With the help of a dear forum friend I was lucky to be a proud owner of a beautiful Pioneer 7800 amplifier with lovely wooden cabinet and beautiful blue lights.
I have been looking for some vintage speakers to give company to this beautiful amp. If anyone would like to pass on good speakers to a house that has a soft corner for vintage gear
do let me know.
I have been in touch with some senior forum members and seek their guidance here too
Something in the saner budget should be ideal
Kindest regards.
(This would be mostly for my dad so need some thing special and means a lot to me therefore)
As always advice, guidance please..
Sorry, just saw this post. I was never a believer in Pioneer speakers until I heard a good pair at Mr. Kuruvila's place. The Pioneer HPM 100 is perhaps Pioneer's best ever speaker and is one of the most significant speakers of all time. Although frankly vintage speakers do not have much resale value and are bought by re-sellers for very small sums, the re-sellers usually do an ebay search and price accordingly. If you can find the HPM 100 for a good price, not a bad idea to give it a try. However, when buying vintage speakers, here are some aspects which you can check:
1) check for cabinet repair, the baffles usually get damaged during transit and I've known of people who engage local carpenters and get whole sides of the cabinets, changed. Don't buy speakers that do not look good cosmetically. These are important cosmetic parts of any rig and must look decent to impress
2) check for grill cloth damage. If the speaker grill cloth is damaged, you'd need to find the OEM replacement. Most high-end speaker manufactueres reccomend their own "special" grill cloth that does not intefere with the sonics of the speaker. This is not a major worry if you play your speakers without the grill. However if you are buying speakers with a fixed grill, then this is an important consideration
3) check for original cross over. People take out original cross overs and sell them separately. You may find some simple make-shift components inside instead. There is no point buying the speaker without the original matched and tuned cross over
4) re-capped and re-wired speakers - check for local recapping and rewiring. If poor quality components and wire are used, you can be in for a drop in performance
5) original un-repaired drivers - a lot of speakers can be found in the pre-used market with replaced drivers. Either the original driver has been replaced by a local one or the original driver has been reconed or has a rewound voice coil. Completely avoid these. A speaker repaired is never the same as the speaker that was tested and came out of the factory, unless done professionally.
6) Dampening material - a speaker that you buy must have its original layers of dampening material. Most of the time you'll find speakers in the Indian pre-used market with the internal walls lined with mattress sponge, surgical cotton or different varieties of packaging materials. Completely avoid these. The speaker will never sound the same without its original dampening
7) Cabinet reinforcements - if any additional reinforcement is added, it means that either the baffle is weekend due to exposure to the elements or the original owner has been experimenting with changing drivers. Avoid these
8) Dust cap damage - Though not much is said about the imact on the sound of the speaker, a damaged dust cap can significantly reduce the cosmetics, and hence, the value of a speaker. A speaker with a damaged dust cap is considered by the casual on-looker to be a damaged speaker. Its like having a car with a severely dented bonnet
hyeah:
9) Cone tear and patch work - Hold the speaker up against a light and examine the rims of the cone for tears and weak- spots. Also examine the speaker cone physically for damage.
10) Rubbing - very gently push the woofer cone inward and let it return outward. Listen for rubbing noises or try to feel friction. If it moves freely without friction, the woofer is in good shape
11) Play the speakers at decent levels, listen for clipping and distortion (not the one caused by the amp). If you hear something on these lines, make a comparision with any other speaker with the same amp, at the same level. If the fault is with the speakers, avoid.
A common statement made by speaker sellers is "I am selling these speakers in the condition which I got them". This by no means is a gaurantee. It is often an excuse to push off a faulty piece without actually accepting responsibility.
Hope this helps.
