Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners appreciation of older speakers

last week the community helped me solve and active sub problem with my "b" speakers located in the garage. last night while hanging in the garage i decided to turn on the speakers. they are now sitting on a shelf about 7 feet high. they are about 20 year old ads two way bookshelfs, which no doubt i bought because they were the right size, and never listened to them. well to make this story shorter, they sound damn good, good highs like the axioms, and a fair amount of bass. they sound so much better up high than when they were on the floor that they too sound like new speakers; positioning really does matter. now if i could figure out how to wire a small sub, hide it from the wife, and not get complaints from neighbors when cranked, i would be all set. oh did i mention, the beer 'fridge is in the garage?
dan

Dan,

Can't answer about the wife and neighbors, but here is "how to wire a small sub," just in case you can solve those tougher problems :

Currently you have the L and R speaker wires (from the receiver) connected to the bookshelfs. Now, a powered sub has a set of "high-level" or "speaker-level" input/output terminals. You disconnect the L and R speaker wires from the bookselfs, and instead connect them to the subwoofer's L and R speaker-level input terminals. Then, you take a new pair of speaker wire, and connect from the L and R speaker-level outputs on the sub to the bookshelfs. That's it.

Set the subwoofer's crossover frequency knob at 50-80Hz or so (you need to experiment a bit here). If you want an accurate bass sound, you need to calibrate the sub's level knob, using the RadioShack sound level meter and a audio calibration CD/DVD.

It should be really easy to hide a sub in the garage somewhere!

Coincidentally, I recently picked up a pair of a/d/s L420 bookshelf speakers on ebay for a secondary system. I was drawn to them due to the great sound that my a/d/s L610 floor-standing speakers still have 22+ years after their purchase. Though not as full-sounding as the L610s, the L420s still sound very good, with a clean, crisp sound comparable to the 610s. Do you also happen to have the L420s, Dan? And did you ever sneak the sub-woofer in to the garage? (I'm thinking that one would generally go un-noticed behind the couch...)

you just forced me into the garage. the ads models are L470. no, haven't hidden a sub in the garage yet. wife would kill me as she's still waiting for me to hook-up two old marantz g6, or 6g speakers in the basement. she wants "cable" music down there while she sews so she won't have to listen to commercials. but talk about flat transister radio quality of reproduction, that describes the "cable" quality.
dan

My garage system is one of my favorites.

I know all CD players are the same, but my 10 year old JVC 6 disc changer sure sounds much better than the Cambridge D500SE I auditioned.

So, the JVC is the source for a Pioneer SX850, a gorgeous mint condition silver face classic with gyro knobs, buttons, toggles and meters. I use the speaker out connections into a Kenwood SW300 subwoofer modified with a replacement 10" Dayton Titanic woofer. I run a pair of vintage Dahlquist DQM905 speakers from the subwoofer. This system sounds incredibly good!

I hid my modified Kenwood subwoofer under my work desk.

I picked up the silver face Pioneer for about $100, the JVC 6 disk CD changer has a garage sale value of about $10, the Dahlquists for $50 or $70 for the pair, don't remember exactly. The Kenwood sub was an old throw away when I blew the OEM woofer out in pieces onto my office floor (Dreamworks' Time Machine, great sound track), the replacement driver cost under $100.

Great music making system for car washing, waxing, puttering, shining forged blade golf clubs ...

Thanks for the info, Dan. I don't know whether the a/d/s L470s are newer/larger than my L420s. Hope that you're enjoying the a/d/s sound as much as I am. If I ever hook up a subwoofer to them, I'll let you know how they sound.