Vintage Advent Review (Long)

[VR3]

This is with a Yamaha receiver. Results may vary from what others have found. The system consist of:
Yamaha HTR-5460 (Receiver)
Kenwood DVD Player (CD)
Home Depot Wire
Factory Cables

Looks: These speakers look simply amazing now that they are refinished. The maple sides, and the walnut front looks ella cool! The grills look pretty cool too, not to fond of the thin tack-board-like-material inside the grill. Kinda stupid looking, and who knows what that does to the sound....lol! Other than that, I give it a good 4 out of 5.
Sound:
Highs: The highs, might I say make the tri-lams look like michael jackson at a rock concert. They are way smoother, and I hear much much more. The only problem is, the tweeter needs a warm up period, to get the fluid inside of it flowing. After that it gets a very warm and smooth sound. It sounds awesome. I also run them flat, I dont toggle that back switch any at all. So I am running them flat, and have found them to fit my taste that way. Other than that, the highs are very supperior to Polk.
Mids: The vocals and instruments seem to come off very clear with these speakers. They don't miss a beat. The only problem is ampage.
Bass: WOW! This speaker hits HARD. I mean it is chest pounding. With a better amp, it would be louder, fuller, deeper, the works. It is simply amazing. I could easily believe this speaker hits a full 20hz.
Drums: This speakers does drums very well. The bass drum hits you straight in the chest, It makes you feel its power. Unlike most speakers these days, it can do that. The snare sounds alive, its not hidden, its there. It also comes out with a unreal clarity, which polks just cant seem to do. (My Polk's anyways). The drums are very lifelike with this speaker. Which I really like about them. My friend is a drummer, and a guitarist and I am use to hearing what they sound like and it does just that. They are awesome in this area.
Guitar: The guitar soars right through with this speaker. Each string is covers, from high E to low E. It plays it all. Acoustic sounds simply awesome. This is where I feel Polk RTxxxi line fails. Acoustic, it sounds faded and dead. They sound anything but real. With the advents the acoustic guitar rolled off smoothly, each string being hit, it did it with realism. In some points, you could actually hear the guitarist hit the string where he plucked it to hard. It was completely awesome. This speaker did this with the yamaha receiver, I am very curious to hear it on an Adcom.
Piano: This speaker does the piano very well. Very clear to finish it off. Each key rolls off, and it does it good. This is also where Polk's RTxxxi line seems to fail. Although they do it with a sense of realism, the Advents just do it better. You can feel the keys being hit, and they just soar through the room. However It would be better if the Yamaha had a soundstage........lol.
Bass(Guitar): This speaker is a stand alone full range. It can cover the full spectrum completely. 20hz-20khz. It keeps track of the bass guitar and laughs at it. It stays clear, its tight, and it does it right. It feels as if the bassist is there in your room playing it along. It was simply amazing. These speakers are simply amazing. I get impressed everytime I hear them. Especially after about 30 minutes of playing time when the tweeters are warmed up.
Vocals: This speaker does vocals very well. The female voice is smooth and lifelike. The tweeter stays amazingly smooth in this time. Even with the 2 inch tweet, it does it all. It never gets harsh, and it does it right. The male vocals are done very well also, its hard hitting, and it dosnt get chesty what so ever.
Build Quality: The build quality of these speakers are nothing I've ever seen before. The wood on it is a good 1 inch thick. Its solid wood, this speaker was made to last. The grill was also made to last, the clothe it uses is of the thick sort and is class a work. Well attached, and has lasted 30 years. The speaker was put together very well. What can I say. The cone on this speaker looked brand new. Very thick, high quality paper. It still was strong, the voice coil was smooth, and it moved with ease. The tweeter has lasted 30 years also, the only problem with the tweet (but dosnt effect the sound) was that my Dad use to drive them so hard that the tweeter hit the metal grill and the fluid came out of it time to time. Other than that, the tweeter was in perfect condition. Of course the surround has rotted away. It took me a good hour to just get rid of the old left over surround. The dude that glued it on was not playing around.
Soundstage: Yes, I am aware this is the receiver, and not the speakers. It did this to my Polk's also. With the Yamaha, the voices are slightly off center, yet the speaker is enclosed within the speaker itself. The sound is on the sides, no center, no behind. Just sides. Its annoying, and I know its not the speakers.
Overall: I like vintage speakers alot better than the newer ones. They were made to do it all, and this speaker does just that. It has very smooth highs, clear mids, and very deep bass. Its worth the 150-200 on EBay. You can get new surround at www.simplyspeakers.com. They are worth the investment; they are simply awesome speakers.

