Question About Vintage (1970's) Speaker

Hi guys,

Been thinking about the speakers that first made me an audiophile. When I first was stationed in Germany back in 1976, my barracks-mate had the first good hi-fi system I had ever heard with these speakers that just blew me away - so much so, that I bought them from him. The years went by and I sold them at some point.

They were either AR or Advent Speakers with blue cloth removable grills. Not towers, but not really bookshelf, probably about 3 foot high by maybe a foot wide. Any ideas what they may have been (pictures would be awesome). I wouldn't mind tracking those down for a separate vintage audio system.

 

I had floor Advents and my brother had bookshelf Advents in the seventies and neither had blue cloth grilles (both grilles were beige). They both were great speakers though for the money. I hope this helps a little.

 

JBL had some speakers with colored grill fabric or foam. Try searching vintage JBL there is a lot of information out there.

I believe Speakerlab also offered loudspeakers with colored grills. Some were big horn-loaded designs.

 

JBL had some blue grills. L26 or L36 perhaps?

 

'70 speakers: AlNiCo

They sound wonderful.

 

They were not JBL's, I am positive about that. They were AR's or Advents

 

Micro acoustics FRM-1 had blue cloth and other colors, a thick removable grille. To my knowledge, neither AR nor Advent produced any speaker with blue cloth.

 

These AR 48's from the early '80's had a somewhat blue cloth (or at least it looks blue to me)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Teledyne-Ac...230c3d5&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=261834445367

 

Blue was available on various US models mainly in the 1970's.

Here's some vintage samples of grill cloth.



JBL 1976 ad: Note the L65 has a blue grill.

 

BIC is the only maker I recall with blue grill covers. They were foam though if memory serves.

 

Nope, not it.

 

Blue cloth grill is nearly exactly the same as the speaker I remember, but it wasn't a JBL. I know because I had a friend with JBL's and we were always comparing. Seems like the speakers I had were a little skinnier than the JBL pictured. They may not have been AR's or Advents, but they were certainly not JBL. One thing for sure, they were bought in Germany, from the Army Air Force Exchange System (AFEES), either in the BX in Hahn AB, GE or at the massive audio store they had in Wiesbaden...

 

Pioneer also offered speakers with blue grille cloths.

 

How about these rare "70's era TECHNICS Speakers?

http://vintagetechnics.co.uk/loudspeakers/t400.htm

 

These were not Japanese speakers - also the grill was relatively flat.

 

I had a pair of these. Had forgotten all about them!

The blue speaker cloth (a bright blue, a shade of blue that had been banned by 1980, I think) was stretched over a metal frame that stuck out from the front of the speaker by 2-3 inches because they had to make room for the tweeters, which were mounted on a "multi directional" metal frame that jutted out from the front of the speaker cabinet. I sold the speakers not long after I bought them, got tired of their sound; replaced them with Ohm H's which were much better (but not blue). From Tech HiFi in Worcester Mass in '73.

The BIC Venturi speakers mentioned above had colored waffle grilles made of a sponge-like material, which came in several colors. A friend of mine had beige ones (Formula 6 model), but I do think there were blue ones. (He eventually spray painted his a different color). These speakers also had tweeters that jutted out, so the sponge grille was scooped out from the inside, making it thinner in that area. The grille would then slump at the thin part, causing it to fall off. On Google (images) there are no BICs with grilles. This is why.