Searching for the ideal vintage bookshelf speakers.

OK. So you want a pair of 40+ year-old bookshelf speakers, installed high on bookshelves (with 31" vertical clearance) to fill a space almost the size of a 2-car garage, but NO SUBWOOFER.

Well, I think I almost have an answer. It may meet a lot of objections here, but for your purposes it should meet your visual and sonic requirements well.

With that size of a space, I doubt you’re looking for pinpoint imaging. You’d probably like a large soundstage so you have an even balance as you move about your studio.

So here’s my suggestion: Bose 901 direct/reflecting speakers. No need to buy used; they’re still in production and look pretty much as retro as the originals. It also means a factory warranty and all the parts are available and in production.

But for these to work right you’ll need to fudge a little on your placement ideas while not violating the general idea of keeping them up and out of the way. The 901s have eight rear-firing 4.5" drivers and a small port. There has to be at least 12" between the back of the speaker and the wall behind it. Two or three feet might be better. Setting them on the top of your bookshelves leave no space between the back of the speakers and the wall, but you could hang them from the ceiling on cables or chains, at the same height as if they were on top of the bookshelf, and about 1-2 feet in front of the wall behind.

Bring a lot of power to the party--150-250 wpc preferred. They will play a wide variety of music well. They will fill your space pretty effortlessly, and with a high current powerful amp, you’ll have fast, tight bass. You’ll also get a stable soundstage and pretty uniform volume and timbre response throughout your studio.

Tone Publications did this review of the 901s, listening to them without prejudice, and flew in the face of long-running audiophile sentiment with a very favorable review, especially at their asking price of $1395/pair.

I'm surprised you have the Altec 874A Segovia on your list. It's fairly obscure, but it's also the only one I have direct experience with, though I heard the AR3a plenty back in the day as well.

I bought my first stereo in 1972. It was an Altec package deal--the 911A compact, which had a nice Altec receiver with the Garrard SL95B turntable set into the top, outfitted with a Shure M93E cartridge. The speakers were *supposed* to be the 8" 2-way Altec 887A Capri, but the sales person wrote down 874A instead on my sales ticket. 

I got the whole package for $419. The Segovias were supposed to be $560/pair. I flipped.

So I got to enjoy them for a couple of weeks before she found out her mistake (I thought it might have been a closeout bundle) and asked for them back. I followed my conscience and brought 'em back in exchange for the Capris.

While I had'em, however, at the time, to those 19-yr-old ears, and without benefit of bookshelves *or* speaker stands, they sounded really good to me--effortless, with quality bass and a pretty linear and dynamic presentation.

I consider them Altec's answer to the JBL L100, but I consider them better in general, and for your situation in particular. The midrange is actually an Altec full-range speaker, which enables it to cover a large part of the frequency range without strain. The 12" woofer has a 17-lb. magnetic structure and is in a sealed cabinet, so there's no placement problem. The tweeter is a textile dome. 

In spite of the sealed enclosure, the speakers were easy to drive and the bass was strong but not overpowering, and tight. They were also pretty efficient with a 4-ohm impedance besides, which opens up more wattage from the amp if it has the durrent delivery to allow the amp to do so.

I could see the Segovias for a match for your requirements as well. Bear in mind that the woofer has a foam surround, so either you find a pair that's been recently refoamed, or you'll have to do that (about every 10-20 years). It's not that hard, and most speaker reconing services could do it as well (I think).

^^^ Now ADS is an idea I can really get behind. I had a pair of L1090 ii floorstanders for nine years. They get it all right--dynamics, linearity, smoothness, frequency extension. Like a good vintage anything, the cabinetry and veneer applications are first-rate too.

They have a wide variety of bookshelf configurations from mini's to dual-woofer models. The L710 would probably be a nice choice, but there are some others as well. They use dual 7" woofers instead of a 10" or 12", so the width is narrower. And they're 10" deep so they'll fit comfortably on the shelf. Here's the product sheet.

The ADSs were ahead of their time. They don't suffer from the quirks and shortcomings of other vintage speakers, such as boomy bass, dispersion suckouts at the crossover regions, diffraction distortion, foam rot, etc.

I still have a system with 6 Bozak woofers, 4 Bozak mids and 24 Bozak tweeters that will blow you out of the room. Imaging ? Nah --- not much. Bottom end? Definitely. Satisfaction quotient ? Truly enjoyable ! It provides a LOT of fun but not if you are a true "Audiophile". If you are, you will tear the system to shreds with "informed" opinions ! Relax ! If it sounds good ---- it IS good !

Stereophile reviewed some fully restored Bozak Concert Grand B410s a little over 10 years year. They looked past modern audiophile concerns and were very favorable about these. An excerpt from the conclusion:

Conclusion
You read about speakers that perfectly image but have limited bass, or hyperdetailed speakers that, over time, fatigue the listener. But the Bozak Concert Grand does everything well while not excelling at any one sonic parameter. I believe this is its greatest strength. It is dynamic beyond belief, with gobs of musical detail and harmonic richness. A pair of them are magical in their ability to deliver space and ambience cues, but they image more like what you hear at a concert—not "pinpoint" imaging, but a more blended sound. And the speaker has extraordinary but not superfast bass. The Bozak Concert Grand is the most musically satisfying loudspeaker I’ve heard. It may be the best non-horn vintage speaker you can own.

However, no way would these Concert Grands fit on the OP's bookshelf space. But they are definitely "vintage" in its most favorable connotation.