audiodogster
Active Member
Here's the before:
The picture was in a local auction listing. I was intrigued by the walnut veneer but couldn't read the logos so I posted in the Dollars and Sense page. No one knew exactly what they were but guessed Yamaha. Most people said they would pass on them as they look disgusting. I went to the auction. They were Yamaha NS-A99 from the early 80s, I couldn't find much info on them, and they were disgusting but bought them anyway (and a few other items including a Delta bench grinder on a great rolling stand for $40). Only paid $25, figured I wouldn't be throwing away much and they somewhat match the age of my Yamaha PF-800 turntable.
First thing I tried to do was steam the grill cloth, which didn't do much. Next, I taped off the wood (the trim pieces on the grills are solid walnut versus veneered MDF) and badge and used K2R spot cleaner.
K2R applied. It got most of the stain out but not all of it. I may try a few other things later but for now, it's fine. I doubt this grill cloth is expensive, I can order it when I order new foam for the woofers and capacitors for the crossovers.
Next step was to treat the water damaged veneer. I first cleaned off whatever gunk was on the wood then used Howard Restor-A-Finish, something I use often for antiques.
You can see where I wiped the finish restorer. You can also see the water damage on the base. I think I may eventually redo that in walnut if I like the sound of these, otherwise, I'll just repaint it black and ignore that the MDF is messed up from the moisture.
Here's the first "after" shot. Unfortunately, that's the lighting I had to work with, didn't want to have to drag them downstairs to my main listening room quite yet.
I think I may use these in my bedroom. I decided a few years ago I wanted French antiques in my bedroom and I've slowly amassed a few fine examples of French Empire (time of Napoleon's reign) furniture for (relatively) cheap out of estate sales. I recently got this Neo-Classical plaster relief at another auction for $20 and thought the speakers complimented it well. It weighs as much as the speakers, to say they are heavy! Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to move into my bedroom yet because of ongoing renovations.
I think these speakers look better with the grills on. I have no clue where in the Yamaha line-up these were, the veneer work is superb (though maybe not quite as good as the walnut Klipsch Fortes I got for my father) so they certainly weren't cheap but probably also not high-end, given the plastic rings around the drivers. Also in the picture is the protective wax I used on them.
I wasn't able to find much information on them but in one thread a person thought they were your typical 80s cheapo box speakers. I'd disagree, the driver quality is much better than the stereotypical 80s Japanese brand large speakers, and the finish is real veneer versus vinyl (though I don't necessarily think cheap finishes say the speaker is bad, my Infinity Qbs are pretty ugly but sound amazing). The woofer has a decent sized magnet on the back of it and it and the midrange do not use paper cones. The tweeter is a fabric dome mounted in a huge magnet. One let down is the plastic rings, though they seem to be fairly good quality moldings (watch AvE videos on youtube if you want to know about plastic quality, among other things). It seems the plastic rings are at least somewhat acoustically functional because they extend out far past the drivers, probably to make them semi-horn loaded for increased efficiency. I still need to refoam these so I'll update once I have a chance to hear them properly.
One other sign of cheapness on these speakers, though to be fair I have encountered fairly expensive brands with spring clamps (McIntosh for instance).
Last couple of pictures are shots of the veneer. My phone's camera sucks especially with the lighting conditions I was working with so I deleted a few of the pictures of the sides. Overall, this veneer is immaculate. Wish these were sequential units though I'm not sure that would gain me anything seeing as the veneer between the sides of one speaker doesn't match. Heh, at least it's better than my Bose 10.2.
Bonus picture:
This dude decided to plop down in front the speakers while I was trying to take pictures so I decided to include him as well. Didn't have a chance to crop out/hide the ethernet cables running through the house that need to ran through the walls. Any advice on how to do that?
The picture was in a local auction listing. I was intrigued by the walnut veneer but couldn't read the logos so I posted in the Dollars and Sense page. No one knew exactly what they were but guessed Yamaha. Most people said they would pass on them as they look disgusting. I went to the auction. They were Yamaha NS-A99 from the early 80s, I couldn't find much info on them, and they were disgusting but bought them anyway (and a few other items including a Delta bench grinder on a great rolling stand for $40). Only paid $25, figured I wouldn't be throwing away much and they somewhat match the age of my Yamaha PF-800 turntable.
First thing I tried to do was steam the grill cloth, which didn't do much. Next, I taped off the wood (the trim pieces on the grills are solid walnut versus veneered MDF) and badge and used K2R spot cleaner.
K2R applied. It got most of the stain out but not all of it. I may try a few other things later but for now, it's fine. I doubt this grill cloth is expensive, I can order it when I order new foam for the woofers and capacitors for the crossovers.
Next step was to treat the water damaged veneer. I first cleaned off whatever gunk was on the wood then used Howard Restor-A-Finish, something I use often for antiques.
You can see where I wiped the finish restorer. You can also see the water damage on the base. I think I may eventually redo that in walnut if I like the sound of these, otherwise, I'll just repaint it black and ignore that the MDF is messed up from the moisture.
Here's the first "after" shot. Unfortunately, that's the lighting I had to work with, didn't want to have to drag them downstairs to my main listening room quite yet.
I think I may use these in my bedroom. I decided a few years ago I wanted French antiques in my bedroom and I've slowly amassed a few fine examples of French Empire (time of Napoleon's reign) furniture for (relatively) cheap out of estate sales. I recently got this Neo-Classical plaster relief at another auction for $20 and thought the speakers complimented it well. It weighs as much as the speakers, to say they are heavy! Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to move into my bedroom yet because of ongoing renovations.
I think these speakers look better with the grills on. I have no clue where in the Yamaha line-up these were, the veneer work is superb (though maybe not quite as good as the walnut Klipsch Fortes I got for my father) so they certainly weren't cheap but probably also not high-end, given the plastic rings around the drivers. Also in the picture is the protective wax I used on them.
I wasn't able to find much information on them but in one thread a person thought they were your typical 80s cheapo box speakers. I'd disagree, the driver quality is much better than the stereotypical 80s Japanese brand large speakers, and the finish is real veneer versus vinyl (though I don't necessarily think cheap finishes say the speaker is bad, my Infinity Qbs are pretty ugly but sound amazing). The woofer has a decent sized magnet on the back of it and it and the midrange do not use paper cones. The tweeter is a fabric dome mounted in a huge magnet. One let down is the plastic rings, though they seem to be fairly good quality moldings (watch AvE videos on youtube if you want to know about plastic quality, among other things). It seems the plastic rings are at least somewhat acoustically functional because they extend out far past the drivers, probably to make them semi-horn loaded for increased efficiency. I still need to refoam these so I'll update once I have a chance to hear them properly.
One other sign of cheapness on these speakers, though to be fair I have encountered fairly expensive brands with spring clamps (McIntosh for instance).
Last couple of pictures are shots of the veneer. My phone's camera sucks especially with the lighting conditions I was working with so I deleted a few of the pictures of the sides. Overall, this veneer is immaculate. Wish these were sequential units though I'm not sure that would gain me anything seeing as the veneer between the sides of one speaker doesn't match. Heh, at least it's better than my Bose 10.2.
Bonus picture:
This dude decided to plop down in front the speakers while I was trying to take pictures so I decided to include him as well. Didn't have a chance to crop out/hide the ethernet cables running through the house that need to ran through the walls. Any advice on how to do that?
