Vintage speakers from the 70's and 80's


I'm putting together a vintage system. So far, I've got a Marantz 2270 receiver and a Teac A-3300SR open reel deck. Looking for recommendations on speakers from the 70's and 80's, especially monitors that would sound great with this system.

Thoughts?
stratguy

Showing 2 responses by johnnyb53

Another vote for the ADS L-810. I had a pair as well as the later column version with similar drivers, the L-1090, and they had a very similar sound; the 810 may have had the advantage on bass response.

The 1970's-'80s ADS speakers anticipated how speakers are made today, with better, more inert cabinets and high quality drivers built to very close tolerances, and made to last. They're a bit pricier, but deliver. There are currently a couple of pairs available on A-gon, and a pair at this Seattle audio store, which also has L-730s and L-780s. The L-810 may be the best deal of the bunch, though. It would taked doubled-up Advents to approach what the L-810s did, and by then you're spending the same money. The ADS had far better driver and build quality.

The ESS AMT 1b or 1c would be a good match, as they'd be an easy load for a 70 wpc receiver to drive, but they're hard to find and usually need some repair. Definitely the woofers and passive radiators would need re-foaming, and you'd hope the AMT units would be fine. Even harder to find would be their battleship grey Evaluator monitor, which I particularly liked at the time (I sold audio in 1975-6).

If I were putting together a vintage system, it would be a good 1970s DD turntable such as Marantz 6300 or period-correct Thorens, a Marantz or Luxman integrated amp, and the L-810s. That would have been a sort of statement system at the time. Not all-out SOTA, but definitely respectable and even admired.
08-10-09: Johnk
Altec models 14 15 19 604 9844b
My favorite Altec from that era was their model 874 Segovia. It was an oversized bookshelf 3-way (25"x14"x12"), a common format of the time.

It was a sealed enclosure and worked well on a wider range of music than the JBl 100. It was rated as 4 ohms, but I think the Marantz had a 4-ohm rating.