Hi friends, I've come across some speakers on Craigslist I'm interested in maybe purchasing. I was wondering if they'd be worth my time and why or why not. I'm sending the links to the listings to make things easier. One's an old Akai "Kabuki" set. Could you let this newbie know what's what guys? Thanks, James. Akai: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/ele/1787897219.html Pioneer: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/ele/1788754510.html
Akai and Pioneer speakers.
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ibdplummer
Didn't I see a goodwill ?
Akai !!!
I just scavenged a set of the Pioneers :thumbsdn: I would not push 150 through them when new ! The drivers worked ok for my outdoor set , with a big sub ! I don't know the AKAI , but they would have to sound better
I just scavenged a set of the Pioneers :thumbsdn: I would not push 150 through them when new ! The drivers worked ok for my outdoor set , with a big sub ! I don't know the AKAI , but they would have to sound better
Wow, that was quick. Anyway, I like the look of the Akais, the thing is, the living room in my house though not huge, is a bit of an acoustic nightmare. I liked the look of the Pioneers with the 12 inch woofers and the ports, and thought they might provide better bass. I have four sets of Yamaha bookshelf speakers, the NS-A636 and NS-6490s, which seem to be the same exact set aside from different aesthetics and a slight improvement in power handling, and though they sound alright in my relatively small room, they really suffered in the living room, so I'm a little leery of trying the Akais, even if they are big. If I bought the Akais I might just use the woofers in my Technics SB-LX90s, or maybe even try putting a port in the Akais. Bass has always been a problem in this household. I don't exactly want boomy resonating bass, but something better than my current Technics and more oomph than my sealed Yamaha bookshelves with 8 inch woofers. A solid clean bottom end with no box resonance would be fantastic. Again, thanks for the info guys, James.
relaximus
Consoles 'Я' Us
To me, those Pioneers look to be leftovers from a packaged "rack" system. Typically not terribly good quality components or cabinets.
Hmm, really? On what do you base that assessment? Yes, to achieve the same SPL given an acoustic suspension speaker vs. a ported/PR design you will need more power behind them. But to say that sealed boxes don't work well in a large environment simply is not true. Just try getting the true potential from a set of Infinity IRS Betas in a small room. They need big space and major watts/amps behind them to truly open them up. And yes, they are sealed enclosures.
Dave
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hifihippie
Member
The Pioneers look like 'White Van" speakers.
uke2: driver's you see in the
Part's Express buy-out, clearance sale for 99 cents. 1/2" chip-board cabinets
minimal crossover components( no inductors) pressed-in port
the Akai's look like good deal:thmbsp:
uke2: driver's you see in the Part's Express buy-out, clearance sale for 99 cents. 1/2" chip-board cabinets
minimal crossover components( no inductors) pressed-in port
the Akai's look like good deal:thmbsp:
33&athird
Turn on & Tune in
I believe it belonged in dollars and sense because it was primarily a question of value. Not sure on that, I don't think its a big deal, so don't worry too much about it:thmbsp:.
Those Akai look interesting. The pioneer are probably okay, but nothing great. The constuction is a bit lacking, even the speaker connectors are a little low-end, and pretty small to boot. I have a different set of the CS-series, I don't know how the set you posted adds up, but I was never really impressed with them, I got mine for about $10 I think. The akai could be interesting, good looking components, and you can probably get back what you put into them if you don't wind up liking them.
My crap.
OK Relaximus, my equipment is a Yamaha 7.1 receiver, but currently running in stereo through the front speaker connectors. It's approximately 100 watts a channel, and the speakers I'm running are those not so great Technics. The Yamahas I mentioned earlier I tried in the living room. The mids and highs were fine, but there was just no bottom end there, even my not so great Technics were better in that regard, and they're a little less nice looking than the Pioneers I linked to. The two Yamahas have 8 inch woofers in each, with no crossover for the woofers but a simple first order for the mids and tweeters. I even tried all 4 of them wired at once to the front as well as one pair wired to the B speakers output of the receiver. Is it just my receiver? I have it set to put the LFE out the front entirely, and it makes some difference but not a huge lot. The loudness button on the Kenwood stereo receiver I recently picked up at a local Hope Chest gets better bass out of the Yamaha speakers. I plan to eventually build my own set, perhaps a ported box set, though I still need some real world info before I try building anything because I'm deathly afraid of building something that's crap. On another note, would it be worth my while trying to put some dampening material in my Yamahas? Also, if I put a crossover in for the woofer, how the Heck would I know which type to make since I kinda don't have the specs for those. If I bought any boxes it would be with the idea to modify them, try to make them better. You know, new drivers and crossovers. Been thinking of modifying the Technics to have a couple 10 or even 12 in woofers in each of them. Thought I'd share pics of what I have. Also, would those Akais get more bass if I put a port in them, or would that be something you guys would want to murder me for? Thanks for your comments guys, James. Thought I'd show some pics of what I have. Yep, those Technics are horrible particleboard. Sigh. The Yamahas are too, but seem a bit more on the sturdy side with better construction. If I built anything it would be with 3/4" birch or oak plywood.
