Selling my ADS L710's was a mistake, and I regretted it as soon as they left. When I put them on Craigslist with a bunch of other good vintage equipment for a garage sale, I had a guy drive an hour and arrive early to buy them before anyone else showed up. I had them set up to demo with a NAD 7155 when he rolled up. We listened for a nice long time while I brought out and wired up my other sale stuff. His absolute joy helped me get over my melancholy. I still have a great little walnut set of ADS 300's (not the L300) in a near-field setup over my workbench. The clarity and richness of those little boxes have amazed me for decades. And they look just cool.
" Only an issue for the audiophiles who are too scared to play with their knobs. I'll let you in on a secret, sometimes I push the loudness control..........." THX it's been a while since I've laughed that hard!!
Hi Kevin, I'm glad you mentioned ESS as an Honorable Mention, as the ESS amt 1b is currently my favorite vintage speaker. I fell in love with them back in High School when they were new, but of course couldn't afford them at that point. Fortunately, I found a really nice pair here in the Twin Cities a few years ago, and they have been my primary speakers ever since. If you haven't already had a chance to listen to this particular ESS speaker, I hope you will get the opportunity to at some time in the future. They are really quite special.
I'm late in finding this channel, but had to comment. We had some ESS speakers for years, but they got destroyed in a move. When I got back into the hobby my lovely boss (wife) demanded ESS. She wanted the exact model we once had, but they are pretty rare. I found a pair of AMT-1 speakers on Craigslist for.....$200. I figured I'd have to put some work into them, but they were in excellent condition! Not being a jerk, I asked the gal if she knew what she actually had and their worth. She did, and said she just wanted them to go to a good home. Also picked up a spare for the AMT part of the speakers for another $25. These are my primary speakers as well.
I agree, I miss my set of ADS speakers from back in the day (1980's). Now have them on my radar once more after this reminder. Thanks for all you do out here Kevin.
I have owned my ADS L710s since the late 70’s. I love them. They out perform my very pricey B&W 700 series. I did add a sub to supplement the low end. I highly recommend ADS. They are incredibly well built.
On the plus side, a/d/s speakers usually used a rubber surround and so they wouldn't rot out like foam surround speakers. On the negative side, as mentioned here, that sticky damping material on the dome mids and tweeters not only tended to collect dust and lint but would over time migrate and settle towards the bottom edge of the surround and I would imagine that this might affect its dispersion or frequency characteristics. Early versions of the Dahlquist DQ10 used an Advent woofer. They could sound good in the right room with the right equipment driving them, but they were inefficient, very fussy to set up and fussy about amplification, and the open metal mesh grill over the back allowed dust, lint and pet hair to settle on the drivers and crossover. PS, its not ADS, its a/d/s. Back in the early 1980s I had their 2001 automobile sound system in my car, consisting of their biamped mini speakers and an added subwoofer box ( Dynaudio 10's) that I built, driven by an Audiomobile preamp EQ and subwoofer amp, and a Nakamichi 250 tape deck.
I have the same speakers in Germany called Baun l810. The founder of Ads imported the speakers in the 70s. They sound excellent. The Braun company was a leader in German loudspeaker construction in the early 1970s.
Got my 3a's in Nov 1970. When tea for the tillerman came out. My first music thru it. And I got chills and remember it like yesterday.... Funny thing, I still get those chills when I put that album on.... Great job. Enjoyed it very much.
You mention Fisher, I had that set up in 1974, it was great till I purchased my pioneer system. Big difference. You left off one of the best speakers ever made. In the late 60s and 70's, there was a company in Anaheim, CA called Altec-Lansing. They were, for a brief time, the Rolls Royce of their time. Made in the USA too... Very expensive fir the time. Love your channel! Takes me back to when I would build my Heathkits!!
I'm so glad you mentioned my favorite speaker of time the BA A400. I bought a pair brand new back in 1987 and thru my vintage Crown amplification they blew me away. They are long gone but I've never heard a speak since that matches the depth and detail they gave me. Thank you.
I'm a huge fan and collector of JBL. mainly L100/4311. I specialize in restorations of JBLs but also restore any vintage speakers. Last year a customer dropped off a set of ADS 810's and let me use them for a few weeks. I was blown away. Now I'm looking for a pair for myself. Having said that, Nothing beats the look and presence of a set of vintage JBL's. The looks go to JBL but the sound goes to ADS.
I've owned the ADS 1230s for 40 years. A few weeks ago, I heard the JBL L100 Classic. Can't say I was blown away but I wouldn't mind having those (in addition to my 1230s) for an "alternative" sound to the East Cost sound of ADS. That tweeter is specked all the way up to 40Hz. Also, like you, I like their retro aesthetic. A local sound shop offered me a huge discount, $3800 for the pair, INCLUDING the stands.
great to have both! ... for both "sounds". a friend has had 810s forever & I recently acquired a well cared-for set of the L88+ that had been upgraded to L100 spec years ago. the Century has the Big Sound of its time & place (esp fun for recordings wherein they were the monitors), while the 810s are so smooth & easy on period jazz, folk, blues & classical, while quite "honest" about everything else. @@MarkMiller-i8q
My 2 favorite speakers that I own are my ADS L810s and my JBL L110s. The JBLs are halfway recapped and should be finished soon. Unfortunately I blew a tweeter in the ADS though so I need to get that fixed.
I had the Boston Acoustics A100 as my first hi-fi speakers in the mid 1980s. It was the speaker that got me addicted to hi-fi, such a huge leap from the regular mid-fi speakers I had grown up with. Years later I built my own loudspeakers based on the wide-baffle design and they have been my love for over a decade now. Great video!
Always enjoy your presentations. I was a bench tech at Audio Genesis, Glens Falls, NY 79-81. Picked up a Pioneer SX 1050 someone traded in for a song, it’s connected to a pair of AR 2X’s in the living room & AR 8’s in the large kitchen. Keep the videos & knowledge coming & enjoy the Holidays.
I have 2 sets of the AR 4x speakers and I will never give them up. This was a great video, I have never heard of some of these speakers. I will now need to try to get a pair of one of these. Thanks!
I had a pair of A100, was able to get a pair of A150. The choice was a little tough as the A100 had a punchier bass I thought. But the clarity and details got me on the A150. Plus they were just freshly refoamed. So I parted with the A100. Now I wish I could find A200 or A400... But now I'll keep an aye for the ADS 810 too.
My first serious speakers were a pair of A60s, which although obviously not in the league of their larger siblings were simply incredible for their size: punchy and clear and with better detail than a lot of more expensive speakers. Still miss them decades later.
Shhh…don’t talk about ads, they are still affordable. I have the 810’s, 1090’s and the 1290’s and they are so sweet. You can lose yourself and listen all day long without fatigue. I’m a believer.
L810s are my main speaker and I love em!!! The build quality is killer and they sound so good. Even today with all the other modern speakers these can hang or surpass them still in sound.. I paid a decent chunk for my 810s but they were mint and ill also never sell them, Found some beat up L620s a few weeks ago and even those sound great.. They are more like a large advent setup ( 2 way / 10" ). Another speaker I love and hope to acquire are Dynaco A25's they also stand up well today.
i've got a pair of Dyna A25's and they are the best jazz vocal speaker i have ever heard. Ella Fitzgerald sits next to you and sings in the room when you put her on through the A25's.
From, Malaysia, you selection are all thumbs up. My Jubals are my pride and joy, alnico bass drivers, 707 crystal "hot" tweeters and solid mid speakers, from the softest of volume to pushing the volume limit, it holds well. Added an active Jamo sub, happy as a lark.
Hey what a fun video. My name is Kevin Deal, and I sold and owned a few of these back in the day. The entire first series of Boston Acoustic was crazy good, even by today's standards. And like you said the A400 was EPIC. They really were designed with the wide front baffle to sound like there WAS no baffle. And the BASS! So fast, deep, and controlled. I don't recall them needing to be placed against a back wall, but that was in the early 80's. DQ10's really needed a sub, and they made a passive one for it called the DQ1W, usually used in pairs with the DQLP1 active or DQMX1 passive crossover. I still have some DQM9's in my stash somewhere. A fantastic 9" 3 way standmount. I sold both Braun in the late 70's when I worked at Cal Stereo, and ADS (who used Braun drivers) later. All the speakers above require re-coning. Most ADS do not. L1530 are cool, and they made an amazing powered sub called the PB1500 for the L300 or 400 that was ahead of its time. Sorry to prattle on. I'm 66 and have been doing this for 48 years. It never gets old. You're in a fun spot.
If you want to try building amazing sounding speakers do this. Buy some 5" full range drivers and (somhow) mount the driver on top of the speaker box. Mounted completely open, out of the box. And under, is a good woofer in the box. I made some speakers based on that idea and took the speakers to a hifi shop for evaluation. They loved them! My friends love them and I made some bookshelf speakers of the same design, to post to my sister far away. When she heard them, she texted me ❤❤❤❤ about the speakers.
I've been using a pair of Braun LS100's since 1985. Still love them. What impresses me the most is that they sound the same at any volume. Their compact size and awesome performance made it easy to keep them. Cheers
@@skylabsaudioYou're welcome. Yeah I noticed that, it's rare that I agree with anyone all the time and that anyone agrees with me.. it's refreshing for a change...lol
Hello Kevin. Another great topic and presentation. My personal faves from the 70's; Dynaco A25 and A35. OLA (Original Large Advents) I had them double stacked. The NLA (New Large Advents) and the Boston A200.
I cant wait! 🎉 All the AR 3As me and others had simply blew up woofers and tweeters. Sounded more like a cardboard box on the the Dynaco amps. But I rarely blew out a Dynaco tweeter 😂. I still have an NOS flat of Dynaco tweeters. I ran 6 Dynaco A25s stacked. Alongside with the Magnepans. Later I got the biggest Dynacos made...still have them (forsale) the Phase III Model 80. I love your vintage list! I have 3 models of ESS. The Tempest Lab 3e, the original AMT-1 and the circa 2018 AMT LTD. For smoothed over sound I have the Polk SDA II. I run all this stuff on a 1994 Niles selector.
Another vote for the Dynaco A25s. I have had a pair for 40 years and use those as my primary speakers with a pair of Polk RTI28s as rear channel speakers (all run in extended stereo off of a Pioneer AV amp), and a small Yamaha sub to balance out the bottom ends. Such a warm, natural, easy to listen to set up.
Totally not what I expected. ADS, BA, AR and even Dahlquist ( that's the old school sleeper ) make up quite a unique list. Love the passion and your thoughts. Thanks for the video.
You and I agree on most audio topics- As a salesman from 72 to 79 my audio shop carried multi lines of tts and receivers and speakers - When the DQ 10 came out it blew away everything I had heard up to then except if you wanted to crank up hard rock - My ultimate system in 1976 was Technics 1100 with SME 3009 arm with ADC-XML cartridge HK CITATION 11 preamp Marantz 500 power amp Dalqiuist DQ10s Chair -palm plant - Cat Stevens albums 😅 Sad I sold them but it helped me pay for college The AR3 was the first air suspension book shelf speaker that delivered great bass in a small package
I first saw/listened to the DQ-10 in 1983 and knew I had to have a pair. I finally got my DQ-10's last year for $300 including the DQ-MX1 and the Dahlquist subwoofer. I'm missing the wire mesh cover on the back of the speakers and there was no grill cloth but I left them like for the longest time just because they looked so industrial that way.
I bought a minty set of DQ-10’s along with a pair matching DQ-1w subs and the DQ-LP-1 active crossover about 2 years ago. They sound amazing in my room.
