Here is my story: My Grafyx SP 10's are amazing speakers. Inherited from wife's late father, who bought them new sometime in 70's. They've never had any work or restoration done on them. They sound so sweet. The speakers and components disappear I only hear music. I've tried to replace them several times with new speakers. Wharfedale Linton. KLH Model 5. Magnepan's. Most recent Q Acoustics 3050. Nope. None of them sound as good as the 50 year old Grafyx speakers. The Linton's came close. Linton's must be voiced very similar to the Grafyx SP 10's. It was honestly hard to tell the difference, but the Grafyx were free and Linton's were $1,800, so I still have the Grafyx and my $1,800 thank you. And get this - I am driving them with lower wattage amps. Lowest so far is Vincent SV-200 at 25 watts. I'm gonna try a 50 watt SV-500 next week. Both use tubes in pre-amp stage. Most power ever fed to them was my Rega Elex-R @ 72 watts into 8ohms. The Grafyx are pretty inefficient like 84db? So how the heck do they perform well with such low power? I just don't get it. I keep telling my wife there ain't no way 50 year old speakers can sound that good. If they are rubber surrounds, why have they not deteriorated? Why are crossovers not messed up? Why no need to re-cap? And I'm wrapping 14 gauge speaker wire from Home Depot around what's left of the spring clips. No modern banana or even spades. These beasts (50 pounds each) are supernatural. Magic. Voodoo. Hoodoo. They scare me. I expect them to levitate some late nite when Bill Evans trio is sounding just so right! So - what's your supernatural magic voodoo hoodoo vintage speaker story????
Aside from foam surrounds, an old speaker won't deteriorate much at all if taken reasonably good care of, and the performance of the good 'classic' ones could be outstanding.
I run a pair of old Quad 57s that I bought in 1974 that were restored by Kent McCollum at Electrostatic Solutions, a very highly regarded restorer of Quad stats. This is in my vintage system, which is an attempt to replicate the system I was running circa 1975. My main system is completely different. Here's the vintage Quad thang: Here was the front end in 1975: 45549279075_a1261cb64a_c by William Hart, on Flickr
I have a pair of Peerless 1000 MKII which I bought for a bargain price in 1990. They were about three grand brand new when they first came out and a mate of mine had a pair. When I went to his place they just sounded so good. Browsing through the For Sale ads in the local newspaper one Saturday, I saw a pair for sale for $350 and the seller lived very close to me. I was thinking to myself "What's wrong with these?" but went and auditioned them anyway. They were perfect and I asked him why he was selling them. He said that in his opinion they didn't sound as good as his pair of PYE (remember the brand) 3 ways and didn't need two sets of speakers. I gave him the cash but as I'd gone around on my Suzuki bike I had no immediate way to transport them. So I asked him if we had a deal and he said yes. I also asked him to tell anybody who asked that they were now sold. When I went back in a car to pick them up he said to me "Do you think I've undersold these? I've had offers of over $1000 sight unseen but a deal is a deal - they are yours" They still sound great. The rubber surrounds on the drivers are still in good condition and they are quite easy to drive. I can't see any reason to replace them. Images are here Peerless1000mkII
Recently inherited a pair of Hartley Zodiac 78s from my father who bought them new in 1978. They still sound good but the other day I noticed a strange noise coming from the left speaker. Not sure if this was an existing problem I was not previously aware of when dad still owned them or I drove them too hard one recent evening (a few adult beverages may have been involved).
I have a place big enough to re-insert my a/d/s L990s. They make jazz and classical sound great. There are a couple pairs on eBay right now, priced $500 and $1000, for a minty pair. Mine are more in $500 shape after years in mothballs and I'm missing one of the custom screws -- argh, where do you find unusual screws? I am told the L990s have a very different sonic signature from other a/d/s speakers, but I've never heard anything else from the company.
I have a pair of Boston Acoustic A150 II's which I also inherited from my wife's father. A $20 refoam kit for the woofers, recap the crossovers and these speakers, that can be picked found for $150-200, easily compete with those new Wharfedale Linton and KLH 5.
