New - old - Goodmans
After some comments recently by Alan, and I think Sovereign(?) I've been looking out for some large Goodman speakers at a good price.
Ideally I had been after some 15 inch badboys within spitting distance of Gloucester. Though last week I spotted these (I think 12 inch bass drivers) calling to me just over the border in Pontypridd via ebay. I think the bass drivers are "only" 12 inch, but at £55 (including a matching 70s receiver) I couldn't resist.
Daddy Docfoster Senior (lives in Cardiff) was given collection duties, and after the snows cleared at the end of the week harnessed the huskies and journeyed up the valleys. They've been waiting in Cardiff over the weekend, but are being brought up by my parents tomorrow. Other than plenty of bass bang crash wallop I don't know what to expect. But, I am excited. :-bd
One question, does anyone know what model they are...? Hopefully they'll say on the back, but does anyone here recognise them...? The receiver with which they come is the 'Goodmans music suite 3000'. but I don't know if the speakers originally came with the receiver.
Comments
They look like fun! If I'm not mistaken, they are a set Goodmans Goodwood, and should be pretty similar to the Magnum that preceded them.
You have the same tweeter found on the later Magnums and Magisters, the woofer has the PVC overlay thing going on (you like a bit of black PVC?), but the midrange drive is a new one on me. I have always thought the mid range driver on Magnums and my Magisters to be the weakest point (although I have'nt yet replaced the old crossover caps - that ought to help).
They look like a lot of fun for the money, I hope you enjoy them!
£55...?!
Far more musical than i was expecting, tho perhaps lesd bass than i'd hoped.
Pics and details to follow.
They're stacking up here Dave.
By no means are they being blown away by my beloved Cube 2s. Strangely the sound is quite similar in fact. Overal the Goodmasns are not quite as balanced and to my ears as spot-on as are the cubes. The Goodmans bass is deeper and more prominent
Remarkable really that speaker sound hasn't moved on very much in 40 years... These Goodmans date I think from the early 70s and cost me £55 last week with a Goodmans receiver included (no idea what they cost new), but as I say they are almost competing with my Cube 2s (£1400 new) which replaced Dynaudio Audience 82 (£1700). Weird.
Also, I've hooked the Goodmans up with some old NVA LS2 that I had in the attic (only screw down speaker terminals available, so I stripped off the plugs from the redundant LS2), so it's not really a level playing field with the Cubes. Then again it shouldn't surprise me - I suppose good sound is good sound whatever decade one is in. Clearly the technology to achieve decent sounds was around since the 50s, judging by some of those old jazz (and doubtless other) recordings...
They won't be replacing the Cubes, even if I liked them more, my wife has made it clear that 2 huge veneered boxes from the decade that style forgot are welcome in the living room only as firewood. So I have no idea what I'll do with them long term. It's my 40th later in the year a big 70s theme house party planned, so they'll stick around as part of the sound system for that, and then who knows... They're too good to sell on...
:-?
The Maggies had 15inch woofers...?
Old Goodmans aren't the last word in...well, anything really, but they are astonishingly good at playing the music well (something some modern speakers cannot do). They aren't even that 'warm' sounding, which one might expect given their age and the look of them. I think the fact they are so cheap, and look so outdated, causes surprise when their capabilities become clear.
There was a chap on Chews a while back who didn't like them though (I forget who though), he rated some Wharfedales or Celestions of a similar vintage much higher. So as ever, there is no truth, it's all just fun.
As for the bass - I agree with you Ben, they seem surprisingly bass-light at first. They are actually quite realistic, certainly not boom-boxes. The bass is tight and fast, which is a real treat.
Great fun for fiddy squids.
Indeed the bass never over-blows its own tunefulness. Also you're quite right, modern speakers rarely sound like this. What has happened to things over the past 40 years...? [-X
I have pushed the buggers back into the corners a bit and they have found a lot more bass. And some more scale.
The only real complaints that I have are that:
1. They are not as dynamic as the cubes, so do not present things quite as realistically or captivatingly.
2. The mid range is slightly one dimensional. I said 'brittle' yesterday, but really one dimensional is a better description, as if there is a noticeable peak somewhere in the upper mid that makes all snare drums sound similar. And, all snares are not created equal...! [-( Female vox can also sound a bit harder and harsher than I'm used to.
Those are fairly minor quibbles mind. I'm loving listening to them. Huge huge sound, and the bass reverberates further down my colon than the neighbours are happy with. @-)