Question on Advent Heritage speakers

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by CardinalFang, Feb 7, 2007.

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  1. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Somebody locally is selling a pair of Advent Heritage speakers for $100.

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    Are these any good, and what should I look out for? I figure the surrounds might need to be replaced, and the tweeter could be blown. Anything else to check?
     
  2. Rolf Erickson

    Rolf Erickson New Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Yeah, check the surrounds carefully. Doing 4 will cost another $100+ unless you DIY.

    It's likely, at this vintage, unless they have been done already, the woofers will need new foam surrounds. Even if they look intact, if you "pinch" test them, they may fail and crack, be diplomatic with the seller, and ask it they can do the test themselves, they may be difficult to sell at asking price once they are tested to destruction.. They will have a "Hole" in them once the test has failed.... If you have them done professionally, figure at least $100.00 for all 4 woofers.... Bargan accordingly.... I have done many of these types, it's not too difficult to DIY. It will take about 6 hours time to do all 4 at one time.. I can talk you through it. These seem like they could be decent sounding speakers, But I have not heard them specifically. I have heard many Infinity speakers that I have rebuilt for clients and for resale myself, they are pretty good considering how cheaply they can be obtained these days.. If you can demonstrate the poor quality of foam surround condition to the seller, you should be able to buy them for about $50-$60??? I can provide to you, 4 new foam surrounds for $25.00 shipped, including adhesive and brush and emailed instructions. Usually the tweeters are OK, but test them by playing some music before buying.. If they don't make any sound, drop the price by about $25.00 per blown tweeter. .. This could be a good deal to get, Good Luck with it!! Rolf.
     
  3. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Thanks Rolf! I'll think this over... :)
     
  4. Rolf Erickson

    Rolf Erickson New Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    "Substitute"... Or, "Hey Mister! Have you ever seen....?"
     
  5. Taurus

    Taurus Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, Texas
    I know what they sound like.......since I sold them for almost three years! Deep, rich bass though not as "punchy" as a similar-sized bass-reflex design. High frequencies were pretty neutral, mids were a little soft but still detailed. Are rather power hungry because of the acoustic-suspension design and heavy woofer cones, but their bass quality makes up for that IMO.

    Also, these were considered by many employees (myself included) and customers to be the best looking speakers we sold by far. We actually sold a few pairs *only* because of their styling. That wood you see is not veneer, rather it is actually solid slabs of pecan. When the chocolate brown "floating" grill is in place the entire speaker is quite eye catching.

    The tweeter uses a parabolic-shaped dome (a soft/rubbery plastic, can't remember what type though) and used ferrofluid to help control unwanted heat and resonances.

    IIRC we sold them for about $600 per pair back in 1995.

    FYI: this model's little brother was the "Laureate": they were styled exactly the same, and used the same tweeter but used 6.5" woofers instead of 8". This was pretty much our most popular floorstanding speaker.
     
  6. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I just spoke to the seller. He says the foam surrounds are fine, no rotting or anything like that. Tweeters are fine too. He said that one of the speakers has a small dent in the round center (not sure the name of that part of the cone). He says he can't hear a difference. I'll say that I have a dent in one of my powered Alesis monitors in my basement home studio, and I can't hear a difference either. Then again, I'm not sure what to listen for...

    I'm sure the foam surrounds are in decent shape NOW, but how much longer before they do go?

    Is $100 reasonable for these? Some went for more on eBay, and they needed new foam surrounds and were really scratched up...

    Lastly, it sounds like I won't be able to power these with my Fisher tube amp. Which oddly enough, has been falling out of favor lately, since I discovered the lack of low end on the phono stage. So maybe I'll try my 80s JVC amp, which actually has some nice qualities.
     
  7. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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  8. Taurus

    Taurus Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, Texas
    I believe Advent finally stopped selling these in 1996*, so even models from that model year have entered the potential-foam-rot stage of their lifespan, so even if the seller says the surrounds are fine *now*, personally $150 is the very most I would pay for the pair.

    While Advents aren't terribly efficient, they aren't power sponges either like the speakers from Acoustic Research. For the same size woofers AR's models went lower frequency-wise but to do that (especially for the 10" and larger woofers) they required quite a bit more power & also why so many had impedances of 4 ohms, which helped better-made solid-state amps produce more power. IIRC except for the Smaller Advent of the 70s, Advents were always either 6 or 8 ohms. I owned a pair of Advent Babys for 14 years (2-ways with a 6.5" woofer), which had an efficiency rating of only 86dB and an impedance of 6ohms and my Pioneer SX-6 receiver with 45watts/channel (.01%THD, 20-20kHz into 8ohms) could easily drive them to conversation-ending levels.

