There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page!

Do click through each of the titles – each of the postings contains a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information.

JBL S109 Aquarius 4 Speakers – $499 in Gig Harbor

These beautiful hardwood columns from the early 1970s have an interesting baffling and porting arrangement to give an especially wide sound stage. I’m sure they’d do well as room-fillers on either side of a couch, or as a part of a full vintage system.

JBL Hartsfield 1 Speaker Enclosures – $5865 in Tacoma

It looks like these cabinets are now being reproduced for loading with your own drivers. I’m sure this cabinet sounds incredible when properly loaded – it’s interesting to see another large corner-horn design other than the Klipsch version.

JBL Apollo C-51 Speakers - $2050 in Edmonds

That’s a massive woofer, and a big horn hidden behind that diffuser. I’d love to hear what these sound like paired with a nice amplifier.

Speakerlab Auricle Planar Speakers – $1200 in Bothell

These wouldn’t work with every decor, but they sure are interesting looking. I’d love to hear how these sound with the 52″ full-range drivers and 8″ midbass in each enclosure.

Speakerlab S40 Speakers – $675 on the Eastside

Speakerlab speakers always interest me both because they’re local to Seattle and are still in business, and because they seem to design innovative speakers with very interesting driver pattern. These have a 10″ lower woofer and 8″ upper woofer, cone midrange and the ribbon tweeter.

Altec Lansing Santana II Speakers – $425 in Shoreline

It’s unfortunate that Altec Lansing is known for mediocre computer speakers and iPod docking stations these days; these classic Altec Lansing Santana II are from another lifetime entirely when they were a high-end speaker manufacturer. These are very understated and I’m sure sound great.

Pioneer HPM-100 Speakers – $400 in Kirkland

These Pioneer speakers have a pretty complex looking 4-way design with a film supertweeter which kicks in from 12 kHz up to the top of its frequency response at a whole 25 kHz. That’s well beyond most people’s hearing ranges.

New Old Stock Pair of Vintage Pioneer PAX-30E Coaxial Speakers – $340 in Bothell

These vintage coaxial speakers are new in their original boxes from what might be the early 1950s. That can’t be a common find! There used to be a set of Electro-Voice Regency cabinets on Craigslist earlier with room for a 12″ driver; these would’ve gone perfectly with those cabinets.

Klipsch Cornwall Floor Speakers CD 15’s Concert Series – $700 in Pioneer Square

I’ve never seen Cornwalls with this driver configuration before – typically they’re centered and the horns are horizontal. They’ve got an original Klipsch product tag, though!

Klipsch Heresy II Speakers – $550 in Woodinville

There’s some cosmetic damage, but I like to see through minor cosmetic damage to the inner beauty of a pair of vintage speakers. Heresys in particular strike me as a kind of speaker that appreciates being well-loved and builds a little bit of character with every mark.

1958 Klipsch S-M2-12A Shorthorn Pair – $1600 on the Eastside

You sure don’t see these very often. 1958 Shorthorns. Loaded with similar drivers as the Klipschorns, I’d love to listen to a pair from this far back in the history. Did Paul Klipsch inspect this set himself?

Klipsch KHorns – $3500 in Orting

Even the full, later version doesn’t turn up on Craigslist very often. I own the Speakerlab clone; I wonder how much better still the original Klipsch sounds!

Follow the linked titles to the original ads! They’re likely to be deleted when they sell or the ad expires, so if you’re interested, contact the sellers!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work.

This issue of the Speaker Spotter covers both interesting finds in Seattle and Portland since last week. And so:

Vintage Allison One Speakers

I bet these have a very wide sound stage from the bipolar angled design.

Bose 601 Series III Speakers – $700

Bose 601 Direct/Reflecting speakers produce a very wide, warm, rich sound that’s very life-like. The 601 speakers feature a pair of 8″ woofers and 4 tweeters arranged in a reflecting pattern. When properly set up in a room they sound excellent.

Used Speakerlab K-Horn DIYs – $250

These speakers started out as the flat-pack kit Speakerlab K-Horns, but the builder took some liberty with the designs. Instead of the same driver compliment usually found on the Klipschorns, with the pair of Electro-Voice mid and high horn drivers, they seem to have elected to build the bass cabinets and use alternate mid and high frequency drivers in separate enclosures. This would make the base of an interesting frankenhorn system, perhaps paired with an Altec or JBL multicell horn on top?

