Vintage Speaker Choice


Question for all who wish to respond. If you had a choice between identical condition (excellent) Wharfedale W40 or Large Advent what would you choose? Price similar as well. Say under 400 bucks per pair.  Thanks.
zar
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.
I picked up my DQ10's last year for $375.  Amazing sounding....they really excel with Jazz and Classical.  One owner, mint condition and 100% original with the exception of being re-foamed.  
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