Anyone know anything about these?

j allen

http://dayton.craigslist.org/ele/1785982150.html

They look interesting, though I am inclined to disagree with the description of 'huge' based on the dimensions. Anyone have any info?

DaveHo

Never heard of them. Have you tried posting this on AudioKarma. Lots of guys there into vintage & non-mainstream gear.

engtaz

My thoughts are, go listen to them. I you like them, buy them.

j allen

I'm going to go listen to them... From what I've read, they're the sort of thing that you'll either love or hate. I guess I'll find out which it is.

nooshinjohn

I found this....

"As fate would have it, I have a bit of information on Aztec sound. In late 1968 two other guys and I (in our early to mid 20's) started a speaker company in Washington, DC: Loudspeaker Design Corporation. The speakers were a variety of horn-loaded systems named the "Ezekiel"
series after the designer, Harry Ezekiel Harris. By 1969 we were in search of expanded production facilities, and came upon Aztec Sound, located about 15 minutes South and West of downtown Denver. The owner was Jerry Nichols, and the product line consisted of conventional cone speakers in enclosures ranging from small bookshelf to huge floor models. All were named after famous artists. The cabinet work was quite nice, the company had a very well developed production line, a full time in-house designer, and the speakers sounded...well, o.k... decent relative to commercial standards at that time. Later that year Loudspeaker Design, along with our friend Kan Kanzler of Atlantis Sound, did a stock trade and acquired a sustantial percentage of Aztec Sound. Part of the deal included a provision that we would redesign and improve the Aztec products using cone drivers, but would not use any horn drivers or any of our proprietary horn designs. Our speakers used horn midrange and tweeters, and front/back loaded cone drivers as woofers. The Aztec products from late 1969 reflected the Harry Harris design improvements. In late 1970 I left to pursue my real passion, Ferrari automobiles. The relationship between Loudspeaker Design and Aztec soon ended, Harry Harris developed a new range of limited production boutique speakers that did not use horns, and it appears that Aztec "borrowed" some of our secrets and began to use horns in their systems. The horns were manufactured by Herald, located, I think, in Gray's Lake, WI. If you remove one, look at the back of the driver and see if it has a foam cap. The midrange and tweeter horns were very inexpensive, but sounded quite nice. We originally started off modifying the very expensive Altecs and the famous JBL375s. Oddly enough, the Herald horns sounded more musical, and compared to the cost of the 375's were almost free. I still have 2 pairs of Ezekiels using these horns that I've been using to play rock & roll at mind-mumbing levels for over 30 years without problems. I suspect your Aztecs use the same horns. They'll probably sound their very best with low powered tube equiptment, but will also sound quite nice with a NAD 1020 or older Kenwood receiver if you're on a budget. Whenever I hear the song "American Woman" played on a classic rock station, I fondly recall that song blasting from a pair of big Aztecs at our apartment in Denver in 1969."

Rev. Hayes

Another fine Aztec speaker......:D

I'm sorry I just couldn't stop laughing at this google hit for aztec speakers:p

Seriously though: Audio Karma has a number of threads that talk about this brand. They certainly look vintage cool.

zingo

engtaz wrote: »

My thoughts are, go listen to them. I you like them, buy them.

The best advice.

j allen

Going to check these out tomorrow. I know they use horn tweeters, but I like Klipsch speakers, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just got home from drinkin with friends... Woo!

j allen

Well... I'm home from listening to the speakers... with the speakers... Would you believe that the guy wouldn't throw his Infinity's into the deal?

First impressions: They're... different. Very warm, almost cozy sounding, if that makes any sense. They're incredibly dense. I barely made it to the car carrying one of them. Anyway, he had them powered through an ancient looking Yamaha receiver. I'm going to try them on my newish Pioneer once I work up the gumption to move... We'll see if they come off harsh in that environment; I've yet to figure out how exactly I want to power them. More to come!

JA

gdb

You get extra points for using "gumption" in a sentence !!:D

j allen

Okay... Further expanding on this thread to avoid making clutter with a new one...

In case anyone missed it when the CL post was up, they are Aztec Gauguin III's.

