The Dahlquist DQ 10’s were excellent speakers. TAS says it’s one of the 10 most influential speakers of all time. Worked in a Hifi shop in College.. Had all of the JBL 100’s I could stomach. Thought the ESS were interesting, but didn’t think I’d want to live with them. IMHO Maggie’s or DQ 10’s would be my choice.
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I am not sure if this will qualify, but I have in my second listening room in my house, the original Legacy "Classic". I think the company was originally called Reel to Real before Bill Dudleston changed the name to Legacy Audio years later. I ordered them from an ad in the last page of an audio magazine and I had them shipped to my first home in California for $1,600 in 1985. I have replaced the leaf tweeters for ribbons since they blew out. Kind of cool that a speaker can last that long and still sound great after all these years. |
I picked up a pair of John Bowers Active 1 back in the 1980's for $1100 200 watts for the drivers and 100 watts for tweeter per speaker. As time went on I needed and found spare parts on the internet to keep them playing well. Playing them with a Classe 5 Pre-amp and Cal Audio MK11 HDCD CD Player. Sounds terrific. |
For that money, look for a pair of the late 70’s KEF Calinda or Cantata loudspeakers. As we used to say about the Large Advent, they have that "hole-in-the-middle". It wasn’t a great speaker when it was new and certainly hasn’t gotten better over time. It’s claim to fame was that with a very big power amp, you’d get a deep low end and the mid-range wasn’t offensive. Of course the mid-range lacked detail and clarity as well, hence the "hole-in-the-middle" comment. One of the great features of these loudspeakers is that they are extremely revealing of the sonic qualities of your power amp. Match one of them with a good tube power amp and you'll have true magic. That vintage of KEF loudspeaker is right in the price range of what you’re looking to spend. Go to: https://www.hifishark.com/model/kef-calinda |
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