Allison Three Speakers. Anyone still have them or used to have them?

[crazyfingers]

Similar to a post I made in the Amps section, I recently retired am picking up on the hobbies I used to have before kids and such. I have money and I'm just looking at everything about my stereo on whether I should consider replacing anything.

I got these in about 1978 I think. I know I took them to the dorms on by freshman year of college in 1980.

I replaced the woofers as many of these units need because of deterioration of the foam housing. They are still looking good around the woofers. They are 4 Ohm so my Carver Cube does a great job driving them.

I still believe that they sound great but I'm open to arguments that they are obsolete if there are any arguments. But I'd say that of all my equipment, I'm probably most attached to these. Afterall, they are beautiful, convenient to place and they have been with me for 45 years.

But I'm listening if there is a good reason to finally let them go.

The same question on he Amp is Here. https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/anyone-else-here-still-using-a-carver-cube.127184/

 

[lovinthehd]

Were you able to replace with oem drivers? Not familiar with those speakers particularly, nor familiar with their design chops but you might like a different speaker in any case....but, what is the doohickey on top of the speaker?

 

[crazyfingers]

Were you able to replace with oem drivers? Not familiar with those speakers particularly, nor familiar with their design chops but you might like a different speaker in any case....but, what is the doohickey on top of the speaker?

Yes. They were made about 3 miles from my parent's house and they still had spare parts around 1999.

The doohinckey is a 100 year old set of roast beef cutting knife and fork. I know tney look like dueling pistols but not.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes. They were made about 3 miles from my parent's house and they still had spare parts around 1999.

The doohinckey is a 100 year old set of roast beef cutting knife and fork. I know tney look like dueling pistols but not.

I was thinking some sort of knives rather than pistols....so wasn't too far off.

 

[crazyfingers]

I was thinking some sort of knives

If you like old knives ... (sorry for the off-topic)

Spoiler: Great Grandfather's Naval officer's sward 1896

 

[lovinthehd]

If you like old knives ... (sorry for the off-topic)

Spoiler: Great Grandfather's Naval officer's sward 1896

View attachment 61596View attachment 61597

Not particularly but thanks. A friend of mine is a knife maker, and he just posted about his visit to Japan to visit with a master of sushi knives....nothing in my wheelhouse particularly in terms of skills but surely appreciate fine craftsmanship!

 

[davidscott]

I had some Allison 6 cubes in the early 80s. They were awesome in a small apt. and looked fantastic on the Bose 901 stands. I loved the Allison sound and wish I had kept them. If it is not too expensive, I would consider restoring them.

 

[TLS Guy]

Similar to a post I made in the Amps section, I recently retired am picking up on the hobbies I used to have before kids and such. I have money and I'm just looking at everything about my stereo on whether I should consider replacing anything.

I got these in about 1978 I think. I know I took them to the dorms on by freshman year of college in 1980.

I replaced the woofers as many of these units need because of deterioration of the foam housing. They are still looking good around the woofers. They are 4 Ohm so my Carver Cube does a great job driving them.

I still believe that they sound great but I'm open to arguments that they are obsolete if there are any arguments. But I'd say that of all my equipment, I'm probably most attached to these. Afterall, they are beautiful, convenient to place and they have been with me for 45 years.

But I'm listening if there is a good reason to finally let them go.

The same question on he Amp is Here. https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/anyone-else-here-still-using-a-carver-cube.127184/

View attachment 61577View attachment 61578View attachment 61579

I have not seen those speakers for years. They were good for their time, but things have moved on a lot since then. I'm sure you could do better now. Also those mids and tweeters are pre ferro fluid, so they will not take the power of modern transducers. So be careful how loud you play them, as those speakers are done, with the first driver you burn out. Back then amps were not as powerful as they are now.

 

[crazyfingers]

I have not see those speakers for years. They were good for their time, but things have moved on a lot since then. I'm sure you could do better now. Also those mids and tweeters are pre ferro fluid, so they will not take the power of modern transducers. So be careful how loud you play them, as those speakers are done, with the first driver you burn out. Back then amps were not as powerful as they are now.

Interesting. I'm driving them with a Carver M400 cube 200wpc at 8 ohm. More really because the speakers are 4 ohm but I don't recall the exact spec. But I hardly ever really turn them way up any more. Nothing like I used to when I was in college. I learned that my room mate was turning them up too high when I was out and he blew the tweeters twice not due to too much power but of too little. He was clipping because at first I only had a 60 W amp freshman year (1980). Fried the tweeters with high frequency distortion. I got rid of that room mate and got the Carver.

