Advents reborn

[Guest russwollman]

I recently bought a pair of walnut Advents made in 1976, replaced the tweeters with black domes from Layne Audio (and the capacitors as well), replaced the woofer surrounds, and replaced the screw-type connectors with banana jacks. Man, am I impressed. It's hard to believe what a great instrument the Advent is. I'd been using Linn Tukans and refused to believe that anything could be better, but the Advents are; they walk all over the little Linns. Which makes me wonder...is there any point to high end audio? The prices make me shiver. There was so much great gear made in this country and so much of it from the New England area hobbyists who loved what they did and turned it into a good business that delivered great gear at reasonable cost. What has happened? It's a broad topic, I know...but I wanted to share my enthusiasm at rediscovering something from the past that has endured. There's nothing like enduring design that works.

[Guest rickcee]

Hi Well No scientific (or even musical) ability but - I strongly feel there is a point of 'max. bang for buck ' which was reached in mid '70 s or even late '60 's for stereo speakers ( AR 6 , Advent, Dyna 25, EPI 100 ) to me, in a normal size room, say 250 sq.ft, that would be it. Are todays mass market speakers better - the high quality ones, Polk,Paradigm etc ? probably a little.

I think I saw a blurb in STEREOPHILE that the average subscriber's system cost $14,000. excuse me?

anyway Rick

[Guest]

$14,000 ouch!!! Let me state I am some what of cheap, when I was in high school and college had no money to spend on stero eqipment, I would play tunes in the car but not at home, a few years ago my wife and I was at a flea market I saw a pinoeer tuner and a set of radio shack speekers (nova 7 I think) and I had a trip down memory lane, looking at the radio shack catalogue and all the stuff I could not aford, so ten bucks passed hands and I had my first nice reciever and ok speekers, it had grown from there, all used, now I have a RCA A/v reciver 80 watts, cost $75 bucks my advents and a Harmon/Karden CD 91 tape deck for $30 and a dvd player that I had before (gift) to play CD's on, so I got $105 in my system, also I am looking at a set of KLM 80's to use as my rear speakers in a AV system, I'll have 35 bucks in them, I would like to pick us a turn table next, the quest goes on!!!!!

[Guest russwollman]

It's always nice to get a lot for a little, even if you're loaded.

But I have gone a little nuts. I now have 3 pairs of Advents and a pair of Smaller Advents. I have done the restoration on them all, which was fun in itself, replacing woofer surrounds and capacitors. I still can't get over how great these speakers sound, how much impact the music has when I listen. The sound is so close to live music.

The Smaller Advents are astonishing, reaffirming that good things came in small packages. They really get the job done, and will really sing once I replace the tweeters and crossover capacitors. As always, Steve at Layne Audio is knowledgeable and very helpful for projects like this. I recommend him very highly.

[Guest klossdisciple]

I have a pair of Advent/3 and original large Advents with the masonite. THe amount people spend vs. what is necessary really is astounding. I used to be an electronics repair technician by trade, so I've always gotten further savings by buying things that are broken and fixing them. Broken things can be very cheap :-)

The 3's can't compare to the large but are very nice for their size. I've always wanted to take them to a high-end store and to an a/b with similar sized speakers. I think they would prove themselves very well. The cone tweeter gives a very unnoticeable transition from woofer to tweeter.

I went through my speaker building and experimentation stage a long time ago and that's a lot of fun. I would caution people though about replacing the orange tweeter in the larges so quickly or being so quick to chage the woofer damping without saving the means to undo it. The orange tweeter sounds very, very good to me. I do wonder what 30 years of time has done to the materials involved but it does sound nice... Have fun, but recognize that Henry Kloss knew what he was doing too :-)

Marantz CD-63se

AA DLC

Adcom 5400

original large Advents

computer

Adcom GTP-450

Adcom 5200

Advent/3

[Guest russwollman]

The newer tweeters I installed (along with new capacitors of the original values) are an improvement over the old ones. They are Advent tweeters. Whether they were designed by Henry I don't know.

But they do provide more clarity and high freq. definition. When I A-B compared 2 pairs of Smaller Advents, it was obvious even though I've lost some high-frequency hearing.

I did nothing to the woofers.

That Henry Kloss knew his stuff is obvious. I recently bought a Model 88 CD from Cambridge Soundworks. This is a remarkable little piece with ability far beyond its size. It does so much so well it nearly makes a bulky, multi-piece component system look excessive. It doesn't have quite the high-end response, and, coming from China, it may not live as long as I'd like, but it amply delivers stunningly good sound.

Whatever our preferences, audio is a wonderful technology that truly enriches life, yes? When I think of what the computer has done for my life—or perhaps to my life—there's no question from where the greater good comes. It's still a miracle to me how good loudspeakers, especially simple ones like the Advents, do what they do, bringing the genius, glory and beauty of past centuries right into one's home.

[stan461]

Hi Russ,

I am amazed at how good these 70's speakers are. I have 2 pair of AR-3a's, one pair of EPI 100s, a pair of Klipsch Heresys and a pair of Large Advents.

At the present time I am breaking in an "Odyssey Stratos" amp. Its the best amp I have ever owned (by far) and dare I say it - I think I am going to keep this one.

The AR3as have an awsome bass, a beautiful midrange and to me they are clear on the high end. However, not being a forward speaker they may give you the impression of lacking some top end. The next couple of weeks will be spent with the Advents and I'll see what comes of that. As I remember the Advents have more "air" or dispersion at the high end.

So right now I'm listening (evaluating) to the AR3a's and eventually will swap in all my other speakers one pair at a time (the Advents are next) in an effort to thin the herd. I may wind up keeping them all.

I previosly posted that I changed the crossover caps in one pair of my AR3as. Thats the pair I'm listening to now. And when I swap in the origianl AR3as then I will report any differences (if any) that I hear.

The best thing about these speakers is that I hardly have any money tied up in them. Its only space that they are taking up.

Russ - maybe just keep them both (the double Advents & the AR 3as).

[Guest russwollman]

Hello, Stan.

I can't decide between the A3a's and the double Advents. I keep listening, but whenever I go to unplug everything and hook the other set up, I forget everything I heard.

I think I'm gonna sell everything except my Model 88CD from Henry Kloss!

Stan—would you like to buy a nice '65 Lincoln Continental convertible? I'll throw in some AR speaker grille cloth to close the deal...