First I'm seeing your channel, but I immediately understand that you know what you're talking about - because you nailed it right out of the gate. You obviously have a discerning pair of ears. BTW, you owe it to yourself to chase down the original Stereo Review articles on the L810's and much of the ADS line, as well as many of the others in your list of favorites. You may have to use the "WayBack" machine, but it's worth the effort. Years ago, while working at a HiFi shop, we took most of these models in on trade, and 35 years later, I still have my L780 Mark II's, L810's, many of the ADS bookshelf models, and the classic AR's. Love the "fried egg" tweeters. Great vid, thanks.
I've had my ADS 1230s since 1983. Can't give them up. I'd regret it, I'm sure. They have the same driver compliment as the 810s (which I also had before purchasing the 1230s) but in a much bigger cabinet.
I’m about to turn 71 on April 29. I’ve been in audio since 1969. Your analysis of these speakers are accurate. You have not surprised me yet. There is one omission. The speaker that got me on that sojourn was The Smaller Advent. Now, Accurus A 200, SMSL DAC, Chinese clone of a Marantz 7, Klipsch Kg 4’s . Techniques turntable, I had most of the equipment you have featured. MY system now, is the best. It has taken all these years to get here.
Back in 1979, I met both Andy Pettite and Frank Reid of Boston Acoustics when they came to visit the small speaker company (AEI) I was helping to run. I’m not sure why they wanted to talk us, in retrospect, I think it was that they were looking to expand Boston Adoustics and might have wanted to buy us for the manufacturing space we had in East Boston. Our speaker (the Evolution One) was designed by Roy Cizek and subscribed to the larger baffle more shallow cabinet design that the A100 took to extremes. Back in the 1970s, It was beginning to be understood that baffle-edge diffraction was an issue. The large baffle was designed to be, at least, one multiple of the frequencies where most of the detail in music can be heard. This would allow a full wavelength to propogate across rhe baffle allowing for less edge diffraction and phase cancellation. At least that’s the theory. It you look at a Dhalquist 10 (which sounded fabulous and predated the A100 by a few years), the five-way design had all but the woofers mounted on individual open-baffles, each sized to be larger than one wavelength of the driver just at or below the low crossover point. One of these days, I’m going to build my own version of the A100 and see how it sounds. Edit - Regarding the DQ10, fhat’s what I get for commenting before watching the whole video. The first time I heard them (At the Audio Exchange in Manhasset, NY), they really blew me away. They were set up in open space and the sound of Mick Jagger singing Angie gave me goosebumps.
A buddy of mine had the Cizek model 1's back in 1980. They were connected to a 60wpc Kenwood KA-7100 integrated amp and sounded boss. Lotsa great speakers to choose from in those days.
For me, the Dahlquist "goosebumps" came from hearing Stevie Nicks & F. Mac doing "Rhiannon." The airiness and etheral qualities in that song were something you HAD to exoerience again & again! The amp driving them was the legendary GAS "Ampzilla II". Absolutely unbelevable experience. And regardless of the "needs a subwoofer" comment -- MY experience was this: "World Turning" from the same LP has KILLER gutpunching bass starting at 1:40 into the song. The DQ-10 setup I heard (sans the DQ-1W / DQ-LP1 crossover) reproduced it beautifully without strain, distortion, or the sense that something was missing! I eventually bought a pair (actually owned 2 pairs over the years) and had the DQ-LP1 with DQ-1W setup as well, so I think I'm pretty well-experienced here.
I had a pair of Boston A400’s and Polk SDA1’s with phase link. Between the two, the Bostons won hands down. Another truly great speaker was a set of industrial grade La Scala’s with Crites upgrades. Many others came and went. Thanks for the share.
GLAD YOU POSTED TIM!!! i have SDA 1A's that i love. i'm gonna have to check some A400's out for sure!! I have a few pairs of the more modern Polk's from over the last 15-20 years but i have collected several pairs of and really love the Monitor series from the 80's like the Monitor 10's, 5jr., 5's, 4's and 7's and have always loved these from the first time seeing and hearing the Monitor series back in the day, i was still in high school in the early/mid 80's so hell i didn't have money but was starting do to part time work in the workforce so i could start buying things i wanted as a young man, like some bad-ass Monitor Series Polk Audio's , and beer of course-lol!! so yeah brother, i need to check out the A400's considering your opinion of them against your SDA1's, take care brother! \m/ \m/
I purchased my DQ 10's new back in the early 80's after lusting for them for years. I knew that they were power hungry so I built a pair of Hafler DH 200's bridged to mono with a DH 110 preamp to start. Later I added a pair of HSU HRSW10's powered by an Adcom GFA 555. It all may seem overkill, but one of my passions is the pipe organ and in the 80's this was the best bang for the buck that I could muster. The DQ 10's work especially well because as you've stated, they are open and give a wide stage presence. Plus the frequency range works well for pipe organ music. The HSU's will go down smoothly to 16hz and the Adcom will push them there! The HSU design so impressed me that for my dedicated home theater room I built a pair of Sono-tube subs, scaled up to almost 6 ft with 15" woofers. Yup, they do earthquake! Great listening doesn't have to be nose-bleed expensive. I still have the DQ 10's (now in my home theater) and have re-done the foam surrounds on the woofers. They still sound as sweet as ever. Judicial spending on the right gear is always the key!
You can get 1/2" quarter circle mouldings and cut 4 pieces to glue in a square and make press in grills for the AR speakers and buy cloth from a fabric store for cheap! Did it, worked great!
I have two sets of speakers. One set is a 1980's set of Sanyo's that my nice neighbor gave to me as she was putting them out for the trash collection. My second set are early 70's Pioneers that I trash picked out of the remains of a failed yard sale. Yes, both sets have worked perfectly for years right out of the trash pile. I've never had speakers this great and this reliable. Hooked up to a Sony modern 99's home stereo receiver (set on two channel stereo set to zero eq no pre sets) the Sony was given to me by my ex wife after she got them in a free trade swap and didn't want the receiver. I sold off the seven little speakers. My turntable is a Technics that was given to me by friends who went all in on CD in the 90's. Cost of system, $000.00.
I have a set of ADS-L1530s that easily compete with my later aerial acoustics model 8s. I also have a set of ADS L710s that were my first set of vintage speakers and got me hooked onto the ADS line. I absolutely love the ADS brand! Fabulous speakers!
I have had almost every ads speaker with the exception of the 910 and one other ..And I have to say the most accurate and pleasing to me was actually the 710 over the 810...I am so sorry I got rid of those...they were my favorite..the bass from the 2 -7 inch was so tight and snap. They didn't go as low as the 810 did.but prefer the 710 quickness.😢
I’m still sorry I dumped my L1530’s after I bought a pair of L1590’s. Being young & foolish I believed newer meant better even though my ears said otherwise. It’s a shame ADS didn’t survive to present days.
It seems most people who've heard both prefer the L710s. I am most fortunate to have a pair of 910s practically drop into my lap here in S. Arizona. There are a few 910s that occasionally can be bought off Craigslist in the NE markets around where they were built.@@MuscleBN
I never much thought about vintage speakers (have always loved older electronics) until I chanced upon a pair of Celestion Ditton 551 that I ended up restoring and I LOVE them.
I still have my pair of AR-3a speakers from 1970. They sold for $250.00 Each at the time or $500.00 a pair. They are a classic speaker. Before AR came out with the AR-LST, one of their "blurbs" was: "This is the best speaker we know how to make". The entire AR line sounded amazingly similar with the trade-offs as you went lower in price was more roleoff at low frequencies and less dispersion of the midrange and high frequencies, but the character of the sound remained the same.
I appreciate your knowledge and honesty in this video . All are a very good call and investment . I have been into Audio for a little over 50 years now . My suggestion is . ANY speaker with 15 inch Woofers are what you want if you like loud Music . They are Bullet Proof and will keep you wanting more !
I understand Kevin has no love for Sansui speakers and I get why.....most of em are bass boom and shrill on top and simply can't handle real power levels. But I have to say, it's is obvious he's never sat in front of a pair of SP Z9s before 5 way with true 15 inch woofers 100 db sensitivity and easily handling 300 watts. These are tight bass and wonderful mids and highs. Great for rock which is my main listen. And the bass response doesn't fail at high volumes, if anything it sounds better. When purchasing my first G9000, I knew what I wanted....tight and fast bass response and speakers able to handle everything that receiver has. I settled on the Z9 2s and loved the sound so much, bought another pair locally for cheap.
hard to beat a pair of proper DQ10s with a matching pair of decent powered subs functioning as stands. Runners up- Kef 104.2 with sorted tweeters sound good nearfield. DQ10s like space and reward thoughtful placement and high current amplification. The Kefs will mellow out a hot cartridge or a Chinese dac prone to sounding hissy as they are a little rolled off on top. Mids are great. Very English.
I agree with you on the Jubals. Aside from being really cool with the glass top, have put mine on stands too and turn down the treble a little bit. They sound fantastic
I love seeing the original advertising material for the products. I've stumbled across your channel today and it brings back so many memories from my time working in a small retail store in Australia in mid-to late 80's . Thank you so much!
Many JBL tweeters have a reputation for being harsh including the old horns as well as the 80’s and 90’s titanium domes. In my experience it’s all about the crossover. I have done crossover upgrades on several models and the measurements all show an elevated top end. Not sure why they did this but they did. They are all great drivers however and when implemented properly, have a nice flat response. As for the A400’s wide baffle, one big plus to that is it pushes the baffle step frequency down to where it’s much lower. Without getting into too much theory, that makes the crossover easier to design and the low end better.
I'm 71 and have tried a lot of low cost "audiophile" speakers. (Acoustat 2+2, Apogee stage, B&W 801,DM6, DCM QED, Cerwin-Vega, Infinity, Magnaplanar, etc.) and the initial focus was bass. However, in my 30's I discovered "imaging" and the race was on. Imaging is everything. When the experience turns into a razor sharp "surround" sound, frequency response, base, etc. become almost unimportant. When you get a better imaging set, it's time to listen to all your records again to heard things you never heard before - it can be quite dramatic. The Champion so far is a set of Phase Research Tower R's - a 6" transmission line 2-way that has so many design tweaks they look experimental. The tweeter was in a tunnel supported by a "fin'. This tunnel was recessed about 2" back from the woofer cabinet. So I thought, Gee that flat surface should be reflecting sound upward and blurring the imaging. So I laid a terry cloth towel on that top edge - and it totally destroyed the imaging! Whoever designed these speakers knew things - I've never seen other speakers employ many of the bizarre things done to these.
@@burlingtonbill1 I think I had the 2's and always wanted the 3's. However the Apogee Stage were like fireworks when listening to brass - you could "hear" the metal of the horns - something you experience live. I can't imagine what the Diva's were like. The 2+2's were a bit of a letdown, but back in the day, they were like ultra futuristic science fiction. Opus One in Pittsburgh was loaded with that stuff including the Advent 7' VideoBeam Projection TV of which I owned about 6 and at one time had 4 in my house.
There are tons of great speakers. Yamaha NS-690 are my personal favs. That said, I have about 10 sets ranging from ESS to AR to Energy to BA. All are good in the correct environment paired with sympatico components. I'm not a JBL fan myself, but they are trendy like Pioneer and Marantz amps. I love the BA tweeters....very spacious.
Great list. The honorable mention of ESS makes great sense. I love my ESS AMT 1 B's! Completely agree with different types of speakers. I rotate the ESS's, Vandersteen C2 i''s, Ohm H's, Ohm Walsh I, and JBL 4310. Jubal's and ADS's are/have been on radar ! Love your cast!
