Fanfare Acoustics Prelude Bookshelf Speakers

[DarqueKnight]

These are my favorite "cheap" speakers. I purchased them in 1986 through the company's (Fanfare Acoustics) "direct audition" program. I was quite surprised and impressed by the sound they produced, especially considering the price: $171 inclusive of shipping. These are the only vintage speakers, other than my SDA's, that I have held on to over the years.

I might be one of only a handful of people that actually bought a pair of these speakers as I have never run across a pair on the used market. The company was in business for about five years and then seemingly vanished without a trace. They received several favorable reviews in the Hi-Fi press. I first saw them in an ad in Audio magazine.

The following is taken from a Fanfare brochure:

"THE FANFARE STORY

Founded in 1983 with the goal of building state of the art speakers at reasonable prices, Fanfare has earned an enviable reputation with music lovers, audiophiles and critics. With products offering great value at the retail prices set by conventional distribution through high-end audio retailers, Fanfare is now taking the bold step to offer even better value and service to audiophiles and music lovers. With DIRECT AUDITION the customer enjoys wholesale level pricing, plus the advantage of being able to audition the Fanfare speakers in the actual listening environment where they will be used, including both the room and equipment.

There are two critically acclaimed models in the Fanfare line: the Tempo II and the Prelude. Both speakers feature wrap around black doubleknit grills, with solid oak end caps on the top and bottom. They feature heavy duty gold binding post terminals, European dome tweeters, custom built and designed woofers with polypropylene cones, plus the advantages of minimum diffraction, minimum phase error design. Both models are known for extraordinary imaging, matural balance and high definition.

The Prelude is a two way system with a 19mm dome tweeter and a high linearity 6-1/2" polypropylene woofer. The Prelude offers surprisingly good bass from a compact enclosure. At its retail price of $285 a pair it was called "Superb value" by Hi-Fi Heretic magazine. At its new Direct Audition price of $171 per pair, the Fanfare Prelude invites direct comparison with such small speakers as the Spica TC-50 and the Celestion SL-6 in every aspect except price.

Under the terms of the "Direct Audition" plan, the customer has 30 days from the date of shipment to audition the speakers. If the customer should decide for any reason not to keep the speakers, he (or she) can call the toll-free number and Fanfare will arrange to have UPS pick them up. Once the speakers arrive at the factory in good shape, a full refund will be issued to the customer, paid by company check.

Specifications:

Size: 14-1/2" H x 9-1/2" W x 9-1/2" D
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Minimum impedance: 3 ohms
Efficiency: 90 dB/1w/1m
Frequency response: 55 to 22,000 Hz +/- 2 dB
Minimum Power: 20 watts
Weight: 16 pounds
System type: Minimum diffraction two-way, with Thile QB3 bass."


The little black rectangles in front of the speakers are metal badges with the name "Fanfare" engraved on them. Those of you who have been reading me for a while know that I do not like badges of any kind on my speakers.

[DarqueKnight]

Closeup of badges, for those who like such things.:)

[DarqueKnight]

I replaced the stock binding posts with Cardas HCBP-S binding posts. The 4.7 uF electrolytic capacitor in the crossover was replaced with a high quality ICW polypropylene film capacitor.

[DarqueKnight]

They do not look so pretty naked. Taking a peek at the drivers is not a trivial task. The cabinets are enclosed in a knit "sock" that is secured by the top and bottom oak end caps. Oak end caps on speaker cabinets were all the rage during the mid 80's to early 90's.

To access the drivers, the following must be done:

1. The four wood buttons in the top end cap must be (gently) twisted off with a pair (padded) of pliers.
2. The four screws under the wood buttons must be removed.
3. The port tube must be removed.
4. The binding post plate must be removed, but does not have to be disconnected.

The tweeter has the following stamped on the back of it:

"H202 8 ohm 22/86 Made in Norway"

The woofer has the following stamped on the back of it:

"Speaker Craft 604 FP62010U-4B"

The tweeters snap into the cabinet and are held in place with plastic expansion pins and a sticky, tacky glue. Would screws really have added that much to the cost?

It was nice of them to use rubber surrounds with the woofers. The woofers in each cabinet only had two screws holding them in. I though about adding two more screws, but I was afraid I might mess up some design parameter.:p Since the woofers fit so tightly in the cabinet, maybe the manufacturer thought the two additional screws were not needed.:)

When I owned a pair of LSi7's, I did a comparison of the Preludes to the LSi's. The Preludes held their own remarkably well against the LSi7's. The Preludes actually beat the LSi7's in bass definition and articulation. The Prelude's bass sounds more like an acoustic suspension design than a bass reflex design. The LSi7's were better in midrange definition and detail and much, much better in treble detail.

[heiney9]

All buttoned up they remind me of the look of the Baby Advent's.

Can't say I've ever heard of them, but I'm sure there are many I've not heard of. I still have my first pair of speaker I ever bought. I bought them with my paper route money. They are from a speaker company called "Atlantis" they were "ATL Atlantis 333" 2-way bookshelf w/ 8" paper woofer and 2" paper tweeter. Nice cabinets and grills. These were circa 1978 and today they are laughably horrible sounding. I had to start somewhere :D

H9

[DarqueKnight]

I owned a pair of Baby Advents when I was in college. I gave them (along with a Kenwood receiver) to my mom right after graduation. They are still in use after 20 years.

[RuSsMaN]

Those look neat!

[Tour2ma]

I thought double knit was more of a 70's thing...

Never heard of them before.

Other than the tweeter dome being ass-backwards and being better looking in general, your Fanfares remind me of the small EPI 50's. They were nearly a cube and had an oddly offset tweeter.

[nadams]

Funny you should mention the EPI 50s.... I have a pair :)

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/...&highlight=epi

[steveinaz]

Remember the "lattice" work grilles on early Sansui and Pioneer speakers?..LOL!!!

[nadams]

I also have a pair of Radioshack Nova-6 speakers that have said plastic "real wood" lattice for the fronts.

[Tour2ma]

Lattice work... for speakers so powerful you had to cage them.

[DarqueKnight]

Here are some Fanfare brochures and reviews:

[DarqueKnight]

Originally posted by steveinaz
Remember the "lattice" work grilles on early Sansui and Pioneer speakers?..LOL!!!

I remember those. I'm sure the lattice work was "acoustically transparent".:p

[Pwoody6]

Fanfares were designed and built by Ken Erickson, who is better known for creating the Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine which is still made and sold. He was a close friend who died way too young. I use a pair of his Fanfare tower speakers at home and love them.

[inspiredsports]

It's cool when these ancient threads resurface. I always wonder how they were found. Google?