Vintage Fisher XP95B Speakers – $50

From before Fisher went a bit downmarket, these look pretty interesting and might perform well. The seller reports the woofers (12″ or 15″) have been refoamed, and the phenolic ring tweeters typically appeared on higher end equipment, including speakers made by Altec Lansing and Marantz.

Infinity Kappa 8 Speakers – $300

Vintage Infinity speakers aren’t especially common in my experience. These are shallow 4-way designs featuring a pair of Emit planar tweeters (one in front, one on the rear) with dome midrange drivers. The Emit tweeters are bright and crisp, I bet these have a lot of definition in the high end.

Vintage Infinity RSe – $140

With what looks to be 8″ woofers and horizontally mounted Emit planar tweeters, these vintage Infinity bookshelf speakers probably sound great for near-field listening.

Two Pair Vintage Kenwood Speakers – $180

I rather like the vintage wood lattice grille Kenwood speakers. In this case, this is a pair of KL-777As, 4-way/6-driver, and a pair of 333D 3-way/3-driver speakers. These are known for being very lively and musical and would make an excellent, affordable vintage quad system.

Marantz Speakers LS-20 – $300

I don’t run into Marantz speakers very often and haven’t heard a set myself, but I know they have a reputation for being able to thump and in general sounding excellent. These look like they’re from the ’80s, a bit flashy, but worth checking out!

Sonab OA-14 Speakers Made in Sweden – $850

These are pretty rare vintage hi-fi speakers from Sweden. They have an interesting reflecting design that reminds me a bit of the Bose 601, with angled upward-firing woofers and four tweeters. It’s a very interesting design, I’m curious how they sound!

Speakerlab Corner Horns – $1600

These have been on Craigslist a few times in the local area in the last year. It looks like they’ve changed hands since the last time, and the price is considerably higher. These have the 15″ woofer inside the folded horn and an Electro-Voice tweeter, but feature a 6.5″ midrange driver instead of a midrange horn. I believe this was the last year Speakerlab sold the corner horn design, which had moved away from the Klipsch-inspired design of the Speakerlab K.

Speakerlab Six

You don’t see these very often, the Speakerlab Six is one size down from the Super 7s. The main difference is the Six lacks the 10″ passive radiator found on the Seven, and accordingly different driver placement.

If one of these speakers looks interesting, click through to Craigslist and contact the seller!

Previous issues of the Speaker Spotter.

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

It’s a good week for rare and unusual speakers in Seattle this week – several Electro-Voice vintage speakers, and the Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater!

Bose Speakers and Amplifier – $300 in Port Orchard

This looks like a ready-to-go kit of Series IV or V speakers, Active Equalizer, and an unknown amplifier with two very large power meters. These also sound fantastic. Series III+ speakers used a design with resonant acoustic cavities as opposed to the acoustic suspension enclosure of the Series I/II and also sound fantastic. It’s worth double-checking the foam on Series III+ Bose drivers, though.

Bose 901 Speakers with Equalizer – $250 in Port Orchard

This is a great price for a set of Bose 901 Series I/II speakers with a working equalizer, and of course Bose 901s are a very musical and life-like speaker to buy. Series I/II have cloth rubber surrounds on the drivers, as well, so you don’t have to worry about refoaming 18 drivers.

Electro-Voice Regenecys – $400 in East Wenatchee

E-V speakers are pretty rare, they stopped making consumer gear in the ’70s. They made some of the finest speaker drivers and their finished speaker products are incredible as well. These feature 15″ woofers, T25 mid horns and T35 tweeter horns. Very similar driver compliment to a Klipsch Cornwall, for example. I bet these sound fantastic!

Electro-Voice Hi-Fi Speakers – $250 in Bellevue

I haven’t seen these before, but they look very interested. It looks like they have the SP12 extended response 12″ woofers, the T-25A midrange (same as on the Regency), but are missing what was likely a T-35 tweeter. You’d probably need to spend $100-200 on the missing drivers, but I bet these would sound very good complete.

Klipsch KG4 – $120 in SeaTac

Despite some water damage, these speakers are a bargain – featuring an exponential horn, two 8″ active woofers and a 12″ passive radiator on the rear. They sound great and are very efficient – my pair sound fantastic. The water damage on these looks like it’d be pretty easy to refinish, too.

Klipsch Speakers – $600 in Granite Falls

Always a good find, these black Heresy II speakers look like they’re in great shape. They’re one of my favorite little speakers.