Pair my Yamaha cr-820 with ESS model 7s' and get JBL like rock tones. Use ESS Pedestals speakers for fronts with Pioneer Elite SC-68 for that clear airy sound.
My favorites are the ones I built myself. Two 8" JBL's, horn mid, and ribbon tweeter. Column design, ported. They sound pretty good for home built. Solid, 60 lbs each.
@@jesse75 of course. I built two others also. Each have JBL 15" 2226, LE175 horn, 2 8" JBL, and a Renkus Heinz horn tweeter. They really smoke, no subwoofer needed.
Reformed the woofers in my Infinity 1001A and Bose 301 speakers. When these were played together, powered by a Pioneer 1010 receiver, the sound was so full, I could listen for hours.
ADS brings back memories. Had the monster L2030 for a while. Other than a bit soft in the very top-end (to my much younger ears back then), a TOTL contender.
Being older than dirt, seeing those old names brings back memories. My roommate in the Air Force had a pair of 2ax’s, Dual Turntable, and Marantz receiver. That was some great listening.
I love these videos!!! Historically, I'm really cheap, so as a teenager getting my first stereo system, I got a Sansui 7070 and built my own speakers. I sold the Sansui years ago and have been using a Nikko 7075 that I bought from a friend for my then girlfriend, now wife of over 40 years, back in about 1980. Never owned a pair of factory built speakers until I found a pair of ESS AMT5 at a church rummage sale for something like $35. I needed to refoam the woofers, but they've been fine ever since then. I dream of owning something fancier, but I enjoy how the Nikko/ESS pairing sounds. No idea of what I'll do if something wears out. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. When you showed the Dahlquist with the grilles removed, I gagged when I saw a Piezo horn tweeters. I've long despised those things as they always sounded harsh to my ears, but it seems like they made them work.
This is my setup (I have Forte, Hersey, and others outside): Mains: Klipsch Chorus II with upgraded tweeter diaphragms and X-overs from Mr. Crites. Center: Klipsch Academy with upgraded tweeter diaphragms and X-overs from Mr. Crites. Surrounds: Klipsch RS-250S Front Height: Klipsch RP-500SA Sub: Klipsch SPL-120 AV: Denon AVR-X3500H, Panasonic DP-UB820P-K, Roku Ultra, XFinity Premier, Vizio P75QX-H1
My favorite vintage speakers are the ones I am currently using. I have a pair of AVID 102 speakers made in 1980. They have a knob to adjust the sound of the tweeter and have a fuse to power them. I don't hear them talked about much - if at all.
Hi Kevin, Another gem of a video. I worked in three different audio stores from '73-'80. It was really interesting how owners and management had differeing views concerning their philosophies on hi-fi. Two were focused on having the most "accurate" speakers and electronics, while the third was mostly interested in making a buck. Regardless, it was sad that the '80's saw most of the electronics manufacturers moving to department stores. I'm certain it improved their bottom line, but it destroyed all three of the shops that I had enjoyed being a part of for so long. What was most interesting, was that the mom & pop audio stores sold things at the same price as did the department stores. Obviously, the department stores had no service department, and you were no longer able to trade in your old equipment with a department store. I heard and have owned all of the speakers that you feature in your top five picks. I still own a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10a's, that were an upgrade from the standard 10's, because the two speakers were mirror imaged and had mylar capacitors. I also still own a pair of Boston Acoustic 100's, as I felt they had a more accurate bass response compared to the 400's. Again, we are talking about highly subjective personal tastes. I tried to review all of the previous comments and hope I'm not repeating a sore spot that someone else has already mentioned, and I have done the same thing more than I wish to admit. At any rate, the DQ-10 speaker measures 31 inches, from side to side as you originally mentioned, but at about 20 mins. in to your video, you mention the width of the DQ-10's as 42 inches!?! If there is a 42" DQ-10, perhaps it has a built-in side-burn trimmer... I wish I still owned the first six "Absolute Sound" mini magazines that a customer kindly gave me in hopes that our store would take on a couple of new innovative lines. In summation, thank you for picking up the torch and showing how enjoyable and even gratifying, it can be to critically listen to great music. P.S. Does anyone know how I can get rid of the annoying emoji that now emblazons all of my comments?
My college roommate had the 3as, and I spent many hours listening to them in 1971. I had some AR 2as. We were too close to them most times, but occasionally took them to my uncle's house and let them shine.
The ADS L810 are very good, sweet sounding midrange very close sound as the DQ10 which also use a dome midrange, years ago I repaired a L810 tweeter filament and heard them, personally I prefer the Canton Plus S couple with Canton Plus Beta active subwoofer from that era, the DQ10 years ago I improve the crossover with Solen caps of one of my clients, they are very easy on the ears and have an incredible 5 component integration in phase that you hear one driver at 2 meter, the JBL jubal is the same L166 but with the 075 ( 2405) tweeter which sound hyper detailed, the L166 use an almost identical tweeter as the L112 which is very detailed also, the AR were very good in sound, ugly build but excellent balance, the 4311 are excellent but with a roll off after 10 khz that bothers me, they improve that problem with the L112
I've owned BA speakers since 1994. Sub-stat7's. It's an external woofer box and satellites. (almost 30 years old!) Just got the satellites re-coned last year.
Nice trip down memory land. I got my first stereo in about 1978, it was a Rotel 25 watt receiver and and pair of AR18 speakers. My brother in-law is still using the Rotel at his house. I kept the AR’s unit sometime in the early 90’s I think. I had some other speakers in those years but they didn’t trip my trigger. But I bought a new pair of Boston A400’s in 1984-85 sometime. Kept them for several years. They were really nice to pair with modest electronics and gave a great experience. But it was easy to annoy the other people in our apartment building with them. In the late 80’s I was working at a couple different audio stores, and changed out gear kind of regularly. But I did sell several of the brands that you mentioned here. I always liked and sold lots of Boston Acoustics especially the A100’s. ADS was a great speaker, but didn’t sell as well because they were more expensive, and not as flashy, people tended to like a little bump and splash in the demo room. Despite their popularity, I never worked at a store that sold JBL. I always thought that they were bass heavy when I heard them, but lots of people liked them.
The audio store I worked for in the 80s sold Boston acoustics BMW face Tech and dalquist speakers. We sold plenty of Boston A40's and A60s but not too many of the larger models because he B&W DM10's at $300-somehing a pair just about crushed almost anything in the store until you spent 3 times that. Everybody working in the store-bought a pair of those b & w speakers for themselves at half price on salesman's accommodations.
Love it, I had a pair of Ar17's paired with a technics amp and turntable (with an ADC ZLM Mkiii cartridge.) I still have that original gear from 1978, in original boxes. As I got older and had more disposable income I started gathering all the gear I'd drooled over when I was in high school, but couldn't afford. I picked up a pair of AR-11's about 15 years ago for a song and have then hooked to my pioneer SX-950 receiver. Best sound ever!
Had the Boston Acoustic A-150's back in the mid 80's. The best speaker I've ever owned, man those speakers could make the room expand, and almost blow my windows out. I've had many speakers since, and have never found speakers I enjoyed more since.
The 2 most magical Audio Moments in my life involved wiring up a pair of AR3a , to my Sansui 9090 db, that was about 2002. And another was hearing the DQ10s playing outside on someone’s porch around 1984. Epicure/Epi Speakers are also really under rated and Impressive Sounding.
So right about the DQ 10s needing a big space. I used to have one of their bookshelf speakers which I loved. They were fantastic in my small apartment. Best I ever heard a lot of was my dad's KEF 104s. Just loved those speakers.
I paired my JBL-L65s with the L-56 off my Marantz 2275 (I bought it in 1977) back around 1982. I lived in an apartment at the time, so I didn't get much chance to open up the volume. When I moved into my first house, I set the speakers in four corners, trying different placement combinations. The L-65s sounded better on 1' pedestals. The bass was fantastic, while the mid and tweeters, I scaled back some. And yes, I used the loudness button on my Marantz. I can give a good example of the bass: the band Styx had a song named Queen of Spades. The synthesized bass at the end would rattle the walls and you would feel it inside your body. Live recorded music would sound as if you were present.
In 1977 I bought a pair of Tannoy Berkleys, liked them so much I picked up a pair of Ardens. I believe they were about $1500 for the pair. Some times I would flip the Berkleys upside down and stack them on top of the Ardens. Ten years later I was stacking 2 pairs of Ardens for Parties for our Camaro Club.
The DQ10's were arguably the first open baffle speaker. You talk about putting them in a large room, well I knew a kid who had them in a small dorm room. I would marvel them every time I went into his room. Good bass, I think the 10" woofer was the same as the one in the large Advent. You didn't mention the sensitivity, I think they were 84 or 85dB, fairly low. Shops would typically pair them with the GAS Ampzilla.
The DQ10 did indeed use the Advent woofer. They could be a good sounding speaker in the right room and with the right equipment but they were very fussy about what you drove them with, and pretty inefficient. They also were great for collecting dust, lint and pet hair that would pass through the metal mesh rear grill and collect on the drivers and crossover.
Yup - my experience exactly. Once you heard that open soundstage, you MADE your home setup, amp choice, and budget AROUND that speaker -- TOTALLY worth making changes for !
Still have my JBL L26 speakers and Yamaha 610 II amp and YP-d71 turntable purchased in 1976 before I went off to college. I reconed the woofers and refinished the cabinets and they are as sweet sounding as ever. I now drive them with a second hand Carver 90amp receiver.
I see you like the Acoustic Suspension vintage. Pity no driver maker today makes woofers designed for AS cabs. Infinity was another brand that had some good AS speakers. I had a pair of RSe's that were not terribly big but had a really big sound.
When I was young (so much younger than I am today) my speakers were Pioneer HPM 900'S.. I still have those but I've complemented them with a pair of Tannoy Oxford gold series speakers. They complement each other quit well.
The stereo shop I frequented back in the day always advised patrons to purchase the best set of best speakers they could afford when assembling a system. I always thought that was good advice, though I watched plenty of people buy powerful receivers and amps, then scrimp on speakers.
True story. You can slap together a little IC-based 5 W amplifier and have impressive results if you are driving real speakers. Look what results they were getting back in the day with a pair of theatre Altecs and a medium size (for the time) tube amplifier.
I'm running a set of ADS 980 3 ways on studio stands, 12" woofer great speakers. I believe they use the same drivers as the 1590 towers except if I remember correctly the 1590's use two woofers. I bought these brand new and have been enjoying them ever since.
Agreed. The ADS L810s are unbelievable. I will never get rid of my near mint late version pair. The quality of build and the incredible sound quality is superb. I power mine with a restored Proton A1150 power amplifier. Just a great combo. I also have a small pair of ADS L400 late version and they are incredible as well. Thank you for your work on this channel! I worked for years in the early 80s through early 90s in high end shops another great speaker is MBQuart. Popular in USA for auto sound, but often overlooked for their excellent home speakers. Cheers.
Im going to build my own version of jbl j235 3way ,with a pryomid shape to the cabinet, and use the original crossovers and make my own port, all those great old speakers are the best in my eyes, you do great reveiws, .......stu,n.h.
I still have a pair of ADS 810s that I bought new in 78 or 79. Fabulous speakers when driven by my Kenwood KA7100 (which I still have but needs some work). A buddy of mine had the ultimate setup though, a Sansui AU717 with a Thorens turntable that had one of the first carbon fiber arms. I can still remember how good that sounded.
