old advents reborn! (1 Viewer)

[Andy Goldstein]

after owning a set of new large advents since 1977, i decided to build a set of doubles, using my existing speakers as the basis. i gutted the advent cabinets, and bought enough parts off ebay to make four more speakers. i built up two doubles for the left and right front speakers, in enclosures that have the same internal volume in each chamber as the original advents. the boxes are 18" wide, 4 feet tall, and 14 inches deep at the base, tapering to 10 inches deep at the top. the woofers are mounted in a vertical line, with the tweeters side-by-side near the top. i know, bad idea, but the outboard tweeters are angled inwards to give the effect of toeing-in the speaker without having to toe it in as far.

for the center channel i built 2 boxes to house the woofers, and put one on each side of the RPTV. the tweeters were mounted in maple blocks, milled out to accomodate the magnets and wiring. they sit on top of the tv. i brought the tweeter leads from the crossover out of the back of the woofer boxes.

all the enclosures, except the tweeter blocks, were painted flat black, and then sprayed with black granite spray paint. from a distance the boxes look jet black, but up close you can see the texture and the flecks of grey and white in the paint.

the sound is amazing! the famous deep advent bass is there, and then some. the soundstage is wide and even, with very nice imaging. for critical listening i stack the tweeter blocks in the middle of the tv to avoid interference effects.

all in all, a very nice setup, if you have the room. definately a wall-of-sound. and not very expensive either. the woofers can be had for about 20 bucks each, and the tweeters for about the same, sometimes with crossovers. one sheet of mdf each for left and right, and one for the center set. a little paint, some foam or fiberglass or poly batting and you are good to go!

if you are ever in the experimenting mood and want to hear how good speakers from a quarter of a century ago can sound, its worth a listen.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Kinda makes me think. My dad has a pair of infinitys that are about 30 years old. They have the emit tweeter and a paper cone 10". I really want to bring them home and hook em up to my yamaha rxv-1400.

 

[ScottCHI]

where'd you get the cat-like rear surround?

 

[Andy Goldstein]

jesse: as long as the woofer surrounds are in good shape, they should sound great. i always liked the high end on the old infinitys. still like the advent bass better though!

scott: had the rear surround for about 6 months now. purrs like a kitten on low level music, but crank it up and she really howls!!!

ag.

 

[Edward J M]

I have a pair of circa '78 New Advent Large. The woofs have been refoamed using a factory approved refoam kit.

For those who own Advents that require refoaming, don't use just any refoam kit, since using the wrong stiffness surround can alter the operating parameters of the woofer.

Mine are still going strong in a casual use music/TV/HT rig upstairs. They are a great sounding speaker - a real milestone in the industry at the time. Octave-to-octave balance is excellent, the famous Advent sealed bass still brings a smile, and the unique combined midrange/treble driver imparts a sense of "live energy" to vocals, brass, snare drum, and cymbals that most speakers have difficulty matching. They excel with pop/rock and always seem to solicit an involuntary "sing along" response whenever a popular older classic is played.

Where the Advents stumble is with inner detail and soundstage imaging/depth - they simply can't compare to the current crop of more refined speakers in that regard, and this shortcoming is most evident on classical music. The soundstage with the Advents is quite 2 dimensional, lacking any depth whatsoever, and also instruments wander on occasion.

Ed

 

[Andy Goldstein]

ed: isnt there a replacement crossover for the advents? i remember hearing something about that somewhere. search time i guess!