ETA: Allison replaced the tweeters no charge - twice. Lucky they were so close to my parents house. I could drop them off.

 

[Kingnoob]

Similar to a post I made in the Amps section, I recently retired am picking up on the hobbies I used to have before kids and such. I have money and I'm just looking at everything about my stereo on whether I should consider replacing anything.

I got these in about 1978 I think. I know I took them to the dorms on by freshman year of college in 1980.

I replaced the woofers as many of these units need because of deterioration of the foam housing. They are still looking good around the woofers. They are 4 Ohm so my Carver Cube does a great job driving them.

I still believe that they sound great but I'm open to arguments that they are obsolete if there are any arguments. But I'd say that of all my equipment, I'm probably most attached to these. Afterall, they are beautiful, convenient to place and they have been with me for 45 years.

But I'm listening if there is a good reason to finally let them go.

The same question on he Amp is Here. https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/anyone-else-here-still-using-a-carver-cube.127184/

View attachment 61577View attachment 61578View attachment 61579

They maybe worth restoring for nostalgia that’s the lowest place, woofer I’ve seen on speaker. How good do they sound?
you can always have multiple sets of speaker as do I .

 

[MrBoat]

A lot of the to do with modern speakers vs. old is, what you don't know can't hurt you, if you enjoy the old ones the same as you remember. If my vintage speakers had never fell apart, or the pots on my amps gotten ridiculously contaminated, I never would have cared to know better.

Speakers are much better now. Even many of the budget ones are hands down better than the bargain versions of yesterday, and this from someone who is stubborn about technological progress.

OTOH, I can't imagine a more self-enriching hobby for retirement, or free time in general. Great for rainy days and down time too. In this regard, there is a discovery aspect that can lead down many rabbit holes and adventures. With me, it is the building, and then listening to music on what I have made. I now have 11 pairs, 7 of which were kits, so we can add the rebirth of my woodworking hobby, yet again as well. Also dusting off electronics career I started out with, to build amps and speaker crossovers, being as I never did anything else with it otherwise.

Many modern speakers can be a bit too revealing with older, questionable quality recordings though, which is why I have different speakers, some of which that are a bit more forgiving than others. The newer designs and newer playback formats have inspired me to look into and even adopt other genres of music that I would not have dreamed of following in the past and unwittingly got me out of that constant replay rut I had been stuck in for years.

 

[Swerd]

I was in a similar place years ago. My kids were out of the house & had finished college, and I was able to revisit old favorite hobbies. I've never heard any Allison speakers, but they did have a good reputation back in the 1980s. The only way you can know for certain if you want to replace them is to listen to as many speakers as you can.

That's not as easy now as it once was. It depends where you live and what is locally available. There are much fewer audio stores and many good speaker makers who only sell by internet direct, avoiding the costs of distribution systems and brick & mortar stores. That's why people go to those audio shows where lots of speaker manufacturers show their products.

 

[crazyfingers]

They maybe worth restoring for nostalgia that’s the lowest place, woofer I’ve seen on speaker. How good do they sound?
you can always have multiple sets of speaker as do I .

Ya the whole idea on the bass is interaction with the walls and floor. The speakers are made to be in the room corners. They wouldn't sound anywhere as good away from the the walls and floor, unless you flip them and put the woofer at the ceiling.

I think that they sound great. But, I haven't listened to good speakers other than these in decades.

There is a store that sells high end audio about 40 minutes away. It's the same store I bought these and most of the other stuff I've had over the years. It's where I got the NAD. Maybe I'll go for a listen. The manager who sold me stuff when I was in high school is still there.

 

[Eppie]

If you want to explore this as a hobby there are different tracks you can take. That Carver will drive any speaker fine so you can experiment with speakers. There are lots of speakers for sale on USAudiomart (there are Canadian and UK versions as well) and Craigs List, if you want an affordable way of trying different brands. You'll likely need to be willing to post stuff for sale as well to thin out your collection if it grows. If budget allows you can research and try new brands as well. Other option is to get into speaker building if you have the wood working skills and can solder wire. You can build some great sounding speakers for much less than a comparable retail version. That's what I hope to do and I already have 1 kit in the shop to start with.

FYI, I have an almost identical knife and fork set I picked up from an antique store years ago.

 

[crazyfingers]

I was in a similar place years ago. My kids were out of the house & had finished college, and I was able to revisit old favorite hobbies. I've never heard any Allison speakers, but they did have a good reputation back in the 1980s. The only way you can know for certain if you want to replace them is to listen to as many speakers as you can.

