Advent Prodigy

mrloren

Happy Thursday,

Made a nice little upgrade on the warehouse system.

Got a set of Advent Prodigy speakers for cheap ($60) in like new condition.



These replaced the RTi-4 I was using. Sound wise they are a lot more mellow than the RTI with a strong mid section. I hooked them up this morning, people getting their daily orders where like oh wow. I had Advent Maestros 20 years ago that I loved. These are close but for the $60 I paid well worth it.

I have the RTi-4 still hooked up to "A" with the Advents on "B" for some A/B testing. So far the Advents are a lot better.

Now if only I could find some Vegas for Saturday work. C/L and OfferUp people want way to much for those

Oh and I also hooked in the Sony DVD/CD player that I didn't know what to do with. So a lot less MP3 now

Tony M

I always liked the sound from Advents!

I still have 2 pairs waiting for surrounds on the woofers.

Jimbo18

Not to hijack a thread, but anyone have experience with Advent Laureate towers? There's some in the area for $50. Photo was a stock one though, so I have asked for some actual photos before pursuing them.

pelhamplace

I have a pair of these. I got them reformed and I was amazed at how good they sounded. I was going to put them on CL for $50 but now I have to keep them. So I guess I’m not crazy!

Tony M

Jimbo18 wrote: »

Not to hijack a thread, but anyone have experience with Advent Laureate towers? There's some in the area for $50. Photo was a stock one though, so I have asked for some actual photos before pursuing them.

I had a pair. They had bad surrounds.

I ordered some Goldwood (?)( from Parts express) replacement woofers and let me tell ya, They sounded beautiful.

I did sell them later on and the man called me back, after he got home and hooked them up in his house, to thank me for selling him those awesome speakers for so little.

Jimbo18

I asked for photos of the drivers. Don't have the time to mess with refoaming, and I assume they will need it if they are original.

mhardy6647

It's funny -- the myriad Recoton/Jensen-era "Advents" get little love from the vintage hifi crowd, but, to my ears, they're at least as good overall as the Kloss-era "OLA" two-ways... but, full disclosure, I've never been all that crazy about the OLAs.

I mean I have a pair, but it's mostly because, living in northern New England, I feel like I should.

I've never paid more than - well, nothing - for, e.g., Advent Legacys and Baby Advents, but a refoamin' and new XO capacitors and they were contendahs. for value-priced two-way monkey coffins.

FWIW and IMO, of course. YMMV, etc.

Tony M

These are the type of Advent tweeters that I liked a lot.
The DOMES. ;

Jimbo18

^^ The Laureats appear to have the type in the middle above. ^^

mrloren

I'm digging these Advent's with the Vegas

One of the engineers stopped by the warehouse. I was listening to some classical guitar on the Advents. He pulled up a chair and just sat for a good 20 minutes. He asked with speakers this good what to I need the Vega's for. Put on some Scorpions and hit the Vega's @-20db for 10 seconds. Oh ok.

Advent's for listening and Vega's for blasting looks like it might work out good

Jimbo18

The seller claims the surrounds were replaced. The cabinets and grills look perfect. I am going for them on Sat. AM. After the comments on here, I am looking forward to trying them out on my wife's stereo set up.

mhardy6647

They look nice.

Jimbo18

mhardy6647 wrote: »

They look nice.

For $50, they are certainly worth checking out.

maxward

That’s for sure!

Tony M

You should love them!

codycatalist

I like my newer Advent 25th Anniversary speakers. Nice cabs, solid. They do hit a nice 30hz with that single driver.

Tony M

I had 2 sets of the Advent "Large " speakers like yours.

I had heard they sounded great so I bought 2 sets at once and I was also impressed with their sound too.

I needed space and helped some young guys get their chance to own these and maybe get THEM hooked on audio enjoyment. Of course they had to hear my POLK audio speakers before they left! It was two completely and separate sale circumstances.

I had to show them what to aim for later down the road!

mrloren

Another day another update,

Was in a Zeppelin mood this morning. Queued up all the Zep, playing most of the time on the Advents. I forgot what a nice warm mellow sound these have. Not one person coming through the warehouse has had a negative comment on the sound. Most say they sound great. When I tell them what I paid and how old the speakers are they are even more amazed.

When I get home from work I have to put on some music quick. Oh ok there's the Signatures. I find the Signatures to more open and dynamic. Then again I would like to A/B them on the same system.

Guess I'll start looking at thrift stores for a set of Maestros. Be nice to find a pair of those.

Jimbo18

So, I picked up the Advents this morning. Good and bad news. Good news is they are Advent Heritage (not Laureate as the ad stated) and the cabinets are in good shape. A mark on the side of one, but otherwise surprisingly good.

The foam has been replaced, and it's not a very professional looking job, but at least they are done. Wife said the husband did it.

