John Warren Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 (edited) Not what I'd call "vintage" 3-way but they are HH Scotts and they were made in USA. 10 or 12 years ago, I picked these up at a church flea market and put them in the storage facility along with all the other audio junk I've collected as a vintage audio hoarder. My son needed a pair of speakers for his pad at college, these would do just fine. He shares a townhouse with 7 others (4 females, 3 males). I replaced the original OEM rotted foam, 20 oh-zee square magnet, stamped frame woofers with a couple of rubber surround, Dayton units. The net internal volume of the enclosure was too large for the woofer so some bracing solved that nicely (it "is" nice also to see thick yellow fiberglass sheets in an enclosure and not foam padding!). The front and rear panels are 3/4" thick particle board. The sides are thinner but thicker than 1/2". It's a sealed (acoustic suspension) enclosure. Weight about 40 ell-bees each. They were manufactured at the 20 Commerce Way location in Woburn, MA. (now an office park) and not the original Maynard, MA location. That said, we gave them a listen and they absolutely rock! We listened to about 20 of the 4000 (give or take a few songs) he's got loaded on his I-Pod. The mini stereo jack output of the I-POD was plugged directly into the L, R input jacks on the Crown, the I-Pod is it's own pre-amplifier and sound source. It's PERFECT for the college crowd, it's sounds great and it's CHEAP. Edited August 20, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 (edited) The crossover was tweaked too, I removed the electrolytic caps and replaced with mylar. Edited August 20, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Not what I'd call "vintage" 3-way but they are HH Scotts and they were made in USA. 10 or 12 years ago, I picked these up at a church flea market and put them in the storage facility along with all the other audio junk. My son needed a pair of speakers for his pad at college, these would do just fine. He shares a townhouse with 7 others (4 females, 3 males). I replaced the original OEM rotted foam, 20 oh-zee square magnet, stamped frame woofers with a couple of rubber surround, Dayton units. The net internal volume of the enclosure was too large for the woofer so some bracing solved that nicely (it "is" nice also to see thick yellow fiberglass sheets in an enclosure and not foam padding!). The front and rear panels are 3/4" thick particle board. The sides are thinner but thicker than 1/2". It's a sealed (acoustic suspension) enclosure. Weight about 40 ell-bees each. They were manufactured at the 20 Commerce Way location in Woburn, MA. (now an office park) and not the original Maynard, MA location. That said, we gave them a listen and they absolutely rock! We listened to about 20 of the 4000 give or take a few songs he's got loaded on his I-Pod. The mini stereo jack output of the I-POD was plugged directly into the L, R input jacks on the Crown, the I-Pod is it's own pre-amplifier and sound source. It's PERFECT for the college crowd, it's sounds great and it's CHEAP. Are you offering these for sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Also, the tweeters are Philips and the MIDs are CTX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Cool thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Are you offering these for sale? No. I'm just describing this interesting micro-project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Are you offering these for sale? No. I'm just describing this interesting micro-project. OK... Back in the day, Scott made some outstanding speakers.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 College kids need a rocking stereo system to take a break away from the books. Great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Morbius Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 OK... Back in the day, Scott made some outstanding speakers……….. But they are (were) more famous for their tube amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I see these on the CL at least once a month, back in the day their amps and FM tuners were the cats Meow, still are, just try and find one on the cheap! They end up on the Bay for a pretty penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 24, 2014 Author Share Posted August 24, 2014 (edited) I'm a 15 min drive from the 20 Commerce Ave location, it's only a block or so from the the train station into Boston which we use frequently. Each time I pass by that location, I lament. Not to mention the numerous other former audio company locations in downtown Cambridge, MA (of which I worked at one while a college student). My, how the greater Boston area has changed. To think there was once a time when home audio gear could be designed, fabricated and shipped from this area by a mid-sized company to make a profit! Edited August 24, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Morbius Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I miss those times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) You and me both! Based on industrially zoned lease rates in the Cambridge, MA area and, using the same multiple (~8X), a pair of Large Advents in American Walnut Veneer and manufactured using the same materials used at the Albany St. location would have to sell for about $2400/pr. to be commercially viable. That cost ignores added costs such as the health-care insurance premiums you'd have to subsidize for your employees, the minimum "living" wage that the Fed and states want to impose ($12/h in MA by 2016) and the permitting and regs for the use of glues, stains, solvents and other VOCs. These additional costs could easily 2X the cost to about $4800/pr. It's no wonder you can't find anyone selling an Advent-like two-way anywhere! Edited August 27, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) So circa 1979, Advent decided the rising costs were too much of a drag on revenue and they relocated to the then "third world state" of New Hampshire. From the Harvard Crimson: Advent Corporation Leaves Cambridge By JOSHUA I. GOLDHABER, January 31, 1979 The Advent Corporation, a nationally-known manufacturer of loudspeakers and