That's not as easy now as it once was. It depends where you live and what is locally available. There are much fewer audio stores and many good speaker makers who only sell by internet direct, avoiding the costs of distribution systems and brick & mortar stores. That's why people go to those audio shows where lots of speaker manufacturers show their products.

Fortunately the store I used to go to in high school is still here and they have all kinds of speakers.

 

[Swerd]

Fortunately the store I used to go to in high school is still here and they have all kinds of speakers.

I mentioned the Internet Direct speaker makers because a number of them make excellent speakers, not sold by any store that I know of. For example, Salk Signature Sound, Philharmonic Audio, Ascend Acoustics, NHT, SVS, among others.

The Carver amp you mentioned may be old, but it was a good one. As long as it continues to stay that way, you should keep using it. For what it's worth, the state-of-the-art in new amp designs today are Class D amps featuring electronic modules built by Hypex or Purify. They're also available by Internet Direct from places like Buckeye Amps.

If you've read or learned anything that makes you believe that Class D amps are inferior sounding to the older Class AB amps, it's at least 20 years out of date. If I had to buy a new amp to replace my 25 or 30 year old B&K, I'd buy one of those Hypex NCore amps without hesitation.

 

[crazyfingers]

I mentioned the Internet Direct speaker makers because a number of them make excellent speakers, not sold by any store that I know of. For example, Salk Signature Sound, Philharmonic Audio, Ascend Acoustics, NHT, SVS, among others.

The Carver amp you mentioned may be old, but it was a good one. As long as it continues to stay that way, you should keep using it. For what it's worth, the state-of-the-art in new amp designs today are Class D amps featuring electronic modules built by Hypex or Purify. They're also available by Internet Direct from places like Buckeye Amps.

If you've read or learned anything that makes you believe that Class D amps are inferior sounding to the older Class AB amps, it's at least 20 years out of date. If I had to buy a new amp to replace my 25 or 30 year old B&K, I'd buy one of those Hypex NCore amps without hesitation.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of ordering speakers off the internet not even listing to them. I've had in my head all these years that speakers are highly personal and subjective and there is no way to know without listening to them.

The Carver is still doing fine except that if I unplug it it sends a transient, not damaging but still, though the left speaker. So I no longer have it switched with the preamp. The NAD doens't have AC outputs, switched or unswitched, so the Carver is just on a power strip which I keep on these days.

 

[lovinthehd]

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of ordering speakers off the internet not even listing to them. I've had in my head all these years that speakers are highly personal and subjective and there is no way to know without listening to them.

The Carver is still doing fine except that if I unplug it it sends a transient, not damaging but still, though the left speaker. So I no longer have it switched with the preamp. The NAD doens't have AC outputs, switched or unswitched, so the Carver is just on a power strip which I keep on these days.

Then again listening in a store (particularly the big box stores) isn't an ideal way to audition speakers either. Perhaps over the years speakers that are well designed and measure well make it somewhat less of a crapshoot than it was 50 years ago. I've ordered several speakers from the internet without anything but measurements and user comments to go on (I tend not to bother with the subjective reviewers, most of them are useless IMO), but don't live near any stores to audition at either. Many have great return policies should something be amiss.

 

[Kingnoob]

Ya the whole idea on the bass is interaction with the walls and floor. The speakers are made to be in the room corners. They wouldn't sound anywhere as good away from the the walls and floor, unless you flip them and put the woofer at the ceiling.

I think that they sound great. But, I haven't listened to good speakers other than these in decades.

There is a store that sells high end audio about 40 minutes away. It's the same store I bought these and most of the other stuff I've had over the years. It's where I got the NAD. Maybe I'll go for a listen. The manager who sold me stuff when I was in high school is still there.

Explains why they fit exactly in the corners , now days subwoofers have replaced that job so main speakers can focus more on vocals and content rather then just bass. I’d definitely look into some modern speakers and maybe add a subwoofer if possible. I have them hooked to my tv for cable /movies etc , music shows like the voice etc .
unfortunately my dads not a fan of speakers so there’s one tv room with none hooked up, my room is on the opposite wall. So my sound during loud commercials sometimes bleeds into the next room .

 

[crazyfingers]

At some point I think I'll go over to the hifi store I mentioned and talk to them. Larry the store manager who sold me the Allison's and the Carver and lots of other stuff is still there. He must be around 70 now. They have a nice listening room. I'll bring some of my favorite songs that I know so well and have them play them.

I guess I'm not in a rush though.

I don't think that I have the skills or the interest in building my own. When I want to work with my hands I prune the shrubs.