Just asking, but what about the electrolytic capacitors in the crossover? I worked in the electronics industry for over 40 years, and the lifespan of electrolytics was considered to be 20-30 years.
Probably around 70% on my Marantz PM 8004. Unfortunately my dad put them in an outdoor shed in Virginia for the last couple of years so I'm sure the heat and cold didn't do the speakers any favors.
They can degrade, but in my experience they are less likely to do so than electrolytics which are in an active circuit with DC voltages across them and when near sources of heat. I have never had to replace an electrolytic capacitor in a passive speaker crossover in decades. The other components in a passive crossover like coils, resistors and film capacitors do not degrade.
I have a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 5b I picked up off CL for $25. They are in my bedroom system w/o any changes since bought. Son't see a lot of heavy use but are surprising for such a small speaker.
They looked like this. Utah 3-way 70A's; 10-inch woofer, on closeout from the appliance store down the street from me, sometime around 1972. 4th components I bought with my Dilly-dipping money, after a Pioneer receiver, Koss headphones, and a Garard turntable from Radio Shack. Up until then, the best speakers I'd heard day-in-day-out, were the big ones in the band room at school. They had a crossover control in the back, that was a little scratchy, but the tweeters were smooth. Years later I hollowed the things out, re-finished them, replaced the midranges, re-packed the cabinet with a thick foam, and made new speaker grilles with fabric I chose from a fabric store that had a pattern, but let you see behind them. Two decades later they weren't the best, but...look what I'd been using before then: Yes, the color was described as, "mustard".
At the risk of incurring the wrath of speaker designers everywhere .... doesn't seem to me that the science of speakers has changed all that much over time. I bought the best speaker I could afford in 2000 and have never felt the tug to replace them. Repair, yes; replace, no.
I was browsing Craigslist about 10 years ago and saw a pair of Epicure 100V's selling for $100. I didn't know a lot about them but after doing some research and hearing how highly regarded they were, I decided to bite. They appeared to be in excellent condition when I got there, so I brought them home. I was very impressed with the mids and highs, more so than any other speaker I'd ever heard. Something wasn't right about the low end though, so I pulled the woofers out and discovered that they had been replaced with a generic set from Radio Shack. After a bit more research, I discovered that HUMAN Speakers produces replacement woofers built to the original specs, so I ordered a pair. Since then, I've not used or even desired any other speaker. They are perfection.
You're correct. The basic technology is basically the same as it was in the 1920s. The real advancements have been in manufacturing techniques which yield higher quality at lower costs. There have been refinements to be sure in performance, but I question whether these are really as significant to our ears as they are sometimes hyped to be. But manufacturers gotta make money, so newer, stronger, faster is the norm whether they need to be or not.
I love vintage turntables, but haven't gone with a pair of vintage speakers yet. Though yesterday I stopped in my local Goodwill and they had just put out a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Model Six's that looked like they were essentially unused. I've never heard these before and really don't have a need for them, but with a $7.99 price tag I figured I'd bring them home and see how they sound in case I want to use them in a 3rd system or hand them off to my son. I'm not expecting to be overly impressed, but have read some good things about them for a smallish budget speaker.
Note that when those speakers were new, most receivers in common use would have come in at somewhere around that figure or less, and therefore the Grafyx would likely have been designed with such figures in mind.
Uhh Linn Isobariks. Always wanted them since 1984 when I heard them in a hifi store. Bought a late production pair (external crossovers) from 1994 for $1000 in 2006. They sound pretty good with one amp, but once I went active (aktiv) i could not believe how good they sound. End game.
Klipsch Cornwall II. 1987, I bought them shortly after moving to Tennessee. They have been re-capped (Erse) and beyond one small defect on one top rear corner they are in excellent condition. Interestingly the house we bought was also built in 1987. Oiled red oak (code 00) built in the 40th week of the year Sept 28th - Oct 4th. Transducers are all original. They just had a Birthday! 35 years...