They could already be gone, but a pair is at the Goodwill right now,

25 bux. Designed by Henry Kloss. All of the drivers (2 ways, looked like 8 inch woofer and tweeter).

Anybody have a pair? How do they compare to the AR-3?

for $25 they are fine, but they wont compete with the AR-3. now if you have two pair of Large Advents and stack them, they just might knock you socks off.

Dingus is right. There's no way to compare the smaller Advents to an AR-3, but it's entirely possible you may actually prefer the sound of the Advents to that AR model. The original AR-3, while highly touted by the audio press and the New York Times, was a controversial speaker in that its sound, while measurably good, was quite "UN-musical" and lackluster in its presentation. The newer (circa 1967) AR-3A was a huge improvement.

Henry Kloss, who designed the Advent speakers (both the Large and the Smaller units) was originally employed by AR, but left with two others to form KLH in the early 60's. His legendary KLH-6, considerably less expensive than the AR-3, was preferred by many (including yours truly) to the AR model.

Kloss sold KLH to Singer (yes, the sewing machine company!), and KLH speakers went downhill from there. Fortunately, he founded Advent, and the rest is the stuff of audio legend. There are those who prefer the Large Advent to ANY speaker from AR, and I suspect I could probably one of them. Still, comparing a small speaker with an 8" woofer and tweeter to a much larger three-way system at many times more the cost, is an "apples to oranges" comparison.

I exercised some forebearance, knowing someone would pick them up and save me from myself. Sure enough, they were gone. I can't imagine them sounding better than several pair I already have, including the Wharfedales I have on my main system now. Also, I think I need to focus on the DQ-10s at some point, and I need to get rid of 75 percent of what I have. Not saying I wouldn't pick up a spectacular pair of speakers, but I don't need anything that's just good.

Count me as a vintage Advent lover.

the Large Advent is one of those speakers that has no business sounding as good as it does. yours are a particularly nice pair.

ya, the cabs look to be in fine condition

They really don't have any business sounding so good.



And from only a woof and a tweet.

o! but they do, we have "dingus and I, "hetero life mates, or something of that matter" anyway, we got a little setup at work with an old sansui receiver, basic dvd player, and some old advents, and they sound pretty damn good. so I know what you mean, a little speaker that should sound, eh, sounds pretty damn good.

elroy

Had a discussion with someone in the know about these speakers.

The tweeter is a hybrid dual design, you know- featuring a domed tweeter and odd donut shaped cone mid, combined into a single "fried egg" driver. Later Advent 6002s went to a dome tweet and donut mid- the mid looks like a glazed chocolate donut.

The woofer tests almost 99% to spec to the legendary AR3a woofer- side by side graphs and you can't differentiate the two, they are so close.


So good wasxtje woofer, John Dahlquist adopted it for his pricier DQ-10s.



The large Advent a perfect speaker? No. But impressive and at the time a great bargain, all the while retaining fNtastic sound? Surely.

Bargain? You betcha. The set in my photos set me back a whole fifty dollar bill.

indeed we have benefited from its high sales numbers. the LA Utility cabs at work were $40 in need of a refoam job which is still a bargain, and the 5002's that run my home 2-channel HT setup were $15. not a high-end speaker by any stretch, but a very pleasing sounding speaker that is extremely difficult to beat terms of sound for your $.

The large Advent is a very good, audiophile speaker.

The best audiophile speaker? No- KEF, Spendor, aDs, Thiel, Dahlquist, Vandersteen, Spica, Shanling, Royd and many others are better.

However, for the price-point, the Large Advent sounded much better than it should have.

This was a speaker that Kloss had much to do with, as well as Andy Petite/Kostasos, who later went on to develop Boston Acoustics.

Boston Acoustics was a company that had a mindset much like Advent- to develop an audiophile speaker at an affordable price. Andy Petite/Kostasos' answer to the large Advent was the Boston Acoustics A150.

Now, the A150 was as good as many of the boutique speakers, and better than some, at a price much more wallet friendly.

Yes, there were still other, better speakers, but the A150, like the Large Advent, was capable of audiophile sound at a modest price.




So is the large Advent an audiophile speaker? I'd say yes, with confidence. It may be affordable, and it may be entry level into the audiophile market, but it's clearly a speaker meant to sound true and natural and of quality.