Cerwin Vega D3 Speakers

Another summer project getting finished today is this pair of Cerwin Vega D3 speakers. These needed a re foam job and I picked them up as they have an efficiency rating of 93db, I figured this would be good for the tube amp.

I sourced the proper red foams and was surprised to see a decent cast basket for the woofer.

The internals had very little sound dampening material in them which would make one think there would be a pretty good back wave in the bass department, I added some more dampening material into the box.

The finished product turned out as follows.

Sitting on the pedestals I found the bass very mussy and boomy, I opted to get them about 9 inches off the floor and it cleaned up the bass significantly. There is still some muddiness there and perhaps a bit more filling is required to dampen the bass.

Where these speakers really shine is the forward mid range and the high end from the horn tweeter. Being forward in the mids envelopes you into the sound, there is a very realistic 3D image presented.

A fun speaker well suited to a tube amp, I have not tried it on solid state but from what I hear these are meant to be rockers, although they do a wonderful job on jazz and acoustic music. 

Update:

Although these speakers have now moved on to another audiophile along with the Altec Lansing Model 9 I really liked the forward mid range with these speakers that gave them incredible front to back depth. I often thought these were the closest to being in the room with the musicians as I could get live.

I ended up adding even more dampening material into the cabinet and it really cleaned up the bass. I would have liked to hear these on a push pull tube amp before their departure.

I will keep my eyes open for this project again.

New Large Advent Speakers

A friend of the blog contacted me and offered me this wonderful pair of Advent A4 speakers also referred as the New Large Advent.

This pair is pre Jensen and has the fried egg tweeter and the non masonite basket woofer.

They have a wonderful walnut veneer with the famous blunt nose curved cabinet.

Lucky for me this pair has been re foamed already.

These speakers are extremely neutral with the lower bass octaves covered really well. Imaging front to back is excellent. They sound very similar to the Advent 5012W that I had in the past.

The cabinets will need a bit of a re finish to make them really shine.

Stereophile has a great review of these speakers form their archives in 1971 that can be read here. 

 

New Speakerholic Image

Unveiling the new sticker labels for all my projects.

Cool...

Advance Speaker The Advance A2

Another summer project finally finished is the Reynold Advance A speakers, very similar to the Genesis Model 22 that I had a few years back.

From Huw Powell's Human Speaker site these speakers were another spin off of the famous EPI, Epicure, Genesis line only these speakers used Peerless dome tweeters instead of the inverted domes.

These are a very nice sounding speaker and my first pair with the peerless tweeter, I must say the 8" woofer matched to the 10" passive creates very real and substantive  bass response. Imaging is open and wide with very good back to front depth.

This pair needed the passive's to be re foamed and someone along the line replaced the woofer with a very respectable replacement. New grill cloth was also added.

The brochure image is pretty much spot on with what you get in these speakers.

Sony STR-V5 Receiver

Another mid monster receiver happened my way, this 85WPC Sony STR-V5, this one from the end of the golden era in Hifi, 1978.

Weighing in at 41 pounds there is a massive torroidal transformer matched to two 10,000uf filter caps. The build quality is pretty impressive, it is a Sony of course. As the Vintage Knob refers to these as "built like tanks", something you do not see anymore in modern electronics.

Two models rested above the STR-V5 the STR-V6 (115WPC) and the STR-V7 (150WPC).

This receiver is in line but not as powerful as the Kenwood KR-9400 that graced my presence and much smaller that the Rotel RX-1603 Monster that I had.

Big and powerful the Sony is a really nice piece for a Solid State unit.

Altec Lansing Model 9 Speakers

I have had these speakers on the back burner all summer and finally got around to doing a large re foam job on both the woofers and the mid range drivers.

These first generation Altecs 9's are the top of the consumer range before customers went into the Santana's or even higher up the food chain to the 15's, 18's or 19's that are horn loaded.

These speakers came to me in mint condition and their oak veneer cabinets in perfect shape.

They have a large 12" woofer with a 4" mid range and a 3" tweeter, the efficiency is up there at 93db's, which suits a single ended tube amp.

Once I had the box open a replacement of the tweeter cap was an easy upgrade with a Solen 2.2uf cap and installed proper banana plugs.

These speakers are beast, not as large as the JBL CF150's but pretty darn close, the Altecs are a much better build.

The finished product turned out really well, one last thing I need to do is install the cosmetic foam ring around the woofer, I was excited to listen to them and get some pictures up first.

So the big question is how do they sound, well before I begin I have tried them on my Single Ended 4WPC tube amp and a monster Sony STR-V5 at a whopping 85WPC and they are two very different speakers.

In solid state mode at half volume these speakers rock the house to the point of shaking the wooden structure that is the my place. They are loud, but they loose there coherency, the bass gets muddled and the mid range and highs become shrill. At lower volumes they do a nice job with the solid state gear but to the limits of solid state.

When attached to the Single Ended Tube amp, Wow, pure lusciousness! These speakers are incredibly well matched with really nice full bass, like really full. The mid range images wonderfully with zero chestiness in make vocals, female vocals like Mazzy Star are pure heaven. the tweeter is spot on with crisp crisp highs. You do not miss a thing in detail with these speakers. Luscious, it is the only way to sum up the pairing of a tube amp with these speakers, this is what high fidelity is meant to be.

If you google the Altec Model 9's you will find mediocre to satisfying reviews of these speakers, I would suspect that most have only heard these through solid state gear and I understand that. Through a tube amp these are a speaker that is stunning to listen to, it is too bad that most probably listen to these through the wrong type of amplifier.

The Tannoy Oxford Gold's have always been the reference speaker that all others are measured against in my space and these can easily trump the Oxfords.

These are an absolute wonderful find and a very welcome addition to my ever so eclectic collection of speakers.