Pair of Vintage Wharfedale Speakers – $100

These look like they’re from the 1960s, possible a little earlier. I’ve never heard any Wharfedale speakers, but being a high-end brand from the golden age of hi-fi, these are almost certainly worth listening to and the price seems pretty fair.

Sansui S-1117 Tower Speaker System – $100 in Tacoma

These get a listing because they’re “interesting”, although they don’t have a reputation for good sound. With a pair of 12″s in each cabinet, though, they probably can deliver a decent amount of bass and they sure look very visually impressive. It’s unfortunate one has a replaced woofer.

Speakerlab SKO Speakers – $750 in South Seattle

I think this is the late-generation Speakerlab Corner Horn after they moved away from the Klipschorn-inspired design. These have been mounted angled slightly back on speaker stands. I’m not sure what to make of the whole thing, personally, but given the 15″ woofer inside the folded horn and the T35 tweeter, I’m sure they can deliver.

Electro-Voice “The Duchess” Speakers (1962) – $900 in Lynnwood

Very rare speakers, but these are missing some parts, and I’m unclear from the description whether they are functional with the modification. Might make a good, if somewhat expensive, project to have a very desirable vintage speaker.

Vintage Akai SW 177 Speakers – $40

I’m sure these would make a great garage speaker – a 15″ woofer, mid, dual tweeters, and durable butyl rubber surrounds on the drivers.

Vintage Sansui SP-100 Stereo Speakers – $55 in Edmonds

I just love the look of Sansui vintage speakers with the scalloped wood grills and solid wood cabinets, often with heavy dampening inside. These are a very early series with a woofer, mid-range, and a horn tweeter. The crossover will certainly need to be rebuilt for best performance, but you’d have an inexpensive vintage hi-fi setup with warm and rich sound.

Vintage Wharfedale W-35 Speakers – $400 in West Bremerton

A bit smaller than the other Wharfedale speakers, and a bit more expensive, I’d love to know more about the features and differences of those two models.

Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater Speakers – $50,000 in Redmond

“A better investment than a Porsche” these holy grail speakers out of Redmond, home of an unlimited amount of tech money, aren’t for everyone but they might be right for you. Originally these were high-end PA Hi-Fi speakers for movie theaters, etc. they feature large an powerful woofers mounted in flared horn enclosures and enormous multi-cell horns coupled to compression drivers. They’re known as being incredibly efficient, absurdly powerful speakers and might actually be a better investment than that sportscar.

If you’re interested in any of these speakers, click on the title to visit the original Craigslist posting to contact the seller!

Do you know anything about those Wharfedales? Or own a pair of the speakers listed here? Leave a comment!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

Today we have several unusual boutique hi-fi speakers, plenty of vintage JBLs, and an interesting set of Klipsch La Scalas designed for stage use.

Cerwin Vega Speakers – $125 in Olympia

Cerwin Vega speakers are known as great rock speakers that can handle a ton of power and pump out a lot of bass. I’ve owned a pair and they are great performing, general use speakers. The iconic red foam surround and solid wood grain are very attractive and eye-catching, too.

DCM TimeWindow 1A Speakers – $200 in Ballard

I understand DCM Time speakers to be nice and accurate, if a bit understated, but I’ve not heard them myself. Based on the cabinet design I expect these might be bipolar speakers? Looks worth investigating!

JBL 4330 Custom Studio Monitors – $3000 in Eguene, OR

If you’re into music production, or just like an extremely accurate listening experience, these might be for you. They feature the iconic biradial “butt cheeks” horn and what looks like it could be a 15″ woofer. I’m sure this is both powerful and great sounding.

JBL LE-8 Vintage Speakers – $299 in the Renton Highlands

A throwback from the modern reference quality JBL above, these are very vintage JBL bookshelf speakers with a single full-range driver installed. I’m sure they’d sound very warm with a matching vintage tube amp or low powered transistor amp up to a couple dozen watts, but might not have the same clarity and definition you’d get with a slightly newer, multi-driver speaker system.

Klipsch La Scala LSI – $1500 in North Bend

The Klipsch La Scala is another of their high-end folded horn speakers; these are the LSI variant which are designed to be stage speakers with detachable treble horn cabinets. The seller claims these were never hauled around to gigs, though, and are in great shape. The same great sound from a Klipsch folded horn, but in a bit more industrial of a package.

