70s large floor standing speakers are making a comeback

One common misconception about large loudspeakers is that all too many think they are only for playing LOUD. I know a guy who has some 70's Cerwin Vega with 15" woofers being driven by a low wattage Decware and they sound fantastic at moderate volumes. Very full and clear.

 

WOW, if I were searching for new speakers, those would be on my list for sure

 

£2,000 complete in my Classic office system. Croft Tube Integrated + 15inch woofer 96db Wide Baffle
With a 401/3009/V15 picked up for £25 in the 1990s

 

I'm a big fan or speakers with large woofers built in them. Is that a retro thing now? I sure see a lot of more current models with all smaller speaker drivers in them.

 

Anyone here have some experience with Tekton The Perfect SET?
The Perfect SET

 

Wow, not one reply to my question here.

 

Ive been running Ascension Summoners from South Australia for about 8 years. Very nice speakers.

 

This is all fun, and I love the look of the big 1970s floor-standers, but can we all agree that seven spaced-apart tweeters is just a really bad idea? They can not possibly continue the good work of a well-placed microphone. To some extent the same goes for the distance between all these three-way arrays. Tannoy had it right. Give me a Linn 3K array or KEF Uni-Q every time. As for being able to walk into the 12-foot-high sound, violins just don't sound like that.

In the end speakers are not sculptures, they are for listening and in the long run accurate reproduction will probably be the most satisfying.

 

This 70's speakers revival seems to be an American thing. Like suburb dwellers driving pickup trucks.

They should take modern speaker designs like KEF Uni-Q and just add a fake big vintage enclosure and drivers for the looks, and a (defeatable) circuit that emulates the old sound

 

In the 1970s, I owned a pair of big, 3 way Beta speakers (made by a small Dallas company.) They stood about 4 feet tall and sported 15 inch woofers, an 8 inch mid range and a pair of piezo tweeters. Driven by a Crown DC150 / IC150 combo. Pure seventies.

 

I would not mind seeing the old Advent Legacy make a comeback.

Yeah I realize long out of business, but after hearing them AND the old original Advent, really liked the sound.

 

While Tannoy never stopped making big speakers, they have re-issued their 70s line with the Legacy Series.

 

Those speakers seem to get uniformly good reviews. I too don't see how all those tweeters can be a good idea, but somehow it seems to work although I've never heard or seen one in person.

 

Those 70's large floor standing speakers never left my house. Still have them. RSL Elans, 6600H, Speaker Lab Model 7's and 4's.

 

These speakers that you refer to are not floorstanders...

 

You can go buggy keeping up with all the stuff that comes out much faster than your bank account grows.

 

True, but I really think I’m “there” now and I’m very satisfied.

 

Yes, one way I stay satisfied is by switching regularly among my many speakers that i have "in stock". These include: Polk r200, triangle borea2, mission 750 25th anniversary edition (in rosewood), sonus faber lumina1, pioneer s22, pioneer f22, sony sc55, (which BTW I got new on Amazon for $88, and I think sound amazing for the money), goldenear triton5. Those are just the ones for my main system. For my 2 other systems, I have ZU dirty weekend, and Infinity p363 floorstanders. I am practically drowning in speakers lol.WAF? i have none, so there's that.

 

You have no W or AF?

 

The one that interested me is the Perfect SET 15, but they raised price several hundred dollars .

 

I can’t help but wonder. Why does a pipe and slippers or a tea party come to mind.

 

This is more than a misconception about large loudspeakers. It is that many people do not understand that if you have well build large speakers you must also have an ample power amp so that there is no change in SQ as the volume is increased. Many people buy large speakers and they have no idea what is going to happen when they try to play them loud. All too often they find that either their amp is inadequate ( this is usually realize by a lack of bass when the speaker is played load, especially if the speaker has a sealed enclosure ) or if there is ample power the speaker itself distorts at higher volumes.

 

Only the one in the center of the array is being used as a tweeter. The peripheral ones are being used as midrange units well below their resonance frequency. I guess they get away with it by using six of them. Depending on which Tekton model you're looking at, some of them run dome tweeters down to 400Hz. So in effect it's still a sort of dual concentric like Tannoy or KEF Uni-Q.

 

“Old School” Brute (Pair) | GR-Research

 

Absolutely love the simplicity, the good looking wood veneer, and the promised bass, mids, and clean high-end on display. I'd like to think a black grill is able to be attached.

Transparency... sure. 12" woofer works for me. Count me in for a pair of these for my surrounds....... oh I just looked at the cost. Maybe next year ok.