vintage speakers

add Dunlavy to the conversation...

I never did like the Mac speakers when I sold them. I'd vote for the ARs...

-RW-

I have AR 3A (improved) speakers. Original owner. I have never had a complaint in over 30 years of owernership. I cannot comment on the Macs as I have never heard them.

I was looking at a set of Dunlavy speakers but couldn't get the price down to within reason. Thats the bad part of dealing with vintage gear. Once it gets a cult like following the prices get unrealistic!

Altec JBL EV

IMO,I agree with Johnk.Most of any of those lines are better than what you are considering..Mac speakers blow and thats a bad thing!Just my opinion

I am using AR 3 speakers in a second system and the musicality that they have is wonderful.The better the gear in front of them , the better they sound.

Hello Johnk,

From your considerable experience with speakers, I was wondering which of the vintage JBL speakers (other than the Paragons/Metrogons and Hartsfields) would be the most desirable?

Thank you!

JBL Jubal, l 300, Altec model 15 19 these are good choices but not the only models from JBL and Altec that are worth owning.

Thanks Johnk!

The other day I finally I re-foamed an old pair of Boston A40 Series ii speakers that I bought 30 years ago and had sitting idle and put those into my system as an experiment.   What a nice surprise!   These still sound very competitive in their class 30 years later.  

Used ones can be found around for a pittance compared to comparable new models.     The Kit to refoam cost about $20 and took a couple hours to complete, mostly drying time and planning how to apply the adhesive properly before doing.

No speakers are every man's favorite but these would likely please many an audiophile even today in smaller to modest sized rooms if fed a good signal from good quality modern gear.   

Mapman kudos for bringing those back to life. The Boston a series are indeed great sounding speakers. I've refoamed a couple pair of a70's and given them away as gifts. 

I had given mine away to my sister who used them for many years. One days I noticed the rotted surrounds gave her a different pair and took them back to maybe fix up.

For those whose systems have improved and evolved overall over time, you really have to play old speakers on the newer gear to know what they might be capable off. The signal I am feeding them today is leaps and bounds better than what I fed them 30 years ago.

I also put them on my Isoacoustics brand isolating stands, a trick I learned recently (physically isolating speakers from rather than coupling to suspended plywood floors found in most modern homes)  that takes most any speaker up several notches.

add some vintage Infinity speakers to your list such as IRS-Beta, RS-II, RS-Kappa, Kappa 6 for example....

Best ~~~EVER~~~ Vintage speakers was not\

Grafyz SP10, 

Philips High Fidelity 476 3 way, with the best vitage tweeter the AD162Philips

Acoustic Research AR3

Advents

None of the above

all colored, distortion, fatigue

The only Best ever speakers was the

~~Coral Beta 8~~ comming out  of japan

Full Range

Best ever 2nd to none, miniscule coloration/distortion/fatigue

Problem was too high a  sensitivity.

Problem now resolved in the chinese version of the CB8

DavidLouis VX8 and VX6