Jump to content

Advent 402? What about the 450S?


JKent

Recommended Posts

Anyone know anything about these: Model 402 speakers, Model 450S receiver?

The speakers are 2-way AS in plastic cabinets. Look like the big brothers to the 400 and I guess they were available with the Model 402 radio (post-Kloss) and must have also been sold separately. Anyone know any more than that? Are they any good?

I can't find ANY info on the 450S receiver. Pretty unimpressive looking and I'm guessing also post-Henry. But I can't find anything about it.

Anybody familiar with these?

Thanks

Kent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest fpink3

Hello Kent,

My name is Fred Pinkerton

I worked at Advent Corporation from 1975 until 1981.

From 1978 until my departure from Advent, I was the the Audio Product manager.

I worked with Henry from 1975 until he left Advent, as well as Andy Kotsatos, who was

the Audio Product manager. I was in charge of the development of the "Response" series of radios.

(Model 410M, 420S and 450S and the 402 separate speaker).

Yes you are correct, Henry had left Advent by this point. So had Andy Kotsatos (to form Boston Acoustics).

The 410M was a direct replacment for the Model 400 radio. The 420S was a stereo version

of the same "upright" center console, separate speaker design.

The 450S was a "mini receiver" that came with two speakers, like the 420S. It had more power

than the other two radios.

This line of radios was developed to replace the Model 400 radio. The M400

cost Advent well over $90 to produce, even though they sold it to retailers for under $110.

The electronic design of the Model 401M and 420S were done by Shin Shirasuna, an excellent

Japanese company that also produced the bulk of Harmon Kardon's receivers of the late 1970's.

The cosmetic design was done by the same industrial designer as all previous Advent products

(John Price). The 450S electronic design was done by Dong Won electronics in Korea, again to

my specification and John Price's design.

The Model 410M and 420S are excellent products, both mechanically and electronically.

I consider them better overall products than the Model 400. My only reservation is with the speaker

driver's longevity. I don't remember if it had a foam urethane surround (which would be useless by now)

or a cloth/rubber surround.

I have seen versions of these two products in the last five years or so and they still perform well, with

the exception of noisy source selection switches.

The 450S was a different story. I left the company for Boston Acoustics before this product went into

production. The only examples I have seen of this product had poor mechanical fit and finish.

The M402 speaker was simply the speaker system made for the 410m and 420S, packaged separately.

It was acoustically similar to the Model 400 speaker, but a little more efficient and without quite as

much bass extension.

Advent filed for Chapter 11 about a year after my departure. Many products were made using this

brand name by entirely different companys. But the Response series was designed and marketed by

the the original Advent Corp of Cambridge MA. The biggest difference was the place of manufacture.

In the case of the M410M and the M420S, I would have to say the manufacturing facility was better

than Advent could come up with in North America.

I have since worked at Boston Acoustics and Cambridge SoundWorks and have produced

many products. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to remember specifics about products

I made thirty years ago. But I'll be happy to answer what questions I can about Advent products in the seventies.

Best regards,

Fred Pinkerton

Anyone know anything about these: Model 402 speakers, Model 450S receiver?

The speakers are 2-way AS in plastic cabinets. Look like the big brothers to the 400 and I guess they were available with the Model 402 radio (post-Kloss) and must have also been sold separately. Anyone know any more than that? Are they any good?

I can't find ANY info on the 450S receiver. Pretty unimpressive looking and I'm guessing also post-Henry. But I can't find anything about it.

Anybody familiar with these?

Thanks

Kent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
Guest spencer ledlow

Hi Kent,

A few days ago I decided to try my old 450s with my very efficient avantgarde hornspeakers. I am amazed at how good it is. I was using a single ended triode 300B amp and it has been so hot here in Austin so I tried the switch to conserve energy and my a/c bill. I would like to know more and wonder if you've come up with anything. I'm also now curious about the Advent 300 receiver and wonder if you know how it would compare.

Thanks,

Spencer

Anyone know anything about these: Model 402 speakers, Model 450S receiver?

The speakers are 2-way AS in plastic cabinets. Look like the big brothers to the 400 and I guess they were available with the Model 402 radio (post-Kloss) and must have also been sold separately. Anyone know any more than that? Are they any good?

I can't find ANY info on the 450S receiver. Pretty unimpressive looking and I'm guessing also post-Henry. But I can't find anything about it.

Anybody familiar with these?

Thanks

Kent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...

Thought I'd revive this thread. The comments above from Fred Pinkerton are informative. Here is another Advent 402 thread: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7438&hl=%2Bfred+%2Bpinkerton

So I've managed to acquire 5 Advent 402 speakers and have started to restore them. One will go with my Advent 410M mono FM radio (currently using a single Minimus 7) and a pair will go with my 450 mini stereo system. The other pair will be reserved for the future acquisition (I hope) of a 420S stereo radio.

