Small Advent Review in Stereophile - May 2006

[Pete B]

Discussion of Small Advent Review in Stereophile - May 2006:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/...ges/124367.html

It would have made a lot more sense to review the Large Advent, fortunate that they did it anyway.

Pete B.

[stan461]

I have a subscription to Stereophile magazine and was thrilled to see the Smaller Advent review.

Aside from the Advents, the reviewer used current or "state of the art" equipment. A nice approach, since later in the article, he compared the Advents to 3 modern bookshelf speakers that he had previously reviewed (and liked).

The Advents held up very well against the chosen competitors and he said he could live with them for a year or so if he had to. The Advents really excelled in deep bass and the midrange was amply detailed. All in all, he was pleasantly suprised by just how good the Advents were/are.

[pgaron]

Stereophile has since reprinted on its Website Robert Reina's recent review (May 2006) of the Small Advent speakers:

http://www.stereophile.com/historical/506advent/

...and also J. Gordon Holt's original review (from 1971 -- though it mistakenly says "1976") of the *Large* Advent speakers, along with a reply from Henry Kloss:

http://www.stereophile.com/historical/171advent/

Cheers,

pgaron - proud owner of vintage pair of Large Advents

>Discussion of Small Advent Review in Stereophile - May 2006:

>http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/...ges/124367.html

>

>It would have made a lot more sense to review the Large

>Advent, fortunate that they did it anyway.

>

>Pete B.

[Doug G.]

Thanks much for the links, pgaron. Fascinating reading. Of course, we didn't really need reinforcement to our always knowing they are great speakers did we? :^)

Doug, proud owner of vintage pairs of Advents in triple stack configuration :^)

Oops, forgot, welcome to the forum!

[dynaco_dan]

After reading the review, I see an opportunity to POOGE the cabinet a little.

Perhaps a Van Alstine interior putty coating or auto body undercoating to lessen the cabinet resonance.

Of course replacing the tweeter cap may help the highs.

These speakers are still quite plentiful on ebay, and, at a reasonable price, at times.

[dynaco_dan]

Also, I am looking forward to the Larger Advent review if and when it happens.

[Pete B]

Does anyone else see a seam in the foam surround at the top of the Small Advent woofer from the Stereophile review:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archives...506advent.1.jpg

This means that whoever worked on the driver didn't even bother to get the correct foam.

Interesting that it was cropped differently in the actual article.

Pete B.

>Stereophile has since reprinted on its Website Robert Reina's

>recent review (May 2006) of the Small Advent speakers:

>

> http://www.stereophile.com/historical/506advent/

>

>...and also J. Gordon Holt's original review (from 1971 --

>though it mistakenly says "1976") of the *Large*

>Advent speakers, along with a reply from Henry Kloss:

>

> http://www.stereophile.com/historical/171advent/

>

>Cheers,

>

>pgaron - proud owner of vintage pair of Large Advents

>

>>Discussion of Small Advent Review in Stereophile - May

>2006:

>>http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/...ges/124367.html

>>

>>It would have made a lot more sense to review the Large

>>Advent, fortunate that they did it anyway.

>>

>>Pete B.

>

[Guest russwollman]

Pete, you certainly do see a seam, and I know you're no seamstress.

I see heresy! It looks like somebody klipsched the wrong surround just to meet a deadline. Whoever they are—likely a band of rough-hewn pioneers—they certainly did not do their acoustic research very well.

Let's polk 'em until they talk. If that doesn't work, we'll sansui 'em all the way to the Supreme Court, assuming they get the floors dry in time.

[Pete B]

>Pete, you certainly do see a seam, and I know you're no

>seamstress.

>

>I see heresy! It looks like somebody klipsched the wrong

>surround just to meet a deadline. Whoever they are—likely a

>band of rough-hewn pioneers—they certainly did not do their

>acoustic research very well.

>

>Let's polk 'em until they talk. If that doesn't work, we'll

>sansui 'em all the way to the Supreme Court, assuming they get

>the floors dry in time.

Hi Russ nice to hear from you again, and I'm sitting here having a good laugh! I really don't take it all too seriously, but for a review I would have looked for a better sample.

Take care!