In 1968 I sold AR3a and AR2a speakers in a Hi-Fi department at Hess Brothers in Allentown, PA. The salesmen preferred KLH 5s and 6s, so we drilled holes in the back of the ARs to kill the deep bass. Hardly sold any ARs after that - true story!
So you sabotaged the better speakers. I will guess that the markup on the KLHs was better. KLH made excellent speakers as well. Back in the late 1960 I worked as a tech at a retail store that sold quality audio equipment. They had the AR-3a speakers, Advents, JBL L-100s and they had speakers marketed by H. H. Scott. The manager wanted us to push the Scott speakers because it had a much better markup. Luckily, I did not do too much sales because the Scott was not a great speaker.
In 1962 I loved sitting in my dorm room and listening to Verdi’s Requiem on my AR 2a s driven by my Dynakit Stereo 70s (I built) and in 1992 at home driven by my Marantz Receiver 223; I gave the receiver and speakers to my daughter soon after.
Back in the day, my main problem with the DQ 10s was their inefficiency. And price. IMO, the ADS L810's walked all over them, which is why I bought them. This was at Magnolia hi-fi in their fairly new (at the time) Roosevelt store in Seattle. They sold both brands. BTW, I was in the store to buy stacked advents. My friend and I both. We BOTH walked out with our own pairs of L810's.
I've talked to a few sellers from that era who say that the L810s sold out constantly and the workers there drooled over the looks. A photo of a pair of L810s on their original stands sold me on having to get a pair, unheard. Unfortunately, the stands for them and others are as rare as hen's teeth nowadays, and having them fabbed up by someone seems to cost a small fortune for us broke-ass retirees. hehe My son made a pair of stands for me.
Wow, that was a trip through the Wayback Machine! I saved up and built my first hifi system when I was a junior in high school. And there it is in your video! Well, mine was slightly less impressive - Pioneer SA-8100/TA-8100, Thorens TD165 and a pair of large Advents. Only one of our rich kid friends had a stacked pair of Advents and I’m not sure I ever heard them. But I loved my setup so much I didn’t care. Still have the Thorens although I have much better TTs now. Still have the amp & tuner although the amp needs a refresh. And I gave the Advents to my daughter, who’s still rockin’ out with them.
So happy to see the DQ-10 on the list, an enormously influential speaker for me early in my audio journey. I was talking with you in the store about a year ago and hadn't even noticed you had a pair. It was awesome to listen to them again, I just wish I had a place to put a set these days.
I ❤ Dahlquist too. I bought my DQ 20s new in the mid-late 1990s, and I'm still using them, now in my third system. It's been a wonderful love affair. Dahlquist speakers, particularly the DQ 20, are beautiful sounding (and beautiful looking), well built exemplars of acoustic engineering. And the superb Scan Speak Drivers Dahlquist used are still available.
I have a hard time picking a favorite. Right now I am rotating Fortes, Infinity Kappa 6.1 II, JBL L80t3. Also mixing in Thiel CS1 and Ohm Micro Walsh Talls. They all sound very different. Although I do not have any right now, I really like the Large Advents. I have a single JBL 4311B grey that I am looking to make a pair. I listen to my Pet Sounds mono cd on that!
I remember back in the 80s hearing B&W, KEF, Polk, Infinity etc. The Infinity speakers were great back then but when I heard Thiel, that was it for me.
Great presentation Kevin! My fond memory of the AR 2A’s back in the early 70’s were powered by a flagship Sherwood receiver (not sure of that model) and spinning vinyl on a Benjamin-Miracord turntable sounded just superb. You are so right about good vintage gear all of the same era sounded very good to us. None of us were audiophiles, we just listened to music. Soon out of college we got jobs and began to trade up. We got the fever.
In the '70s I grew up listening to Heathkit AS-2A loudspeakers (Heathkit's version of AR-2A) connected to a Garrard turntable running through a Heathkit pre-amp & AA-121 tube amplifier. Around 1997 I stumbled upon an eBay auction for New Old Stock AR-2A speakers in the original boxes for $300... I still have them today & they still sound awesome! They've had some attention over the years (re-sealed the cloth woofer surrounds, upgraded the level control pots) but still amazing.
In college, I had a pair of AR-2AX, an AR turntable, and a Marantz receiver! They were on my desk . . . the dining table was for homework! What a great way to start my audiophile experience.
Altec~Lansing loudspeakers are designed for professional use theatres & nightclubs large 15 with horn tweeter requiring big amplifier and an ample disposable income for large property private residential use are rarely seen for sale even used are quite expensive.🎩
@1stcontact590 - All these guys drooling over the large Advents - and they're good but when I did an A/B comparison - I sold the Advents and still have the Altecs - model 891V - 35 years ago. Good luck finding any for sale, no one who has them ever wants to let them go! Even the little 8" 2-Way Altec Capri is a Polk Monitor 7/ Bose 301/ Acoustic Research AR18/ Small Advents *_Killer._*
Phase linear p-560s..Left and right!! Absolutely beautiful sounding!! My 55 dollar specials..they are 500 a peace now!! I've had all the high end brands!! But these ones really sound amazing!! Everything is crisp and Clear !!! But I buy and sell most of the others!! Marantz and Sansui are another favorite!!
I don't have an ADS L810 but I got an ADS L400 bought at a yard sale for $5.00 for the pair including the original stand. Amazed that it still works without any issues. I matched it with an Onkyo subwoofer then later a Klipsch subwoofer and the combination is really great.
A pair of Polk Monitor 7B's has been my main speaker since the 80's. I love them and recently did an upgrade to the crossovers which brought the tweeters back to life. They are fantastic.
I have a pair of Polk Monitor 10's that I bought new back in 1986, and I still listen to them frequently! They are very dynamic and detailed, and i'm still blown away by their full bodied sound! I have several stereo systems in my house, but I always make time to listen to the 10's, as they are magical to me!
Started in 1967 with Ar amp,Ar turntable,Ar 4 speakers. Stepped up to Ar5 and then to Ar3a speakers as my wallet size grew.My other system is now Mac 6100amp,Jbl166 speakers and Denon turntable. Still have both set ups in my attic man cave...Ive got a lot of other vintage systems ive picked up used,but the first two systems that I skiimped and scrapped to get..Rock on . (The Ar5s are close to the Ar3a just a little less bass which my be btter.
Almost as good as my finding a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls for $7.99ea in the furniture section at a Goodwill bins outlet. I presumed they were blown. They weren't. The key to finding amazing stuff at thrift stores, is to be in the right place at the right time, which you can only do by figuring out which ones get especially good stuff, what their schedule is for putting out stuff, then putting in your time doing the rounds of good stores, and thoroughly checking what is there. Eventually it pays off. It also pays to pick and resell stuff other than what you're personally interested in, to help justify spending more hours in your personal quests. It's funny what picking/reselling skills you can develop if you pay attention, or if you make friends among other regular pickers/shoppers. If looking for stereo components, make a deal with a picker friend that they'll grab good stuff for you, if you'll grab stuff in their own areas of interest, say kitchen appliance blades and Legos. At first, just do it while you're both in the store, to exchange stuff into each other's carts. Then, consider buying for each other when only one of you is there, and squaring up later. It might lead to a $10 mistake once in a while, but not often enough to outweigh frequent $100+ wins.
I had connections to wholesalers and bought a pair of L810's, with the cloth grills, about 5 minutes after I heard them the first time. I had them many years until the cabinet on one of them cracked due to my water heater blowing up and the speakers sat in what was pretty much a steam bath for two days while I was out of town. I attempted to repair the cracked one, but soon after that, the woofers began to fall apart and they were retired and got tossed when we moved. My fantasy speakers when I first started out were the AR-9A's my allergy doctor had. All he listened to was classical, but I went over to his house about 1974 and heard his setup, a McIntosh tuner and preamp with some other brand of power amp, and I was blown away listening to "Night on Bald Mountain". He had a Dual 1219 turntable with a Shure V15 type II cartridge. I can afford nice stuff now, but sadly my right ear has become nearly useless due to some odd eustation tube issue. I told the doc's son I would pay a decent price for the still new looking AR's, but I never heard anything from him and he told me a while back he had sold them. He forgot I wanted them.
I spent a bit of time listening to the AR3a in electronics stores around 1973. I think they were around $325 a pair by then. I wound up with a pair of utility Advents because they sounded really good and had the same (east coast) design philosophy as the ARs. The Advents were also pretty ugly if you took the grill off but not as ugly as your pic of the ARs.
I simply don't understand Kevin's mad passionate love over the 3a's. They were an earlier-gen. speaker that Julian Hirsch & Stereo Review readers fawned over for many years. Undeniably they have a great heritage (as does JBL and Klipsch) but I never felt the later AR models were competitive. The Dynaco A25s were much smoother to my ear. Henry Kloss of Advent set the hifi world on fire with the Large Advents and when I could afford a pair, I bought them & never looked back (until I heard DQ-10s). I wonder if Skylabs has ever actually had any Large Advents on the floor to listen to?
Personally, I was a huge fan of JBL112s. They were immaculate, and in my youth when I tended towards cranking things up, they were great. They could handle a lot of power but didn’t require super wattage. The 12” woofer was a beast, and I’m sure my neighbors loved me. I’ve often looked back fondly at the sound. Although JBL categorized them as “bookshelf speakers”, they were definitely not at roughly 55lbs per. Highly recommend, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a vintage pair needed a reform.
Selling my ADS L710's was a mistake, and I regretted it as soon as they left. When I put them on Craigslist with a bunch of other good vintage equipment for a garage sale, I had a guy drive an hour and arrive early to buy them before anyone else showed up. I had them set up to demo with a NAD 7155 when he rolled up. We listened for a nice long time while I brought out and wired up my other sale stuff. His absolute joy helped me get over my melancholy. I still have a great little walnut set of ADS 300's (not the L300) in a near-field setup over my workbench. The clarity and richness of those little boxes have amazed me for decades. And they look just cool.
" Only an issue for the audiophiles who are too scared to play with their knobs. I'll let you in on a secret, sometimes I push the loudness control..........." THX it's been a while since I've laughed that hard!!
Yes, audiophiles are, by definition, inveterate "KNOB TWIRLERS." In 65 years, I've never met a true audiophile who wasn't.
Hi Kevin, I'm glad you mentioned ESS as an Honorable Mention, as the ESS amt 1b is currently my favorite vintage speaker. I fell in love with them back in High School when they were new, but of course couldn't afford them at that point. Fortunately, I found a really nice pair here in the Twin Cities a few years ago, and they have been my primary speakers ever since. If you haven't already had a chance to listen to this particular ESS speaker, I hope you will get the opportunity to at some time in the future. They are really quite special.
I'm late in finding this channel, but had to comment. We had some ESS speakers for years, but they got destroyed in a move. When I got back into the hobby my lovely boss (wife) demanded ESS. She wanted the exact model we once had, but they are pretty rare. I found a pair of AMT-1 speakers on Craigslist for.....$200. I figured I'd have to put some work into them, but they were in excellent condition! Not being a jerk, I asked the gal if she knew what she actually had and their worth. She did, and said she just wanted them to go to a good home. Also picked up a spare for the AMT part of the speakers for another $25.
These are my primary speakers as well.
I agree, I miss my set of ADS speakers from back in the day (1980's). Now have them on my radar once more after this reminder. Thanks for all you do out here Kevin.
I have owned my ADS L710s since the late 70’s. I love them. They out perform my very pricey B&W 700 series. I did add a sub to supplement the low end. I highly recommend ADS. They are incredibly well built.
Me too!
ADS L710s were my first ADS speakers and I absolutely love them! I also own a set of 1530s and they are incredible!