The 402 speakers are similar in size and construction to the 400 but unlike the 400 they are 2-way and the woofers have foam surrounds that rot. The 400 has a single full-range driver with rubber surround.

I bought surrounds and dust caps from our old friend MSound. His ebay account is defunct, as is his web site but John can be reached at msound@shentel.net He specializes in complete kits but will sell just the surrounds and dust caps if you ask (tell him you are a CSP member). I happened to have some leftover shims and WD glue so all I needed was the surrounds and caps.

Speaking of "caps".... I also replaced the capacitors. The xo is on a PCB and consists of a pair of resistors, a pair of inductors and a pair of caps. Original caps are NPE: 8uF and 16uF. I replaced them with Carli film caps (8uF & 15uF) but had to move them off the PCB because it's too tight on the board. Here are the original components:

  • C1 16uF 50v NPE
  • C2 8uF 50 v NPE
  • R1 & R2 2 ohm 5w sand cast
  • L1 & L2 0.8 mH

The woofers have thick gaskets that should be retained to get a proper seal between the back-mounted driver and the plastic baffle board. I destroyed one getting it off so it was replaced with some foam gasket tape from PE, cut in half lengthwise. edit: Use a heat gun or hair dryer to soften the glue on the gaskets then use a putty knife or similar.

The second photo shows one 402 with rotted surround and one with new surround and dust cap.The third pic shows the original xo, the fourth pic shows the new Carli caps. The last photo shows the woofer with shims in place and clamps around the perimeter. This shot just makes me grin ;)

Decent sounding little speakers. Won't replace your OLAs but nice radio speakers.

Kent

post-101828-0-35771100-1378955698_thumb.

post-101828-0-44622600-1378955710_thumb.

post-101828-0-14794000-1378955721_thumb.

post-101828-0-68193200-1378955730_thumb.

post-101828-0-39045300-1378955739_thumb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Another follow-up.

I now have all the 400 series: 400, 410M, 420S and 450S. I just finished re-foaming the rest of the speakers. Did not bother with new capacitors this time.

The surrounds are from Speakerworks, their part # SWK525. Also used some dust caps I had on hand--think they're 1-3/4" but not sure and the grilles are back on.

Speaking of which, the hardest parts of the job are:

  1. Removing the gasket without damaging it and
  2. Re-installing the metal grille. It's held in place by a rubber spline, like a screen and the rubber is tough to push down into the groove.

I removed the old surround then cleaned up the metal frame and the edge of the cone with a piece of Scotch Brite and lacquer thinner. I removed the old dust cap and used shims. Had planned to hinge it back but it's soft and it seemed a new cap would be better.

So here are some pics. The 400, which ad a single 5.25" driver (some had Phillips whizzer-cone drivers), the 410M with one 402 speaker, a 420S with two 402s and a 450S with two 402s. The 420 and 450 are actually mini receivers, with inputs for Aux and Phono. The mono 400 and 410 have Aux inputs.

The 402 speakers are nice little 2-ways with good crossovers (see above). The metal screen grilles are not as transparent as they appear in the flash photos.

-Kent

Advent 400.jpg

410M.jpg

420S.jpg

450S.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

JKent,

Thanks for sharing info about the 402 speakers. I just recently purchased a 420s and the two 402 speakers. The 402's will probably require refoaming and I think I'm going to give it a try. The 420 has a couple of issues with the radio. I think mostly to do with the push button selectors. I'm hoping Deoxit will help. I need a schematic for this radio does anyone have one? I will also be replacing the capacitors in the 402's. 

Thanks everyone,

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Three years later and I re-foamed and re-capped another pair of 402s. Carli caps are no longer available from Madisound so I used Erse but they're bigger. Had to get creative.

 

 

Edited by JKent
removed 2 pics
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

I don't know that Advent published wpc specs for radios and I'm guessing that as part of the Response series the 450s was considered to be a radio even though it was a compact music system. Whatever the case, here is the Advent section from the 1982 Stereo Directory & Buting Guide.

It shows the 300 as having 15wpc and the "big" 350 with 50wpc. I could not find the wpc specs for the 400, 410, 420 or 450. Fred Pinkerton noted (above) that the Response Series had more output than the 400 but that still leaves us in the dark. My guess is the 450S which retailed for the same $300 price as the 300 but with the bonus of 2 speakers included would have had lower power than the 300.

5 - 10wpc? I dunno. I wouldn't try to drive AR-3a's with the 450S 😀

Kent

Advent radios 1982.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...