Just arrived! Ariston RD11s turntable with Mayware Formula 4 tonearm.

California.

 After what feels like months (happy ones) of (mostly british) 2 way monitor speakers, they're an ear opening experience. Many may wonder why, but for me, this is what makes vintage audio so much fun. These are the biggest Altecs yet at Seventies Stereo world headquarters, and I'm excited to have them (I've had Fives before, and another pair is coming soon). 

  Altec was very successful marketing it's big, horn loaded home systems, much less with 'bookshelf' speakers. The brand's image in the marketplace was bland and uncool compared to JBL, but these beautiful speakers rock, and the Marantz 1200 drives them perfectly.  Much more soon.

Infamous Canadian Rega 2 Speakers in Utility Cabinets.

The Rega 2s were finished with the ugliest fake fake fake woodgrain vinyl known to man. This pair has been stripped down to the particle board, which has been sanded, oiled and waxed, for a contemporary, scandinavian modernist look that suits the elegant proportions of these speakers well.

Mission 710s at last.

When I got these the original woofers were long gone (replaced with cheap car audio woofers), and after looking high and low, I determined that they're unobtainable. I tried 'upgrading' with woofers from a pair of 770s, and it didn't work (I thought it did at first, because I wanted it to).The woofers were too much for the cabinet volume, and the bass was disappointingly anemic. Frank Fabian at The Speaker Shop recommended a suitable brand new polypropylene cone replacement, which I just installed, and they sound fantastic; beautifully balanced, full and musical, with that magical Mission presence.

  Things will be changing soon at Seventies Stereo. The Mission Argonauts will be leaving this weekend, as will the Rega Kytes. A couple of pairs of Altec Lansings will be arriving soon, as will a Scottish suspended subchassis turntable. Stay tuned.

This is the Sansui AU-217 that just came back.

Rega Kyte photos.

They're as finished as they're going to get. Listening with a Sansui AU-217 integrated amp (back after a 3 year absence), they sound wonderful. They're not the ideal speaker for getting your Led out, but with jazz quartets, vocalists etc., they're captivating.

One Rega Kyte, almost finished.

Rega Kyte Loudspeakers

  These are the first authorized by head office, made in England, 'real Rega speakers I've ever had, as opposed to the canadian Regas (2s & 3s) that I like so much.

 They won't be red for long!

New Mission Argonaut photos.

A wild pair. Explanation to follow.

  From earlier postings, you know that they were black. I bought them from a shop that had two pairs. Both were in rough shape, and I excitedly bought what appeared (without checking serial numbers) to be the better of the bad. Because it was a vintage specialty audio shop, I assumed I was choosing between two matched pairs. What I didn't realize, because they were black and because I was anxious, was that I got the better speaker of each pair. This is why the side veneers are so different, and why I should've looked more carefully. Mission pairs have identical serial numbers, these don't. I worked very hard on the pair I'm enjoying so much (and they've been my go to speakers since I reinstalled the components).
  I could buy the other pair (which have some smashed corners), strip them, work even harder to restore them, and end up with two beautiful but very different matched pairs, or I can live with this wild pair. The grain of the front veneers is close, the front baffles look great and the drivers are almost perfect (one woofer has an abrasion on the front of the frame, that's all).  I'll let you know when I decide.
Update: The issue was decided for me. I went back to the second shop, and they were gone. I can stop wondering what to do!

New Mission 717s

 

  When I got my first pair of Mission 717s 2 years ago, the tweeters had been replaced with Advent 'fried  eggs'. Based on a few, unclear pictures I was able to find, I concluded that the correct tweeters would be the Seas replacements I used. I was wrong. It was an honest mistake, considering how closely the correct Polydax tweeters resemble Seas tweeters, especially in fuzzy photos.
  This pair came to me with all original drivers (which is how I realized I'd been wrong the first time). One tweeter was blown, but Frank at The Speaker Shop was able to find the correct replacement on a rectangular faceplate (as used in canadian Rega speakers), and mount it in the round faceplate of the blown one.
  When I got this pair, 12 of the 16 corners were smashed! I cast new corners in epoxy, using cardboard forms (smeared with Vaseline on the inside so the epoxy doesn't adhere), and touched them up with furniture putty crayons.
  They're lovely speakers, with the musical, punchy Mission sound I love so much.