I went to Nobody Beats The Wiz with my dad back in '95 to do some stereo shopping...I was picking out items for him because he always knew my knowledge of all mid line stereo equipment was as good as any pro....He called me over to listen to a pair of the Advent Legacy IIIs and I told him that they sounded phenomenal....We quickly learned that as 2 way speakers, they weren't very expensive either(about $500 for the pair) Over the past 19 years, he's only used them about 20 odd times or so...Their current condition is perfect....They were parked then and never moved to this day......At the time, I had incredible speakers and thought nothing of owning another pair because I had 2 perfect pairs that honestly were just slightly better than these...I bought my 1990 3 way Infinity's at Goodwill...I paid $75 for the pair...I looked around and found out that they costed around $900 brand new....They were slightly smaller than the legacy IIIs but supported 200 watts and I knew I bumped into a steal....Aside from a moth hole the size of a small nail head on 1 of the grills, these too were perfect entirely......Here we are now and those Infinity's are long gone along with the other pair.....I'm looking forward to claiming these soon because my dad no longer listens to music from a rack system....On a scale of 1-10 they are a perfect 10 and are approaching their 20th birthday soon..The build quality compares to every expensive speaker I ever owned....These are paper cones and nowadays paper cone speakers are practically non existent.....With their low mileage and having never been played very loud they are certain to hold easily for many more years ....I wish I could show a picture of them right now....Everybody would drool at their flawless condition.......Of course, I'd consider selling them but If they were bought at $500 then, I'd have to ask for at least around twice that much now because they are all original and perfect through and through......Yep , I'm missing the boxes, those were thrown away at the time.......BTW, you should see this Yamaha KX-W952 fully pro logic cassette deck that was purchased on that same day,,perhaps the most expensive cassette deck I've ever seen and it's only been used twice in 19 years,,,LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

takes good clean power to drive these babes, quite simply these are the best speakers i ever heard, so natural sounding you can hear everything with no coloration

There is nothing that compares to these awesome vintage speakers. I bought a brand new pair of Infinity towers and they sound good but do not compare to the great sound of the famous Advents. What a shame they don't exist anymore. I need a refoam on the woofers,so I called up Simply Speakers.com and asked him if I should refoam or replace the woofers. He said what ever you do, DO NOT replace those speakers. He couldn't believe I was even suggesting it. Advent speakers at the time were the best speakers around. If you can find a pair of these speakers snag'em ,no matter what condition they're in. You can always fix them. I've heard a lot of speakers in my time and its hard to beat Advent Legacy 3's.

Appoximately one year ago I was looking to purchase a third set of speakers to pair with a Yamaha 65 watt amp to use in my home office/study. Just by chance I stumbled upon a pair of used Advent Legacy IIIs advertised on Craigs List. Having heard the famous Advent sound over thirty years ago while in college I was intrigued by the possibilities. Previously I'd owned Bose as well as JBL speakers. To make a long story short. I decided to go for it and purchased a pair of these gems for the outragious price of $75.00 cash. The cabinets were in great shape and when I got these babies home and connected them with the Yamaha amp,,,,it was music made in heaven. I could not believe sound quality that came from these speakers. Well balance tonal quality, very nice lows as well as highs, and over all just a natural awsome sounding speaker.
I feel like I need to go into the witness protection program for purchasing these great speakers at the price that I got them for. I still like my Bose and the JBLs are still fantastic, but my new old Advents complete the Tremendous Trio....................

WOW!! WHAT A GREAT SOUNDING SPEEKER!!!! I PURCHASED MY FIRST SET OF SPEEKERS FROM A STORE CALLED "NOBODY BEATS THE WIZ" I TOOK YOU WAY BACK DIDN'T I ? LOL! ANYWAY, I STILL HAVE MY VERY FIRST PAIR AND THEY SOUND SO CLEAR. THE BASS IS LOW AND WELL FELT .THE MIDRANGE ARE SO CLEAR YOU CAN HEAR EVERY INSTRUMENT IN THE BACKGROUND. I LOVE MY ADVENT LEGACY III SPEEKERS. I CAN'T BELEVE THEY LAST THIS LONG. BEFORE I PURCHASHED THESE ADVENT LEGACY III . I OWN A SET OF BOSE 501 . I THOUGHT THESE WHERE THE BEST SPEEKER I EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. BUT, SAD TO SAY MY BOSE 501 DID NOT STAND THE TEST OF TIME. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAD HAPPEN! I WAS JAMMING ON MY BIRTHDAY WITH SOME FRIEND'S AND THE UNEXPECTED THING HAPPEN...THE BOSE 501 STOP WORKING. THAT'S RIGHT !!! IT JUST STOP WORKING . NO SOUND NO SMOKE OR FIRE. THAT'S RIGHT YOU GUEST IT!!!! PARTY IS OVER. I WAS SO HEATED!!!! SO, ON THE NEXT DAY I CALLED BOSE CO. TO TELL THEM WHAT HAD HAPPEN. YOU WILL NOT BELEVE WHAT THE BOSE REP TOLD ME!! THIS MOTHER SAID WITH A LAID BACK REPLY AND SAID THE SPEEKER ONLY HAVE A LIFE SPAN OF 90DAYS AFTER PURCHASHED SIR. WHATA! WHATA!! MANN!! THEN I SAID , SO HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO FIX IT ? THEN HE SAID , IT WILL COST ME $385.54 TO FIX IT. I'M SAD TO SAY I HAD TO LAY MY BOSE 501 SPEEKERS TO REST THAT DAY. ON THE NEXT I WENT TO THE WIZ TO SEE WHAT KIND OF SPEEKERS THEY HAD.AND THAT DAY I FELLED IN LOVE WITH THE SWEET SEXY SOUNDING ADVENT LEGACY III SPEEKERS!!!! I WENT TWO DAYS WITHOUT SOUNDS IN MY HOUSE.NOW! IT'S A PARTY EVERY DAY SENCE AUGUST 15 1994 TILL NOW! DON'T STOP THE MUSIC!!!!!! THERE ARE SPEEKERS OUT THERE THAT COST THOUSAND OF DOLLARS THAT SOUND JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER. BUT, WILL THEY LAST 16 YEARS AND COUNTING? AND STILL SOUND GREAT! MAYBE I HAVE A GOOD EAR FOR QAULITY OR MAYBE I JUST AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME!! I THINK I AM ONE OF THE LUCKY ONE'S THAT PURCHASHED A REALY GOOD PRODUCT.
FRANK C. FROM BROOKLY,NY 2/2010.