[Guest russwollman]

So, Pete, about the matter of seriousness—I would not have rigged a surround like that one. I don't fool around when I do things. Most people would say I overdo everything. But in the interest of Having a Good Time with Things, I found a moment of absurdity which began with the use of the word "heresy", and went on to more ridiculous levels. And I'm glad I got the laugh out of you. Spread it around, eh?

A friend who has worked for American Airlines for quite a while tells me he still wonders how AA manages to get a plane off the ground and into the sky...

I do dig competence.

[dynaco_dan]

Thanks Russ;

I needed a good laugh, thank you.

[Doug G.]

They use planes to shave a little time off each flight :^) I don't know if they use plain planes or fancy ones though.

I agree with you guys about the Advents though. They should have seeked (seeken?) out a mint pair to make the review more credible. Whoever did those woofers made a real mess out of them. It almost looks like they smeared some kind of sealer around the frame after the woofers were mounted.

Doug

[Pete B]

You and Frank do both tend to lighten things up around here, thanks to both of you!

Yes, I've heard about the airlines thing, don't like to think about it.

There's an excellent book by an ex mechanic that I've seen.

>So, Pete, about the matter of seriousness—I would not have

>rigged a surround like that one. I don't fool around when I do

>things. Most people would say I overdo everything. But in the

>interest of Having a Good Time with Things, I found a moment

>of absurdity which began with the use of the word

>"heresy", and went on to more ridiculous levels. And

>I'm glad I got the laugh out of you. Spread it around, eh?

>

>A friend who has worked for American Airlines for quite a

>while tells me he still wonders how AA manages to get a plane

>off the ground and into the sky...

>

>I do dig competence.

[Pete B]

Those links to the other reviews are interesting. Here's a

review of the double Large Advent from The Absolute Sound,

1973:

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/3...ble_advent.html

It seems odd that the Large Advent got such excellent reviews,

well on the surface anyway. It is well known that the magazines

fear loss of advertising. The reviewers and Advent suggested

comparing them to the most expensive systems and mention

Altec A-7s, hmmm more of a PA system, and certainly

not an uncolored system. TAS compared them to Bozaks, Klipsch,

and KLH 9s, dated designs, and also not the most uncolored systems.

Comparision to Quad ESL, IMF, KEF, Infinity Servo Static and so

on would be more appropriate. The Advents certainly had their

strengths, excellent bass for a budget system, and good driver

integration at a time when crossover design was not well

understood. I read the reviews as suggesting that the bass is

world class, when I know from experience that a single Large

pair will not rattle windows the way that an ultimate system does.

I believe that the reviewers claims went overboard,

part might be that there are so many seriously flawed designs

out there that when a decent one comes along it is noticed,

especially a budget system.

Here is a link to the frequency response of the Small Advent as

measured by High Fidelity in the 1970s. Please note that Advent

claimed that the Large and Small Advent were designed to have the

same voicing. The Small Advent was less efficient and had a bit

less deep bass extension. What is interesting is that this

measurement by CBS Laboratories does not agree well at all with

those shown in the Stereophile Review. The CBS curve is smoothed,

which I do not like, still there should be much better agreement

since smoothing does not alter the overall balance. I believe

that the CBS curve is anechoic.

Most in the home environment listen at levels far below a live

event which suggests that loudness compensation is required. The

Advents on axis response is clearly the opposite of loudness

compensation with a large broad peak in the midrange.

The CBS curve is closer to how they sound in my experience:

Please note that I did not scan this, the Small Advent is the

top curve, the other two are unrelated:

http://members.aol.com/Debertin/spktwo.jpg

>Stereophile has since reprinted on its Website Robert Reina's

>recent review (May 2006) of the Small Advent speakers:

>

> http://www.stereophile.com/historical/506advent/

>

>...and also J. Gordon Holt's original review (from 1971 --

>though it mistakenly says "1976") of the *Large*

>Advent speakers, along with a reply from Henry Kloss:

>

> http://www.stereophile.com/historical/171advent/

>

>Cheers,

>

>pgaron - proud owner of vintage pair of Large Advents

>

>>Discussion of Small Advent Review in Stereophile - May

>2006:

>>http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/...ges/124367.html

>>

>>It would have made a lot more sense to review the Large

>>Advent, fortunate that they did it anyway.

>>

>>Pete B.

>