The big Advent speaker is easily one of the most popular and fondly remembered speakers of the mid ’70s. Many wonderful records were lovingly played through its rich tweeters and full woofers and you may be looking back on this time with nostalgia. Well, whatever the case, let’s talk about what exactly the big speaker of Advent was.
In 1973, the Advent Company introduced a new version of its current line of loudspeakers called the Large Advent Loudspeaker. This large Advent loudspeaker was similar to previous Advent models, however it contained higher quality drivers and crossovers, or at least of a different quality. The original woofer had what was called a Masonite frame; this was replaced on the Advent Speaker with a more standard metal frame. Also, the original style woofers were replaced with new recessed tweeters. Newer tweeters were designed to handle more audio power, but were generally similar to their predecessors.
So what was all the fuss about this great Advent speaker?
The manuals that would come with a large Advent speaker described that this new speaker was created to have a higher fidelity high-end response in order to service the fidelity improvements of the ’70s. to early Advent speakers despite significant “under the hood” improvements. However, there were some notable differences from the Advent Speaker. First, the beveled front of this new speaker was more rounded than before. The front grille was almost blacked out in a burlap color instead of the traditional off-white Advent. The driver cutouts in the grills were made more rectangular.
Fans of the Large Advent speaker enjoy it for its high-quality vintage sound. The bass response is incredibly deep compared to other speakers of a similar era like the Dynaco A-25. The midrange was described as creamy and clear, however this is not the strongest audio range on the Advent speaker. The high ends are clear and colorless. Some audiophiles claim to hear a dip around the 4k range. When comparing the audio qualities of the Advent speakers to modern systems, it’s clear that this is an old speaker, but that’s precisely the point. Many fans of vintage audio consider the Large Vintage Speaker to be one of the most musically satisfying speakers they have ever heard.
What did the Advent speaker look and sound like?
As for the appearance of this speaker, it could be described as a heavy or “bookshelf” speaker. They measure about 14″ wide, 26″ wide, and about 12″ deep. They weigh 40 pounds each, so you might want to find a friend when it comes time to move these bad boys! The size of the The woofer on this speaker is 10″ with a medium size tweeter. When it comes to rear audio connections, the large Advent speaker was a bit behind other speakers of its day. For example, the Advent speaker does not accept connectors. banana type. Fortunately, the high-quality steel terminals are easy to screw on and off. Plus, there’s a three-stage switch to adjust the volume level of the tweeter in relation to the rest of the mix.
Overall, the Advent speaker is a retro audiophile’s dream. The high-powered bass and easy-listening midrange will bring back memories of your favorite ’70s beats. Combine that with a sleek, vintage casing, the Advent Large Speaker satisfies whether the listener is busy or just listening to music from background. If you have the chance to buy a large Advent speaker on the cheap, you wouldn’t wait, you’d run!