@Vandyfw Wow! I’ve always wanted to hear those large XX30. I’m sure those 1530 are amazing. Have you ever seen the or heard the 2030?
On the plus side, a/d/s speakers usually used a rubber surround and so they wouldn't rot out like foam surround speakers. On the negative side, as mentioned here, that sticky damping material on the dome mids and tweeters not only tended to collect dust and lint but would over time migrate and settle towards the bottom edge of the surround and I would imagine that this might affect its dispersion or frequency characteristics.
Early versions of the Dahlquist DQ10 used an Advent woofer. They could sound good in the right room with the right equipment driving them, but they were inefficient, very fussy to set up and fussy about amplification, and the open metal mesh grill over the back allowed dust, lint and pet hair to settle on the drivers and crossover.
PS, its not ADS, its a/d/s. Back in the early 1980s I had their 2001 automobile sound system in my car, consisting of their biamped mini speakers and an added subwoofer box ( Dynaudio 10's) that I built, driven by an Audiomobile preamp EQ and subwoofer amp, and a Nakamichi 250 tape deck.
I have the same speakers in Germany called Baun l810. The founder of Ads imported the speakers in the 70s. They sound excellent. The Braun company was a leader in German loudspeaker construction in the early 1970s.
Got my 3a's in Nov 1970. When tea for the tillerman came out. My first music thru it. And I got chills and remember it like yesterday.... Funny thing, I still get those chills when I put that album on.... Great job. Enjoyed it very much.
You mention Fisher, I had that set up in 1974, it was great till I purchased my pioneer system. Big difference. You left off one of the best speakers ever made. In the late 60s and 70's, there was a company in Anaheim, CA called Altec-Lansing. They were, for a brief time, the Rolls Royce of their time. Made in the USA too... Very expensive fir the time.
Love your channel! Takes me back to when I would build my Heathkits!!
Got 4 my brother in home made cabinets. A pair with 12’s and a pair with 8’s. You might also remember Utah’s.
That’s JBL actually. That’s where the L comes from in Lansing James B Lansing. Well it used to be his company
I'm so glad you mentioned my favorite speaker of time the BA A400. I bought a pair brand new back in 1987 and thru my vintage Crown amplification they blew me away. They are long gone but I've never heard a speak since that matches the depth and detail they gave me. Thank you.
Klipsch kg4 are my current fav vintage speakers. Great video. Thanks.
Got my Ohm L,s. 40yrs.
Just perfect!
Had woofer factory replenish.
Run them on Emotiva stuff.
Never use tone controls.
No need.
I'm a huge fan and collector of JBL. mainly L100/4311. I specialize in restorations of JBLs but also restore any vintage speakers. Last year a customer dropped off a set of ADS 810's and let me use them for a few weeks. I was blown away. Now I'm looking for a pair for myself. Having said that, Nothing beats the look and presence of a set of vintage JBL's. The looks go to JBL but the sound goes to ADS.
I've owned the ADS 1230s for 40 years. A few weeks ago, I heard the JBL L100 Classic. Can't say I was blown away but I wouldn't mind having those (in addition to my 1230s) for an "alternative" sound to the East Cost sound of ADS. That tweeter is specked all the way up to 40Hz. Also, like you, I like their retro aesthetic. A local sound shop offered me a huge discount, $3800 for the pair, INCLUDING the stands.
great to have both! ... for both "sounds". a friend has had 810s forever & I recently acquired a well cared-for set of the L88+ that had been upgraded to L100 spec years ago. the Century has the Big Sound of its time & place (esp fun for recordings wherein they were the monitors), while the 810s are so smooth & easy on period jazz, folk, blues & classical, while quite "honest" about everything else. @@MarkMiller-i8q
My 2 favorite speakers that I own are my ADS L810s and my JBL L110s. The JBLs are halfway recapped and should be finished soon. Unfortunately I blew a tweeter in the ADS though so I need to get that fixed.
I run a pair of L810's paired with a set of JBL 4311's and I'm in dog heaven.
Hi , I have 4 pairs of vintage JBL speakers all need repair can you help.
I have the JBL 4312A for 40 years and it is still perfect!
I had the Boston Acoustics A100 as my first hi-fi speakers in the mid 1980s. It was the speaker that got me addicted to hi-fi, such a huge leap from the regular mid-fi speakers I had grown up with. Years later I built my own loudspeakers based on the wide-baffle design and they have been my love for over a decade now. Great video!
Always enjoy your presentations. I was a bench tech at Audio Genesis, Glens Falls, NY 79-81. Picked up a Pioneer SX 1050 someone traded in for a song, it’s connected to a pair of AR 2X’s in the living room & AR 8’s in the large kitchen. Keep the videos & knowledge coming & enjoy the Holidays.
I have 2 sets of the AR 4x speakers and I will never give them up. This was a great video, I have never heard of some of these speakers. I will now need to try to get a pair of one of these. Thanks!
I have two AR4x, but the tweeter controls are open. I'm afraid I'd mess them up if I tried to remove the grill to get inside and fix them.
My Boston A150's blow people away with their punch and clarity. Highly agree with your choices Kevin.
I have a pair of A200s that sound amazing
I had a pair of A100, was able to get a pair of A150. The choice was a little tough as the A100 had a punchier bass I thought. But the clarity and details got me on the A150. Plus they were just freshly refoamed. So I parted with the A100.
Now I wish I could find A200 or A400...
But now I'll keep an aye for the ADS 810 too.
Had to replace the woofers on my 150's ten years ago, otherwise going strong
My first serious speakers were a pair of A60s, which although obviously not in the league of their larger siblings were simply incredible for their size: punchy and clear and with better detail than a lot of more expensive speakers. Still miss them decades later.
Shhh…don’t talk about ads, they are still affordable. I have the 810’s, 1090’s and the 1290’s and they are so sweet. You can lose yourself and listen all day long without fatigue. I’m a believer.
Lol, we have had so many requests to talk about ADS speakers.
I thought the same thing, as they might be the best kept secret in vintage audio, IMO
L810s are my main speaker and I love em!!! The build quality is killer and they sound so good. Even today with all the other modern speakers these can hang or surpass them still in sound.. I paid a decent chunk for my 810s but they were mint and ill also never sell them, Found some beat up L620s a few weeks ago and even those sound great.. They are more like a large advent setup ( 2 way / 10" ). Another speaker I love and hope to acquire are Dynaco A25's they also stand up well today.
i've got a pair of Dyna A25's and they are the best jazz vocal speaker i have ever heard. Ella Fitzgerald sits next to you and sings in the room when you put her on through the A25's.
Cant wait to pick up a set of A25's@@protowave
From, Malaysia, you selection are all thumbs up. My Jubals are my pride and joy, alnico bass drivers, 707 crystal "hot" tweeters and solid mid speakers, from the softest of volume to pushing the volume limit, it holds well. Added an active Jamo sub, happy as a lark.
Hey what a fun video. My name is Kevin Deal, and I sold and owned a few of these back in the day. The entire first series of Boston Acoustic was crazy good, even by today's standards. And like you said the A400 was EPIC. They really were designed with the wide front baffle to sound like there WAS no baffle. And the BASS! So fast, deep, and controlled. I don't recall them needing to be placed against a back wall, but that was in the early 80's.
DQ10's really needed a sub, and they made a passive one for it called the DQ1W, usually used in pairs with the DQLP1 active or DQMX1 passive crossover. I still have some DQM9's in my stash somewhere. A fantastic 9" 3 way standmount.
I sold both Braun in the late 70's when I worked at Cal Stereo, and ADS (who used Braun drivers) later. All the speakers above require re-coning. Most ADS do not. L1530 are cool, and they made an amazing powered sub called the PB1500 for the L300 or 400 that was ahead of its time.
Sorry to prattle on. I'm 66 and have been doing this for 48 years. It never gets old. You're in a fun spot.
If you want to try building amazing sounding speakers do this. Buy some 5" full range drivers and (somhow) mount the driver on top of the speaker box. Mounted completely open, out of the box. And under, is a good woofer in the box. I made some speakers based on that idea and took the speakers to a hifi shop for evaluation. They loved them! My friends love them and I made some bookshelf speakers of the same design, to post to my sister far away. When she heard them, she texted me ❤❤❤❤ about the speakers.
I've been using a pair of Braun LS100's since 1985. Still love them. What impresses me the most is that they sound the same at any volume. Their compact size and awesome performance made it easy to keep them. Cheers
Love the review you gave on all the speakers and as always I value your opinion. Don't ever apologize for what you like.
Thank you, Karen! We always seem to agree :)
@@skylabsaudioYou're welcome. Yeah I noticed that, it's rare that I agree with anyone all the time and that anyone agrees with me.. it's refreshing for a change...lol
Hello Kevin. Another great topic and presentation. My personal faves from the 70's; Dynaco A25 and A35. OLA (Original Large Advents) I had them double stacked. The NLA (New Large Advents) and the Boston A200.
Make sure to watch next week's video :)
I cant wait! 🎉 All the AR 3As me and others had simply blew up woofers and tweeters. Sounded more like a cardboard box on the the Dynaco amps. But I rarely blew out a Dynaco tweeter 😂. I still have an NOS flat of Dynaco tweeters. I ran 6 Dynaco A25s stacked. Alongside with the Magnepans. Later I got the biggest Dynacos made...still have them (forsale) the Phase III Model 80.
I love your vintage list! I have 3 models of ESS. The Tempest Lab 3e, the original AMT-1 and the circa 2018 AMT LTD. For smoothed over sound I have the Polk SDA II. I run all this stuff on a 1994 Niles selector.
Another vote for the Dynaco A25s. I have had a pair for 40 years and use those as my primary speakers with a pair of Polk RTI28s as rear channel speakers (all run in extended stereo off of a Pioneer AV amp), and a small Yamaha sub to balance out the bottom ends. Such a warm, natural, easy to listen to set up.
My A-25's might look like shit, but they're still kicking after all these years. LOL
Totally not what I expected. ADS, BA, AR and even Dahlquist ( that's the old school sleeper ) make up quite a unique list. Love the passion and your thoughts. Thanks for the video.
Thanks, Craig!
You and I agree on most audio topics-
As a salesman from 72 to 79 my audio shop carried multi lines of tts and receivers and speakers -
When the DQ 10 came out it blew away everything I had heard up to then except if you wanted to crank up hard rock -
My ultimate system in 1976 was
Technics 1100 with SME 3009 arm with ADC-XML cartridge
HK CITATION 11 preamp
Marantz 500 power amp
Dalqiuist DQ10s
Chair -palm plant - Cat Stevens albums 😅
Sad I sold them but it helped me pay for college
The AR3 was the first air suspension book shelf speaker that delivered great bass in a small package
I first saw/listened to the DQ-10 in 1983 and knew I had to have a pair. I finally got my DQ-10's last year for $300 including the DQ-MX1 and the Dahlquist subwoofer. I'm missing the wire mesh cover on the back of the speakers and there was no grill cloth but I left them like for the longest time just because they looked so industrial that way.
I bought a minty set of DQ-10’s along with a pair matching DQ-1w subs and the DQ-LP-1 active crossover about 2 years ago. They sound amazing in my room.
First I'm seeing your channel, but I immediately understand that you know what you're talking about - because you nailed it right out of the gate. You obviously have a discerning pair of ears.
BTW, you owe it to yourself to chase down the original Stereo Review articles on the L810's and much of the ADS line, as well as many of the others in your list of favorites. You may have to use the "WayBack" machine, but it's worth the effort.
