THE FEROCITY OF VINTAGE
SPEAKER COOLOSITY

SURFING ON KERRY BROWN'S BEACH

http://community.webtv.net/KerrB

THE VINTAGE AUDIO TRADER

Long before the Internet erupted I asserted that the difference between our Japanese audiomaniac brothers and American audiomaniacs is that they were smarter and artistically more refined…and by that I meant that they had the embrace of the connoisseur…and were not necessarily impressed by newer and better….which explains their love affair with vintage American speakers.

To prove my point…I bet you my entire collection of Pez dispensers if you can tell me about one article published in any American high end audio publication, other than Sound Practices that has ever mentioned the existence of these speakers or their unique sound quality. For the mealy minded mainstream these concrescences of the audio art simply don't exist..

Along comes the Internet and pop goes the dumb audio bubble and all of sudden the much larger and more interesting world of the audio arts opens…thanks to the passion of our audiomaniac bros' like Kerry Brown, of VINTAGE AUDIO TRADER.

TAKE A VACATION…NOT ON A TOPLESS BEACH

Now that winter is here and you need to take a vacation, don't go to a topless beach, instead spend time on Kerry's enormously cool and information web site…and I mean spend a week, a day, or a weekend…and learn all about our lost heritage. Tell all of your friends about this site.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE HORN SPEAKER LINKS

Yes, the rumors are true…many years ago our Japanese bros' offered these classic speakers a free ticket to Japan, lifetime of free board, food, unconditional love, and admiration. This explains why so few of these magnificent works of art are living in America.

The first thing you notice is that DRIVER QUALITY MATTERED, and long before acoustic suspension, companies manufactured sophisticated horn cabinets, when skilled carpenters made $200 per week. And of course these speakers were properly designed for tube amplifiers because there were no meany transistor amplifiers.

THE FEROCITY OF COOLOSITY

Many of these speakers are unsurpassed in music quality, meaning that these are true state of the art speaker system with this caveat….

Be sure that the speaker cones are in excellent condition. There are services that can recone them, but be careful about this because the type of paper material is critical, as is the compliance of the surround.

Many of the crossovers may have spoiled oil capacitors, but these can easily be replaced. Consider removing the original crossover networks and saving them in original condition and build new crossover from modern parts.

Horn cabinets speak…big horn cabinets can be very resonant, so be sure the horn is in good condition.

These speakers are very amplifier sensitive.

Do not expect deep bass response from any of these classic speakers, but do expect a gigantic authentic music wave front that is wholey, and addictive.

In closing let me assert that Kerry's passion is what this current audio revolution is all about…and it all about a new freedom of explore the audio arts, that was off limits just a short while ago. Thanks Kerry.

 

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