Hooked them up to my modern pio receiver, and in that setting, they are NOT warm. At low volumes, sounded decent; at high volumes, I just couldn't handle the horns. I put on some Judas Priest, and I thought my brain was going to explode when Halford screamed.

I remembered reading somewhere that these were better for acoustic type stuff, so I put in TV Smith - Generation Y. It's a semi-acoustic pop/rock thing. Very mellow sound when paired with this musical selection.

Another observation, these things are extremely position sensitive. It took a lot of tinkering with positioning to get a decent stereo image, which is sad, because I have to try to not get good soundstage form my LS50's. Anyway, the sweet spot was tiny. To get the speakers to 'disappear,' I had to sit perfectly upright in my listening spot. More than about a foot of movement caused the speakers to 'reappear.' This is awkward for me, as I tend to sprawl out when I sit down to do some listening. Oh well, they still beat the hell out of my pc speakers.

I'll end this post with a question: Does anyone have anything opinions on vintage HK stereo receivers/amps? I've seen quite a few apparently good deals on ye olde ebay, just not sure if I want to snag something like that sight unseen.

Alternatively, are there any cheap inroads to a preamp and tube amp setup? I also read that these speakers sound their absolute best with tubes, which makes sense given the tendency of tubes to mellow out the sometimes excessive brightness/harshness of horns.

I'd really like to find something to calm down these speakers, as they get LOUD, and would be great for optimum rocking out to my metal collection, if I could reduce the harshness level.

Should I expect TL;DR replies after that post? It's late and I'm having trouble containing my tendency toward verbosity.

Tony M

I have these HK amps and they were very warm and powerful the last time I listened to them. HK 775's I believe.

j allen

tony millard wrote: »

I have these HK amps and they were very warm and powerful the last time I listened to them. HK 775's I believe.

Is that an offer to sell or a suggestion for something to look for? I'm confused.

gdb

I just saw this little tube int. amp at an audio show yesterday, it was very impressive for it's smallish size and small price! It made some very impressive SPLs through some 2way monitors and everyone at the show seemed to be fascinated by them.:)

http://www.needledoctor.com/Jolida-FX10-Integrated-Stereo-Tube-Amplifier

Tony M

Not an offer to sell. Just showing some vintage HK amps with warm sound output.
I've seen some others on the Bay over the years. Not too expensive either. I guess because of their age.

Good Luck in your quest for taming those horns.

j allen

Alright, I've placed a bid on an older HK stereo receiver to try with these things. We'll see how it goes...

Here's a link to the thing...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190403759122

We'll see how it goes. Even if I end up not liking it, for 45ish including shipping, it at least won't be a costly mistake.

hearingimpared

j allen wrote: »

Alright, I've placed a bid on an older HK stereo receiver to try with these things. We'll see how it goes...

Here's a link to the thing...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190403759122

We'll see how it goes. Even if I end up not liking it, for 45ish including shipping, it at least won't be a costly mistake.

FYI; NAD's house sound is warm.

j allen

hearingimpared wrote: »

FYI; NAD's house sound is warm.

Should things fall through on that HK, I'll look into NAD. Another idea... could I add a NAD external amp to that receiver? I'm fairly certain it has preouts.

hearingimpared

j allen wrote: »

Should things fall through on that HK, I'll look into NAD. Another idea... could I add a NAD external amp to that receiver? I'm fairly certain it has preouts.

Should be no problem.:) On another note NAD's power ratings are very conservative and with lots of headroom.

j allen

Okay, once again trying to avoid starting another thread about the same old junk.

The HK 330A integrated stereo thingy that I won on ebay arrived today. I've got it hooked up the the speakers now, and they sound much better than they did with my pio. Seems that a very clear, modern type sound isn't ideal, and a little bit of old school signal loss is what these things need to sound good.

I think, based on the sound, that these would do better with an external amp added to the chain; the HK is a bit wimpy in the power department, but that's another story for another time.

I'm not really turning it up, as these speakers are still loud as heck, and I don't want to blow components by not providing enough power to deliver high volumes. All in all, I think I've got the horns calmed down enough for casual listening, but I don't think I will ever call this a pair of reference speakers. Rock'n'roll speakers, certainly, but that may be about it.