Should You Buy Vintage Speakers? Yes!

Guide to buying and restoring vintage loudspeakers, which offer a number of advantages over new speakers of similar quality.

[danab]

I’d had a lot of speakers in and out of my place and one day I noticed an ad for a pair of vintage speakers selling for a hundred dollars. They looked like a fun project and I figured what the heck. I’d had vintage electronics but never speakers.

Turns out they were a pair of Celestion Ditton 551, and after replacing the tweeters, restoring the cabinet and making new grilles, they’re very easily the best speaker I’ve ever owned. Just beautiful in every way.

If anything it’s a cursed blessing, because my wife loves them and pretty much forbids me from replacing them. Not that I’m in a hurry to; I estimate it would take around six thousand dollars worth of new speaker just to match them.

[garysmith]

Thanks for your love for vintage loudspeakers in this presentation! May I add? In my home (no wife factor), I am fortunate to have a number of rooms with gear.

Pinnacle....complete 7.2.4 dedicated Atmos theater top to bottom speakers and subs bought NEW back in the mid 90ies. Have not had to do a thing to them. Had the pleasure to meet and hang out with Rich Rothenburg and his crew at their lab/shop near by.

Roy Allison 120ies (new surrounds and doping), same for the European version 130ies (3-way) in genuine oak veneer. Surround and doping on woofers professionally performed on both pairs. They were GIVE AWAYS, free for the taking and previously installed behind grills in a church for an electronic organ back in 1986. Like NEW!

Neighbor GIVE AWAY, very nice older lady asked if I wanted some old equipment. Pair of SUPERSCOPE 212-S. Sold in 1972, a big 2 way speaker with a 12" bass driver. Clearly 'West Coast' sound. Changed out the cap in each, oiled the beautiful dark walnut veneer, great sound considering the era. Factory treated cloth surround woofers, mounted with T nuts and machine screws and internal bracing all original quality!

Other rooms have new Klipsch Forte' Fours and a pair of newer Martin Logan electrostatics from their current Masterpiece series. So, I'm all over the place with vintage AND new 😀. Thanks again.

[sidesup]

I used to do what the person on this video is doing. Then I realized that for $399 or so on ebay, you can get used modern speakers from slightly before and slightly after the turn of the century which have drivers that are simply cleaner than the drivers in the vintage stuff. Driver technology has improved since the 1970s. I can only think of a few good midrange drivers & tweeters from speakers back then, that were realistically priced. The Infinity Emit tweeters come to mind. For less than $400 on the used market you can get real imaging champs too, which really leave behind the usual box speakers from the 1970s. Internal cabinet bracing, so the speaker sounds less like a box, became fairly commonplace in the latter 1980s. My advice is if you're shopping for used bookshelf speakers, or small floorstanding speakers from the 1970s or before; don't go much over $200 a pair. You can do better with more modern used speakers. Stacking speakers of MORE THAN 4 ohm impedence can work out well. Stacking the 1980s B&W Prism 302 speakers with the unique honeycomb semi open back, once worked out for me. The two speakers in each channel, instead of just one, shared the volume and sounded less strained than using just one speaker per channel. You could go twice as loud with the 4 speakers also. The bass predictably is way deeper with 2 speakers per channel and the spatiality, both height and depth is way better.

Generally, old speakers just sound strained compated to newer speakers with more modern drivers. Strained in comparison is what you hear just about every time. Well chosen newer drivers simply have less distortion That's why older speakers usually have a duller sounding tweeter to gloss that over. The old speakers do usually have more warmth though. To showcase their clarity, modern speakers often cut back on warmth. A warm sound is a nice sound to have.

[gvaughan]

My Father in law gave us his Mission 737 Renaissance speakers (that he bought new in 1985) when he "upgraded" to some new floor standers. Every time he pops round for a listen he always say's why did I give you these??? to which I obviously reply, "well you're not getting them back!" Stunning clarity and body from a 40 year old speaker, and after some minor maintenance they are truly sensational.

