Part 2: Vintage Best Speakers That Might Still Be Great Today?

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Is anyone intimately familiar with any of these vintage speakers which have been mentioned as among the best speakers of their day. Describe their sound and would they still be an exceptional speaker today?

 

 Fulton J speaker

 Klh 355 Baron

 Pioneer HPM 200

 Watson Model 10 or model 7

 Daniel Queen Speaker

 Epicure 3.0

 Fusselier speaker

 Mariah speaker

 Fried Studio IV

 Shahinian Obelisk

 Ohm model I

 Clarke speaker (looks like Snell Type A) Dup

 Celestion sl 600

 Yamaha NS 500M

 Goetz Systems speakers

 Infinity Quantum Line Source

 Infinity Kappa 9

 

 All of the above speakers I have heard at least one person say, " those are the best speakers I've ever heard." I've heard some of them. I wish I would have heard them longer and on more than occasion.

 

 

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Some older audiophiles I have talked with, whose experience dates back to the early 1960s, are not even sure if they can remember 6 inch or 8 inch woofers. It was usually a minimum of a 10 inch woofer with heavy magnets or a 12 inch. The bookshelf speakers were usually pushing around 40 pounds each or so, and their dispersion of sound was often surprisingly good, even by today's standards. The better examples didn't really sound boxy, but maybe you could sense the box more, with all that deep bass going on inside and I don't think cabinet bracing was in such wide use as it is today. The speakers high end was usually somewhat rolled off by today's standards to compensate for higher levels of cartridge distortion (and cable distortion) and the higher distortion of the tweeters themselves compared to better modern designs. Warmth and bass was generally more generous and "thin" sounding speakers attempting to emphasize detail might have been as rare back then as the goose that laid a golden egg.

 

 I have some vintage Emit tweeters and they have transparency and transient subtlety far superior to most modern tweeters which give them an amazingly effortless sound. A combination of amazing extension and transient speed always seems to have that effect. The Kappa 9 I have wanted to hear, but according to some, really is picky as far as what amplifier is used with it. The Infinity IRS Beta, which came a little later and I have heard, was even pickier in that way, but is still memorable in my mind for its amazing transparency and ability to sonically disappear entirely, even after all these years since I heard it.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Thanks for the input Bluesman. Would you happen to know if there was much difference between the midrange performance of the NS 500M and the NS 1000? Also was their much difference in midrange performance between the LS3/5A and the Kef Reference 101? Thanks.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Great! Thanks for all the great info. I have never heard LS3/5A speakers, but am familiar with Reference 101's. Their little red light which temporarily shuts down the speakers when driven too hard, comes on a little too frequently for me and my upper medium size living room. They make popping sounds before that happens, which serves as a warning, which too much bass energy triggers. It is surprising to me that a speaker that dates so far back can sound as clean as they do. They sound held back in the upper midrange compared to Era Design speakers, designed by Michael Kelly of Aerial Acoustics. The Era speakers are great but sound a little more hi fi-ish in the midrange. The Era speakers tweeter is ever so slightly rolled off, but so sweet sounding.

 

 I have some NS 500M midrange drivers. I plan on implementing them somewhere; someday in a 3 way. They were a lot cheaper to obtain than the berrylium mids of the NS 1000 speakers. The NS 500M it is said used titanium for its midrange. A person selling them on ebay years ago, who owned both models, claims the 500M was the preferred speaker slightly, because of better bass, and that the midrange between the two was very close, with the 1000 the close winner, but I didn't know if that was just a sales pitch or if he was being truthful.

 

 One of the other speakers I listed called Goetz speakers, were made down in Georgia by a talented guy who was a fanatic about crossover design. Using a Seas cone midrange circa mid 1980s, ( the midrange was the star among stars) his speakers sounded similar to an electrostatic for speed. One model called the GMS 1, looked similar to the old KLH SCXA, another speaker I could have listed. Another model was wider with slightly slanted sides, really beautiful. The Goetz made some other speaker models of the early to late1980s sound slow and mechanical, like Vandersteen and Snells. Although I once heard the original Vandersteen 2C with Beard tube electronics from the U.K. and the synergy and sound was so beautiful that I no longer thought of the 2C as a class C speaker as Stereophile had it rated. The salesman also played me the Snells. I commented that the Snells sounded faster, and he asked me, " which speaker gets you into the music more?" Without having to think too much I said " "the Vandersteen."

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Its still ok, thank goodness. Some people disconnect the red light protection circuit to allegedly improve the sound. Glad I still had mine unhampered with. The 101 for my purposes makes a nice little smallish bedroom speaker. I dont know of any cone or dome speaker from the 1960's or before that sound as clean( or close to it) as good modern drivers do. But I can name some 1970s and 1980s speakers that sound pretty clean even by today's standards, including many I've listed. Maybe clarity is where the biggest gains have been made.Back in the 1980s and 1990s, here in the U.S., walking into a audio salon, the 2 most likely speakers you would hear playing would be the Celestion sl600, or Vandersteen 2C, (often Acoustat & Magnepan too). I wonder about a lot of things including just how good I remember the sound of those long ago heard speakers.