Who can say what is the best Advent?

[Guest gregryjo]

Thanks for a smart and friendly forum everyone.

Now then:

I have seen 4002's, 5002's 5012's. What gives?

Is there anyone who can kindof give me an overview of the different models and which are considered better?

I read someone here say that they would only aquire the advents with the grill over the tweeter. T or F?

I have been the proud owner of a pair since 1978. They do have the grilled tweeter. Now I am looking to double up and I had no idea Advent went through so many changes and it has tweaked my curiousity.

Can anyone be of help?

Gregry

[Guest gkentsmith]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. I will try to answer your question, but only as it applies to the original Advent. My knowledge of the later models produced by Advent (New Advent, Advent/1, Advent/2) is ok, but a bit sketchy. The model numbers you have mentioned are not really by Advent as they went bankrupt in the early '80s and the name was bought by Jensen. They made models such as the Prodigy (I & II although the first was just called Prodigy), Laureate, Heritage, Maestro, Legacy (I,II,III). There are doubtless others, but these are what come to mind. The 5002, etc. may have been produced after Jensen was bought by Esmark corp, but I haven't got one yet to verify that.

Below is an excerpt from a treatise I am compiling and is copyright 2006 by me. It uses computer type version numbering to identify the changes as best as I understand them. This is a draft and has likely got plenty of inaccuracy at this point. Here goes:

"There are a number of ways to tell the differences from version (v)1.0 to v1.3. Through v1.2 the single most easily distinguishable way is the tweeter. V1.0 & v1.1 used a tweeter that was mounted without a gasket (putty, as with the woofer, was used to seal the mounting). On both v1.0 & v1.1 the masonite board was only slightly cocked from the horizontal plane relative to the mounting plate (maybe 10 - 15 degrees max, only enough to drive in the holding screws).

Both versions are also distinguishable by the rear connection recess (the location of the crossover network). They have a silver-looking mounting plate and refer to the year they were designed (1969). These I call "silver backs" as in gorilla nomenclature.

The v1.0 tweeter had no metal mesh grill over the tweeter. Probing fingers caused them to add the mesh to protect the tweeter (this is the only thing different that makes a v1.0 into a v1.1). Sometime shortly later (v1.2 and up) they went with the masonite board cocked 45 degrees to the mounting plate, leaving the characteristic diamond pattern you almost always see.

There is one other difference, not apparent from the outside, which I call v1.3. You can feel the difference through the cabinet when playing v1.0, v1.1 or v1.2 vs v1.3 . Sometime around June of 1975, Advent replaced the fiberglass batting inside the cabinets of all three models with a dense yellowish foam material resulting in v1.3. Although still great sounding, this change is also audible if only barely.

The last change applies to all three models as well. Jun 1975 tweeter dates and later are a good sign of a v1.3. If not sure, the Smaller Advents with serial numbers above (approx.) 160,000 are probably v1.3 and the Large Advents (both types) with Serial numbers above 200,00 are also probably v1.3"

I hope this has made things more clear, but beyond the above there are plenty of others here who have opinions as to what sounds best.

It is widely debated that the "New Advent" (different in appearance and having serial numbers at and above 300,000) is superior sounding. It has a flush mount tweeter and a metal basket woofer (no masonite ring).

Now that I have confused you, maybe one of the other forum members can help further.

Best,

Kent

[Guest gregryjo]

Hi Kent,

I appreciate the detailed info. A most wonderful synopsis. So, it looks like my A4's are really 1.3's...???

The baffle material was a point that I have nebver come across.

Can you mix and match the tweeters and woofers in the early advents, say exchange my metal basket woofers with the masonite ones without replacing the crossover and/or tweeter?

Also a simple chart would be appreciated by newbies (even though I've had my A4's for almost 30 years)like me. Here is how I think it should read:

Original Advents: Tweeter type: Woofer type: Dates produced:

A-2's?:

A-3's:?

A-4's:

4002

4012

5012

and so on.

This would allow, at a glance, a reader to understand the type of Advent for future comments. I for one would appreciate it so that when I do refer to a type of Advent I am not relegated to using terms like "the one with a masonite ring and the slightly tilted tweeter" and so on. Maybe this already exists here but I have not been able to find it.

Thanks Kent,

Gregry