[helifynoe]

I may have posted this before, but for less than $250 each, I built my own speakers back in 1978. The each contain one 15" woofer, two mid-range dome drivers, and four dome tweeters, and are mirror images of each other. I am yet to hear speakers that are as good as these for more than $20, 000.

[marks-the-spot]

Nice work keeping classic speakers alive. I have a pair of ADS 300 speakers that I bought new in 1978 on my desk. The original foam woofer surrounds failed long ago, but I was able to get replacement woofers with rubber surrounds from ADS not long before they went out of business. These speakers still sound great. I don't shop for vintage stereo, I just keep it long enough that it is vintage! 😀

[longshot]

I own a set of SANSUI SP- X8900 speakers and they still have the grills with them, and there are in perfect condition! These are made in 1973 . I bought them new !!!

[nicevmax]

I am listening to a pair of early 70s AR2ax speaker's bought at a garage sale for 30 bucks. Needed to be refoamed so I got the refoam kit and did it myself. A learning experience but they turned out real good. The grill cloth was in good shape needed to find an AR2ax badge on eBay, found one polished it up rubbed the cabinets down with lemon oil and they look great. I have since recapped them and they sound wonderful.

[thor]

After 40 years I have arrived at 3 way all paper cone closed cabinet speakers. I listen mainly to rock and these speakers suit that perfectly. 60-70s speakers is 👍🏻

[SWertheim]

Thanks for the useful info about restoration. I will look into the wood restorers you mentioned. The mid/woofers in my Allison 5s (roughly 40 years old) had cracked surrounds. Found a guy near me who repairs vintage speakers and now they look and sound fantastic. He told me that he checked the capacitors, just as you said, but mine were OK. In other parts of the house I have much newer speakers, but I am so happy with my refurbished Allisons! For those in South Florida, see Carl at South Florida Speaker Repair.

[debilthomes]

I picked up a pair of Klipsch Forte II’s at a local estate sale. They look like they’ve lived in a frat house basement for a couple of decades. But despite not doing anything to them they sound great. I listen to them every day.

[MashBill]

My current speakers, that I just restored, are Altec Lansing Valencias. These are keepers and have re-sparked my interest in hifi.

[richardmacphee]

I love finding rare of ball speakers, picked up a pair of kawazawa speakers for 20 bucks, they are built like a tank, sound absolutely amazing, built in the 60s in Japan, only got to the US from service men, loved researching about them, what a beautiful set of speakers, I have about 40 pairs of speakers from different manufacturers like a pair of Optimus pro 4000 can’t find anything on them, keep them videos coming, 😎

[ifwuzz]

Great vid as usual. Thanks for the
tip on Briwax. Keep ‘em coming.

One of my many too many pairs is
a set of Klipsch KG4.2 with titanium
tweeters and new crossovers from
Crites.

[naturalverities]

Great post! I buy and flip vintage "consumer" speakers to fund my habit, which is acquiring "sleeper" vintage pro level PA gear to cannibalize the drivers and mix and match them into stunning audiophile-quality systems. I actively multiamplify them with DSP crossovers and inexpensive (because "obsolete") AVRs as multichannel power amps. I have about $650 in my current best system and am getting $50k sound quality from it according to experienced audiophiles who have heard it. I'm having a blast burnishing the sound via DSP, not to mention revelling in the music---which is the main point---reproduced at a level I shouldn't be able to afford. Cheers!

[yankee]

Terrific channel! I'm working on my 1978 Klipschorns. The woodwork is still terrific but they need in some places new grille cloth. Trying to find the correct replacement may take some time but it's worth it. Nice to see someone with your interests and skills!

[xtubalnet]

Great video and a very informative subject. Young people need this topic to take things forward. Once you hear good speakers, regardless of the cost, you can't easily go back.

[Daniel-]

Excellent video with practical information. I appreciate the knowledge and advice you pass on. Keep the videos coming!

[larrynoe]

I have a pair of Klipsch Heresy’s from 85. They are awesome.

[johnwatrous]

I found a pair of Klipsh Cornwall 2 (1976) for $500.
Cabinet need a little work but does not affect the sound (original drivers).
They sound great to me.