What are the best brand for vintage speakers?

gielbran
gielbran Posts: 3
edited May 2014 in Vintage Speakers
I'm looking for a nice pair of vintage speakers under $500, I found many but not sure what brand to look into. I would prefer something made of solid wood and sound quality that has moderate bass but more natural clear mid range and high range sounds, a sound that fills the room. What is your opinion or personal preference? also how about these brands, Yamaha, JBL, Klipsch, Polk Audio, KLH, Infinity IRS, Totem, B&W Nautilus

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  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
    edited May 2014
    I am selling a pair of vandersteen 2Ce for a friend. 800.00 with an adcom gfa 555
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  • seabeerob213
    seabeerob213 Posts: 1,843
    edited May 2014
    deronb1 wrote: »
    I am selling a pair of vandersteen 2Ce for a friend. 800.00 with an adcom gfa 555
    look at his post count
    2 Channel(work in progress):DAC: Schiit modi 2 uberAmp:Parasound 1200 MK IISub:RBH 1010-SEP Speakers: Monitor 5A peerlesscurrently running some krk rokit 3g since the HK pre outs died and i need to start breaking everything down to move in a couple monthsHeadphones:Source: tidalDAC: schiit modius epre: schiit sysAmp: AQ dragonfly black/ schiit magni2 Cans: Velodyne V-True, Grado SR225i, sennheiser x drop gaming headsetPC:DAC: schiit modius e(over spdif)pre: schiit sysspeakers: prenous eris 5 xtSub: Earthquake Sound MiniMe-P63most of my comments are passing on of info, im a noob, im just trying to help how i can, if im wrong or out of place to comment, dont hesitate to let me know :)"WITH WILLING HEARTS AND SKILLFUL HANDS, THE DIFFICULT WE DO AT ONCE, THE IMPOSSIBLE TAKES A BIT LONGER, WITH COMPASSION FOR OTHERS. WE BUILD - WE FIGHT FOR PEACE WITH FREEDOM"Seabee Memorial, Arlington, VA
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  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
    edited May 2014
    seabeerob213 wrote: »
    look at his post count[/QUOTE

    Oops! Got a little excited there
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,802
    edited May 2014
    what a funny question to ask at the Polk Audio forums!

    I am partial to Altec studio monitors and theatre speakers www.lansingheritage.org... but I have a few pairs of vintage Polks, too. Not "solid wood", though... cabinets made of all wood are fairly uncommon for economic and physical reasons.

    (FWIW, my Altecs are in Baltic birch plywood cabinets... but they are 'bespoke' cabinets, as they say)
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  • Msabot1
    Msabot1 Posts: 2,098
    edited May 2014
    JBL 120 Ti's are nice...if you can find a pair....
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  • boston1450
    boston1450 Posts: 7,639
    edited May 2014
    Welcome to CP Gielbran. Ive owned some vintage KLH & Klipsch & they seemed to be very nice sounding speakers. I went away from Klipsch because after listening to the horn tweets they didnt agree with my ears. Overall i really enjoy the P A Monitor 7's
    ..
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  • Faustin
    Faustin Posts: 1,149
    edited May 2014
    Polk Audio Monitor 10
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  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    edited May 2014
    You're unlikely to find anything made from "Solid Wood", as it's rather unstable. Cabinet grade plywood is used in speaker construction, but comes at a premium. Smaller, High-End loudspeaker companies may have used it prior to MDF. Most Vintage, Mass Market Manufacturers used particle board. Any of the Vintage Polk Monitors, and Smaller SDAs will fit your budget. Although much maligned, the Vintage Bose 601, from 77-78 are very fine speakers and will fill the room, but as with everything else vintage, drivers may need re-foaming, and crossovers rebuilt.
    Home Theater/2 Channel:
    Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
    Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
    Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
    Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
    Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer

    dhsspeakerservice.com/
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  • halo71
    halo71 Posts: 4,603
    edited May 2014
    And Infinity IRS are a model by the "brand" Infinity. And if you can find a pair under $500 you had better jump on them.
    --Gary--
    Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out.
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  • pglbook
    pglbook Posts: 2,222
    edited May 2014
    I highly recommend any of the following:

    Polk 10A or 7A (with peerless tweeters)

