I'm not equipped for too much carpentry, so if I can find a pair of cabinets secondhand and prebuilt I can run with that. My liking for 8" bass two ways is they don't need a lot of filtering and you can tune them by ear and the bass satisfies. You just have to put up with their tendency for a slight breakup on voices at around 3kHz and maybe a bit of beaming. Everything is a compromise in audio, but some solutions are elegant.
Smaller Advents were vinyl only, as were many EPI models. And many brands went from very good to crap, like Scott Fisher and KLH. I look for removable backs if I don't know the model, and peek inside. Don't ignore Radio Shack either. Their cone tweeter is as good as the Peerless. Best of all, go back 40 years or so and get interested. Simple, right?
Being discerning is good but to be truly discerning presupposes knowledge and experience, and acquiring these takes time and a willingness to make mistakes. Neither you nor I can hope to be as discerning in speaker assessment as sreten and others, so sometimes you have to take a chance and risk making a mistake. Remember that you can resell anything you don't like, sometimes for more, sometimes for less than you paid. Even if one of the drivers turns out to be worthless, you can always sell the other drivers and parts or just keep them for some future project. As you gain experience your ability to discern well will improve.
Also, some brands are worth risking if the price is right, even if you're not sure about the quality. Thus, if you're at a yard sale, for example, and see an old pair of Tannoy, Spendor, or Diatone (made my Mitsubishi) speakers for a price that makes it clear the person is simply trying to clean house (rather than make a profit), buy them first and research them later. Certain older brands are worth the risk if the price is right, even if you're not familiar with the model, and anything from older brands like that is probably going to be better than what you already have, even if it is one of their lesser models.
The main thing to keep in mind is to be patient and have fun.
One thing I do is to "Heft" the box. If the box is heavy for its physical size I find it is a decent indicator of box/driver quality.
Old Tandy/RadioShack speakers often have very good drivers ( Coral/Foster-Fostex) and reasonable veneers at odds with the original selling price and often all they need is some TLC and extra fiberglass stuffing. Oz + NZ got many speakers that the UK & USA didn't; often with less bass and better midrange and the reverse too of course
Old Tandy/RadioShack speakers often have very good drivers ( Coral/Foster-Fostex) and reasonable veneers at odds with the original selling price and often all they need is some TLC and extra fiberglass stuffing. Oz + NZ got many speakers that the UK & USA didn't; often with less bass and better midrange and the reverse too of course
I'm on a very low budget in a small room and have made the best out of it per the questions in the original post...thrift store and second-hand speaker cabinets can be a good starting point for caveman-level speaker DIY. Knock around the cabinet and see if it's solid and doesn't resonate at any particular point. I'd found some (solid) Infinity bookshelf speaker cabinets being throw away at a flea market and took them home...found some Peerless Nomex-based 6.5" woofers which fit the cutout, at parts-express.com (which are used in some relatively pricey speakers I've admired). Bought a pair of NEO 3 planar tweeters (superb waterfall)...had to saw the cabinet to fit them; modeling clay seals them up from behind. Swapped out all of the crossover resistors for Mills 5W, and for now the most sensitive caps for Mundorf (tweeter) and Obbligato (woofer). The existing crossover points sounded fine with these drivers. Remember, this is caveman-level, hit it with a club stuff, no cross-over redesigns etc. Anyone here can do this.
The results? Quite, quite liveable for what went into them! A thrift-store subwoofer rounds them out quite nicely. Since you're interested in being able to sell them or leave them behind when you next move, perhaps this bookshelf plus subwoofer concept would be beneficial.
The results? Quite, quite liveable for what went into them! A thrift-store subwoofer rounds them out quite nicely. Since you're interested in being able to sell them or leave them behind when you next move, perhaps this bookshelf plus subwoofer concept would be beneficial.
Last edited:
Restoration of old speakers can be quite cool. But though you read about rave reviews of old speakers on the net, some of this is down to nostalgia.
Speaker drivers have improveda lot over the years, so e.g. a new ScanSpeak unit today would clearly outperform a ScanSpeak unit of old. Materials, motor structure, structural sim sw, production etc. have changed a lot over the years.
So I wouldn´t buy something which was not a real quality product of the time. It should have good drivers, a good crossover, which does not require a lot of new expensive components (maybe just a few changes from electrolytic to polyester film capaciors), and a good enclosure.
But don´t expect it to end up being high end today in the end. If this is what you seek, then build from scratch.