Years ago, while working at a HiFi shop, we took most of these models in on trade, and 35 years later, I still have my L780 Mark II's, L810's, many of the ADS bookshelf models, and the classic AR's. Love the "fried egg" tweeters.
Great vid, thanks.
I've had my ADS 1230s since 1983. Can't give them up. I'd regret it, I'm sure. They have the same driver compliment as the 810s (which I also had before purchasing the 1230s) but in a much bigger cabinet.
Love my l1230s, in my top three favorite speakers
I’m about to turn 71 on April 29. I’ve been in audio since 1969. Your analysis of these speakers are accurate. You have not surprised me yet. There is one omission. The speaker that got me on that sojourn was The Smaller Advent. Now, Accurus A 200, SMSL DAC, Chinese clone of a Marantz 7, Klipsch Kg 4’s . Techniques turntable, I had most of the equipment you have featured. MY system now, is the best. It has taken all these years to get here.
which smsl dac if i may ask?
Back in 1979, I met both Andy Pettite and Frank Reid of Boston Acoustics when they came to visit the small speaker company (AEI) I was helping to run. I’m not sure why they wanted to talk us, in retrospect, I think it was that they were looking to expand Boston Adoustics and might have wanted to buy us for the manufacturing space we had in East Boston. Our speaker (the Evolution One) was designed by Roy Cizek and subscribed to the larger baffle more shallow cabinet design that the A100 took to extremes. Back in the 1970s, It was beginning to be understood that baffle-edge diffraction was an issue. The large baffle was designed to be, at least, one multiple of the frequencies where most of the detail in music can be heard. This would allow a full wavelength to propogate across rhe baffle allowing for less edge diffraction and phase cancellation. At least that’s the theory.
It you look at a Dhalquist 10 (which sounded fabulous and predated the A100 by a few years), the five-way design had all but the woofers mounted on individual open-baffles, each sized to be larger than one wavelength of the driver just at or below the low crossover point.
One of these days, I’m going to build my own version of the A100 and see how it sounds.
Edit - Regarding the DQ10, fhat’s what I get for commenting before watching the whole video. The first time I heard them (At the Audio Exchange in Manhasset, NY), they really blew me away. They were set up in open space and the sound of Mick Jagger singing Angie gave me goosebumps.
A buddy of mine had the Cizek model 1's back in 1980. They were connected to a 60wpc Kenwood KA-7100 integrated amp and sounded boss. Lotsa great speakers to choose from in those days.
For me, the Dahlquist "goosebumps" came from hearing Stevie Nicks & F. Mac doing "Rhiannon." The airiness and etheral qualities in that song were something you HAD to exoerience again & again! The amp driving them was the legendary GAS "Ampzilla II". Absolutely unbelevable experience. And regardless of the "needs a subwoofer" comment -- MY experience was this: "World Turning" from the same LP has KILLER gutpunching bass starting at 1:40 into the song. The DQ-10 setup I heard (sans the DQ-1W / DQ-LP1 crossover) reproduced it beautifully without strain, distortion, or the sense that something was missing! I eventually bought a pair (actually owned 2 pairs over the years) and had the DQ-LP1 with DQ-1W setup as well, so I think I'm pretty well-experienced here.
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
I had a pair of Boston A400’s and Polk SDA1’s with phase link. Between the two, the Bostons won hands down. Another truly great speaker was a set of industrial grade La Scala’s with Crites upgrades. Many others came and went. Thanks for the share.
GLAD YOU POSTED TIM!!! i have SDA 1A's that i love. i'm gonna have to check some A400's out for sure!! I have a few pairs of the more modern Polk's from over the last 15-20 years but i have collected several pairs of and really love the Monitor series from the 80's like the Monitor 10's, 5jr., 5's, 4's and 7's and have always loved these from the first time seeing and hearing the Monitor series back in the day, i was still in high school in the early/mid 80's so hell i didn't have money but was starting do to part time work in the workforce so i could start buying things i wanted as a young man, like some bad-ass Monitor Series Polk Audio's , and beer of course-lol!! so yeah brother, i need to check out the A400's considering your opinion of them against your SDA1's, take care brother! \m/ \m/
I can see that you really know about speakers. I heard the Boston Acoustics A400 a few months ago and I was shocked at how smooth they sound.
Fun video. Absolutely love my ADS L810's I scored 12 years ago. Such a wonderful sound.
My favorite JBL Paragon and KLH 9
A college friend had KLH 9s, which I loved. I've only heard a Paragon once, and it wasn't my thing. Nice furniture, though.
I purchased my DQ 10's new back in the early 80's after lusting for them for years. I knew that they were power hungry so I built a pair of Hafler DH 200's bridged to mono with a DH 110 preamp to start. Later I added a pair of HSU HRSW10's powered by an Adcom GFA 555. It all may seem overkill, but one of my passions is the pipe organ and in the 80's this was the best bang for the buck that I could muster. The DQ 10's work especially well because as you've stated, they are open and give a wide stage presence. Plus the frequency range works well for pipe organ music. The HSU's will go down smoothly to 16hz and the Adcom will push them there! The HSU design so impressed me that for my dedicated home theater room I built a pair of Sono-tube subs, scaled up to almost 6 ft with 15" woofers. Yup, they do earthquake! Great listening doesn't have to be nose-bleed expensive. I still have the DQ 10's (now in my home theater) and have re-done the foam surrounds on the woofers. They still sound as sweet as ever. Judicial spending on the right gear is always the key!
You can get 1/2" quarter circle mouldings and cut 4 pieces to glue in a square and make press in grills for the AR speakers and buy cloth from a fabric store for cheap! Did it, worked great!
I have two sets of speakers. One set is a 1980's set of Sanyo's that my nice neighbor gave to me as she was putting them out for the trash collection. My second set are early 70's Pioneers that I trash picked out of the remains of a failed yard sale. Yes, both sets have worked perfectly for years right out of the trash pile. I've never had speakers this great and this reliable. Hooked up to a Sony modern 99's home stereo receiver (set on two channel stereo set to zero eq no pre sets) the Sony was given to me by my ex wife after she got them in a free trade swap and didn't want the receiver. I sold off the seven little speakers. My turntable is a Technics that was given to me by friends who went all in on CD in the 90's. Cost of system, $000.00.
PRICELESS
I have a set of ADS-L1530s that easily compete with my later aerial acoustics model 8s. I also have a set of ADS L710s that were my first set of vintage speakers and got me hooked onto the ADS line. I absolutely love the ADS brand! Fabulous speakers!
I have had almost every ads speaker with the exception of the 910 and one other ..And I have to say the most accurate and pleasing to me was actually the 710 over the 810...I am so sorry I got rid of those...they were my favorite..the bass from the 2 -7 inch was so tight and snap. They didn't go as low as the 810 did.but prefer the 710 quickness.😢
I’m still sorry I dumped my L1530’s after I bought a pair of L1590’s. Being young & foolish I believed newer meant better even though my ears said otherwise. It’s a shame ADS didn’t survive to present days.
I sold my ADS -L1530 because size too big, then sold L-710L , now use Proac response D1 . Still keep AR3a , and 4x .
It seems most people who've heard both prefer the L710s. I am most fortunate to have a pair of 910s practically drop into my lap here in S. Arizona. There are a few 910s that occasionally can be bought off Craigslist in the NE markets around where they were built.@@MuscleBN
I never much thought about vintage speakers (have always loved older electronics) until I chanced upon a pair of Celestion Ditton 551 that I ended up restoring and I LOVE them.
I still have my pair of AR-3a speakers from 1970. They sold for $250.00 Each at the time or $500.00 a pair. They are a classic speaker.
Before AR came out with the AR-LST, one of their "blurbs" was: "This is the best speaker we know how to make". The entire AR line sounded amazingly similar with the trade-offs as you went lower in price was more roleoff at low frequencies and less dispersion of the midrange and high frequencies, but the character of the sound remained the same.
I have a pair of AR-LST speakers in my storage as I type.
I appreciate your knowledge and honesty in this video . All are a very good call and investment . I have been into Audio for a little over 50 years now . My suggestion is . ANY speaker with 15 inch Woofers are what you want if you like loud Music . They are Bullet Proof and will keep you wanting more !
I understand Kevin has no love for Sansui speakers and I get why.....most of em are bass boom and shrill on top and simply can't handle real power levels. But I have to say, it's is obvious he's never sat in front of a pair of SP Z9s before 5 way with true 15 inch woofers 100 db sensitivity and easily handling 300 watts. These are tight bass and wonderful mids and highs. Great for rock which is my main listen. And the bass response doesn't fail at high volumes, if anything it sounds better. When purchasing my first G9000, I knew what I wanted....tight and fast bass response and speakers able to handle everything that receiver has. I settled on the Z9 2s and loved the sound so much, bought another pair locally for cheap.
Dalhquist DQ 10’s with two HK citation 19’s and a passive sub were fantastic. A wall of sound.
hard to beat a pair of proper DQ10s with a matching pair of decent powered subs functioning as stands. Runners up- Kef 104.2 with sorted tweeters sound good nearfield. DQ10s like space and reward thoughtful placement and high current amplification. The Kefs will mellow out a hot cartridge or a Chinese dac prone to sounding hissy as they are a little rolled off on top. Mids are great. Very English.
I agree with you on the Jubals. Aside from being really cool with the glass top, have put mine on stands too and turn down the treble a little bit. They sound fantastic
I love seeing the original advertising material for the products. I've stumbled across your channel today and it brings back so many memories from my time working in a small retail store in Australia in mid-to late 80's . Thank you so much!
Many JBL tweeters have a reputation for being harsh including the old horns as well as the 80’s and 90’s titanium domes. In my experience it’s all about the crossover. I have done crossover upgrades on several models and the measurements all show an elevated top end. Not sure why they did this but they did. They are all great drivers however and when implemented properly, have a nice flat response. As for the A400’s wide baffle, one big plus to that is it pushes the baffle step frequency down to where it’s much lower. Without getting into too much theory, that makes the crossover easier to design and the low end better.
I'm 71 and have tried a lot of low cost "audiophile" speakers. (Acoustat 2+2, Apogee stage, B&W 801,DM6, DCM QED, Cerwin-Vega, Infinity, Magnaplanar, etc.) and the initial focus was bass. However, in my 30's I discovered "imaging" and the race was on. Imaging is everything. When the experience turns into a razor sharp "surround" sound, frequency response, base, etc. become almost unimportant. When you get a better imaging set, it's time to listen to all your records again to heard things you never heard before - it can be quite dramatic.
The Champion so far is a set of Phase Research Tower R's - a 6" transmission line 2-way that has so many design tweaks they look experimental. The tweeter was in a tunnel supported by a "fin'. This tunnel was recessed about 2" back from the woofer cabinet. So I thought, Gee that flat surface should be reflecting sound upward and blurring the imaging. So I laid a terry cloth towel on that top edge - and it totally destroyed the imaging! Whoever designed these speakers knew things - I've never seen other speakers employ many of the bizarre things done to these.
agree 100% except for me the Magnepan MG3a's did it !
@@burlingtonbill1 I think I had the 2's and always wanted the 3's. However the Apogee Stage were like fireworks when listening to brass - you could "hear" the metal of the horns - something you experience live. I can't imagine what the Diva's were like. The 2+2's were a bit of a letdown, but back in the day, they were like ultra futuristic science fiction. Opus One in Pittsburgh was loaded with that stuff including the Advent 7' VideoBeam Projection TV of which I owned about 6 and at one time had 4 in my house.