other electronic equipment, will close its Cambridge headquarters and plant facilities on Feb. 15 when it shifts its operations to New Hampshire. The move will leave about 500 of the plant's 650 workers jobless. "The corporation, which grossed $35 million last year, is leaving primarily for economic reasons," Peter Sprague, president of Advent, said yesterday. Advent's plant now comprises eight separate buildings in the Cambridge area which are "old, dilapidated and difficult to operate," Sprague said. "I knew when I got here three and one-half years ago that we'd have to move sometime," Sprague said, explaining that mass-production spread over eight separate buildings was inefficient. "Nobody mass-produces in a city; the move had to be made," he added. Cambridge Mayor Thomas W. Danehy last night called the move "very unfortunate." He said, "Nobody likes to see a firm with that many jobs leave. Unemployment is much higher than we'd like to see it." Sprague said Advent could have remained in Cambridge by purchasing land at $2 per square foot in Kendall Square, but he added that such a purchase would have required the corporation to construct a multi-story building on the property. "A single-story facility is a hell of a lot more efficient," he said. Advent has secured 250,000 square feet of space in a one-story building for speaker production in New Hampshire at the rate of $2.65 per square foot. "I can't imagine a situation where someone could [have found similar facilities] for $2.65 per square foot in Cambridge," Sprague said. (Note-Rates in Cambridge today range from $28-32$/sf for low-end manufacturing space...jw) Although Advent made the decision to leave Cambridge last summer, the corporation did not plan on moving until this spring. However, because of a slackening of business in November which Sprague would have required a two- to three-month lay-off for a large number of workers, he felt Advent should use its lag time to move rather than wait. Sprague did not announce the move to workers until last Friday. "The whole thing was kind of strange," Danehy said, adding, "The workers didn't know about it until it was time to move ... For some reason it didn't manage to leak out." Workers are unhappy over the move, since few will be rehired for the New Hampshire plant. Advent plans to give New Hampshire residents preference over jobs and lower wages than Cambridge workers now receive, Danehy said. Sprague said Advent stands to save 15 to 20 per cent in labor costs as a result of the move, amounting to about $1.5 million on 400 jobs. Hazard? Recently, a Cambridge resident told the Cambridge City Council and state environmental agencies that she had developed an above normal concentration of styrene in her body as a result of her residence's proximity to Advent's Sidney Street plant, which emits polystyrene fumes. The state decided to sue Advent for releasing an "objectionable odor" into the air, Sprague said, but he denied that Advent's use of polystyrene in the manufacturing of giant television screens presents any hazard. Cambridge residents have frequently picketed the corporation over the styrene emissions. They have also attempted to start a boycott of Advent products. "Advent has had bad relations with the neighborhood and its relations with the city were not much better. The president [of Advent] was going his own way--he was not going to work with anyone," City Councilor Kevin P. Crane '73 said yesterday. Retailers in the area contacted yesterday said they did not expect much of a change in Advent prices as a result of the move. "Their product was becoming noncompetitive," Robert Dollinger, assistant manager of Tech-HiFi on Boylston Street said yesterday, referring to Advent component price increases which resulted from increased manufacturing costs. "Now they should be able to hold prices at the present level," he added Edited August 27, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 OK... Back in the day, Scott made some outstanding speakers……….. But they are (were) more famous for their tube amps. I had a pair of these. They were the first new speakers that I ever purchased. (these were not mine however) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstrickland1 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) I had a pair of Scott 188t speakers that looked like they were part of that line. Outstanding speakers when new (late 70's). I made a klf 20 center out of one of the beefy enclosures. Forum member Scallawagger has it now.... Edited August 27, 2014 by wstrickland1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 The 20 Commerce Way location made a ton of speakers. Between the late 70s and the late 80s, the demand for engineers from fields where the products had higher margins sucked the technical talent out of the home audio industry. Why work for Teledyne Acoustic Research or Scott or Advent as an electrical or mechanical engineer when Raytheon or Digital Equipment or Avco would pay a higher yearly salary? Peoples tastes changed too. It wasn't long after the move from Maynard to Woburn that HH Scott took a tumble (mid 80s?). In the end, like the others, they sold the name "HH Scott" to Emerson. Scott died long before he witnessed the demise of his company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 The crossover was tweaked too, I removed the electrolytic caps and replaced with mylar. Cheap bastard. I'm depressed. Feel up to a phone conversation? I need to call Dennis too, but that always turns into four or five hours -- better to start with you first. Why don't you post our plots. I really don't feel like being the bad guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 (edited) The crossover was tweaked too, I removed the electrolytic caps and replaced with mylar. Cheap bastard. Of course! I'm depressed. Feel up to a phone conversation? I need to call Dennis too, but that always turns into four or five hours -- better to start with you first. Why don't you post our plots. I really don't feel like being the bad guy. Cheer up, I'll give a ring later this PM. Edited August 31, 2014 by John Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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