A 1975 copy of High Fidelity maps the world when vinyl and stereo equipment didn’t just occupy a room — it claimed it. In 1975, music didn’t just hang around […]
The Best Vintage Audio Speakers for the Modern Audiophile
Three modern sounding loudspeakers with an old-school aesthetic from Klipsch, JBL, and Wharfedale.
Consumers and manufacturers love to wax poetically about “vintage” when it comes to loudspeakers and amplifiers but I’m not sure I buy into it as much when it comes to most vintage loudspeakers. Vintage speakers require a lot of work and some luck if the previous owners have been less than gentle with them.
A clumsy mover destroyed a pair of vintage Celestion Ditton 33 MKIIs that I had taken care of for over 13 years without a scratch. Getting the drivers replaced wasn’t very easy and the cabinets were a loss.
Nostalgia is one powerful drug. The vinyl revolution was certainly inspired by a heavy dosage of it but that isn’t enough to sustain a movement. What has given vinyl’s unexpected comeback some solid legs is that new generations have discovered the benefits of ownership; the generation that grew up on iTunes and Spotify finally have a physical piece of media that they can own – just like their parents and older siblings.
Loudspeaker manufacturers have taken that newfound interest in nostalgia and reintroduced updated versions of their most popular vintage audio speakers with a great deal of success so far.
Products like the Wharfedale Linton Heritage and Klipsch Forte IV loudspeakers are all the proof one requires.
All of the loudspeakers on our list have sold well; the Linton Heritage has been an enormous success for Wharfedale and for good reason.
Supply chain issues and inflation have also made all of them more expensive. Our prices below have been updated to reflect an increase of over 10% or more for all of them so far in 2022.
The Linton Heritage have jumped from $1,499 to $1,799 USD which is not an insignificant amount of money if you are working with a tight budget.
The JBL have increased by $400 and the Klipsch are now $5,000 USD which is a $500 increase from January.
KLH Model Five
Wharfedale Linton Heritage
JBL L-100 Classic
Klipsch Forte IV
This article originally appeared at ecoustics.com and an intro has been published here with permission.
Read the full article: https://www.ecoustics.com/articles/best-vintage-audio-speakers/
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