OK Relaximus, my equipment is a Yamaha 7.1 receiver, but currently running in stereo through the front speaker connectors. It's approximately 100 watts a channel, and the speakers I'm running are those not so great Technics. The Yamahas I mentioned earlier I tried in the living room. The mids and highs were fine, but there was just no bottom end there, even my not so great Technics were better in that regard, and they're a little less nice looking than the Pioneers I linked to. The two Yamahas have 8 inch woofers in each, with no crossover for the woofers but a simple first order for the mids and tweeters. I even tried all 4 of them wired at once to the front as well as one pair wired to the B speakers output of the receiver. Is it just my receiver? I have it set to put the LFE out the front entirely, and it makes some difference but not a huge lot. The loudness button on the Kenwood stereo receiver I recently picked up at a local Hope Chest gets better bass out of the Yamaha speakers. I plan to eventually build my own set, perhaps a ported box set, though I still need some real world info before I try building anything because I'm deathly afraid of building something that's crap. On another note, would it be worth my while trying to put some dampening material in my Yamahas? Also, if I put a crossover in for the woofer, how the Heck would I know which type to make since I kinda don't have the specs for those. If I bought any boxes it would be with the idea to modify them, try to make them better. You know, new drivers and crossovers. Been thinking of modifying the Technics to have a couple 10 or even 12 in woofers in each of them. Thought I'd share pics of what I have. Also, would those Akais get more bass if I put a port in them, or would that be something you guys would want to murder me for? Thanks for your comments guys, James. Thought I'd show some pics of what I have. Yep, those Technics are horrible particleboard. Sigh. The Yamahas are too, but seem a bit more on the sturdy side with better construction. If I built anything it would be with 3/4" birch or oak plywood.
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relaximus
Consoles 'Я' Us
Yep! Anytime you post a link to CL or Ebay, it belongs here in D&S. No biggie dude, I suspect that we've all done it at one time or another.
Carry on and go pick up those Akai's!
Dave
relaximus
Consoles 'Я' Us
No! Don't do that. Firstly, they were designed as a closed box for a reason. Secondly, you don't yet have them and don't know how they'll sound/interact with your room/components.
I'm still reading through the rest of your post and digesting everything that you wrote. Gimme a sec or 2 ... :scratch2:
Dave
It's funny because you ask for advice then it seems you allready have your mind made up that the Pioneers are better than the Akai's because one is ported versus acoustic supension even though everyone here including myself will tell you out of your choices the Akai's are better.
Dont ever think that an sealed cabinent cant produce bass and fill a large room with sound, a well designed sealed cabinet with nice drivers and crossovers will astonish you. I happen to own a pair that can easily pressurise a 30 x 40 room with well over 120 db of quality sound and that has bass below 20hz.
regards jim
Dont ever think that an sealed cabinent cant produce bass and fill a large room with sound, a well designed sealed cabinet with nice drivers and crossovers will astonish you. I happen to own a pair that can easily pressurise a 30 x 40 room with well over 120 db of quality sound and that has bass below 20hz.
regards jim
I see your point there Jim. I've also at the same time been asking advice on designs for my own project. I've always thought ported enclosures were always better at throwing bass around a room. Though I must say I always kept going back to those nice Akais, not quite sure what the material is though, particleboard perhaps? Either way, they look better than my crappy Technics speakers, and a lot nicer than those Pioneers. I'll have to give this some real thought though, I'm a 25 year old student and jobs are pretty scarce around here. Still looking, but to be honest I'm not in the best position to be throwing cash around willy nilly, though damn if those Akais look good. Hope they're around for a while, but if not I'll find something similar. Thanks guys, James.
Your probally right about the particle board with veneer, before MDF it was either that or plywood. BTW it takes two 12's to produce as much bass as a single 15" all things being equal. Akai before the BPC/SPC era used to make some pretty high quality audio components. :yes:
If you were local I would give you a pair of ADS L810's for free.
REGARDS JIM
Thanks for the offer mate, Central California here. So, back to my tangent about my two sets of Yamaha speakers, would it be possible to make a basic crossover for the woofers? Also, would it be worth it to line the boxes with something and fill the bottoms around the woofers with padding or foam? Thanks guys.