    * the year before Recoton bought International Jensen, who also owned Acoustic Research, and this was the beginning of the end for both brands :(
     
  9. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I currently use the AR 2ax with my Fisher amp. It seems to work fine in my small room, but obviously I can't crank it without hearing distortion from the amp.

    I'm going to listen to the DCC Ram on them today, and if they don't blow me away I'll pass.
     
  10. Rolf Erickson

    Rolf Erickson New Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Don't take the sellers word for it, damage is often invisible to amateurs.

    I will make a small bet that those surrounds (if original) are in poor condition, even if they don't have holes in them yet, or cracks. I give it an 80% probability of detectable damage. They have two failure modes, they are becoming brittle, or getting gooey. They will often appear OK to the untrained eye, but if you "pinch" test them, (Or, get the seller to do it..) they will likely crack or even crumble, or stick together. This is evidence of drying and "rotting" foam... Good fresh foam surround material will just spring back instantly, no damage done... I'ts almost inevitable, that by now, 11 + years out, speakers which have not been stored in plastic bags, will evidence deterioration of surround compounds.. You may be able to play them for a while longer without hearing anything wrong, but in a few years or sooner, they will fail. I have seen many good looking surrounds crack at once as soon as music is played, after the speakers come out of 5 or 6 years of storage, they rot with time alone. My Three Cents... I have dealt with and replaced surrounds on over 150 older woofers, I am not ignorant in these matters. Rolf.
     
  11. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Thanks Rolf. I'm going to ask him to perform the pinch test. If I buy them, I'll also buy those surround kits from you. :agree:
     
  12. Rolf Erickson

    Rolf Erickson New Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    That will be fine.. But don't overpay for those speakers. Sooner or later, they will need refurbishment. The only way they will not, is if they have had all 4 surrounds replaced already, then they will be fine for at least 10 years after the work. Be diplomatic in requesting the "pinch-test" this can be emotionally distrubing for the seller... Like asking a seller to start his car before buying it, and it unexpectedly catches fire and roasts the motor compartment to slag. Best of luck. Rolf.
     
    Vinny123 likes this.
  13. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Thanks. I couldn't make it there tonight, so hopefully I'll check them out tomorrow evening.
     
  14. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Has Advent gone out of business?
     
  15. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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  16. Rolf Erickson

    Rolf Erickson New Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Good choice, good price.

    Those are classics. Good price. Check the surrounds carefully, they may be aftermarket-replaced already. If they seem good, play them until evidence of failure develops, then stop and replace them. If you obtain a second pair of the same model and vintage, you can double-stack them and hear some real sound for minimum dollars.
     
  17. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

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    :righton: Sounds like a plan. I hope to pick these up from the seller sometime this week. I'll keep you posted!
     
  18. WizardGlik

    WizardGlik New Member

    Location:
    OHIO
    Defiance is a bit of a drive from Columbus, eh Keith? ;)
     
  19. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    :agree: 2 1/2 hours... not too bad with the Honda Fit and some good CDs though. :)
     
  20. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I finally made it up to Defiance! A beautiful little town in NW Ohio. :) I have the speakers home now, and they are hooked up to the system.

    Looks as though one speaker had an aftermarket-replacement, but the other is an original. Of course, the original does not pass the pinch-test.

    What does a speaker sound like when it needs a new surround? The first thing I thought when I played a record was that the speakers sounded out of phase. Something was missing in the midrange... but I could hear stereo separation from the tweeters (hi hat, cymbals, etc). To me, that points to a woofer not putting out what it should. Am I correct?

    I'm going to order a refoam kit and replace both speakers. Better safe than sorry.
     
  21. rsub8

    rsub8 New Member

    I had a pair of Advents once. Very neutral sounding; veiled, but a nice, musical loudspeaker. Even considering the 10" woofer, they could pump out the bass!

    Good luck to you!
     
  22. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks! vinylrec brought over his small Advents last month (4 ohm model) and they really sang. I really think the small model is a better match for my Fisher tube amp (KX-100), but I'm glad I have some large Advents anyway. Maybe I'll track down a 70s Marantz or Pioneer amp sometime... they might be a good match for a 2nd system.
     
  23. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    A couple of earlier posts referred to the "pinch" test". What is it? I suspect my Boston A60's may be going so I'd like to know for sure. My white Advents have already had the foam surrounds replaced.
     
  24. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
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    If you pinch the foam surround and it disintegrates or breaks apart, it needs to be replaced.
     
  25. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Thanks, Keith. The one I thought might be going (I noticed some bass resonance/distortion) appears fine but the other one crumbles when you pinch it. Thanks again for explaining this.
     
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