I have had, and still have, MANY speakers over the years.

I have enjoyed PSB Stratus Silver (original and "i" versions), Klipsch's (kept the Forte II's), Cerwin Vega's (kept the CLSC 215's), Polk Audio, JBL, B&W and more, and here's the rub - these vintage low rent Allegro 3000's are remarkable sounding.

I had a buddy, actually two brothers, back-in-the-day whose father sold Zenith products. They always had a pair hooked up to a Pioneer silver face receiver whenever I visited.

Fast forward 20 years! I find a pair in the thrift store for 15 bucks, wire them to a Technics SA 200 found earlier for 15 bucks, and BAM! What the heck did I spend a couple grand on NAD and Cerwin Vega for?!

Gave the gear to a girlfriend who had nothing after a move and she remarked how EVERYONE who visited raved about the sound out of her 70's set-up.

More recently I did an "A -B" comparison, at ear level, with a pair of Klipsch RF-61's and a second set of the Allegro 3000's (I kept this pair) with a musician friend of mine and WE COULD NOT DISCERN WHICH PAIR WAS PLAYING!

I thought the Klipsch bookshelf speakers were GOOD and these easily matched them.

If only they had real wood cabinets...

My folks bought the original system in the seventies and now those four speakers are in each corner of my garage, connected to a Sony Pro-logic receiver and Sony 51 disk CD changer. I'm absolutely thrilled with the sound, the emblem is spring loaded and can be rotated into whatever orientation you position the speakers. These speakers sound superb, I'm so grateful for the early inheritance and thank my folks weekly for these old beauties!

I previously owned a pair of the allegro 3000s that I picked up at a flee.mkt. Many audiophiles write off allegros as junk. I think they are highly underrated. I enjoyed the 3000s but always thought there was something missing in the mids. This week I came across a pair of 300s( at goodwill) which have the same foster horn, a 6 or 7 " rola woofer and a 3 1/2 " rola midrange. Now the mids are there in spades. In fact these speakers have some of the best mids I've heard regardless of price. The balance between the highs and mids is wonderful. The bass isn't as big as the 3000s but is still satisfying and faster than the 3000s and I don't notice that they are ported.Imaging is quite sharp and open though not as deep as the best.
Audiophiles need to take a listen to these and not judge them because they don't have the best cabinets or use ultra expensive parts. These are overall one of the best and most satisfying speakers I've heard.

I have a Zenith Allegro ( The Wedge ) stereo system model GR596W, which is the one with the 8 Track recorder deck. This system simulates 4 channel with a front / rear speaker matrx with which Ive connected original Allegro 3000 speakers across the room and Allegro 1000s concealed under my chrome endtables . I was 14 years old when this system was sold new. ( the 8 track nonrecording model went for 399.99 /// 1350.00 plus in todays dollars! ) These speakers are mellow and deep. Truly amazing, at low volume levels , you feel the sound. At higher , my nieghbors would probably call the cops. Im an armchair enthusiast I know but as far as vintage electronics go the Allegro product line from Zenith is grossly underated. Screw Weltron, they sound terrible next to my Zenith and I have several all in great shape. The Wedge was one of the last handmade, made in America systems sold. The unit cabinet and speaker cabinets have that vintage Woody Allens Sleeper look to them , with discrete chrome trim on the Allegro Ports, which have spring loaded emblems to pull out n turn for vertical or sideways applications, and very well made boxes. The Allegro port was introduced in 1973-74. In 1980 ' the port was still there but Zenith redesigned the exteriors of all their " component " style systems and what had been a stand out design period ended with the same generic box look of their competitors.

I bought a pair of the Allegro 3000s at a flea market recently for $60, more than I really wanted to pay but they looked different than other ones that I have seen. These have a full grill cloth with the nameplate on the lower right corner, not the expected top right corner port open plate.The cabnets are pretty decent, well stapled in the back and with spring connecters in the back. Perhaps these were a late version that were better made than some of the earlier models I've read about. I noticed the horn and I thought Zenith used a horn? I did a little research on these babies and read about the Alnico woofers and Foster horns. Interesting... I listened to them there on a really cheap system and heard some promising possibilities, so I bought them. After hooking them up to my little 60's Dynaco st-35, an EL-84 based integrated tube amp with a mere 17 watts/channel(but don't let that fool you, they have a big rich sound) I couldn't believe what I was hearing.Their high sensitivity mated perfect with the Dyna. I also tried it with a 65 watt Denen receiver. It sounded nice with the Denon but it is a match made in heaven with the Dyna. From Shatachovich string quartets, full orchestra symphonies, small and big jazz, Merle Haggard to gospel choirs, you don't want to stop listening. These got to be on of the most underated speakers especially with the right amp. Well, I think I'll go back to listening.

