Kevin Deal in a still from his recent video on his favorite speakers of all time.
"I collect old speakers 'cause I'm a nut. But I don't use them in my home."
Kevin's newest video on our YouTube channel is one of our most successful recent uploads. It is titled The VINTAGE Speakers That MADE Kevin Deal | His Favorite Speakers of ALL Time! (yes, our social media experts know how to make you click), and in it, Kevin goes beyond the usual trinity of the JBL L100, Klipschorn, and Quad ESL 57, to talk about speakers that meant a lot to him.
If you'd like to learn a little hi-fi history or want to know if your favorite loudspeaker is mentioned, here's a preview of some of the brands Kevin talks about: Cerwin-Vega, Wharfedale, ADS, Dahlquist (but not the DQ10!), and Infinity Modulus.
Kevin owns many of these, but isn't sure if he'll be listening to them anytime soon. "Speakers have moved forward so much," he says. "I collect old speakers 'cause I'm a nut. But I don't use them in my home."
Are Classic or Vintage Speakers Worth It?
Ask a classic or vintage car enthusiast whether you should get an old vehicle, and they will probably say, "Don't be crazy like me." They will remind you that modern cars are exponentially better than older vehicles, and that you need a powerful nostalgic or petrolhead connection with an old car in order to put up with the pain of ownership. Few of us want to go back to cold-starts with carbureted engines, oil stains marking parking spots, and an interior redolent with the smell of oil and petrol.
It's the same with loudspeakers. Advances are made every day in materials and design for drivers, crossovers, and cabinets. Besides not performing as well as newer products, older materials are, well, older. Rubber and foam harden and become brittle. Adhesives weep or break down. Cabinets loosen. Electronic components fail.
Current speakers don't just offer materials that haven't sat in a garage for 30 years, they benefit from all the good stuff we've learned in that time. They sport stronger and bigger magnets, stiffer spiders, denser and more inert cabinets, and far better specced crossovers.
Whether it's Fyne Audio's FyneFlute that improves surround behavior, or Focal's stiff and light W sandwich cone, or Klipsch's Tractrix horn, which better releases the sound "bubble" from the horn's mouth, there are innumerable ways in which speaker technology today has taken great leaps forward.
Remember, a loudspeaker is, by far, the most inaccurate part of your audio system, so you'd do well to buy the best you can afford. Modern speakers offer such an incredible sonic return on investment that this is one area where we can safely say that they don't make 'em like they used to... and that's a very good thing.