Revox AX5-4 Speakers – $295 on Seattle’s Eastside

From 1977, I’m not familiar with this brand, but they’re reportedly using high-end German manufactured drivers; a 3-way design with dual woofers can probably offer plenty of bass. The mid driver resembles the Infinity polymer dome, too. Rated for 100 W power handling at 4 Ohms, 91 dB efficiency these seem like they’d be worth checking out. I’d love to listen.

Snell C IV Speakers – $399 in the Renton Highlands

These Canadian hi-fi speakers have some interesting engineering in them, including a zero diffraction grill which is designed to be more sonicly transparent, and an interesting dual tweeter design with a front-firing tweeter on a fourth-order crossover, and a rear-firing dome tweeter on a first-order crossover. This combination apparently delivers great accuracy from the front while the rear – which can be disabled – fills out the volume lost due to the steep crossover slope.

Totem ARRO Speakers – $800 in Auburn

These no-frills 2-way audiophile speakers look like as much of a decor statement as a music piece. They’re “wife friendly” and yet regarded for excellent bass response and well defined imaging. I’m not sure it would match every decor but it’s very pretty.

Universal CX-300 Hi-Fi Speakers – $140 in Everett

These early ’60s drivers throw back to the coaxial design which was more common at the time. With 25W of power handling and meeting the DIN Hi-Fi spec of 40-18,000 Hz frequency response I bet these sound great with a period tube amp like they would’ve used originally.

Vintage JBL L88 Nova Loudspeakers – $400 in Tacoma

These are beautiful speakers which look to be from about the early ’70s. I’m sure they sound fantastic like most JBLs, especially vintage JBLs, and would make a perfect vintage hi-fi bookshelf or desktop system that would look great in almost any room.

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

Today, we have some vintage speakers including some vintage electrostatic panels by Magneplanar, several great vintage sets including some early production Klipsch Heresys, several high-end boutique speaker sets, and a pair of back-loaded horn speakers by Cain and Cain with small full-range drivers in an incredibly efficient cabinet.

Updated 11:10AM: It looks like a lot of these posts have expired or sold overnight before this posted – I’ll check for updated links; otherwise, just enjoy the photos!

Cain and Cain Abby Speakers – $750 in Mill Creek

Rear-loaded horn designs are popular for designs featuring very high efficiency and surprising performance from full-range drivers. I’d love to hear a set of these – I bet the imaging is great but I’m curious about the bass performance.

New Large Advent Speakers – $140 in Burien

Actually called the New Large Advents, to distinguish them from the regular, smaller Advent speakers and from the first production run of the Large Advents, these would make a great vintage system and look good in most any room.

Vintage Magnepan Magneplanar Electrostatic Speakers – $399 in S Everett

I’d love to hear a pair of these. They combine some of my favorite things – vintage speaker designs, and intriguing technology. I understand that these older Magnepans might start to show some issues with mylar delamination, though, but an audition would reveal that pretty easily.

Talon Raven Speakers – $2100 in Snohomish

Piano-black and imposing, these big and heavy speakers look pretty intriguing and definitely make as much of a statement in a room as I’m sure they’ll make for your ears.

Thiel CS 3.6 Award Winning Tower Loudspeakers – $1395 in Bremerton

Stereophile Magazine’s 1995 Speaker of the Year, these are very understated with an interesting driver assortment including a 10″ active woofer, 10″ passive radiator, 4.5″ midrange and 1″ metal dome tweeter. They’ll handle up to 500W as a 4 Ohm load – I hope you have a big amplifier!

University Altec 1964 Speakers – $200 in Woodinville

The seller doesn’t offer much information, but I know both Altec and University Sound were very well regarded hi-fi manufactuers back in the day. These look like they might have a 12″, 6″ and a tweeter in an aperiodic enclosure. Probably sounds fantastic. I can’t tell if that might even be a coaxial 12″ full-range driver, or if it’s just a woofer, but either way I’d love to hear these.

Nice Pioneer CS-63DX Speakers – $299 in S Everett

I just love the lattice-grilled large vintage speakers. These 4-way/6-driver speakers would be an impressive vintage system – perhaps paired with a vintage Pioneer SX-1280 or other big dog receiver?

Vintage 1966 Klipsch Heresy Speakers – $700 in Everett

These beautiful oiled walnut, solid hardwood cabinets have been previously repaired with a new set of original-year drivers and the purchase price includes the functional but in need of reconing original woofers. The grille cloth isn’t original but I like this one a lot and it includes a second set of badges, too. Fantastic.

