Talk me out of purchasing another pair of vintage speakers...something new for under a grand?

Good move. They are way overrated and on my list of least favorites. Pretty much everything you can do wrong in a speaker, crammed into one; heresy indeed.

Following a hording impulse to stacking a wall of crap old speakers isn't the best way to improve a system. While a couple of your "treasures" are, or at least were, decent in their time; time has marched along. Your real critical thinking and sense of reason is correct however. The really smart move and best way to get a true system upgrade is to reduce the clutter of second rate speakers and get one really nice, new or at least newish pair of speakers set up properly in your room. My suggestion is that you sell all of the old space bandits and then chip in some more from savings to invest in a really great sounding and well built set of modern speakers that will last you another 20 years without you having to second guess your systems fidelity.
-Bill

 

If its going to be about musical performance this is the correct approach. Nostalgia is nice and collecting can be fun but neither often serves the best playback.

 

IF you have the room for them, Cornwalls are pretty impressive.

Heresys just sound hard/shouty, and they have little bass extension.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions...and thank you..think I'll pass on the Klipsch Heresy's...maybe buy some EPI 100's...just kidding, kind of! Bill and Ntotrar..I hear what your saying about vintage gear...never easy to live with...but I can't help loving vintage items. Reminds me of my 1960 Les Paul Special..double cut-away..TV white...I was in the studio years ago recording and the producer was constantly yelling "get rid of that piece of crap guitar". Wouldn't always stay in-tune (had it's original tuners) couldn't set the intonation..factory set one stop tail piece...but it sounded amazing straight into my Marshall...unbelievable tone! Anyway, Bill regarding selling my surplus speakers and purchasing one nice new pair...what do you recommend? Thanks

 

Bill speaks the truth.

I love vintage gear too, but when it comes to speakers, you really need to go with a modern design.

 

I have the room...but they're a bit more expensive...no impulse buy possible!

 

NICE!!!

 

Cornwalls...? You can find them used for short bread easily. I walked away from a $500 pair last year because I don't have a big enough room, and a couple of years ago I passed on a $350 pair at a Goodwill!

 

Thanks!... I posted that so you could see how I have integrated vintage components with modern, and it sounds wonderful!

 

Okay. Stop posting this photo and making me jealous!

 

Aw, shucks...

 

Don't get me wrong, I have a vintage Sansui rig in my living room with Massachusetts made (not China) Cambridge Soundworks model 6 speakers (they look vintage). Vintage is cool but as Bill says you won't be second guessing how good your speakers are serving you.

 

Hope you get the chance to hear them! They're not out and out in your face, so it might be you need a bit of time with a home demo. I picked mine over the KEF R100, nearly twice the price more. And they are small! If you want something a little bigger, the DC6 gets rave reviews, though I found the smaller one ideal for my room space.

You won't find any five star reviews for this one, but in the right setting, well partnered with other gear, and they'll work with much more expensive sources and amps (I use an AVI Lab Series CD player and the really rather brilliant Onkyo TX-NR818 amp, which when new would leave you £2500 lighter in the pocket), they absolutely sing.

 

Well, there'd be room for the wife and kids but you might get booted out instead!!

 

Wasting your money to buy new. Buy the used speaakers you want. Forget the new stuff.
I spent $5 grand on NEW speakers because those were EXACTLY what I wanted. You do not even know what you would be interested in? So forget that stupid idea and buy your favorite speakers you want.

 

Gimmee!

 

It's always a challenge for me when I go into a fine audio store not to purchase something I don't need, but, I see something cool or a great deal and...

 

I do that fairly often online too with used/vintage gear. More often than not, I play with it for a little while and then resell it to get my money back. It's a fun way to learn about different components.

Any day now I have a Shure V-15 Type III coming in, which I could easily resell for more than I paid for it. We'll see if it's a keeper or not...

 

There are definitely some bargains to be had on the used market.

The only 'new' item in my system are the KEF LS50's, but there aren't too many of them on the used market yet, and I got 20% off list from my local dealer, so I felt OK buying them new!

 

Heresy's?

I have a relative that owns them, and a few other pairs of speakers. Back when I was more into the hobby we use do compare speakers a lot, and I drove 2 pairs of mine to compare to his new at the time Heresy's.

His were huge sounding, loud, forward, able to really blast....and had a rolled off deep bass.

With out even mentioning those I owned, mine were clearly far more detailed and smoother.

 

I beg to differ. You lucked out there. One cannot find Cornwalls $500 or under "easily."

 

I concur. Nothing much under 100 Hz, and a bit forward and in your face. LaScalas or Cornwalls, maybe, but I'd pass on Heresys.

 

I'm an idiot who doesn't know good sound. So for those of you switching to new speakers, I'll gladly take your ESL 57s, Bozaks, Tannoys, Altec 19s...

It'll be my service back to the SH community.

 

The $1000 speaker I like -- for appearance's sake, never heard 'em -- are those anniversary editions of the Wharfedale Dentons.