[Tour2ma]

The sound is on the sides, no center, no behind. Just sides. Its annoying, and I know its not the speakers.

Sounds like they are out of phase... did you try switching one pair of speaker leads?

Nice write-up, but why not post in speakers?

[VR3]

Because everyone comes to off topic. No, the receiver did this to my Polk's too. Its the amp, not the speakers. The reason I know their not out of phase is, at first i had no bass. So I switched the wires around and I had lots of bass, clear mids, and smooth highs. I am assuming it is wired right now.

[VR3]

I dont get it, I write a good honest review like everyone else, yet I get no replies about them. Thats a load of crap. Im gonna stop telling people what I think...god almighty what a waste of my time

[faster100]

That sure is one long review

[VR3]

...

[faster100]

[Tour2ma]

Sid,
It was a good review. Hopefully you first and foremost did it for yourself. Gotta believe it made you focus harder on the listening, gather your thought for the write-up and put things into words you've never associated with a listening experience before.

That's all good and all yours. Then if anyone gets a charge from what you have to say, that's gravy. If they don't, no sweat, you still have what you got out of it, which is what you put into it.

Do have to say tho, I think "Speakers" is the place for it, because it's like, about speakers... and people who want to read about speakers go to "Speakers"... A lot of folks don't read off topic stuff.

Just my $0.02 lil' Bro....

[VR3]

That is all my words, I noticed one thing about them. They arnt loud speakers, very soft sounding speakers. Reposted in speakers they are.

[gidrah]

Very good review. As unfortunate as it may be, I just don't think many people are in the market for Advent speakers. This is where most of the replies would come into play.

Maybe they're just in awe and can't think straight.:)

[rs159]

Originally posted by Vr3MxStyler2k3
That is all my words, I noticed one thing about them. They arnt loud speakers, very soft sounding speakers. Reposted in speakers they are.

Trey, on IM you told me they were powerful sounding and sounded like towers?

Maybe you mean they aren't bright and flashy and boomy sounding, they are more pleasing to listen to?

You also told me on IM that you don't have the remote and the receiver is stuck in "small". That is unbelievibly just downright ass backwards (dammit Justin, bring back the smilies!) Maybe that has something to do with it

[VR3]

Originally posted by rs159
Trey, on IM you told me they were powerful sounding and sounded like towers? ::Nah, they sound like towers, and have a very deep, powerful sound. But they can not play loud. They are at their MAX at 90db. No lie. They do not play loud, but play with authority.

Maybe you mean they aren't bright and flashy and boomy sounding, they are more pleasing to listen to? YEAH! lol! They are powerful sounding, just not loud. They are awesome, and easy to listen to speakers.

You also told me on IM that you don't have the remote and the receiver is stuck in "small". That is unbelievibly just downright ass backwards (dammit Justin, bring back the smilies!) Maybe that has something to do with it My Mom brought me the remote yesterday and I set them to large. Turned off the center. ETC...

[brettw22]

Sid,
If you didn't have so many pointless posts, people might (anything's possible) acutally give enough of a **** to read some of your rare content laden posts. Someday we'll all get through to you...........

[VR3]

Brett, Lets break this down. I dont give 2 s***s if your a homosexual. Honestly, I dont. The thing I dont like, is when people sit here and f*** around with me, if you were homosexual, and you dressed like a girl, wore make up, and hit on me - THEN I would have a problem with you! Until then, I dont give 2 s***s if you do whatever with whoever. Its not my business, and I dont care. Until you stop treating me like a @$$, I wont stop treating you like one. OK?