Advent Loudspeaker circa 1980

[Guest toronto_mark]

Hi guys,

What a resource these pages are .... glad I found this place.

They say the music you love, is the music you grew up with. I grew with music from the late 1960's, through the 1970's and 1980's, I still listen to new music in 2006. I bought the Advent Utility speakers in 1980 and they have been in the spare bedroom closet for the past 12 years. The foam on the woofers disintegrated and I couldn't find replacement woofers in 1994, so I put the Advents away. Good thing I didn't throw them out like others I have read about here.

No more! I want a return to the classic, simple, pure Advent sound that I remember from the early 1980's. I am tired of the "plastic sound" I get from my current system - Sony 5.1 w. subwoofer and the mini stereo in my home office. I have decent, natural sounding audio components .... Arcam amp and cd, Yamaha tape deck, Rega Planer 3 turntable, Sony mini-disc player, good quality speaker wire.

Think I paid $500 Canadian for the speakers in 1980. Does that sound right? Just ordered the woofer re-foam kits from Simply Speakers. My woofers are 7 1/2 inch cone diameter, you guys talk about 9" and 10" woofers, does 7 1/2" seem right? My speaker serial numbers are U4 27422 and 27511 .... does that tell me anything?

I have the orange tweeters, is that good or bad? I have the utility cabinet .... looking at it tonight, I can't believe the quality of the speaker cabinet, it is totally sealed. Once I re-foam the woofers, it appears that the only sounds leaving these speakers will be through the tweeter and woofer. Does that make sense?

I am moving to a new home soon and get my own music room. How sweet is that? Looking forward to tweaking my Advents in the weeks ahead.

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

[Guest russwollman]

Nice to resurrect old Advents, isn't it? They're well worth it.

About woofer size there is always some confusion, but as long as you specified the correct new foam surrounds, you're OK. The bass output of the Advent woofer is, like the old Rolls-Royce claim for their engine's horsepower, certainly adequate.

The orange tweeters are fine, but an improved tweeter came along at some point, a simple (black) dome tweeter. To my ears it is a noticeably better unit. If you want to install them in place of the existing ones, it's easy. But to get the most from them, it would probably be good to replace the crossover capacitors as well. A little soldering is all it takes. That's all I did to mine. I purchased the parts from Layne Audio (http://www.speakersupply.com/Advent.htm), good people but commnunications with Layne are difficult.

There are alternatives, and within this board you'll find a wide range of thinking and options from some very knowledgeable aficionados. I'm just a minor, shade-tree electronics tech who loves music. If I can replace a burned-out bulb in an old receiver, it's a satisfying little tidbit for me. I've saved some gas, time, and schlepping, and the light shines once more. Whoopee? You bet. It doesn't take that much any more.

So for now, all you need do is refoam the woofers, and then enjoy. You won't suffer from tinny sound once your pair is up to par!

If you need any help with your refoaming, please mail me. I've done a bunch of them. It's easier than the instructions reveal.

Best wishes, Russ Wollman