Vintage Klipsch Heresy Speakers – $450 in Everett

I suspect this pair is owned by the same gentleman above. They’re a little dirty with age but would probably clean up nicely and of course, they’re skill Klipsches. I’d be interested myself if they were a bit closer!

Wilson WATTPuppy 5 Speakers – $5000 in Snohomish

Similar looking to those Talons above, these are even larger and more imposing. These look like they could use the biggest amplifier you can throw at them, and sound incredible at the same time.

If you’re interested in any of these speakers, click through to Craigslist and contact their sellers!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Do click the titles to see the original postings with more photos and additional information if you’re interested – otherwise, enjoy the virtual window shopping! Rain City Audio is not affiliated with any of these sales; contact the respective sellers for more information. If it’s deleted, it’s probably sold already.

Today’s selection has several interesting Infinity speakers, Speakerlab 7s, and several others worth checking out!

Bose Pair of 501 Series II Direct Reflecting Speakers – $180 in Renton

These look like they’re in pretty good shape for their age. Basically half of a Bose 601 speaker, these have a front-firing woofer and pair of angled rear-firing tweeters to produce that wide, direct/reflecting sound vintage Bose systems were known for. They’re known to be sensitive to room placement, but when set up properly are a great small floor speaker system.

Dahlquist DQ-10 – $400 in Seattle

Wide and hefty, these vintage Dahlquist speakers have a very interesting time aligned driver array and crossover network designed to maximize sonic accuracy. They’re nearly 4″ wide and weigh 62 lbs. each, delivering a flat frequency respnose 37 Hz – 27 KHz. Freshly re-foamed, too, so they should be good for a while!

Infinity Modulus Speakers – $350 in Woodinville

These Infinity speakers are in a beautiful piano black finish and feature a 5.5″ woofer and EMIT-K tweeter in a non-resonant cabinet. The EMIT-K goes all the way to 45 khz, almost double the range of human hearing, so if your favorite music benefits from the presence of ultrasonic harmonics, these might be the speakers to get. They’d likely work well as near-field monitors, too, with the fantastically accurate planar tweeter.

Infinity Reference RS 625 Speakers – $190 in Poulsbo

These feature Polycell dome tweeters instead of EMIT planar tweeters, but would still make a fantastic surround sound system for your home theater. Quintessential 90’s look to them would match many decors, too – and a decent price!

Infinity RS 5000 – $100 in Monroe

From the late ’80s, these Infinity RS 5000 speakers feature a 10″ woofer and 2.5″ mi-range, both made of semi-transparent polypropylene for exceptional cone stiffness, and an EMIT-K tweeter up top. With response from 42 Hz – 45 KHz, I’d love to have a pair of these as bookshelf speakers in my office.

Legacy Audio Signature III Speakers – $1800 in Bothell

Fantastically high-end audiophile speakers, these each feature 3 x 10″ woofers, dual 7″ mid-bass drivers, a 1.25″ dome midrange, and a 4″ electrostatic ribbon driver, flat from 20 Hz – 30 kHz. With that response, and weighing in at 130 lbs. each, you wouldn’t need a subwoofer with these! Beautiful natural wood grain finish, too. I’d love to hear how these sound.

Realistic Mach One Speakers – $175 in Seattle

From back when Radio Shack produced something worthwhile, these Realistic Mach One speakers are collectible and well regarded today. With a 15″ woofer, multicell exponential horn midrange and horn tweeter these speakers have a fantastic presence in the room and will reproduce 25 Hz – 20 KHz. The grilles cover the lower cabinet but leave the top multicell horn exposed, making a very interesting presence in the room. These were freshly re-foamed and re-coned, so should sound great and last for a long time.

“Set of Two Stereo Speakers” – $39 in Bellevue

These look like they could use some TLC, but are intriguing. The multicell horn reminds me of the Pioneer CS series from the ’60s and ’70s, and I don’t recognize anything else. They could be Pioneers which have seen better days. Might be an interesting project?

Speakerlab 7s – $499 in Tacoma

The Speakerlab 7s were made right here in Seattle, and feature a large and highly efficient 12″ woofer, 10″ passive radiator, and use Electro-Voice drivers for the mid-range and treble horns. The vertical midrange horn will produce a fairly narrow sound field, but otherwise, these are known as thumping hard and delivering exceptional clarity. Truly a fantastic rock speaker from the classic hi-fi era.

