Vintage loudspeakers....Sleeper models....


Hi folks...building a second system...looking for speakers that rival pioneer HPM 1000, yamaha ns 1000, and JBL L 100-200 without the inflated market...any specific models come to mind...any with cloth surrounds that dont require re-foaming...found a pair of sony(yes sony) 2- way ss u 2000 that weigh 50lbs and have carbon woof and vifa tweets...any good? Speakers can be 2-way or 3-way...heavier the better...thanks....
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I do not know what the speakers are that you list but my parents own a pair of vintage B&W DM23 (3 way) speakers that sound terrific with a NAD 3020, really sweet and warm, they were $600 in 1981. If you could find a used pair for $100 or so it would be a steal.
I have a pair of Ohm C2 speakers. I just refoamed them and reconditioned the cabinets. They are in very good shape. You can read about them at Ohmspeakers.com. They are 10" three ways in walnut cabinets. I would say they weigh about 30 lbs per speaker. I owned JBL L110s many years ago. These are comparable but from memory, I would say the JBLs sounded a little more refined. I bought these for a second, vintage system that just hasn't come together. I would like to sell them at a reasonable price. If you are interested I could send you pictures but they look exactly like the picture on the Ohm website. Also, Ohm still supports their old speakers. I spoke with the president of the company prior to refoaming...they still sell drivers and crossovers for most of their speakers. These retailed for $695 in the 1977-1982 timerame.
Well, not sure what qualifies as vintage but I had a pair of Mirage M7si speakers (made almost 20 years ago), also a pair of M5si prior to that. Some consider the Mirage 'M' series speakers their best effort. These speakers were very well made - quality drivers - X over, good design, and NOT fancy cabinets. Plus the speaker surrounds do NOT rot like Infinity ... other models. They reproduce most types of music well and sound very musical. However they require decent amplifier power. I actually first used an older NAD 7155 receiver and then went to tube amps. I sold my mint pair of M7si's for just $150 a pair to someone local. Sad to see them go as they served me so well. That's a lot of speaker for the money. They are large so shipping is not really an option. You'd need some luck finding a pair local to you.
Good luck