wharfedale Mach 3 (made in England in 1985) and what I use now a Heco what has "craft paper" mid-bass driver cone.
The old ones were not the best loudspeakers what I had but very detailed, very good at human speech and vocals, and lively performance at the mid range.
A big paper cone woofer with weak magnet in closed box=could wonder in the low bass end and very natural in mid bass.

[allanthacker]

Had my DM4’s from new and like you say ‘classy’. Nearly 50 years old! Very well built and gorgeous with vinyl. 2020 speakers may be better but at a price.

[aussierob]

One of the best vintage loudspeakers which i owned was the Rogers Studio 1 made in England. I bought these speakers in 1984.

[RobWhittlestone]

Brilliant video - I was right at home - I started being interested in audio/hi-fi in my teens in the early 70's so could really agree with what you were saying! Hadn't sussed the Kenwood had an ABR though. I also agree that old speakers can sound good (as long as the surrounds are intact). I've just renovated some 31-year old Mission 761s with re-wiring and replacement tweeters (my then toddlers pushed in the old Visaton DT94's domes) and hooked them up to my main hi-fi system - they sound fantastic with surprising bass from 6.5" woofers (I think). I was amazed how little the tweeters had changed in those 31 years. They moved the fixing hole centers in by about 2mm - probably to prevent cracking of the faceplate otherwise everything else was identical.
The reason claimed then for the elliptical fad was the short distance across is like a midrange and the long distance across is like a woofer so it was a compromise for bass and mid.
All the best, Rob in Switzerland

[XFC]

Really interesting video and good descriptions of the character of these speakers from the past. Nice close-up look at the drive units too.

[davidwhitener]

Discovered a pair of University Medallion II in a friend's garage, in his view "taking up space. I looked 'em up and discovered that they were made in '63. Not the top of the line, but #2 for them that year. I bought a class D 50 wpc amp and gave them to my daughter. They were FLOORED by the sound. Highly efficient. (Neighbors complained when her boyfriend watche a Lord of the Rings movie at low to mid volume.) I looked on eBay, and as it happened, there were an identical pair. Starting bid was $795/pair. I just LOVE being at the right place at just the right time.

[stonecoldcustoms]

Great video, good info! One of the more satisfying moments in the hobby for me, was getting to a point where I could tell if I would like a speaker or not, just based on the looks. Learned to look for some of the things you pointed out like the paper tweeters.

[ringrulepigs]

Love your vids but would enjoy actually hearing the comparisons. Despite whatever inferior speakers I'm using, there would still be noticeable differences we could enjoy hearing.

[acts]

I picked up a pair of 1970's vintage Cerwin Vega R-12s at a local auction cheap. I refoamed and recapped them and I'm very happy with the results. The R-12 has a 12" base driver with a paper cone, large magnet and large voice coil, a silk dome tweeter and an adjustable crossover with the dial on the back of the speaker. It's ported in the back also. The walnut veneer cabinets are gorgeous and I keep them fed, waxed and polished to a soft warm glow.

I use these as my man LR speakers with a 12" powered subwoofer (a Klipsch spun copper). I set the crossover on the amp to 80Hz so the real base goes to the powered sub and the 12" drivers on the speakers more-or-less act as very large agile mids. The silk dome tweeters are plush and detailed.

I realize this might not be the ideal audiophile set up but I'm quite pleased this configuration. I hear things in music that I've never heard before even though I've been listening to that music in some cases for decades.

Depending on what your expectations are it's certainly possible to breath new life into old speakers and end up with a very nice sound. Adjusting for inflation of the original price these speakers would today cost a lot, lot more than anything I could afford so I'm happy.