If you’re in the market for some new speakers, please click through to the sale ads and contact the sellers! Good luck!

Other Issues of the Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Do click the titles to see the original postings with more photos and additional information if you’re interested – otherwise, enjoy the virtual window shopping! Rain City Audio is not affiliated with any of these sales; contact the respective sellers for more information. If it’s deleted, it’s probably sold already.

Avid Corporation 100 Speakers – $60 in Auburn

Made to compete with the Advents out in the same era, these 1974 speakers feature a 10″ woofer in an acoustic suspension cabinet and a CTS phenolic ring tweeter for the high-end. That’s a pretty common driver configuration on early/mid ’70s high-end speakers. The woofers on these feature a butyl rubber surround, rather than foam, so it will never rot. They’re likely due for a crossover refresh after 40 years, though.

Dynaco A25 Speakers – $175 in Edmonds

These Dynaco speakers are from the very early ’70s and have a very understated styling. They feature a 10″ woofer and 1.5″ tweeter in an aperiodic enclosure. These are towards the entry level of Dynaco’s model line, but are very well regarded. Here’s a great page with some information about that speaker family.

Bose 601 Series III Speakers – $650 in Everett

I have a set of Bose 601 Series I speakers, and the design is virtually unchanged between the Series I and the Series III. The port is moved and the cabinet styling is slightly different with the sloped top, but the basic configuration is identical – two 8″ woofers and four 2″ tweeters in a direct/reflecting array mounted on top. These speakers are sensitive to room position, but are very life-like and musical – almost as good as the 901s.

Klangbox/Telefunken RB66 Speakers – $225 in Edmonds

I can’t find much info about these on the Internet. They’re 4 Ohm speakers that will accept up to 20W of input power, and looks like there might be a 6″ or 8″ round driver and a 6×9″ driver under there. Telefunken equipment is interesting and fairly well regarded; these 1967 Telefunken speakers might be worth something. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s only a few pairs of these around this country.

Fisher 15″ Speakers – $50 in Bonney Lake

The Fisher name had a good pedigree at the beginning of the hi-fi era but were trending downwards by the ’80s. These were a high end model, though, with 15″ cloth/rubber woofers for good bass response. The pricing is realistic and they can get pretty loud – great garage or man-cave speakers. I do like the styling of the high-end pedastal cabinet Fishers like these.

Dahlquist M-905 Speakers – $275 in Everett

These bookshelf/satellite Dahlquists are a bit smaller than the massive DQ-10s but can deliver great sound nonetheless, and these come with their original packaging and a set of 16″ speaker stands to sweeten the deal. These would make a good desktop speaker system, or compliment your home theater.

Vintage Heathkit AS-18 Speakers – $200 in Redmond

From the late ’60s or early ’70s, these speakers were produced by Heathkit for the hi-fi enthusiast who also enjoyed DIY projects. Visually, they look similar to most other early ’70s speakers – but this model is special as the drivers are all Electro-Voice drivers. These are occasionally compared with the EV-7 speakers. Definitely unusual, and they probably sound great, especially when paired with a tube anp!

Vintage Pair of Realistic Nova-6 Speakers – $30 in Belltown

Another speaker from the mod ’70s, back when Radio Shack/Realistic did make good hi-fi products, these Nova-6 lattice grill speakers take up to 45W. They’d go great with a period amp like a Harman/Kardon 430 and would make a killer vintage system.

Technics 7000A Speakers – $650 

Technics is usually made a lot of low-end gear – but they produced some very interesting and innovative top-of-the-line models like these 7000A speakers. They’re a 3-way design with a 14″ woofer and time-aligned mid-range and tweeters and level controls on the top end. They look pretty impressive, too. I’m not impressed with their frequency response curve, but I’m very curious what these sound like.

Seeburg Discotheque DDS1 Speakers – $500 in University Place

From the late ’60s, these Seeburg speakers – from the company more well-known for jukeboxes – were used in live sound environments. They’re basically Altec Lansing VOTTs in a different cabinet, with two 15″ Altec woofers and the exponential multi-cell horn and driver. Extremely accurate and efficient, I bet these sound absolutely fantastic – and that’s a killer price. I’d buy them if I didn’t already have enough speakers!

If you’re in the market for some new speakers, please click through to the sale ads and contact the sellers! Good luck!

