Maybe these latter comments could be switched to a new thread? What follows is memory and personal experiences and views.

I got all stroppy about later ES14 bungs (production with the 'phase plugs' on the main drivers) because I'd had chapter and verse from Robin Marshall about them. Not personal opinion but a design 'feature,' as the magnets weren't as powerful on these later drivers and the cone flapped about with bungs removed (long story how this came to be). He used to glue the bungs in and 'everyone' used to heave them out and make a royal mess, so in the end he gave up and left them removable. I found them too lean with bungs in and they boomed uncontrollably at 80Hz with bungs out given a frequency sweep to confirm, but I found a lovely compromise with bungs in sideways, allowing a little air to freely come out. Robin designed his ES14 drivers from scratch in the days before computer aided design - all the maths for the magnet and gap system were his work and it ended up a superb driver I think. He's one of those who KNEW what he was on about and could reasonably discuss what' what without ego, bullying or bullshit ime.

BC1's in a large room can sound lost, boxy, constricted and with the infamous low bass 'honk.' Play 'em loud and they can sound as if they're falling apart (this could act as a crude form of protection as they'd sound terrible before terminal damage was done). In a smaller room, higher stands than their 9" trolleys and away from room boundaries (the bane of all BBC-Inspired models imo), they can sound enchantimg and I have fond memories of my Radford valve driven pair I sold in 1980 to make way for pair number one of Isobariks - EEK!!! - The 'Briks had incomparably better bass but I couldn't understand why voices sounded so 'tuby...'

LS7's - Far less boomy than the Studio 1 had become I thought (Spendor had the SP1 out by this time and these were a huge step forward taken overall, although there is something special in the BC1 midrange on intimate small scale music). We sold loads of LS7's and generally these were well made I thought and customers loved them with Naim driving them (maybe the harshness livened them up?). LS7T's when new took fillings out with a vicious tweeter, but a pair I heard when fifteen years old had mellowed and sweetened no end.

P3's? I compared them directly with the Harbeth 3/5A's and on well recorded orchestral stuff there's little competition imo. Peter Grimes on late 50's Decca had a far more realistic soundstage I thought, the 3/5A's sounding confused in comparison. This was with Quad 34/306 and a cheapo Marantz CD player too - eek! The current ESR's go louder and feel more open, but I think what kills all of these is the need to have them out on the middle of the room to prevent bass issues - a thread or three all in itself to discuss this methinks... Croft driven, the ESR's can do pretty good on Massive Attack and compared to the ATC actives I was selling at the time, the ESR's 'did' brushed cymbal superbly in comparison, the ATC (SCM 20ASL Pro with original tweeters) sounding crude and rough as a badgers backside. Mids were surprisingly similar on both I thought - made me question AVI's shouting of how inferior ALL passive speakers are compared to active...

As for JBL's, I hated the L100 at the time, finding them squawky and screechy or hollow and boxy depending on control settings. Having said that, the first time Tangerine Dream's Phaedra blew my head off (I've never recovered as you can see) was via the simpler L26's and the bass quality stayed with me. Just lately, I heard some £18k 4367's and even if they might not be the dogs doodahs to many here, I had tears in my eyes hearing a GOOD large speaker again and it's made me wonder if the 4310E is any good for music other than rock and roll - JBL have done much to sort the drivers I believe, but as yet they're unheard. I'm deadly serious though, or maybe the 4307 with 10" main drivers might suit 'here' better - hmm...

I think AR LSTs were very impressive when I first heard them, and I certainly remember hearing Phaedra on them.

The Croft 4s I knew well was a softie but the OTL I had for a short while (before I feared for my and it's life after a firework display) was actually superb when it worked...

LST's - OH YES INDEEDY!!!!!!!! Far too big and expensive for used ones now, especially as the drivers need work, but I remember MST's and MST-2' having some of the wonderful personalities in a baby version...

Thankfully the 'Hello welcome to the BBC' has passed me by along with the Quad stat legend

Altec Lansing Model 14. Only heard them once, never forgotten.


EDIT: I'm pretty sure I heard them at Lindair - wasn't that the store that became Lion House?  Alongside the big Laskys?

Dave, it's all good! Can you confirm my memory of Lindair being next to Laskys or am I misremembering?

No problem. Did you ever hear the Altecs?

Lindair/Lion House was on the opposite side of the road to the big Lasky's, there were two other Lasky's branches on our side of the road one just a couple of doors away.  If anyone remembers the late Steve Hyams, best known as the replacement guitarist in Mott the Hoople, but a great musician in his own right. His Dad Richard bought Lindair from Bernie Linden and turned it in to Lion House.  It was intended to be a HiFi department store, but later the departments became franchises and sub companies. A number of manufactures had sound proof demo studios down in the basement.  I used to go down there when I was at JVC, to make sure our studio was at it's best.   In the early 80s I moved back to London from the USA, and popped in there to buy some new kit.  Dick Beale the genral manager asked me to work there as a salesman for a couple of weeks and then take over as technical manager and run the service department.  The Altecs were gone by then (but I remember they sounded stunning).  I got to play with a lot of toys and many of the companies would give me kit to "test" at home.  Happy days.  I was however envious of the big Lasky's over the road as they had the awesome JBL Paragon on permanent demo.  

At the time I had stacked ELS 57s at home and a few of my workmates had heard them and were impressed.  Cue the Bose rep offering cash and prize incentives to the sales force to sell their kit.  These guys started selling the punters stacked Bose systems, which were just shite.  A lot of the reps would offers these "Spliffs" as they were called, 'cos it was getting harder to battle the flat earth nonsense that was going around at the time. 

The Lowbeats site has a proper review of the current Bose 901's and the 'wall of sound' they create. Seems that the basic driver used isn't bad in the mids, but it's worked too hard by the compulsory equaliser so you get a mush all too easily. Interesting effect in the 70's though I remember (someone I knew had a pair at home back then). I regularly heard the pro (PA) version and it's great for this purpose in free space... We sold the 301 mk4 in the 90's and it was actually very good if placed sideways on 24" stands. (I'll never speak of the 'Acoustimess' boom-box, squeaker-sat systems...)