I have owned or listened to many vintage classic speakers. I have never heard these speakers. About 15 years ago I almost bought a pair of the model 2's. What are your reaction to these speakers? Are they still available used? How would they compare to modern electrostatic speakers like Soundlabs and Martin Logans? Could they operate today without significant restoration? I have heard that the manufacturer's son is remanufacturing these speakers at nosebleed prices.
Today is the due date for my wife to give birth to our child (no labor yet!)so I am looking for something to distract me! Any distractions welcome! Bob
Start thinking about childproofing everything you own. In less than a year you are going to have little fingers all over anything within 2ft of the floor. Time for wall-mounted speakers?
I had heard the Beveridge Model 2's as well, many years ago and now own Martin Logans.If memory serves me right,you didn't need to fuss with a sweet spot.You just had a wall to wall sound field.I beleive the acoustic lens radiator faced each speaker toward the side and they were located very close to the walls of the listening room.You had this huge sweet spot that 2 people could easily listen to the soundfield together .The horizontal dispersion was very wide as well as vertical dipersion since they were so tall.
Last time I checked Beveridge is, indeed, back in business. I think I have seen exactly ONE pair of used Beveridge speakers for sale in all the years I've been following used gear sales. An active speaker this old might be an albatross due to reconditioning costs.
Baby hasn't come yet but the posts have been great. Viridian,thanks for the update on speakers that you have seen for sale. 76doublebass, I would love to hear properly set-up model 2's today. I have been told there are a number of pairs still floating around the Chicago area.
To add to Viridian's post: Beveridges don't appear all that often on the used market, although they can be found. I would characterize the sound of the original model 2 as very polite, which the 2SW family exhibits to a lesser degree, however integration of the subs with the stats can be tricky. The model 3 isn't in the same performance category as either, in my opinion. Harold Beveridge's son started up the company again a few years ago in northern California; he moved down to the Santa Barbara area a few months ago, to a location to be determined. Haven't heard anything since.
Dayton Wrights come up for sale once in a while, too, though the SF6 gas (sulfur hexafluoride) may be hard to come by, and the piezo tweeters may prove to be tough to take. Years ago I used Watson Labs Model Ten loudspeakers, designed and built by Mike Wright of Dayton Wright fame, which used bags filled with SF6 in the separate woofer enclosures. Dayton Wrights are quite large, and the transformer system which couldn't be used in a commercial product today due to its lethal voltages is a beast. Given enough power, the more the better, they can be very good although a bit dry sounding, and you may be on your own if something goes wrong.
I agree with the point about Acoustats and Audiostatics possibly being less finicky, although Audiostatic hasn't been represented in the US for several years, and based upon personal experience as well as comments from others, I don't have anything to say about Ben Peters of Audiostatic. Acoustat has a loyal following, and Jim Strickland is still around. With the Medallion transformers or used with the direct drive amps, they can be satisfying, though based upon experience owning 2+2s and in my biased opinion they don't equal the performance of some current ESLs.
Hey Bob. You a dad yet? Interesting observations on the various electrostatic speakers. I have not seen nor heard the beveridge's in years but if memory serves I would concurr with Brian's "polite" sounding labell.I Still use a pair of servo-driven acoustat 3's as well as a pair of Dayton wright xg-8 mk3's in a rather large room in a second system and recently sold my 2+2's.Have used stacked Quad 57's,63's,stacked Dayton Wrights and a pair of soundlab A-1's in the past. Never really connected with any of the audiostatics or Martin Login's though. One's room size, power/current requirements as well as ones preference of music genre will certainly dictate your choice of speaker here. The sound labs and the dayton wrights will need to be interfaced with either very high powered tube amplifiers or high current solid state amps of equal pedigree to get the best out of them. The Dayton Wright's and soundlabs have a very similiar sonic signature, being very full range,very coherent from top to bottom and are extremely well focussed. The soundlabs have the more articulate and airer top end while the Wright's have more resolution and wallop on the bottom octaves. The wrights will also play at much higher sound pressure levels given the appropriate amplification.Given the propagation pattern of most planar types, electrostatic speakers need ample breathing room and need to be placed as far away from the room boundries as possible... the farther the better. Rumour has it that Janssen are now introducing another electrostatic to the marketplace.
Unbelievable but I am not a dad yet. My poor wife is now 5 days past her due date. They say that they will induce next friday now if she does't give birth. Thanks for all the interesting posts of these venerable speakers. I have been using Apogee Scintillas which are another legendary speaker. They have such good resolution that it is hard to imagine them being bettered although some with electrostatics claim it so. What I love about them is that they get the midrange right and have the power in the bass that most electrostats can only dream about. I haven't heard Brian's U-1's yet so that may change my entire audio landscape. I have used the esl-57's and have always loved their naturalness. I also have used the Acoustat 3 which was my first taste of high end. Another contemporary speaker that I would love to hear is the MBL 101e. The problem with this hobby is that one can only have so much equipment! Thanks again Bob
Amazing speakers! I have, however, encountered older Beveridge speakers with deteriorated panels so be very careful if you're shopping for a used pair. I think you can obtain new panels from Harold Beveridge's son but the cost might be staggering. Nothing creates a sound field comparable to the Beveridge. Sound Labs would be my pick among the other ESLs but be aware that most require a very robust amp. The Innersound is good but my understanding is that venture capital squeezed out the the founder/designer so that would make me cautious. Aside from Quads all the rest have issues I would just as soon avoid.