Other Issues of the Speaker Spotter

It’s back! Another installment in this occasional series, “The Speaker Spotter”, picking out the most interesting speakers available on my local Craigslist. Today’s Speaker Spotter focuses on bookshelf speakers for the best sound possible in a small package. As always, I’m not affiliated with any of these sellers, and if the ad is gone then it’s likely the speaker sold already.

Here’s what’s interesting this week!

Bose® Direct/Reflecting Speakers – Model 201 Series II
$40 in Lakewood, WA

Bose doesn’t get a lot of love in audiophile circles, but I’m a pretty big fan myself, and these 201 Series II speakers are back from the era where they devoted a bit more to quality engineering than many of their products do today. I’ve heard various sets of 201s myself, and they provide a great room-filling sound with pleasant tone characteristics, as long as you don’t expect too much volume or earth-shattering bass.

Boston Acoustics CR-8 Speakers
$100 in Port Townsend, WA

Boston Acoustics is a venerable audiophile speaker brand, and these little 2-way bookshelf speakers designed for 15-125W of power can deliver a pretty great 90 dB efficiency and should give a great, detailed sound. Some people find them to be a little bright, though – I prefer a bright sound signature personally, so that sounds right up my alley!

Pioneer CS-33a Vintage Speakers
$149 in South Everett, WA

Pioneer vintage speakers are nicely well regarded, and these feature those beautiful latticework grilles they’re known for. Great looking shape for a speaker that was built in 1971! They’re very efficient but only accept up to 35W of output power, so proper amp pairing is a must with these.

Tannoy Revolution R1 Bookshelf Speakers
$150 in Shoreline, WA

Tannoy is a well-known British hi-fi brand, and their speakers are top notch, from their flagship Westminster GR on down. These little speakers support bi-amplification and deliver 87 dB sensitivity at 8 Ohms, and I expect will sound fantastically accurate for any music source. Nice under-stated design and cherry finish, too!

KEF 101/3 Reference Speakers
$199 in Lynnwood, WA

KEF is another UK speaker brand, with a very interesting time-aligned coaxial driver system to help these speakers present as more of a point-source, which can reduce certain kinds of phasing distortion you’d get from separately positioned drivers. This gives them a cool, monolithic design – although they, too, support bi-amplification just like most higher end speakers. They’re 6 ohms nominal, but that’s not a problem for many amplifiers these days, and they’re middle of the road efficient at 87 dB 1W*1m.

Heco Phon 3 SF Speakers
$200 on Snoqualmie Ridge

These vintage German hi-fi speakers are a bit of a mystery. They look to have an interesting 3-way design, and the labeling indicates they’re 4 Ohm impedance speakers for 60-100W of power handling. Beyond that, they’re a bit of a mystery! Looks like this could be an interesting addition to any speaker collection.

Polk Audio RTi A1 Bookshelf Speakers
$205 in Seattle’s Crown Hill neighborhood

Polk Audio’s offerings go down pretty far into the economy side of the spectrum, but their higher end offerings are quite good, and these RTi speakers are a respectable offering. They’re 89 dB efficient and offer extended treble frequency response to 27 kHz. Looks fantastic in the beautiful cherry finish, too! These routinely sell for around $300, so this is a pretty solid deal.

ERA Design SAT 5 Bookshelf Speakers
$350 in Kirkland, WA

These are interesting little high-end bookshelf speakers. Nominally 6 Ohms ant 87 dB efficient with a long-throw 4″ woofer and horn-loaded 1″ dome tweeter, I expect they sound extremely crisp and efficient, and with that woofer design punch above their weight in the bass department – and High Fidelity Review agrees! Looks great in piano-black, too.

JBL L-96 Bookshelf Monitors
$500 in Kirkland, WA

Anyone familiar with vintage speakers knows JBL and knows how great they sound. Recently re-foamed, these should be in good shape for decades to come. They’re pretty efficient at 89 dB, and the titanium dome tweeter provides incredible clarity and detail in the upper ranges. So much so, in fact, that people often turn the treble down a bit. A great addition to your collection if you’ve got the room and the cash!

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Today’s Speaker Spotter showing the most interesting speakers for sale on the local Craigslist has a number of rare, unusual, and high-end speakers you’re not likely to find anywhere else. As always, I’m not affiliated with any of these sellers, and if the ad is gone then it’s likely the speaker sold already.

Here’s what’s interesting this week!

