Recommendations for Vintage Speakers

I had a Pioneer SX1250 paired with my JBL L100s. We listened to that until I purchased components and I still have the JBLs on the LR system.The JBL L100 can be had for less than $1000 in good condition.

lots of good suggestions above, but i'd likewise go with the polk sda or srs, which are generally available for cheap and outperformed my ads 1290 and pioneer hpm100. the original (early 90s) kef reference are also vg.

I also listen to mostly live Dead and have assembled several vintage audio systems for this purpose. I really like the way they sound on acoustic suspension speakers, particularly the larger bookshelf or floorstanding models from ADS or Acoustic Research such as ADS L-710, L-810, L1230, L1530, AR-10pi, & AR-11, or AR-9. The treble is a little wooly on dried-out ferrofluid AR tweeters; I think the ADS have aged better. That said, my vintage speaker churn ended with the JBL L300. The 15” woofers really thump and Garcia’s leads shimmer through the midrange horns. Good luck in your quest!

I also owned the Pioneer SX1250. I bought it at the PX at a cost of less than $600.00! After going through my Bose phase, I bought a pair of Polk Model 10A's. The receiver is long gone ( I also bought the black version of it. I can't remember the model number). I'm still using the Polks on my home theater set up. I've never replaced a driver on them yet! That's reason enough to consider them. Good luck. Joe 

Many great suggestions. 

To me - after 55 pairs of vintage speakers and many from the above lists - ADS stands out. The 1090/1290 is the sweet spot with the 1090 having less cabinet resonance. If you can get a pair of 1590 likely you are done with your search. The 910 and 1530 would be my next choice. All these have rubber surrounds so unless abused no need for re-foam.

Also, if you ever switch to tubes you need modest (20-30wpc) to get really great sound out of the 1090/1290 - i was driving those with 18 wpm Shindo EL84 amp.

The KEF 104 is also great provided that it is properly reformed and recapped (applies to most vintage speakers).
Good luck.