Favorite Stereo Speakers

[sunvalleylaw]

What are yours?

1. First, old school if you have an old school choice, (Dahlquist, Infinity, Klipsch, Speakerlab, etc.)

2. Then new school.

I am looking to get sounds that I loved from premium speakers of the 70's and 80's and I am hoping some may have found sounds in new style speaker systems that give the same qualities of old school speakers/monitors. I do not have a decent stereo shop nearby so I cannot go listen in a speaker room to find out for myself.

My choices:

1. Old School - Dahlquist series. I love their bass response, and good highs. I could only afford the two way stereo monitors, the DQM-V, but I loved them. The ports out the rear of the cabinet would give you that great, tight bass response you could literally feel. I still have the speakers and may re-cone them.

2. New school - I don't have any or know much. Polk audio looks pretty good on paper. Enlighten me please!

[SuperSwede]

2) I am a huge fan of BOSE.. excellent speakers!

[F_BSurfer]

klipsch both ways

[M29]

I have always like klipsch.
I had a pair of DCM Time Windows they were nice, with a open spacious sound. I like a sub woofer with most anything.

M29

[luvmyshiner]

I don't know too much about the newer stuff SVL, but when it comes to old school I'm a big fan of Bose and JBL. I've got a set of Bose 901 series II and a set of series IV. I actually prefer the series II. I also have a set of JBL L100 Century speakers circa 1970 that in my opinion are still the best sounding speakers I've ever owned.

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Hey Sunvalley , I share your interest in those high
end audio tones of yesteryear .. love Klipsch , a set of Lascallas with sufficient power is a beautiful experience , Pioneer speakers from the late 70's are very cool sounding . and JBL'S are awesome as well , lots to choose from, the market for vintage audio is realy heating up , check out ebay under vintage electronics , old Marantz's bring real big dollars these days and good quality reel to reels and high end turntables are getting expensive . Even vynil has made a resurgence , how cool is that. good luck with the hunt ....6S9L

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will check some out. I love my old school speakers, and if it were me, I would just have them re-built. But my wife would prefer not to have the whole decor of our great room arranged around the placement of my large box Dahlquists for best imaging purposes. Thus, I need to find the newer, smaller alternatives that give similar sound. It sounds like a subwoofer is required for sure.

I anticipate in the next few years, combining my stereo sound output with my computer for movies and music, and an HD screen of some type. Seems as though newer speaker set ups (5.1, etc.) are required for most video anyway. I just want them to have excellent music audio quality and response as well.

[just strum]

early Advent. I still have the cabinets (look like new), but the speakers were shot so I trashed them. Thought about using them as cabs to hook up to the amps.


No modern selection - stereo equipment became too expensive to keep up with.

[marnold***]

I don't know if it's old or new school or whatever, but before my wife and I got married her grandparents gave all the grandkids some money which we decided to spend on a stereo since neither of us had one. We got a couple of Mirage towers which we like quite a bit. Thankfully, the kids only pulled them down once or twice A few years back we picked up an Athena subwoofer, which I seem to remember is made by the same company that makes the Mirage stuff.

[sunvalleylaw]

early Advent. I still have the cabinets (look like new), but the speakers were shot so I trashed them. Thought about using them as cabs to hook up to the amps.


No modern selection - stereo equipment became too expensive to keep up with.

That is the situation with my Dalhquists. The cabs are in great condition, and were one of the main features of the speakers. The woofers rotted over time, and I bet the tweeters could be re-done too. I am not going to get rid of them and will likely get them re-done by an outfit that does that. But they still won't do the 5.1 thing, and will have to be a rec room, guitar and noise room speaker set. Or maybe my office!!!!

[luvmyshiner]

Steve, check out http://www.simplyspeakers.com/

I refoamed the Series IV 901's with parts from them, and I mailed off the woofers on my son's Marantz speakers to be refoamed (they were originally mine purchased in 1980). They're good folks, do a great job, a little pricey on postage and handling, but they're offering a high quality service that I haven't seen matched anywhere else.

[luvmyshiner]

Here's a shot of the series II 901's in the "soon to be finished" (so I've been saying for two years) music room. I have them hooked up old school to a Marantz MA600 amplifier, Sony turntable, and a single disc CD player . The Tascam I got for my birthday is also hooked up, and will hopefully be placed in use shortly.

[just strum]

Steve, check out http://www.simplyspeakers.com/

I refoamed the Series IV 901's with parts from them, and I mailed off the woofers on my son's Marantz speakers to be refoamed (they were originally mine purchased in 1980). They're good folks, do a great job, a little pricey on postage and handling, but they're offering a high quality service that I haven't seen matched anywhere else.

That was the place I was going to send mine, but I finally got tired of having them sit around so I threw them away.

[Algonquin]

Paradigm Titans are a great budget speaker...
http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speak...9_1594crx.aspx

Don't let the word 'budget' fool you though... these are a great little speaker.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks guys. That is a cool looking room Shiner! Does that Marantz have the blue lighted FM markings and the horizontal dial?

[luvmyshiner]

Thanks Steve. The tuner is a separate unit from the amplifier, something that was considered "high end" back in the day. If I'm remembering the dial you're talking about, it doesn't have that. But it does have the lit FM stations listed horizontally.

Funny thing is, I bought the amp and tuner my sophomore year in college, back in '80, and it still works great. I have to clean the pots every three or four years, but that's the extent of the maintenance. Every amplifier I've purchased in the last fifteen years has only lasted 4-5 years before it crapped out on me. They just don't make them like the used to.

[sunvalleylaw]

My '85 Denon, while not nearly as cool and retro as your set up (I remember when having separate tuner and amph sections was considered high end), has lasted since then as well. Still works great. It was moderate end (is there a moderate end?) back in the day, and supposedly stored power in a nice clean way, rather than pulling from the wall as much or something like that. I still like it. My first CD player from the day, and my Nakamichi tape deck, have since croaked. But that tape deck gave me years of great service. The Yamaha CD player was just ok.

[luvmyshiner]

Heh, heh, you'll like this Steve. About a month ago when I was cleaning everything up and putting it all together, I started looking for just a simple, old, one disc CD player. CB had one but unfortunately it crapped out. The bottom line, I couldn't find one. Nobody makes them anymore. Then I remembered that I had an old DVD player that also played CD's. So I "repurposed" it as they say on all those home improvement shows.