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All Pre 1970 Vintage speakers suck! Prove me wrong

Have tried many vintage speakers.

My conclusion: All pre-1970 vintage speakers suck. Well-made but crappy  sound.

Used with both vintage amps and modern.

I do like many vintage amps such as Radio Craftsmen RC-500, Marantz tube, Scott tube, Heath W5, Lafayette and Pilot tube.

But back to pre-1970 speakers:

No bass, harsh, or honky mids and no highs. Not musical or listenable to me.

Tried many including Acoustic Research AR-3a, 2Ax, etc. The entire AR product line. Also Klipsch Horn, Large EVs. Altec VOTT. Pioneer CS-88 and 99.

Nothing pre 1970 is even close to the better modern speakers.

I challenge you: Prove me wrong.

lion
ditusa's avatar
ditusa
2,457 posts
 

@roxy54 Wrote:

You’re wrong about Altec A7’s and Khorns, as well as some Electro Voice

I agree!

I like the JBL Olympus with S8R loudspeaker system and Electro Voice Patrician 800. 😎

Mike

jrwaudio
365 posts
 

Were the Bose 901's made before 1970  :  )

inna
8,240 posts
 

All speakers after 70s suck too, just in a different way. Don't prove me wrong, it's self-evident, just go and have a listen.

shkong78's avatar
shkong78
1,490 posts
 

https://youtu.be/7U4Tpa4Fhx8

 

This is from Altec A7 made in 60s.

 

This one really sucks as your perception of vintage speaker.

😁

larryi
4,621 posts
 

There are great sounding speakers from the 1930’s that still deliver great sound, albeit not in living room friendly packaging.  Shearer-Lansing systems sound good, as are Western Electric theater systems.  If you include modern systems built from vintage parts, some fantastic systems can be had that sound better, to me, than any modern system.  I’ve heard fantastic systems built around Western Electric compression drivers and horns, Western Electric field coil woofers, Goodmam woofers, Jensen woofers, Jensen/ERPI field coil widerange drivers, IPC compression drivers,and a lot of other such parts.  
I like horn-based system for their unmatched dynamics, particularly at low volume levels, but, I don’t like the coloration of the more commonly heard systems like the EV, Altecs, and Klipsch systems mentioned above.  
I recently heard a YL system from Japan, probably built in the 1960’s or 1970’s, that I would take over almost any conventional modern system.

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