Picked up these beauties at a garage sale for $5 each. Bought 'em because my old pal Bing had a set back in the day & we cranked the #### out of them with 'The Who' etc. Took 'em home & hooked 'em up. Not too shabby! I could not believe how beautiful the high frequencies came across. Had a pair of big 3foot, 60 pound Diatone towers with blown tweeters, so I cannibalized the Allegro's for the tweets. Lo-and-behold: a massively beautiful Foster 16 ohm horn tweeter was inside the Allegro cabinet!

One quick swap-out & a listening test was next: Mahalia Jackson on Columbia vinyl! Outstanding! Soft & sweet, delicate yet room-filling, detailed yet blah, blah, blah...All I can say is this: I will be on the hunt for more Allegro's. Those Foster tweets are unreal...BOOYAA!!!!!

The low cost aside, these speakers have a fantastic mid range sound. When I first listened to them after setting them up, they sounded much different then the computer speakers I was using before. I was flipping through random song in iTunes to get a sense of them, and they sounded a bit off. I then listened to an LP and was amazed by the sound; the warmth of vinyl was really brought out by the speakers. The signal's fed through an EQ, so I adjusted to accordingly, and they sound great. I switched to headphones (Sony's MDR-V150, which sound very good, especially from a PC) for reference, and it sounded tinny and lifeless. The warmth of these speakers is awesome. They are also very efficient; the amplifier is providing 15w @ 4 ohms; the speakers can take 50w @ 8 ohms.

The bass is sub par, but this might be the amplifier I'm using (a subwoofer from a 2.1 computer speaker set, 15w @ 4 ohms). Also, the highs are not terribly crisp.

Surprisingly good speakers

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

I haven't used any other vintage hi-fi's, but I've listened to many computer speakers and modern consumer speakers.

Awsome speakers with awsome clarity and lower tones from the Bass port. And these speakers are better sounding then most speakers from that era. and some of today. 50/60 W max.

50w and Mainly Zenith stop making them so there *rare* not to many still exist in contact and working. If you see some buy them WILL NOT BE SORRY!!!!

Zenith Allegro is a high fidelity loudspeaker with tuned base ports that allow the best bass response to the listener. I have the 1974 Allegro 1000 *MINT* and I use it with a 60W Marantz 1060B 70's amp, and a Denon DRA-295 (never had a problem). One of the best speakers Ive owned. Im trying right now to get the 300's from this guy I know.

( To use on a regular amp cut rca jack and strip the two wires and connect them to a 50-60 W. amp only)

Customer Service

Never had to bring them to customer serice and HOPEFULLY WONT HAVE TO!

Similar Products Used:

not to similar. Bose 101, Cerwin Vega LS12, Boston A150,Boston CX8 & CX6, Lightning Audio, Jensen special designs, tiny Polk audio speakers

I've noticed that some of these products and others I've seen rip a few ideas of the allegros.

Good Bass Very Very Resistent

I came across an older set of these at a yard sale and i braught them because they came with an NIKKO amp and tape deck and i wasn't even sure about bringing the speakers with me, but i did. I was amazed at the performace these old speakers had and they didn't die out soon except when i tried them on a Amcron Microtech Pro Amp and i blew them up. Later on i braught another set of Allegro 3000 at 50watts in place of 30 and their even better...

exceptional efficency smooth clean sound attractive appearance very well built

not for high-wattage blasting a little bit in comparason to newer sub / sat speaker systems

I came across a set of these speakers at a yard sale for $5, and figured what the heck! I took them home, and connected them up to an old 80's vintage boombox that has only about 10 watts per channel. I was quite amazed at the efficency of these old speakers! They had a nice smooth sound to them to about 40 hz or so. I moved the boombox and the speakers into the bedroom. I was intrigued as to what they looked like inside, so I removed the back and found rather high quality drivers. No foam problems because the woofer didn't have a foam surround. They don't play as loud as my JBL's in the living room, but they rival the Bose 301's I have in my office...just a bit larger. Too bad Zenith got out of the HiFi business...they had a pretty good product! Look for these at thrift stores and garage sales for a nice HiFi bargain!

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301 Jbl 3 way floor towers (unknown model) Radio-Shack Nova 16