There are tons of great speakers. Yamaha NS-690 are my personal favs. That said, I have about 10 sets ranging from ESS to AR to Energy to BA. All are good in the correct environment paired with sympatico components. I'm not a JBL fan myself, but they are trendy like Pioneer and Marantz amps. I love the BA tweeters....very spacious.
👍
Nice vid! Great to see ADS! 44 year ADS owner. My L710s are still fantastic.
Great list. The honorable mention of ESS makes great sense. I love my ESS AMT 1 B's! Completely agree with different types of speakers. I rotate the ESS's, Vandersteen C2 i''s, Ohm H's, Ohm Walsh I, and JBL 4310. Jubal's and ADS's are/have been on radar !
Love your cast!
Pair my Yamaha cr-820 with ESS model 7s' and get JBL like rock tones. Use ESS Pedestals speakers for fronts with Pioneer Elite SC-68 for that clear airy sound.
My favorites are the ones I built myself. Two 8" JBL's, horn mid, and ribbon tweeter. Column design, ported. They sound pretty good for home built. Solid, 60 lbs each.
they really should just sell it asap, im sure many people prefer simple portable solution to accompany their activities (and their expensive iems)
@@jesse75 of course. I built two others also. Each have JBL 15" 2226, LE175 horn, 2 8" JBL, and a Renkus Heinz horn tweeter. They really smoke, no subwoofer needed.
@@jesse75 those LE8T's are sweet. Cabinets from 2 to 3.5 cu. ' will do fine. Ports about 8"×2"×4" deep. More cu. ' cabinets = more bass.
Reformed the woofers in my Infinity 1001A and Bose 301 speakers. When these were played together, powered by a Pioneer 1010 receiver, the sound was so full, I could listen for hours.
ADS brings back memories. Had the monster L2030 for a while. Other than a bit soft in the very top-end (to my much younger ears back then), a TOTL contender.
Being older than dirt, seeing those old names brings back memories. My roommate in the Air Force had a pair of 2ax’s, Dual Turntable, and Marantz receiver. That was some great listening.
I love these videos!!!
Historically, I'm really cheap, so as a teenager getting my first stereo system, I got a Sansui 7070 and built my own speakers.
I sold the Sansui years ago and have been using a Nikko 7075 that I bought from a friend for my then girlfriend, now wife of over 40 years, back in about 1980. Never owned a pair of factory built speakers until I found a pair of ESS AMT5 at a church rummage sale for something like $35. I needed to refoam the woofers, but they've been fine ever since then.
I dream of owning something fancier, but I enjoy how the Nikko/ESS pairing sounds. No idea of what I'll do if something wears out. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
When you showed the Dahlquist with the grilles removed, I gagged when I saw a Piezo horn tweeters. I've long despised those things as they always sounded harsh to my ears, but it seems like they made them work.
This is my setup (I have Forte, Hersey, and others outside):
Mains: Klipsch Chorus II with upgraded tweeter diaphragms and X-overs from Mr. Crites. Center: Klipsch Academy with upgraded tweeter diaphragms and X-overs from Mr. Crites.
Surrounds: Klipsch RS-250S Front Height: Klipsch RP-500SA Sub: Klipsch SPL-120 AV: Denon AVR-X3500H, Panasonic DP-UB820P-K, Roku Ultra, XFinity Premier, Vizio P75QX-H1
A/d/s products were amazing! I used their car speakers, amps, and crossovers back in the day , amazing products!
My favorite vintage speakers are the ones I am currently using. I have a pair of AVID 102 speakers made in 1980. They have a knob to adjust the sound of the tweeter and have a fuse to power them. I don't hear them talked about much - if at all.
Hi Kevin,
Another gem of a video. I worked in three different audio stores from '73-'80. It was really interesting how owners and management had differeing views concerning their philosophies on
hi-fi. Two were focused on having the most "accurate" speakers and electronics, while the third was mostly interested in making a buck. Regardless, it was sad that the '80's saw most of the electronics manufacturers moving to department stores. I'm certain it improved their bottom line, but it destroyed all three of the shops that I had enjoyed being a part of for so long. What was most interesting, was that the mom & pop audio stores sold things at the same price as did the department stores. Obviously, the department stores had no service department, and you were no longer able to trade in your old equipment with a department store.
I heard and have owned all of the speakers that you feature in your top five picks. I still own a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10a's, that were an upgrade from the standard 10's, because the two speakers were mirror imaged and had mylar capacitors. I also still own a pair of Boston Acoustic 100's, as I felt they had a more accurate bass response compared to the 400's. Again, we are talking about highly subjective personal tastes.
I tried to review all of the previous comments and hope I'm not repeating a sore spot that someone else has already mentioned, and I have done the same thing more than I wish to admit. At any rate, the DQ-10 speaker measures 31 inches, from side to side as you originally mentioned, but at about 20 mins. in to your video, you mention the width of the DQ-10's as 42 inches!?! If there is a 42" DQ-10, perhaps it has a built-in side-burn trimmer...
I wish I still owned the first six "Absolute Sound" mini magazines that a customer kindly gave me in hopes that our store would take on a couple of new innovative lines.
In summation, thank you for picking up the torch and showing how enjoyable and even gratifying, it can be to critically listen to great music.
P.S. Does anyone know how I can get rid of the annoying emoji that now emblazons all of my comments?
My college roommate had the 3as, and I spent many hours listening to them in 1971. I had some AR 2as. We were too close to them most times, but occasionally took them to my uncle's house and let them shine.
The ADS L810 are very good, sweet sounding midrange very close sound as the DQ10 which also use a dome midrange, years ago I repaired a L810 tweeter filament and heard them, personally I prefer the Canton Plus S couple with Canton Plus Beta active subwoofer from that era, the DQ10 years ago I improve the crossover with Solen caps of one of my clients, they are very easy on the ears and have an incredible 5 component integration in phase that you hear one driver at 2 meter, the JBL jubal is the same L166 but with the 075 ( 2405) tweeter which sound hyper detailed, the L166 use an almost identical tweeter as the L112 which is very detailed also, the AR were very good in sound, ugly build but excellent balance, the 4311 are excellent but with a roll off after 10 khz that bothers me, they improve that problem with the L112
I've owned BA speakers since 1994.
Sub-stat7's. It's an external woofer box and satellites. (almost 30 years old!) Just got the satellites re-coned last year.
Nice trip down memory land. I got my first stereo in about 1978, it was a Rotel 25 watt receiver and and pair of AR18 speakers. My brother in-law is still using the Rotel at his house. I kept the AR’s unit sometime in the early 90’s I think. I had some other speakers in those years but they didn’t trip my trigger. But I bought a new pair of Boston A400’s in 1984-85 sometime. Kept them for several years. They were really nice to pair with modest electronics and gave a great experience. But it was easy to annoy the other people in our apartment building with them. In the late 80’s I was working at a couple different audio stores, and changed out gear kind of regularly. But I did sell several of the brands that you mentioned here. I always liked and sold lots of Boston Acoustics especially the A100’s. ADS was a great speaker, but didn’t sell as well because they were more expensive, and not as flashy, people tended to like a little bump and splash in the demo room. Despite their popularity, I never worked at a store that sold JBL. I always thought that they were bass heavy when I heard them, but lots of people liked them.
The audio store I worked for in the 80s sold Boston acoustics BMW face Tech and dalquist speakers. We sold plenty of Boston A40's and A60s but not too many of the larger models because he B&W DM10's at $300-somehing a pair just about crushed almost anything in the store until you spent 3 times that. Everybody working in the store-bought a pair of those b & w speakers for themselves at half price on salesman's accommodations.
Love it, I had a pair of Ar17's paired with a technics amp and turntable (with an ADC ZLM Mkiii cartridge.) I still have that original gear from 1978, in original boxes. As I got older and had more disposable income I started gathering all the gear I'd drooled over when I was in high school, but couldn't afford. I picked up a pair of AR-11's about 15 years ago for a song and have then hooked to my pioneer SX-950 receiver. Best sound ever!
Had the Boston Acoustic A-150's back in the mid 80's. The best speaker I've ever owned, man those speakers could make the room expand, and almost blow my windows out. I've had many speakers since, and have never found speakers I enjoyed more since.
The 2 most magical Audio Moments in my life involved wiring up a pair of AR3a , to my Sansui 9090 db, that was about 2002. And another was hearing the DQ10s playing outside on someone’s porch around 1984. Epicure/Epi Speakers are also really under rated and Impressive Sounding.
So right about the DQ 10s needing a big space. I used to have one of their bookshelf speakers which I loved. They were fantastic in my small apartment. Best I ever heard a lot of was my dad's KEF 104s. Just loved those speakers.
I paired my JBL-L65s with the L-56 off my Marantz 2275 (I bought it in 1977) back around 1982. I lived in an apartment at the time, so I didn't get much chance to open up the volume. When I moved into my first house, I set the speakers in four corners, trying different placement combinations. The L-65s sounded better on 1' pedestals. The bass was fantastic, while the mid and tweeters, I scaled back some. And yes, I used the loudness button on my Marantz. I can give a good example of the bass: the band Styx had a song named Queen of Spades. The synthesized bass at the end would rattle the walls and you would feel it inside your body. Live recorded music would sound as if you were present.
I often use Castle Walls by Styx when comparing speakers.
In 1977 I bought a pair of Tannoy Berkleys, liked them so much I picked up a pair of Ardens. I believe they were about $1500 for the pair. Some times I would flip the Berkleys upside down and stack them on top of the Ardens. Ten years later I was stacking 2 pairs of Ardens for Parties for our Camaro Club.
The DQ10's were arguably the first open baffle speaker. You talk about putting them in a large room, well I knew a kid who had them in a small dorm room. I would marvel them every time I went into his room. Good bass, I think the 10" woofer was the same as the one in the large Advent. You didn't mention the sensitivity, I think they were 84 or 85dB, fairly low. Shops would typically pair them with the GAS Ampzilla.
The DQ10 did indeed use the Advent woofer. They could be a good sounding speaker in the right room and with the right equipment but they were very fussy about what you drove them with, and pretty inefficient. They also were great for collecting dust, lint and pet hair that would pass through the metal mesh rear grill and collect on the drivers and crossover.
Yup - my experience exactly. Once you heard that open soundstage, you MADE your home setup, amp choice, and budget AROUND that speaker -- TOTALLY worth making changes for !
Still have my JBL L26 speakers and Yamaha 610 II amp and YP-d71 turntable purchased in 1976 before I went off to college. I reconed the woofers and refinished the cabinets and they are as sweet sounding as ever. I now drive them with a second hand Carver 90amp receiver.
I see you like the Acoustic Suspension vintage. Pity no driver maker today makes woofers designed for AS cabs. Infinity was another brand that had some good AS speakers. I had a pair of RSe's that were not terribly big but had a really big sound.
When I was young (so much younger than I am today) my speakers were Pioneer HPM 900'S.. I still have those but I've complemented them with a pair of Tannoy Oxford gold series speakers. They complement each other quit well.
The stereo shop I frequented back in the day always advised patrons to purchase the best set of best speakers they could afford when assembling a system. I always thought that was good advice, though I watched plenty of people buy powerful receivers and amps, then scrimp on speakers.
True story. You can slap together a little IC-based 5 W amplifier and have impressive results if you are driving real speakers. Look what results they were getting back in the day with a pair of theatre Altecs and a medium size (for the time) tube amplifier.
I'm running a set of ADS 980 3 ways on studio stands, 12" woofer great speakers. I believe they use the same drivers as the 1590 towers except if I remember correctly the 1590's use two woofers. I bought these brand new and have been enjoying them ever since.
