Looking for good quality vintage speakers

Why do you want vintage speakers? What era are you looking for, what look, what footprint, what sound?

I am not particularly enamored of vintage speakers. Compared to what's available today, they don't have the detail, the linearity, or the dynamic range that you can get today. Some are all right, like the ADS speakers from the '80s, which are also very durable and have close-tolerance, high quality drivers.

Many of those vintage woofers had foam surrounds that crumble after 20 years. They are repairable, but only a few kinds are worth the trouble, and the larger the woofer, the more difficult it is to maintain voice coil alignment when replacing the surrounds.

Which Snells? What's your budget?

Ed and I are in sync on this one. Although there are few true classics out there, most seriously designed and built speakers today are more linear, have better control of cabinet resonances, have much better inner detail and low-level resolution, more true bass extension, better treble extension with far better dispersion (this one is SO easy to verify--a lot of highly regarded speakers from the '70s and even '80s rolled off at about 15KHz; many today extend out to 30KHz), better sensitivity, better power handling, better dynamics, and in smaller, more affordable packages.

For example, the PSB Image 25 compact stand speaker at $479/pair has a midrange-to-treble smoothness and linearity that would have been considered unachievable in anything but a cost-no-object speaker 15-30 years ago. Mini-monitor size, usable bass extension down to 45 Hz at least, anechoic sensitivity at 89dB or 91dB in-room. That means it only takes 1/4 the amp power to hit the same loudness as those classics from the '70s such as the AR 3a and the Dahlquist DQ-10.

If you have more money and want more bass extension, just move up the PSB Image line. They make T-45, T-55, and T-65 floorstanders. A twice the B-25's price, the PSB T-55 Image Tower is 93 dB efficient (like doubling your amp power again), has true deep bass that extends down into the low 30's. It can also handle about 70% more power than the B-25. This provides a tremendous dynamic range, both louder and softer, than the B-25.

In the vintage days, American speakers pretty much ruled. There are still some very excellent American speakers, but it's really hard to beat the price/performance value of speakers from Canada, such as Paradigm, Mirage, Energy, PSB, and Totem.

08-11-08: Cwlondon
For those of you who suggest that no vintage speakers are worth considering:

Are you DEALERS, by any chance?

Why dont you write this kind of stuff in your classified ads and spare the forums?

Why the hostility? Ed and I aren't dealers. Ed reviews for Positive Feedback Online. I'm a 54-yr-old lifetime enthusiast who sold audio gear in SoCal in the mid-'70s when these vintage speakers were brand new. I know what they can--and can't--do.

The original post did not mention the limited funds or that the vintage speakers would provide atmosphere for a vintage clothing store. That changes everything.

I'm not averse to vintage gear--I have 5 amplifiers and two preamps from the mid-'80s and a couple more preamps from the mid-'90s. The stereo pair in my HT surround rig are 12-yr-old Mirage M5si's. But finding vintage speakers for cheap that give you what you want is a crap shoot. Many, many speakers at all price ranges in the '70s had foam surrounds, and they ALWAYS disintegrate. Next, driver technology has improved mightily in the 30+ years since the Dahlquist DQ-10, Larger Advent. and AR 3a.

You CAN find good value vintage or used speakers, but there are many more, even if they have a legendary reputation, that are a box full of headaches for a novice. If you go used or vintage, try to pick something with butyl surrounds, like ADS or Snell, not foam-surrounded speakers like Dahlquist and Advent unless the foam surrounds have been replaced. ESS AMT 1a or 1b's were so cool, they'd be worth replacing the foam surrounds. To me, they're iconic of the '70s.

Once he explained himself, the idea of putting a vintage system in a vintage clothing store is very cool, and we're all on the same page to help him find something that sounds good, is very affordable, and looks retro-cool. The Cambridge sat/sub system is a good start. I hope he lucks into some full-range ADS spkrs. They were ahead of the resolution curve and they're extremely well built with top-notch drivers.

Another great one is Celestion-Ditton if you can find'em.

JBL 4301b Control Monitors. Price is right, the look is definitely right, and the woofers have been professionally re-foamed.

Disclaimer: I have no personal stake in this listing; it just looked like a good fit, and nice-looking too. JBL's brightly colored foam grille coverings of the '70s are soooo retro cool.