Advent, The Smaller Advent

I have been on a Henry Kloss roll as of late and the newest addition is The Smaller Advent speakers.

This pair has already been re foamed using the spliced surround method.

This pair was meant to be a lesser expensive pair of the original Larger Advent while trying to incorporate the original sound of the Larger Advent. these have a smaller woofer but the same fried egg tweeter.

The bass response is very impressive for their size but not nearly ass deep as their bigger brother.

I found that the Smaller Advent are best suited to solid state like my Marantz Model 28, I read somewhere that the efficiency is somewhere around 85-86db which does not make it a candidate for the tube gear.

I do prefer the Larger Advents over the Smaller Advents.

Here is a great article in Stereophile Magazine on how these speakers stack up against $500.00-$1000.00 speakers today.

"First, inner detail in the midrange was excellent, and as good as any under-$500/pair speaker I have reviewed. The Advent's articulation of transients, and its ability to render wide dynamic swings, were extraordinary—also in the league of the most impressive bookshelf speakers I've reviewed in the last few years. The Advent's bass extension, too, was surprising—more akin to what I'd expect from a floorstander, and accomplished without any of the modern design tricks of judiciously placed reflex ports."

 

Marantz Model 28 update

I just got this lovely Marantz Model 28 back from Pure Sound locally and this little unit sounds absolutely wonderful for 20WPC.

This is a late 60's early 70's model that came out before the 22XX models. I like this era of solid state receivers as I find they are modeled closest to a push pull tube amp and this unit has that sound. Under normal listening conditions the bass is full, mid range is smooth and the highs are not as crisp as a single ended tube amp but pleasant just the same.

Imaging in the mid range is pretty nice with this unit, with a nice deep three dimensional sound stage.

This unit was noisy in the right channel when arrived and it has since been serviced at Pure Sound, a few transistors had to be replaced. All capacitors checked out to be fine. This unit still has minimal noise but it is very low and I will accept that given the age of the unit. The noise does not interfere with the music at all.

November update:

Since buying a Magnavox push pull tube amp, I would put the sound of this receiver near to the sound of the Magnavox. Not as lush in the mid range and a little brashy in the upper mids to low highs but a real solid sound stage that sounds magnificent. this unit matches well with the more efficient speakers that I own. this piece will be staying in the collection.

Marantz Model 28 Receiver

I love low watt solid state receivers from the late 60's and early 70's and another gem arrived yesterday that needs a bit of a tune up under the hood but non the less really impressive, this 20 WPC Marantz Model 28.

Preceding the Marantz 22XX series this unit still seems to be stamped with the Superscope label on the owners manual.

Besides the typical oxidization in the pots there is a bit of static noise in the right channel which could indicate a week filter cap.

Early listening revealed solid bass without the loudness and a pretty warm and detailed mid to high frequency fulfillment, not unlike a tube amp. Early solid state units are as close sonically as you can get to a tube amp, as that was the standard when IC's were introduced.

This unit will go into a repair shop and get tuned up and the walnut case will be refurbished, an update will be published when done.