Old Advent speakers

[Flyboy]

I have a set of 4 of the original Advent speakers from the 70's. The foam disintegrated, so they have been rebuilt and still produce an awesome sound driven from a Yamaha RX-770 (85W ea ch). My dilemma is they take up a lot of room and my wife wants smaller speakers in the living room. I am afraid to replace the Advents and wind up with an inferior sound. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't really have a budget limitation, but like most of you, "want bang for the buck".
Thanks,

 

[The13thGryphon]

Flyboy, how large is your room? How loud do you like to listen? What type of music do you listen to? Those answers will assist in making better recommendations.

 

[colin.p]

I think you will have a tough time with anything less than 4 digits (for a pair) that would even come close to those old Advents. I had to part with my old utilities a couple years ago as they played havock with my new TV screen.
So I got a "cheap" surround speaker system that sounds surprisingly good, for what I paid for it, half price at $450.
However, I found that even though it seemed to have decent bass, not nearly as impressive as my old Advents. So I bought a good sub ( Athena AS-P6000) and I can hear the low 20htz note on ELP's Lucky Man again.
I would recommend you looking at a decent set of smaller bookshelves and get a good sub, as it will make the loss of the Advents easier to take.

I feel your pain
Colin

 

[Flyboy]

Flyboy, how large is your room? How loud do you like to listen? What type of music do you listen to? Those answers will assist in making better recommendations.

The13thGryphon,
My living room is moderately large in terms of volume as the short wall is 9.5' high and it vaults up to 16'. The floor is oak hardwood with drywall walls. I think the accoustics are good in the room and this was backed up by an expert violinist who has played in the room and commented on how great they were.The floor plan is open to the main entry and the diningroom. We listen to a variety of music from old Pop/Rock to Classical and Vocal. Sometimes the playing level is loud, even though most of the time it is turned down to allow conversation.

 

[Sheep]

The13thGryphon,
My living room is moderately large in terms of volume as the short wall is 9.5' high and it vaults up to 16'. The floor is oak hardwood with drywall walls. I think the accoustics are good in the room and this was backed up by an expert violinist who has played in the room and commented on how great they were.The floor plan is open to the main entry and the diningroom. We listen to a variety of music from old Pop/Rock to Classical and Vocal. Sometimes the playing level is loud, even though most of the time it is turned down to allow conversation.

If you have bare oak floors and bare drywall, you do not have good acoustics.

You should fire that voilinist.

For the floor, a simple throw rug will do. The walls on the other hand, need much more. You can get foam (needs to be a certain density to work. Atleast 2 or 3, I can't remember the unit)

Is this for stereo music listening? I recommend a nice pair of floor standers. They will have good bass. If you can't do that, bookshelfs with 6.5inch woofers.

The brand is up to you.

SheepStar

 

[jcPanny]

Room acoustics

There is a big difference between acoustic requirements for stereo near field listening (or a violin player) and a multi channel HT. When playing movies on your HT with sound from 7 directions it is desirable to have a fairly "dead" room. Highly reflective surfaces like bare walls and wood floors can effect the mids and high frequencies and also lessen the surround sound effect.

Obviously, book shelf speakers are probably not much smaller than your advents so they are ruled out as an option. You should consider a pair of efficient bookshelf speakers like the Axiom Audio M22ti's or maybe Klipsch even Klipsch reference series. Hide the 8" HSU STF-1 subwoofer behind some furniture and you will have the save frequency range as your advents in a much smaller package.
The Axiom speakers are also avaliable in a wall mount version and have several finish options.

www.axiomaudio.com

 

[Hi Ho]

I have a pair of Advent Smaller Loudspeakers. They are much smaller than yours but I do agree that the old Advents produce phenominal sound. The only reason I'm looking to upgrade mine is that they are so power hungry and that I have a completely mismatched system.

If/when I upgrage I will most likely build some DIY speakers. I'm not rushing it though as I want the best sounding speakers I can build. I need something that will surpass the Advents, and that is not a small task.