6 or 8 ohm selector. Fairly high wattage. Great low and high sound.

My little JVC receiver can make them distort at very low frequencies.

I got the Legacy III's since 1995. I am in the military, so this speakers have traveled with me for a while and still sound like the day I bought them. I run the with a JVC stereo receiver and they are perfect.

Bass extension, tonal balance

"Shouty" midrange at high volume, build quality

I've owned a set of original Legacys for 10 years and still love them. I use them primarily for music, although they work great for HT as well.

Recently I went comparison shopping to see if I need to upgrade, but I didn't hear anything clearly better for less than $1000 a pair -- a hefty increase from the $200 I paid for my Advents in 1989!

The main strengths are bass extension and an excellent tonal balance. They put out a lot of very low bass, thanks to the 10" woofer and sealed box design. I don't have a subwoofer, but I don't think I miss much bass, except perhaps for the super-low bass in movie sound effects (explosions, dinosaur footsteps, etc.). There is plenty of quality bass output for any type of music. They do seem to require quality amplification to get the best bass, however. I noticed a huge improvement when I upgraded my 60 W/Ch. Akai receiver to a 65 W/Ch. Harmon Kardon. I also like the overall tonal balance. Apparently some reviewers like a brighter sound than me. I enjoy the somewhat subdued high frequency output. To me they sound correctly balanced, and you can crank them up without killing your ears with overbearing highs.

The main weaknesses are "shouty" midrange at high volume and questionable build quality. As you might expect, a 10" woofer in a 2-way speaker can't do a perfect job in the midrange. I'm surprised how good the mids sound at low to moderate volume, but at high volume the midrange (especially male vocals) sounds "shouty," like the singer is singing into a megaphone. I've also been disappointed with the build quality (although they have kept going strong for 10 years, so maybe I should just be thankful for that). One of the woofers rattles slightly at certain frequencies. In the process of removing it to see if I could fix the problem, I discovered that the box is made of plain particle board (not MDF or something more exotic), only the speaker baffle is 3/4" -- the other walls are 1/2" -- and there's no internal bracing. This leads me to believe that the rattle is from the box, not the woofer.

But overall, the pluses easily outweigh the minuses on these gems. 10 years and still going strong!

Punchy bass, crisp highs, solid construction, Nice looking cabinet.

Midrange is susceptible to distortion in complex passages.

I'm speaking of the Legacy II's. These have been a good value for the money. Just wish the midrange was better.

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The Advent Legacy 11 presents a rather high and wide (not very deep) sound field if elevated about 13", and dampened by sand filled stands (I use filled 8" saunatubes). If you remove the bottom front wood decoration and trim the overhang of the top flush with the face, throw away the grill, and bevel the verticle edges to about 35 degrees, the depth of sound imagery becomes quite focused. And the boxes can work as little as one foot from the front wall. So modified, one can listen for hours to them and be happy.

The 10" woofers do not resolve complicated compositions (lots of different instruments) and sometimes fail to resolve differences in base instruments. I cant hear much very well above 9,000 cycles--so the tweeter doesnt seem as weak to me as to some other reviewers.

If you are stuck for what to buy with little cash, and like controlled base with an easy listening midrange, then give the Advent Legacy 11s a go.

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Used Thiels 3.0, McIntosh xr14s, JBL who knows what, and Vegas. Not fair to compare the Advent with the Thiels.

Whalloping base, clean highs. Best for the money

Midrange is a bit lacking, sloppy when recording isn't ideal

I have had the Legacy II's for 10 years and till this day still love them. Some of the reviews I read blew my mind. The problem with these speakers is that they need power to push them. No cheapo Sony is gonna cut it. I have a H/K pushing them set at 4 ohms. Pop in blues travler, send the volume up and then tell me what you think. I think they are top notch for the money and have been impressing my friends for years.