"Vintage" speakers...good idea?

One last caveat I might add regarding vintage or classic speakers is that upgrading components with modern replacement parts could reduce their resale value. I have seen the effects of this practice with some otherwise vintage tube gear, where modern caps and wires had been substituted wholesale for the original, still working, classic parts, changing but not necessarily improving the voice of the gear - and seriously impairing its market value. Personally, I appreciate keeping true classic gear close to original (it would be like installing a breakerless distributor in an old AC Cobra), but if that is not an issue to you, by all means modify. However, a fifty-year old K-horn with Cardas binding posts, Hovlands and silver Alpha core inside won't fetch as much as a good working original at resale time, IMHO.

I,m currently running a pair of KLH model 33 with pretty good results. They definately are not great speakers but there is something about them that makes them very easy to listen to.

I am glad the forum is back; because, I am considering an interim speaker while I save some additional bucks to buy an expensive hi-end speaker that just came on the market. I often wonder how good the original Large Advents would sound with an Aragon amp and Conrad Johnson behind them The problem is those ratty speaker terminals that were a testament to the low quality wire used 25 years ago.I am not sure the today's simplest spade lug would fit them.Someone mentioned KLH 33's; what about Rectilinear 11's and 12's; Epicure 100; or even the AR's 2ax and 4ax(?) Are we just all nostalgia freaks, or was audio just more fun when these "vintage" pieces were on the market??

The advances in speaker quality in the past 30 years are so great that the "Vintage" would need to offer something today's don't. In cone speakers I can't think of any that would fit that. Cabinets, tweeters, cone suspension, components in the cross over have all improved. So unless you plan to totally re-build I would pass. If your looking at horns, something like voice of the theater or the like you may well find some advantages. It would be well worth the time and money to upgrade the components from these beasts, given you have a room that can support the sound and your driving with very low watt tubes. The quality of the right matched tube/ horn speaker is magical and I'd bet with today's capacitors it could be amazing. Just my thoughts for what it's worth.

My 1979 B&W DM7 Mark 2 speakers in my second system are still holding up well and are sounding very good.