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Calling All "Vintage" Speaker Owners
Jun 24, 2013 at 6:42 PM Post #781 of 1,332
Yup. Pretty famous speaker. LOTS of info on AudioKarma on them, definitely worth reading. I'm not very knowledgable about them myself but I do know that they have a rabid following in some circles.
 
Jun 26, 2013 at 12:35 AM Post #783 of 1,332

MOTHER OF GOD...

 
Picked them up for $80 (seller was asking $110).
 
"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I still don't ********* believe this."
 
My neighbors are gonna hate me.
 
Dustcap on the right woofer is dented, otherwise they're in great shape. The previous owner definitely knew what he was doing; he recapped the crossovers, replaced the foam gasket on the mid horn that is notorious for wearing out, and refoamed the woofers.

 
Can't bring myself to sell the Maggies just yet, but they're going into storage.

 
Driving with a Hafler DH220 (bottom shelf) and XiangSheng 728A preamp (second shelf) with NOS Mullard tubes.

 
And my Teac A4070, just to top off the vintage awesomeness.

(Sorry about the awful photos. My DSLR is packed away from the recent move).
 
Back to the speakers. Are they the last word in resolution or transparency? Heck no. But are they the most fun speaker I've ever listened to? An absolute YES!!! They've definitely got a warm, 1970's HiFi sound, but not at the expense of clarity. All in all, an excellent impulse purchase. 
size]

 
Jun 26, 2013 at 12:51 AM Post #785 of 1,332
Quote:
calipilot227 said:

MOTHER OF GOD...

 
Picked them up for $80 (seller was asking $110).
 
"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I still don't ********* believe this."
 
My neighbors are gonna hate me.
 
Dustcap on the right woofer is dented, otherwise they're in great shape. The previous owner definitely knew what he was doing; he recapped the crossovers, replaced the foam gasket on the mid horn that is notorious for wearing out, and refoamed the woofers.

 
Can't bring myself to sell the Maggies just yet, but they're going into storage.

 
Driving with a Hafler DH220 (bottom shelf) and XiangSheng 728A preamp (second shelf) with NOS Mullard tubes.

 
And my Teac A4070, just to top off the vintage awesomeness.

(Sorry about the awful photos. My DSLR is packed away from the recent move).
 
Back to the speakers. Are they the last word in resolution or transparency? Heck no. But are they the most fun speaker I've ever listened to? An absolute YES!!! They've definitely got a warm, 1970's HiFi sound, but not at the expense of clarity. All in all, an excellent impulse purchase. 
size]
Click to expand...

Beautiful
 
Jun 26, 2013 at 1:04 AM Post #786 of 1,332
Forgot to mention, MUCH less bright than the Klipsch Heresy. They were probably my least favorite speaker that I've owned. I think someone on AK mentioned that they sound best face down on the floor :veryevil:
 
Jun 26, 2013 at 4:54 AM Post #787 of 1,332
Calipilot, ya done good, brotha!!!!! Those look great, super great price, and I'm sure they sound awesome. nice!!!!
 
Jun 26, 2013 at 11:15 AM Post #788 of 1,332
Fu
calipilot227 said:

MOTHER OF GOD...




Picked them up for $80 (seller was asking $110).

"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I don't ********* believe this..."
"I still don't ********* believe this."

My neighbors are gonna hate me.

Dustcap on the right woofer is dented, otherwise they're in great shape. The previous owner definitely knew what he was doing; he recapped the crossovers, replaced the foam gasket on the mid horn that is notorious for wearing out, and refoamed the woofers.



Can't bring myself to sell the Maggies just yet, but they're going into storage.



Driving with a Hafler DH220 (bottom shelf) and XiangSheng 728A preamp (second shelf) with NOS Mullard tubes.



And my Teac A4070, just to top off the vintage awesomeness.


(Sorry about the awful photos. My DSLR is packed away from the recent move).

Back to the speakers. Are they the last word in resolution or transparency? Heck no. But are they the most fun speaker I've ever listened to? An absolute YES!!! They've definitely got a warm, 1970's HiFi sound, but not at the expense of clarity. All in all, an excellent impulse purchase. 
size]
Click to expand...
Fun ain't it! They look killer. I'm about board an AA flight home and get to hear my Dynacos for the first time!!!
 
Jun 26, 2013 at 1:55 PM Post #789 of 1,332
I didn't know this vintage speaker thread existed until Skylab pointed it out after I posted some speaker pics in the Vintage Receiver thread.  Anyway, here's some pictures of transmission line speakers from a relatively short lived (~15yrs) British company called IMF.
 
First up are IMF TLS 50 IIs, vintage late 70's/early 80's.  Being transmission line designs, these go deep down to 23Hz according to specs:

 
They didn't come with speaker stands (though a later version did), so I built my own wood stands.  About 5-7 degree tilt-back.
 
Close up of drivers.  The tweeter (rectangular one) is a replacement Audax tweeter from Falcon UK that's supposed to match the original pretty closely (original was an Audax as well).  The circular one up top is a supertweeter.  I re-foamed the mids after I got them as they were cracked.

 
I also re-capped the crossovers.  
Before:

 
And After:

 
Next up are IMF RSPM IV (also late 70's/early 80's), with three of four drivers upgraded at some point by the dealer to Improved model drivers - the tweeter was left original (I believe due to mounting differences of original versus Improved drivers).  These are spec'd to go down to 17Hz.  Behind the removable metal plate at the bottom are 3 adjustments (bass cutoff/filter, tilt, and slope).
 

 

 
Both of my IMF models are mirror imaged, with high frequency drivers inward:
Left speaker:

 
And Right:

 
Crossovers are pretty elaborate, with the various adjustments bringing in and out the various electrolytics:
Before re-cap:

 
and after re-cap:

 
What's cool about this model is they veneer the backside as well - only a close up shot since it's hard to move these 100 lb speakers to get a wide shot:

 
 
Last up, though I'm not sure early 90's is vintage, are Acarian Alon II, which are descendants of Dahlquist and designed by Carl [size=small]Marchisotto who went on to the Nola brand.[/size]

 
 
Woofers were re-foamed by Miller Sound. Mids and tweeter use an open baffle design, with backside looking like this:

 
Jun 26, 2013 at 5:18 PM Post #790 of 1,332
Cap touch those look GREAT. Nice work.
 
Jun 27, 2013 at 1:15 AM Post #792 of 1,332
Way to 1-up me, Captouch... 
size]

 
I kid, I kid. Those are STUNNING! 
size]
 I'll definitely keep my eyes open in case a pair ever drifts my way.
 
Jun 27, 2013 at 3:28 AM Post #793 of 1,332
There's so much great stuff out there. My exposure has been pretty limited - would love to hear some of the classic vintage lines: KEF, Magnepan, Klipsch, some of the Pioneers and Yamahas, etc.

Trouble is you can have meets and get together a bunch of headphones, amps, DACs, etc, but lugging full size speakers isn't really practical.
 
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