Thanks for all the posts. My daughter was finally born last night...8 days late. Mother and daughter are doing fine...not so sure about the father!! Bob
I just got back from the hospital for a quick shower. I would like to thank everyone for their responses of Congratulations. Brian would you mind telling Karl since I haven't had time to contact him. Bob
I have brought back this old thread and my daughter who was just being born is now 3! I now have the Beveridge 2sw speakers and I really enjoy them. I was wondering if anyone could comment on the differences between this speaker and the original model 2. I realize that the 2sw has more volume and bass. I remember hearing in the past people saying the original model 2 was even better than the later 2sw. Has anyone made the comparison? Bob
Just for fun I thought I would update this 10 year old thread. I just showed my daughter who turned 10 this week this thread. I have Beveridge 2's in my living room and they make beautiful music!. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend.
I have just scored six (6) panels for the Beverage Two series speakers, but I am not sure if they are for the 2SW or the earlier Two model? What identifies them as to which model they are from -> Dimensions, wiring? The neatly hand written (with red "Sharpie") info along the panel edge says => B1-10-06-87 Other edge writing shows: B1-2.45 / 2.28 = 4.80 NF and B1-3.0 / 3.0 = 3.1 Kv
I might try shopping for any matching Beverage speakers that may need working panels to be restored, or sell them to someone who already has such speakers and just wants/needs the panels.
Once I learn more about them, and depending on difficulty of finding units in need of restoration, I might end up just selling them, so I need to learn how to properly determine what condition they are in presently. in order to come up with a current fair market price.
What things are ctitical for doing a proper visual inspection? Some of them have a few tiny circular (<1mm dia.) spots scattered about them where reflectivity of the shiny aluminum layer appears to be gone. How many of these can pe present before performance is significantly compromised?
Roxy, the Beveridge 2 and 2SW's are self powered by their self contained OTL direct drive amplifiers. The speaker actually sits on top of the amplifier. The amplifier is the base of the speaker.
Thanks for the info Baranyi. I was curious myself. That is certainly an exotic arrangement, and it must sound beautiful. Does it generate a lot of heat?
I have confirmed that my six panels I received came from a Beveridege 2WS set of speakers. Considering the small number of these speakers made and even smaller number still in being used regularly, there may not really be much of a market for the panels anymore.
So, the question is, to what purpose should these panels be used. Building new custom speakers with ancient panels does not seem so logical wihout the availabity of suitable H/V amps to match them properly, and building such amps is beyond my skill set.
Roger Modjeski of Music Reference was very involved with the design and manufacture of the Beveridge speakers. I'm sure he can aid anyone needing help with any of them.
I have now gathered more info about by ser of six (6) Beveridge panels. Though they were removed from a set of 2SW speakers, they were not the original panels of those speakers, which in fact had been rebuilt using the later "circiut board" style panels. Their H-V amps had been accordingly modified to the lower voltage 3.2 Kv level of these panels, and the crossovers of the 2SW set was modified to match them.
Based on what I now have learned, it is my understanding is these these circuit board style panels are a proper match to the later Model 5, Model and perhaps some other models that used the 3.2Kv level of voltage and have the correct frequency match for proper crossover performance.
These should also be drop-in replacements for any model 2SW units that have already had the H-V 3.2 Kv adjustments previously done to their amps.
Panel ID info - [URL=http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr259/RRLedford/OnlineSelling/BeveridgeSpeakerPanels/20150918_080142_zpsmbtt7uyd.jpg]Panel PIC[/URL]
My daughter just turned 12 and is nearly 5'5" and the Beveridges are still singing! Time has really flown by! Hope everyone involved with hurricanes this weekend stays safe and sound.
I have a set of the tube-driven Beverages in my garage. They were operational when I took them a few years back, and then have been in storage. I'm in the NW Chicago suburban region. Any interest for a new home?
Just showed this thread to my daughter who is now 14! She laughed as I read some of the posts to her. I am enjoying the Beveridge 2's during the pandemic! Lucky to have both my Beveridges and daughter (and rest of the family) to help with being isolated at our house in Illinois. Be safe and don't be AudioGONER (even though many say this is a dying hobby!)
Hello I'm a little late to the post but.. I'm sure some one would like this. My father was an audio fan he owned some series 3 I guess. We are from Mexico city. So the story of this speakers is this. He sold a pair to the son of Mexico's president of this time, so he and his friend very smart take advantage on selling to this VIP and use the special customs treatment to buy 2 more pairs one for his friend and one for my dad, so we were the only 3 people in Mexico with this speakers they are with all the original components only the foam is missing and maybe has a little damage on cabinet. And the best part for someone here reading, is that my brother and I now own them, since my dad past away on 2019, and we are selling them. I will drop here some images so you can say if they are series.3 or other. But I'm sure this ones are special he always said this to me and they sound beautiful. If I still live on Mexico I will keep them but I live on Argentina this days.So they are for sale I guess $5000 usd is a good price or should I raise it?Thanks for reading me.I'm Rafael Vega.
I WILL UPLOAD PICTURES AND POST RIGHT AWAY. HE ONLY ADD A PAIR OF EMIT TWEETERS ON TOP AS AN ADDON.
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