Microtower MT1 Stereo Speakers
$60 in Lakewood, WA

Interesting looking, if somewhat questionable in performance, these speaker towers feature a crossover-less pair of 4.5″ drivers mounted on either side, and a large port on the bottom. Maybe an early example of a waveguide-type speaker enclosure to accentuate the bass response which would otherwise be limited by the driver size? Might be a worthwhile addition to a collection if you’re up for the risk.

Realistic Nova 10 Speakers
$100 in Kirkland, WA

Radio Shack’s Realistic brand equipment often gets knocked, but their vintage speaker offerings – especially the higher end ones like these Nova 10s – are quite good quality and are fairly collectible. These 50W 2-way speakers feature a tweeter, large woofer, and passive radiator and look to be in very good cosmetic condition.

KEF KM1 Active Studio Monitors
$6000 in Puyallup, WA

These very unusual active studio monitors from KEF are a fully integrated, active design, featuring 4x100W, 2x350W, and 1x400W amplifiers for the bass, midrage, and treble respectively which should provide plenty of headroom for even the most demanding source material, and frequency response from 38 Hz-23 kHz. A little disappointing that with such bass power, the frequency response doesn’t extend down to 20 Hz, but relatively little music actually happens that low anyway so it’s not a  huge loss.

Sansui SP-1500 3-Way Speakers
$140 in Olympia, WA

Swap out a couple of crossover capacitors and you’ll have a fantastic sounding, beautiful set of vintage Japanese lattice-grille speakers. I used to own a set of these myself, they’re great performers when paired with a suitable amplifier, and they really look fantastic in any room.

Sony APM-55 Speakers
$500 in the Renton Highlands

Sony doesn’t get a lot of love today (although their yellow Kevlar-coned speakers are actually quite good sounding and have very extended treble frequency response great for EDM, at the expense of being very inefficient) but their vintage offerings were quite well respected. These big, powerful 3-way speakers offer the very unusual set of square-framed woofers and midranges, too. Definitely something different!

Vintage Olson 12″ Triaxial Speakers in Barzilay Cabinets
$300 in Seattle, WA

From the late ’60s/early ’70s, these Olson triaxial speakers were a good attempt to reduce phase distortion and present as more of a point source. They’re very efficient, although don’t always have the flattest frequency response. With a 12″ woofer, midrange whizzer and horn tweeter stacked coaxially these should be a very interesting addition to any speaker collection.

Epicure M201 Speakers
$175 in Seattle, WA

Epicure speakers are known for their construction and sound quality, and these M201 speakers are no exception. The M201s feature a pair of woofers and a pair of tweeters on each cabinet, one mounted forward-firing and one at an angle, to provide a wider and more immersive sound field. Butyl rubber surrounds means there’s no need to re-foam them, either! This listing also comes with a single EPI 100 speaker, “half” of an M201. Maybe a good center-channel?

Empire Grenadier 800 Table Speakers
$250 in Olympia, WA

These interesting table-stand speakers feature a front-firing midrange and tweeter, a downward-firing 15″ woofer, and an interesting columnar design with marble tabletops on both. They look to be in great shape, and might be a good addition if you’re looking to add some sound to a room where more obvious speakers might not fit in. Reports on the Internet are that the woofer on these often comes out of alignment due to the effects of gravity on the woofer while being stored, but it can be re-seated easily enough by turning them upside down and playing a low bass note through them for 24-48 hours. Likely not an issue if they’ve been played recently, though!

STR Omega II Speakers
$239 in Snohomish, WA

A fairly rare speaker from the ’70s, these stretched the upper boundaries of a home speaker and were getting into the range of PA/commercial speaker territory. Featuring a pair of downward-firing 12″ woofers, a 6″ midrange and dome tweeter in front, and a horn tweeter firing to the rear these certainly will offer a lot of sound. On the back are provisions for bi- or tri-amping, depending on your setup, or you can use the common input and internal crossovers. Big and heavy, but very interesting!

Infinity Reference RS 2.5 Speakers
$1275 in Des Moines, WA

Infinity speakers, especially their older vintage models, are fantastic in quality and often feature electrostatic/ribbon midranges and tweeters, the RS 2.5s are no exception. These freshly-refrubished units feature a large 12″ woofer and electrostatic mid-ranges and tweeters in an array. These are one of the smaller Reference RS series, but certainly pack a punch. One benefit is the active equalizer required for correct operation is integrated directly into these speakers, unlike other bigger models where it’s a separate box that can get lost or damaged. I’d buy these if I had room for them in a heartbeat!

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