I bought the first version of these, the Acoustic Research Powered Partners, around 1985 when I was in college. These speakers were originally marketed for a tiny niche - people who wanted a high fidelity portable system. My idea was to put together the "ultimate boombox" so I bought the speakers, the optional battery pack (lead acid batteries that weighed a ton), the optional, expensive soft carrying case, plus a walkman. That proved impractical, but man these speakers sounded great. They got rave reviews in the audio magazines of the day, and deserved them. The sound is excellent and well balanced. When I finally got a computer with a sound card in the 90s, it dawned on me that I should be using these with it. They have served that purpose ever since. Recently one of them has started to sound bad, and I plan to retire my set and buy the new Advent versions.
If you want a system that sounds good, buy these; if you want something that is loud and thumps, go elsewhere. These are not about raw power or the ability to bust your eardrums. They are about excellent sounding drivers matched to a nicer-than-average sounding amplifier in each enclosure. The aluminum enclosures are great for use around monitors and other electronic devices. They have line-level inputs that you can plug into an ipod, a computer, a cd or dvd player, or any number of other systems. You can't really use these as guitar amps without some kind of preamplifier - it would be a shame to waste such great speakers on an electric guitar anyway. I'm not sure if you can still buy the stands from Advent, but you could easily make a pair of stands from pvc pipe to get these speakers up to ear level. There is a sort of clamping piece on the back where you can insert a pole or pipe of the correct size. In all, a very versatile system
Regarding the "thump" the speakers make then they are turned on - mine have done this since new and it has not caused a problem in over 15 years of service. Get more detail about Advent AV570 70-Watt 2-Way Powered Multimedia Speaker System (Pair).
I came by a single Advent AV270 speaker many years ago and bought it to..., well I didn't know. But Boy am I glad I did!
ReplyDeleteSince then it has traveled with me and improved the sound of many a fellow traveler's puny equipment.
But just recently it went silent. :-( So I decided to have a look inside and fix the problem, probably a wire came off. Except, how do I open the back cover?
blush
Inspection, logic and a thorough web search have failed me. Until now! Right? This is a special location where the AV270 is spoken kindly of, so I'm sure somebody out there has opened one. Please tell me how?
Thank you IA.
Amazon review was able to replace the woofer if that helps!
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