I did a project on some old but (to me) beautiful speakers from Danish Avance:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/233866-avance-concrete-180-restoration.html
I got them for very little, as the foam surrounds on the 4 woofers where almost gone. For quite little I re-foamed them did a little painting, new terminals new grill cloth etc. and ended up with some super nice speakers for my living room. They use, for that time, top notch drivers from Vifa and ScanSpeak, and sound quite good. With a little help from my Marantz receiver, they also put out some bass, and the sound is really ok.
So in essence; start with a really good and sound speaker, don´t spend ridiculous amount on x-over components, and don´t expect miracles. Do it for the fun of it and because you are a bit nostalgic
My 2 cent
Best regards Baldin
Speaker drivers have improveda lot over the years, so e.g. a new ScanSpeak unit today would clearly outperform a ScanSpeak unit of old. Materials, motor structure, structural sim sw, production etc. have changed a lot over the years.
So I wouldn´t buy something which was not a real quality product of the time. It should have good drivers, a good crossover, which does not require a lot of new expensive components (maybe just a few changes from electrolytic to polyester film capaciors), and a good enclosure.
But don´t expect it to end up being high end today in the end. If this is what you seek, then build from scratch.
I did a project on some old but (to me) beautiful speakers from Danish Avance:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/233866-avance-concrete-180-restoration.html
I got them for very little, as the foam surrounds on the 4 woofers where almost gone. For quite little I re-foamed them did a little painting, new terminals new grill cloth etc. and ended up with some super nice speakers for my living room. They use, for that time, top notch drivers from Vifa and ScanSpeak, and sound quite good. With a little help from my Marantz receiver, they also put out some bass, and the sound is really ok.
So in essence; start with a really good and sound speaker, don´t spend ridiculous amount on x-over components, and don´t expect miracles. Do it for the fun of it and because you are a bit nostalgic
My 2 cent
Best regards Baldin
Good advice. I tend to see the good old stuff as still good, though there has definitely been progress. I'm just a carpenter so my tricks are mechanical mostly; damping steel baskets and bracing boxes, which usually results in minor crossover changes, covered by budget film caps. Shunt resistors on non ferrofluid tweeters clean up hash. Vented boxes need more damping usually. The trick is to stop fiddling sooner not later.
Maybe.
Maybe I have a new set of 3" drivers from a 2nd hand store yesterday.
Maybe I made some 36" Cornu's recently with the old RS 1354's.
Maybe I picked up a set of Dynaco A25's a while back.
And oh, did I tell you about the lonely Large Advent cabinets I have? There's a member here, I forget his name right now, but I think it begins with ph or something, has offered to send me a pair of woofers? I couldn't believe my luck. Outta the blue this fellow just up and volunteers them. First he gave them new surrounds, then he broke them in for me and the latest I hear is that they are packed and ready to be shipped. Can you believe it? In this day and age, this kind gentleman has simply gifted them to me.
Thank you Fred, I am really looking forward to them.
Maybe I have a new set of 3" drivers from a 2nd hand store yesterday.
Maybe I made some 36" Cornu's recently with the old RS 1354's.
Maybe I picked up a set of Dynaco A25's a while back.
And oh, did I tell you about the lonely Large Advent cabinets I have? There's a member here, I forget his name right now, but I think it begins with ph or something, has offered to send me a pair of woofers? I couldn't believe my luck. Outta the blue this fellow just up and volunteers them. First he gave them new surrounds, then he broke them in for me and the latest I hear is that they are packed and ready to be shipped. Can you believe it? In this day and age, this kind gentleman has simply gifted them to me.
Thank you Fred, I am really looking forward to them.
My personal belief is that driver performance has improved dramatically over time as well as our understanding of cabinet design and crossovers. I leave the vintage speakers at the second hand shop where the belong. I'll match my own current designs with about anything "vintage." I am not saying I am a great speaker builder. I am competent, but the current drivers are that simply that much better.
To each his whatever. I'd love to order up some juicy bits from Madisound. Could spend a few grand real easy. Not my reality. In my world dynamic drivers still suspend a coil in a pm field and hope for good stuff from the amp. In short, if it was good it is good. Like Altec. Like Ducati. Like Channelock. I'm going to hear J Bell play the Sibelius with the Oregon Symphony on Friday and none of you are going to hear anything better than that I don't care how frakkin new your drivers are. Yeah.
Oh and those old drivers respond to treatment. Some oldtimers aren't done yet sonny; just sayin'
Oh and those old drivers respond to treatment. Some oldtimers aren't done yet sonny; just sayin'
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.