Bad news is the grill covers have cat-scratch-fever. They are toast, but look to be easily replaceable. Got them for $40 because of the grills. One of the dust caps on one of the woofers is pushed in as is one of the tweeters.

Only tested to make sure they work and, so far, they sounded good. Good bass considering the size of the drivers. Really don't need them, but if I like them, they might take the place of my M5jr+ in the bedroom.

mhardy6647

The tweeter dome looks... funny(?)

Jimbo18

mhardy6647 wrote: »

The tweeter dome looks... funny(?)

Yes, it's pushed in. Funny how it's almost symmetrical. It's kind of rubbery, so I used some tape and pulled it almost back into shape.

mhardy6647

FWIW, I really don't think most visually abused (pushed in, dimpled, etc.) tweeter domes suffer much if anything in the way of audible consequences.



(all y'all knew already that I was something of a hifi Philistine, though!)

Jimbo18

Now, I need to find a center channel that pairs with them well. Currently using a CS400i and I have a CS300 that I can try as well. Tweeters are obviously a lot different but I don't think I will find an Advent center that matches exactly.

mhardy6647

Did "Advent", perhaps, actually make a center channel? The brand as such may have lasted long enough to sell one? (I dunno)

Also... maybe something from (early) CSW models would be similar in voicing & behavior?
I am just spitballin' here.

Jimbo18

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Did "Advent", perhaps, actually make a center channel? The brand as such may have lasted long enough to sell one? (I dunno)

Also... maybe something from CSW would be similar in voicing & behavior?
I am just spitballin' here.

There's some on eBay but none that look like the same tweeter. Not familiar with CSW.

mhardy6647

Cambridge SoundWorks -- Henry Kloss started it in Newton, MA (his next-to-last venture on this plane), their early products were US made and included sub/satellite systems and early (e.g., Dolby ProLogic era) speakers for HT.

BlueBirdMusic

Great thread!! I'm looking on Craigslist now

mhardy6647

Sort of on topic -- there is a useful Advent spotting in the wild thread over @ AK, FWIW.

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/identifying-your-advent-loudspeakers.126376/
It's biased towards "real" Advent models (and Advents that followed on the heels of the initial sale of the brand), but it might be useful to anyone interested in the plethora of similar-but-not identical loudspeakers bearing the "Advent" label over the years.

Hansvelton

mhardy6647 wrote: »

It's funny -- the myriad Recoton/Jensen-era "Advents" get little love from the vintage hifi crowd, but, to my ears, they're at least as good overall as the Kloss-era "OLA" two-ways... but, full disclosure, I've never been all that crazy about the OLAs.

I mean I have a pair, but it's mostly because, living in northern New England, I feel like I should.

I've never paid more than - well, nothing - for, e.g., Advent Legacys and Baby Advents, but a refoamin' and new XO capacitors and they were contendahs. for value-priced two-way monkey coffins.

FWIW and IMO, of course. YMMV, etc.

Every "Jensen" era Advent I have heard, and I think I have heard all of them now, were actually quite good sounding, but a few audio forums over the years, simply trash this era, based solely on the ownership change, not actual listening sessions.

I have owned OLA and to me at least, the Legacy and Maestro are better than the classic era Advents. But no one seems to realize this....

Going to look at a pair of Retocon Era "Advents" tomorrow. Seem to be from around 2003-2004 about.

Hansvelton

Sorry for the HUGE delay, in getting back to my latest Advent find.

Plumbing issues seemed to take a front seat to speaker comparisons and finds for sure!

I did get those "New style" advents AS2 a few weeks back, but sat in my garage under a blanket till a week or so ago.

Finally hooked them up, everything works as should. Needed some attention to dust and cleaning though. Luckily they have soft rubber surrounds, and NOT foam.

I rarely say this, but was completely shocked at how good this Advent AS2 speaker sounded!
Not top of the line audiophile sound, but so much better than I expected to hear.

Very nice neutral mids, clear treble, no excessive hotness in the upper ranges. Very punchy yet not boomy mid bass, and fairly decent deep bass for 2/6.5" woofers.

I played song after song and was quite amazed overall.

I hate to say things like this, but one of the best Advent I have ever heard.

These are the Recoton era advents from the early 2000s time period. I half expected to simply clean them up and flip them, as I got for for quite a low price.

This era is usually bashed on audio forums, but I found most of the bashing is based on never hearing them, but simply due to it not being the Kloss era/owned Advent time period.

Now after some serious listening, these totally amazed me and they are a keeper for sure.

Compared against Polk Lsi15s, another pair I got recently, and Bass wise, the Advent won as far as clean and clear and even deeper bass. The mids and highs were actually fairly similar, but with the Advent possibly a slightly better mid sound and clarity.

The polks seems to have a slightly recessed mid sound, where these are not recessed nor forward, as in like the Rti line.