Champagne taste beer budget Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Found a pair of these in very good condition at a garage sale 30 minutes ago, marked $20, didn't ask if that was each or the pair. Other than the woofer surrounds, is there anything I should be aware of or look for before I go back with something to test them with? I'm thinking they'd be great for the garage if they work. Oh yeah, they look exactly like these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Yep, it's a good price even if it's $20 each. I sent some Advent woofers off to speakerrepair.com and they did a good job at repair. Sound excellent and are collectors items. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTLongo Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Large Advents were (are) a good speaker. They have a true, deep bass and a sweet, rather restrained sound overall -- so called "New England" sound as opposed to JBL- or Cerwin-Vega-like more forward "California" sound as 1970's jargon had it. The cabinets are quite hefty, and handsome. Overall the speaker was a serious piece of work akin to earlier AR-2a's amd AR-3's. They have their limitations. The woofers have a nominal piston diameter of 10" and can be overdriven. Be a little careful and watch the volume control on heavy material, and they should last a long time and give you much enjoyment. I still have a near-mint pair upstairs in storage. If and when my current secondary system speakers (Bose 901 VI's) eventually die, I will be quite happy to re-hook up the Advents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Off I go to recheck the speakers, bringing along some speaker wire to hook up to an old all-in-one unit I'd seen sitting at the sale. Also my DVOM and a 9 volt battery. They were still there, the only person that knew anything about them was the guy talking to another couple about the pontoon he also had for sale. While waiting patiently, I checked the back of the to-be-borrowed signal source, only to find it had RCA terminals for the speaker outputs. Checked em with the ohm meter, 4.8 on one, 4.8 on the other, but written right above the terminals is "8 ohm". Whipped out the wire and battery, both woofers move in and out. Naturally, the surrounds are toast, one bad, the other completly gone. Guy finaly comes back in, says they were in storage for maybe 10 years, but had worked before that. He thought they were worth $20 each for just the boxes and that someone would stick in some speakers from Radio Shack to make em work again. Then said that some kid had stopped by earlier and was going to be coming back for em to do just that, thought he'd make subwoofers for his car out of them! They were in the last hour of the day, one day sale, so everything ws 1/2 price. HMmmmmm... 20 ain't bad, but I explained I'd have to get new surroundds on em, shipping, etc., I'd have $100 plus just into getting em restored. He said $10. I said $5. Guess what I have sitting in my office?? When I first started checking history on the board for info about these just 2 hours ago, I noticed someone said they used the same surrounds as the Dahlquist DQ10, and that he could do it, for a price. Hey Dean, maybe this is why the DQ20 woofs are still sitting here? I think God had a bigger plan for my shipping boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Nice find and good job shopping! Those are great office speakers. Especially good for light jazz or classical, if that's your office taste. They will NOT rock your world and can be blown up, but they are a nice smooth sound and were quite nice cabinetry as I recall. isn't there a wood trim around the beige grille? I have a pair of Dahlquist M905's that are very similar, but about twenty years newer, with large dome tweeter, same basic design philosophy. Congrats! Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Here's a pic of the better one. Although still there, the surround is completly seperated from the woofer. I used some MinWax paste on the bottom just to see what happened, they shine up pretty good. Not bad for $5 a pair. No wood on the grill, but both grills are in great shape, no stains/tears/rips/loose thread. Almost a thin burlap material. In the background, on the couch, is the box that has the woofers for my DQ20's waiting to be shipped off to DeanG. There's another bigger box by my desk that that box is going into. I was supposed to get them off to him 2-3 weeks ago, but just hadn't yet. Although, I'm sure he's had plenty to keep him busy. Now it looks like I may be sending off TWO sets of woofers! I'm thinking these will serve me well for speakers in the garage at home, now I just need to find an HK 430 or something similar and I can get rid of the mini-boombox on top of the garage refridgerator! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 I meant to do this last post, forgot I knew how to do it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 LOL, now you have to pack another box that's going to sit around forever. Get that stuff over here! That "finish" might be vinyl. I don't remember if they used wood veneer with the utility cabinets (squared edges). If it's vinyl, I would take it all off with a heat gun, patch/sand, and then re-vinyl. The network has two caps, both electrolytics -- which by now are well dried out. Depending on the serial number, either two 16uF caps, or a 16 and an 8. Replace them both -- and they'll be better than new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 LMAO... I just KNEW you were gonna give me sh!t about this. Yes, I was just reading the factory sheet still intact on the back of both speakers, it's particle board with a walnut grain vinyl cover. There aren't any serious dents or gouges, if I decide to make them mint I might consider redoing the vinyl. It appears the serial numbers were on a sticker placed on the back info sheet, both are missing. Once I get the woofs out I'll look around and see what's in the networks. I'm guessing you have a couple caps lying around you could sell me when you box up everything for the return home? (Insert 10 minute pause in posting) What the heck, I pulled out 4 screws and had a look. One 50v 16uF and one 50v 8uF. Nice to be working with someone that knows what they're doing. Any idea why they ohm out at 4.8 when spec above the wire terminals says 8 ohms? p.s. Any idea what vintage these might be? p.p.s. Looks like they have 18 gauge wire to the woofers? Would I see any improvement by upgrading that if I'm already going to be doing some soldering on the network to begin with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 I bought walunt finished beveled edge Advents new in 1974 and sold them to my brother who kept them for the rest of his life. Because I missed their sound, I bought about 5 years ago, reconed the woofers (parts express), replace burnt out tweeters (Ebay $35.00/pair)and they sound great. I swap out speakers every couple of months and I will probably always keep the Advents. Th There is really not that much to them and they are easy to handle. Tubes are pretty much out. A good SS amp with at least 75wpc of clean power and they do sound very good. They have that "I've stuck my head in a concert hall sound" and if thats ok with you then they are great. I also have AR3a's and I think they sound better than Advents. They have better and tighter bass. Without a doubt a more solid midrange and although the highs are a little reticent, I think more accurate. I have spent much time with both. Thne AR3a's are much heavier and a lot more work and money to maintain/restore. My amp may be more friendly to AR3a's and maybe with the right synergy, the Advents would sound better. I'm still experimenting (and always will be). I have heard that stacked Advents are "awesome". Thats 2 speaker on each channel stacked tweeter to tweeter. And the fact that that combo is a winner has been know for many years. It would seem the WAF is low on double or stacked Advents. Hard to beat them for very good sound if you are on a low budget. They are definitely worth the effort but forget the tubes. Tubes just don't work with with AR,Advent,KLH or EPI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Great buy! Be careful of the tweeters, though. They were noted for their intolerance of a clipped signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorn58 Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 I read a old reveiw about the stacked AR's being powered by the then new Phase Linear 700 both were favored togther seemed they liked ons of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornwalled Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Hello, I have both a pair of Advents (just like pics) and AR3As. I really like the Advents. Both pairs had bad foam on woofers. Sadly, at th etime I got the ARs, I didn't know how to refoam, so I replaced the woofers with generic 10 inchers, and the speakers don't sound so good. I love the Advents though. Anyone know where I could get replacement woofers for AR3As? I remember how the one speaker sounded before the woofer went bad, and it was nice and smooth, but clear. With these wrong woofers they're very muddy, tons of midbass, not balanced. Gotta get those things outta there. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 That is an exceptional deal. I always liked Advents. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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