3-way Tower Speakers?

[sparky77]

Does anybody remember the sound of the old fisher 3 way towers, I remember they used to sound pretty good even for being packaged in complete system packages. Well, I searched and searched and searched some more, and couldn't find anything other than the new Cerwin Vegas. So I went with replacing the components in an old pair of Radio Shack speakers using only the cabinets over again. I went with Goldwood 10's and 5 inch mids, with Vifa 3/4" tweeters. Sure was a big change from what the old worn out nearly blown 10's did before, and upgrading from two tweeters to a mid and tweeter really smoothed out the vocals. They may not meet what a lot of readers would consider "audiophile" grade speakers, but for 103 bucks to rehab two speaker boxes including crossovers, they sure sound impressive. Its a shame that the world has become based on two way bookshelves because the big companies have quit making the classic three way towers.

 

[zumbo]

Does anybody remember the sound of the old fisher 3 way towers, I remember they used to sound pretty good even for being packaged in complete system packages. Well, I searched and searched and searched some more, and couldn't find anything other than the new Cerwin Vegas. So I went with replacing the components in an old pair of Radio Shack speakers using only the cabinets over again. I went with Goldwood 10's and 5 inch mids, with Vifa 3/4" tweeters. Sure was a big change from what the old worn out nearly blown 10's did before, and upgrading from two tweeters to a mid and tweeter really smoothed out the vocals. They may not meet what a lot of readers would consider "audiophile" grade speakers, but for 103 bucks to rehab two speaker boxes including crossovers, they sure sound impressive. Its a shame that the world has become based on two way bookshelves because the big companies have quit making the classic three way towers.

I actually replaced one of my 12" Cerwin woofers with a Rat Shak woofer for about $12. Worth every penny.

As for three-way towers, companies have moved to a separate sub for the LF in a .1 system. Most of the towers and bookshelves today are meant to be crossed-over. They are just superior mids and tweets, compared to what you would find in most old-school three-ways.

As for superb three-ways, there are still companies that make quality speakers for stereo application. Here is my favorite.
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=810

 

[sparky77]

I was considering the cerwin vega three ways but I'm not really that fond of their rather boomy sounding bass. These Goldwood Woofers have a very nice smooth tight bass. Cant wait to get them down to the testing lab to see how they stack up on response graphs.

 

[zumbo]

I was considering the cerwin vega three ways but I'm not really that fond of their rather boomy sounding bass. These Goldwood Woofers have a very nice smooth tight bass. Cant wait to get them down to the testing lab to see how they stack up on response graphs.

Current Cerwins suck. Mine were the $#!t in 1985.

 

[xboxweasel]

Are you saying you can not find 3 way tower speakers?

 

[sparky77]

Well I did find ALL kinds of three way speakers 99% of which utilized multiple 4 inch to 7 inch woofers, and I was looking more for the classic looking systems that utilize a 10 inch or bigger woofer, I have a fairly large listening area so I'm not too concerned with the space issue.

 

[jinjuku]

Good luck, most designs favor multiple smaller drivers. You could check out the RTR series from BIC.

 

[xboxweasel]

Well I did find ALL kinds of three way speakers 99% of which utilized multiple 4 inch to 7 inch woofers, and I was looking more for the classic looking systems that utilize a 10 inch or bigger woofer, I have a fairly large listening area so I'm not too concerned with the space issue.

I don't think they make speakers like that anymore. The little square boxes are gone and replaced by slimmer taller enclosures. I was wondering about these changes myself. I cannot find a good answer though.

I have 3 types of tower speakers. Two of those are 3 way loud speakers. One of them uses three 7" woofers. One has two 8" woofers.

Finding speakers with woofers larger than 8" is difficult. I would imagine there are not too many choices out there for the mid level audio enthusiast.

 

[sparky77]

Has anybody heard the BIC RtR-1230, or 1530, wish there was a dealer nearby, but not so lucky living out in bfe. I rehabed the old speakers with the inexpensive goldwood speakers, and plan on building new boxes in the spring, and eventually building higher quality speakers possibly utilizing two 10 woofers and moving the goldwoods to rear surround sound duty. But, I would still be interesting on hearing any subjective reviews on the BIC RtR series.

 

[zumbo]

Hello! Is there anybody out there?

As for superb three-ways, there are still companies that make quality speakers for stereo application. Here is my favorite.
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=810

 

[zumbo]

http://www.tyleracoustics.com/pro_dynamics.html

 

[zumbo]

http://www.josephaudio.com/product.pearl.html

http://www.sonusfaber.com/index.html

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=1&id=20&cat=Loudspeaker+Systems&prodid=1108&product=XLS360

 

[zumbo]

old school:
http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/klipschorn.aspx
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=30049

http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/la-scala-ii.aspx
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=30046
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=86620

http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/heresy-iii.aspx
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=30041
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=33836

http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/60th-anniversary-klipschorn.aspx
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=86622