Advent Legacy Rig

[RuSsMaN]

Just picked up my drivers from the foam shop and got em installed. I just threw a temp rig together in one of the living rooms for the evenings entertainment.

Nad 902 amp, Hafler DH101 pre, ADC 16/2 cd, MIT Term 6 speaker cables, Monster 100 interconns (my other 'decent' cables are too snug for the old Hafler - don't want to rip the rca jacks off).

No real reason for the post, just gettin' my listen on, with some speakers I grew up with, and hoped to have one day - now I do.

Just know you guys love pics, thought I'd throw you a bone...

Cheers,
Rooster

[polkatese]

Great rig, Russ! those MIT looks beefy!

[TroyD]

My, what a snazzy preamp.....

You already dry hump the new woofers?

BDT

[RuSsMaN]

Dry hump, no - you can't risk dropping a load on a paper woof - poly woof sure, paper - not worth the risk.

I tell you though, I should have taken the Volvo to pick em up, it was a NERVOUS ride home in my truck, woofs bouncing around - just WAITING for a VC to lock up to the mag.

As far as the MIT's, they are GREAT speaker cables - and if you think those are beefy - they were the *entry* level from the Terminator series... ;)

Cheers,
Rooster

[TroyD]

DRY being the operative word.....Man, I don't know what's a worse thought, you wiping your baby batter off the woof or you saying 'ahhh, eff it' and just letting it dry on. Nasty effer.

The Term4's, compared to what I was using, man those things look like stretches of garden hose in the cave.

BDT

[VR3]

Russ,

Great lookin rig man! How much bass do them things have? Everything I hear about old Advents, and have heard from my experience is great highs, killer bass with OK mids. Short review?

[RuSsMaN]

Short review?

Listenable bass, good to great mids, good to great highs.

These do not play as low as the older original Advents, period. They are a 2-way design, 10" woof - 1" silk dome. In my book, one of, if not the last GOOD speaker produced under the Advent name.

These are originals, 'v1', though not labled as such. The v2 and v3 models that followed were first from the Jensen company that bought Advent, and later from parent company Recoton that bought Jensen/Advent.

End of an era when Kloss left, but the whole line went to pot first, then out of existence completely when Recoton got their fingers on em. Later versions skimped on the real wood end caps, and used a .75" mylar tweeter with hardly a crossover at all. The last model, the woof was allowed to run full-range, and the mylar tweeter had a simple cap @ 4500Hz /6db. That's for another post though.

Bass? Once they are properly setup (I'm going with an 8" spiked metal stand, sand filled, with a 10-15 degree angle up on the front), I'd say they are solid to 35-38Hz. Nice thing is they are in a properly designed acoustic suspension enclosure, so the drop off is VERY gradual - not like the 'waterfall' you see in most ported designs (from 3db down).

Mids and highs blend very well. And while the sound itself may not knock you off your seat - the fact that you are listening to a TEN inch two-way, without holes in the spectrum, and that actually BLENDS well between drivers is nothing short of amazing in my book. THAT sound has Kloss written all over it.

They are rated at 88db 1w/1m, maybe it is just a signature of the Advent woofs - but they EAT power like no tomorrow. I'm talking almost to the scale that DQ's will eat amps. The little Nad is holding it's own (@ 30wpc/cont) - but breathing heavy - if you follow.

I've got $110 in the pair after the refoam of 2 woofs. I'd put em up against almost anything new up to $800 - $1000 or so.

Time for another beer and another cd.

Cheers,
Rooster

[TroyD]

man, I'd like to A/B 'em with the Boston A100's that I keep meaning to refurb......I'll bet that they sound amazingly similar.

Thing I like about the sealed design is how smooth they roll off at the bottom.....

BDT

[VR3]

Russ,
Sounds awesome man! I agree with the power eating. My Dad's advent on the 100 watt yamaha receiver just ate right through it. Right at about 90db the Yamaha just said forget you and took a beer or something. Very interesting - as I have never heard a speaker really drain an amp like that. Simply amazing.

Where do you find these killer deals?

[dorokusai]

Neat setup...there is some real vintage lovers around here.

[TroyD]

The gear is out there on the cheap if you are patient and wait for what you are looking for.......

100 wpc is more than sufficient for most applications. I was looking at the V/U's on the TFM-45 last night and with the William Tell Overature as loud as I could POSSIBLY stand it and beyond ( I put in some ear plugs ) I was only draining (realize that the V/U's are probably not completely accurate) 90wpc. I was getting short bursts up around 300 but it was enough to convince me that one amp at 375wpc is more than sufficient for now.

BDT

[Tour2ma]

Russ,
The Leg's were made when... early 80's?

Edit: ...and what's that thing over at the left edge of the pic? and those funny, stripey lookin' things under it?

[RuSsMaN]

Late 80's vintage here. I think they petered out around 92-94 (advent as a whole).

You know damn well what those 'stripey lookin' things are. 90% are origs, and 180 gram or better.

I may not have farted on Kloss at the AR party, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express that night....

Cheers,
Rooster

[F1nut]

MIT cables..........I love 'em! Nice to see somebody else who knows a good thing when they hear it.

Set up looks nice and good on ya for fixin' the Advents.

[organ]

Awesome rig and a great review Russ. I guess that's one of the many mancaves eh?

Maurice