ALLISON 5 or CD6 vs KLH sound

[joany]

Hi,

It's a pity that you don't, in US, no more produce that old good new-england vintage stuff like KLH/AR/ADVENT/ALLISON...sure; Anyway, here is my problem, and i want your advice about it , if you can can help:

I live in europe, and discover KLH speakers , with the small KLH32 first; i possess, now, KLH6, and the two models, sound great in their categories!

My son loves that quality sound too, so i want to make him a gift "under space constraint": his living room is about 20/22 m^2, and a smaller speaker is perhaps more reasonable ( anyway, i don't find small KLH, AR or ADVENT ). Fortunately, i have the opportunity to buy a pair of ALLISON 5 or CD6 ( the old cube ), at the same price ( about 250€, here, ie 330$ a pair):

1) Is the "general" quality sound as good as that of KLH6/17 and KLH32 ? i want to say, are the ALLISON good quality speakers vs KLH as reference ?

2) I was told that the ALLISON's are delicate and needs, in particular, refoaming the boomer ( frequently ? at what cost ?)

3) I require your experience/advice by asking you what would be your choice ( classical music and jazz first, piano music second ) ?

( I know the problem exposed needs more information and stucturation as a complex one, but i have to decide what to do, and quickly! ).

Thanks

[JKent]

Hi

As you probably know, Roy Allison was AR's president and chief speaker designer before he started his own company. He refined the AR3 into the AR3a--considered the epitome of New England loudspeakers.

For several years I had a pair of Allison: Fours and they are GREAT small speakers. The Allison: Five is basically the same as the Four but with one tweeter instead of 2. It will compare VERY favorably to other New England speakers. In my opinion, Allison speakers are superior to AR and KLH (although I currently have AR and KLH speakers in my home). I am not familiar with the CD series. Have you looked at the literature in the Library:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/allison/

As far as being "delicate", there are three considerations:

1. the tweeters have paper domes that tend to get crushed, although they can be pulled out. Yhere is no perfect replacement, although the Audax TW025A2 4 ohm has been suggested as a possibility.

2. The plastic grilles break and replacements are not available.

3. Yes--the woofers WILL have to be refoamed but this is an easy and inexpensive repair. And ALL woofers of this vintage will need to be refoamed. In the US, kits are about $25 USD for a pair. I think repair shops may charge about $50 USD per speaker.

Good luck! You will not be disappointed if you buy Allisons.

You may also want to check the Yahoo! Allison forum:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/allison-speakers/

Kent

p1.pdf

p2.pdf

p3.pdf

p4.pdf

[joany]

Thank you, Kent

It's interesting to know that there is a replacement option with Audax , because the Allison 5 proposed to me have a tweet problem...

More precisely, i have an AR- 4ax offer (same volume ): how it compare with Allison 5 ?

-I suppose the AR is more smoother and less dynamic than the Allison ?

-Can we been tired with the brightness of the Allison ?

thanks Kent, if you can help.