    Polk SDA 2B TL

    PSB Stratus (original Stratus, or Stratus Bronze, Silver, or Gold) The Stratus Gold is the best of the Stratus line and will cost more than your $500 budget but all of the PSB Stratus models are great-sounding speakers.
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  • dpowell
    dpowell Posts: 3,068
    edited May 2014
    Get a pair of SDA 1C's.
    ____________________________________________________________

    polkaudio Fully Modded SDA SRS 1.2TLs + Dreadnaught, LSiM706c, 4 X Polk Surrounds + 4 X ATMOS, SVS PB13 Ultra X 2, Pass Labs X1, Marantz 7704, Bob Carver Crimson Beauty 350 Tube Mono Blocks, Carver Sunfire Signature Cinema Grande 400x5, ADCOM GFA 7807, Panasonic UB420, Moon 380D DAC, EPSON Pro Cinema 6050
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  • Mystery
    Mystery Posts: 2,546
    edited May 2014
    Boston A400, JBL L100T, Yamaha NS-1000 or NS-690.

    Klipsch RB81, KG3.5, B&W DM602.5, Polk.
    Subwoofers: Klipsch RW10, Triad ProSub Bronze.
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  • Timothy Smith
    Timothy Smith Posts: 764
    edited May 2014
    Try anything by A/D/S.

    710's, 810's etc. are great
    Norh ACA-2B tube pre, Sumo Andromeda SS amp. Magneplanar MMG speakers, M&K MX1250 Subwoofer, Pro-Ject RM1.3 Genie TT with Sumiko Pearl MM cart., Keces DAC, Cambridge Audio Azur 640c CD player
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  • Conradicles
    Conradicles Posts: 6,081
    edited May 2014
    Polk SDA's. Period end of story.
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  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
    edited May 2014
    Conradicles wrote: »
    Polk SDA's. Period end of story.

    I agree, but a lot of factors to consider as well. Power, room dynamics etc.
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  • PolkieMan
    PolkieMan Posts: 2,446
    edited May 2014
    Hmmm...that's a difficult question, speakers are listed below :-P
    POLK SDA 2.3 TLS BOUGHT NEW IN 1990, Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-198
    POLK CSI-A6 POLK MONITOR 70'S ONKYO TX NR-808 SONY CDP-333ES
    PIONEER PL-510A SONY BDP S5100
    POLK SDA 1C BOUGHT USED 2011,Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-194
    ONKYO HT RC-360 SONY BDP S590 TECHNICS SL BD-1
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited May 2014
    Go to the library and find a book called "Good Sound" by Laura Dearborn. Start looking there.
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  • Mystery
    Mystery Posts: 2,546
    edited May 2014
    It's an open ended question so the open ended answers.
    In the end, there will be every make and model listed.

    Klipsch RB81, KG3.5, B&W DM602.5, Polk.
    Subwoofers: Klipsch RW10, Triad ProSub Bronze.
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  • drumiv
    drumiv Posts: 171
    edited May 2014
    Mystery wrote: »
    It's an open ended question so the open ended answers.
    In the end, there will be every make and model listed.
    Yep, start buying everything on your list, keep what you like, sell the others. Welcome to the game.
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  • scottyboy76
    scottyboy76 Posts: 2,905
    edited May 2014
    Conradicles wrote: »
    Polk SDA's. Period end of story.

    I agree if you have or will be having good components to feed them to really know them
    humpty dumpty was pushed
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  • so_ein_pech
    so_ein_pech Posts: 42
    edited May 2014
    A couple of speakers to add to the list:

    EPI/Epicure made some sweet speakers back in the day. They often built furniture-grade cabinets with real wood veneer.


    Ohm Walsh. I'm using a pair of Model I's for my primary setup right now. Fantastic speakers. Look for 4XO's or Model F's if you've got the cash.

    Pioneer HPM's, Magnepan, KEF, Quad ESL, Dahlquist, Caver, Celestion Ditton, Mission, Norman Labs ... the list goes on.

    With vintage speakers, its all about getting what you can when it shows up. It's not easy to track down a specific speaker. Poke around here and AudioKarma.org to get an idea about what people like and what things are worth.
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  • leftwinger57
    leftwinger57 Posts: 2,917
    edited May 2014
    If he's looking for real wood/ veneer then older Ohm speakers might just do it. Not the Ohm/Walsh totaly different speaker but they had a whole line from the early 70s starting w/ B-C-D-E-F-L and just about all the alphabet. Each was different in size, components, 2 ways, 3 ways depending on years issued. Also ADC made walnut cabinets as did most of the east coast sound ear spaekers.KLH,Advent, Boston Acoustics, Rectilinear and if you can find them Frazier black boxes.
    2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E

    H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-

    Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc
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