Advent Baby (1992–)

Name: Advent Baby
Brand: Advent

Compact bookshelf speaker system with acoustic suspension design and Ferrofluid-cooled tweeter

Overview

The Advent Baby, also known as the Baby Advent or Baby Advent II, is a two-way compact bookshelf speaker. It went into production in 1992 under the Advent brand, which International Jensen owned at the time. The cabinet is a sealed acoustic suspension box with a 6.5-inch long-throw woofer and a 1-3/4-inch cone tweeter. It was sold in pairs for stereo use and cost $198 per pair new. It can stand vertically or lie horizontally, and it comes with a black cloth snap-on grille with rounded sides.

Specifications

Model Name	Baby Advent (also referred to as Advent Baby, Advent Baby II, Baby Advent II's)
Dimensions	16 inches high, 11 inches wide, 6-3/16 inches deep
Weight	13 pounds
Woofer	6.5" long-throw paper pulp cone, acoustic-suspension design, long voice coil, highly compliant suspension, "deep" magnet
Tweeter	1-3/4-inch cone tweeter with Ferrofluid-filled magnetic gap
Enclosure Type	Sealed acoustic suspension cabinet
Crossover Frequency	2,500 Hz
Frequency Response	60Hz – 21kHz (+/- 3dB)
Impedance	6 ohms nominal
Sensitivity	89 dB
Power Handling	50 watts RMS, 150 watts peak
Input Connections	Insulated spring-loaded input connections on rear

Design

The cabinet is black-finished fiberboard, capped top and bottom with walnut-colored solid hardwood panels with rounded edges. Some sources call these solid pecan wood decorative panels. The woofer has dust caps that let air from the piston/cylinder area escape. The original crossover has a coil glued to the terminal housing, a square ceramic resistor, and a capacitor. The tweeter is padded down with a 2-ohm resistor on that crossover. Driver integration is described as "nearly seamless due to the tweeter's low-end capabilities."

Context

The Advent Baby came out while International Jensen owned the Advent brand, along with AR and NHT. It followed earlier Advent models like the Advent Loudspeaker and Smaller Advent Loudspeaker, and the Advent Graduate was its larger counterpart. It appeared long after the original Advent Corporation, founded by Henry Kloss in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1967, ceased operations in 1981. Competitors of the day included Klipsch, Altec Lansing, and Dynaco.

Market

The common problem is deteriorated foam surrounds on the 6.5-inch woofers, usually called "foam rot." Repair kits are available, such as the "Advent Baby, Baby II, Baby III Speaker Foam Surround Repair Kit - 2A65-024" at $25.95 USD, which includes foam surrounds, adhesive, a brush, and instructions. Refoaming services have cost users around $80. Market values have varied: a pair sold for $99 (Holt Hill Audio), $40 on Craigslist (2009), and $80 estimated value (circa 2012). One pair turned up at a thrift store for $11.99 in 2018.