Agreed. The ADS L810s are unbelievable. I will never get rid of my near mint late version pair. The quality of build and the incredible sound quality is superb. I power mine with a restored Proton A1150 power amplifier. Just a great combo. I also have a small pair of ADS L400 late version and they are incredible as well. Thank you for your work on this channel! I worked for years in the early 80s through early 90s in high end shops another great speaker is MBQuart. Popular in USA for auto sound, but often overlooked for their excellent home speakers. Cheers.
WOW!!! You have a Proton!!
Cool. I had a receiver/ d 950 . With bose10.2 speakers. Nice sounding.
Im going to build my own version of jbl j235 3way ,with a pryomid shape to the cabinet, and use the original crossovers and make my own port, all those great old speakers are the best in my eyes, you do great reveiws, .......stu,n.h.
I still have a pair of ADS 810s that I bought new in 78 or 79. Fabulous speakers when driven by my Kenwood KA7100 (which I still have but needs some work). A buddy of mine had the ultimate setup though, a Sansui AU717 with a Thorens turntable that had one of the first carbon fiber arms. I can still remember how good that sounded.
In 1968 I sold AR3a and AR2a speakers in a Hi-Fi department at Hess Brothers in Allentown, PA. The salesmen preferred KLH 5s and 6s, so we drilled holes in the back of the ARs to kill the deep bass. Hardly sold any ARs after that - true story!
So you sabotaged the better speakers. I will guess that the markup on the KLHs was better. KLH made excellent speakers as well. Back in the late 1960 I worked as a tech at a retail store that sold quality audio equipment. They had the AR-3a speakers, Advents, JBL L-100s and they had speakers marketed by H. H. Scott. The manager wanted us to push the Scott speakers because it had a much better markup. Luckily, I did not do too much sales because the Scott was not a great speaker.
In 1962 I loved sitting in my dorm room and listening to Verdi’s Requiem on my AR 2a s driven by my Dynakit Stereo 70s (I built) and in 1992 at home driven by my Marantz Receiver 223; I gave the receiver and speakers to my daughter soon after.
Back in the day, my main problem with the DQ 10s was their inefficiency. And price. IMO, the ADS L810's walked all over them, which is why I bought them. This was at Magnolia hi-fi in their fairly new (at the time) Roosevelt store in Seattle. They sold both brands.
BTW, I was in the store to buy stacked advents. My friend and I both. We BOTH walked out with our own pairs of L810's.
I've talked to a few sellers from that era who say that the L810s sold out constantly and the workers there drooled over the looks. A photo of a pair of L810s on their original stands sold me on having to get a pair, unheard. Unfortunately, the stands for them and others are as rare as hen's teeth nowadays, and having them fabbed up by someone seems to cost a small fortune for us broke-ass retirees. hehe My son made a pair of stands for me.
I bought a pair of the A100s in the late 80s for my first apartment. Loved em ! My neighbors too !
First heard the DQ10’s at Paris Audio in Sherman Oaks ca. back in 1973 and To this day that speaker has made the biggest impression on me..
after my DQ10 broke down. Not many things come closed... Snell, B&W, infinity
My father had these DQ10 shipped to Osaka.
It was the open air sound. Feeling so light and clear.
Like I was at a concert. 💁🏻♀️
Wow, that was a trip through the Wayback Machine! I saved up and built my first hifi system when I was a junior in high school. And there it is in your video! Well, mine was slightly less impressive - Pioneer SA-8100/TA-8100, Thorens TD165 and a pair of large Advents. Only one of our rich kid friends had a stacked pair of Advents and I’m not sure I ever heard them. But I loved my setup so much I didn’t care. Still have the Thorens although I have much better TTs now. Still have the amp & tuner although the amp needs a refresh. And I gave the Advents to my daughter, who’s still rockin’ out with them.
So happy to see the DQ-10 on the list, an enormously influential speaker for me early in my audio journey. I was talking with you in the store about a year ago and hadn't even noticed you had a pair. It was awesome to listen to them again, I just wish I had a place to put a set these days.
I ❤ Dahlquist too.
I bought my DQ 20s new in the mid-late 1990s, and I'm still using them, now in my third system. It's been a wonderful love affair.
Dahlquist speakers, particularly the DQ 20, are beautiful sounding (and beautiful looking), well built exemplars of acoustic engineering.
And the superb Scan Speak Drivers Dahlquist used are still available.
I have a hard time picking a favorite. Right now I am rotating Fortes, Infinity Kappa 6.1 II, JBL L80t3. Also mixing in Thiel CS1 and Ohm Micro Walsh Talls. They all sound very different. Although I do not have any right now, I really like the Large Advents. I have a single JBL 4311B grey that I am looking to make a pair. I listen to my Pet Sounds mono cd on that!
The Boston Acoustics A400 speakers use (2) 8" woofers in each cabinet for the bass frequencies, not 6" or 6.5" as you stated.
I remember back in the 80s hearing B&W, KEF, Polk, Infinity etc. The Infinity speakers were great back then but when I heard Thiel, that was it for me.
Great presentation Kevin! My fond memory of the AR 2A’s back in the early 70’s were powered by a flagship Sherwood receiver (not sure of that model) and spinning vinyl on a Benjamin-Miracord turntable sounded just superb. You are so right about good vintage gear all of the same era sounded very good to us. None of us were audiophiles, we just listened to music. Soon out of college we got jobs and began to trade up. We got the fever.
In the '70s I grew up listening to Heathkit AS-2A loudspeakers (Heathkit's version of AR-2A) connected to a Garrard turntable running through a Heathkit pre-amp & AA-121 tube amplifier. Around 1997 I stumbled upon an eBay auction for New Old Stock AR-2A speakers in the original boxes for $300... I still have them today & they still sound awesome! They've had some attention over the years (re-sealed the cloth woofer surrounds, upgraded the level control pots) but still amazing.
I LOVE my ADS L810s! Bought them in '79 and will never let em go.
“Audiophiles are too scared to play with their knobs.” Classic!
In college, I had a pair of AR-2AX, an AR turntable, and a Marantz receiver! They were on my desk . . . the dining table was for homework! What a great way to start my audiophile experience.
Do you ever get any ,"Altec Lansing "speakers in and if so what's your thoughts.
Altec~Lansing loudspeakers are designed for professional use theatres & nightclubs large 15 with horn tweeter requiring big amplifier and an ample disposable income for large property private residential use are rarely seen for sale even used are quite expensive.🎩
@1stcontact590 - All these guys drooling over the large Advents - and they're good but when I did an A/B comparison - I sold the Advents and still have the Altecs - model 891V - 35 years ago.
Good luck finding any for sale, no one who has them ever wants to let them go!
Even the little 8" 2-Way Altec Capri is a Polk Monitor 7/ Bose 301/ Acoustic Research AR18/ Small Advents *_Killer._*
Phase linear p-560s..Left and right!! Absolutely beautiful sounding!! My 55 dollar specials..they are 500 a peace now!! I've had all the high end brands!! But these ones really sound amazing!! Everything is crisp and Clear !!! But I buy and sell most of the others!! Marantz and Sansui are another favorite!!
Great list. Amazing sounds from them all…. Wish your list would include the kappa line.
I don't have an ADS L810 but I got an ADS L400 bought at a yard sale for $5.00 for the pair including the original stand. Amazed that it still works without any issues. I matched it with an Onkyo subwoofer then later a Klipsch subwoofer and the combination is really great.
A pair of Polk Monitor 7B's has been my main speaker since the 80's. I love them and recently did an upgrade to the crossovers which brought the tweeters back to life. They are fantastic.
I have a pair of Polk Monitor 10's that I bought new back in 1986, and I still listen to them frequently! They are very dynamic and detailed, and i'm still blown away by their full bodied sound! I have several stereo systems in my house, but I always make time to listen to the 10's, as they are magical to me!
@@AudiophileTubes - That whole monitor line from back in the day was great.
Started in 1967 with Ar amp,Ar turntable,Ar 4 speakers. Stepped up to Ar5 and then to Ar3a speakers as my wallet size grew.My other system is now Mac 6100amp,Jbl166 speakers and Denon turntable. Still have both set ups in my attic man cave...Ive got a lot of other vintage systems ive picked up used,but the first two systems that I skiimped and scrapped to get..Rock on . (The Ar5s are close to the Ar3a just a little less bass which my be btter.
I lucked out and got some AR7s at a thrift store for $12. After replacing the foam, they sound amazing staring my whole audiophile journey
Almost as good as my finding a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls for $7.99ea in the furniture section at a Goodwill bins outlet. I presumed they were blown. They weren't. The key to finding amazing stuff at thrift stores, is to be in the right place at the right time, which you can only do by figuring out which ones get especially good stuff, what their schedule is for putting out stuff, then putting in your time doing the rounds of good stores, and thoroughly checking what is there. Eventually it pays off.
It also pays to pick and resell stuff other than what you're personally interested in, to help justify spending more hours in your personal quests. It's funny what picking/reselling skills you can develop if you pay attention, or if you make friends among other regular pickers/shoppers. If looking for stereo components, make a deal with a picker friend that they'll grab good stuff for you, if you'll grab stuff in their own areas of interest, say kitchen appliance blades and Legos. At first, just do it while you're both in the store, to exchange stuff into each other's carts. Then, consider buying for each other when only one of you is there, and squaring up later. It might lead to a $10 mistake once in a while, but not often enough to outweigh frequent $100+ wins.
I had connections to wholesalers and bought a pair of L810's, with the cloth grills, about 5 minutes after I heard them the first time. I had them many years until the cabinet on one of them cracked due to my water heater blowing up and the speakers sat in what was pretty much a steam bath for two days while I was out of town. I attempted to repair the cracked one, but soon after that, the woofers began to fall apart and they were retired and got tossed when we moved. My fantasy speakers when I first started out were the AR-9A's my allergy doctor had. All he listened to was classical, but I went over to his house about 1974 and heard his setup, a McIntosh tuner and preamp with some other brand of power amp, and I was blown away listening to "Night on Bald Mountain". He had a Dual 1219 turntable with a Shure V15 type II cartridge. I can afford nice stuff now, but sadly my right ear has become nearly useless due to some odd eustation tube issue.
I told the doc's son I would pay a decent price for the still new looking AR's, but I never heard anything from him and he told me a while back he had sold them. He forgot I wanted them.
I spent a bit of time listening to the AR3a in electronics stores around 1973. I think they were around $325 a pair by then. I wound up with a pair of utility Advents because they sounded really good and had the same (east coast) design philosophy as the ARs. The Advents were also pretty ugly if you took the grill off but not as ugly as your pic of the ARs.
The 3as were closer to $250 each back then.
I simply don't understand Kevin's mad passionate love over the 3a's. They were an earlier-gen. speaker that Julian Hirsch & Stereo Review readers fawned over for many years. Undeniably they have a great heritage (as does JBL and Klipsch) but I never felt the later AR models were competitive. The Dynaco A25s were much smoother to my ear. Henry Kloss of Advent set the hifi world on fire with the Large Advents and when I could afford a pair, I bought them & never looked back (until I heard DQ-10s). I wonder if Skylabs has ever actually had any Large Advents on the floor to listen to?
Personally, I was a huge fan of JBL112s. They were immaculate, and in my youth when I tended towards cranking things up, they were great. They could handle a lot of power but didn’t require super wattage. The 12” woofer was a beast, and I’m sure my neighbors loved me. I’ve often looked back fondly at the sound. Although JBL categorized them as “bookshelf speakers”, they were definitely not at roughly 55lbs per.
Highly recommend, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a vintage pair needed a reform.