Akai SW-156, Is it worth the effort?

[Starbender]

Today i found these nice looking speakers. Seller don't know anything about them and he's asking for 50bucks. Two hour later, i saw another pair lying in front of another small thrift store. It looks like same but this ones are sw-136!
These came across to my route while i'm not especially looking. But! Two vintage speaker find in one day? Sw-136's sells for 70bucks.

So I went home to search and dig info about these SW series. Couldnt find much information about them. Only few threads in AK forum. It looks like it will worth the effort?

Any opinions?

Thanks.

 

[Starbender]

Aha.. I found a thread about the same model;

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=439283

Looks like previous owner changed tweeters on nearby sw156's.
But SW136's drivers were original. I have to listen them :yes:

 

[Starbender]

Found another one!

Hi All,

I accidentally found another SW-156. Looks like they never been hooked since they manufactured. They are amazingly clean, like brand new!

So i got them to satisy my curiosity. I hooked them up to my AM69.They were way under my expactations.Weak bass, overpowered mids and I opened them up and removed woofer to reach crossover. It has two pot for mid & high frequency adjustments. Crossovers have three little capacitors. I also checked foams for each one. All drivers are original & untouched.

It seems to be a fail crossover? Is cap change or resolder leads will make a difference? Deoxit pots? What are my options?

I don't want to spare them..They are look awesome.

I'm a total noob when it comes to speakers. Please advice..


Regards.

 

[wildsearch]

Hi,
Just read your AKAI SW 156 speaker posts from Oct 2012. I also have a pair but am not happy with the sound quality as you indicate. So I am currently restoring them. However I can't find the capacitors for the crossovers, the same 3 per speaker unit that you indicate.
Everything in each speaker unit looks like new, but I think that after 40-plus years the caps are likely toast. I see they are all Daiichi caps but have been unsuccessful locating them. Were you able to find these or equivalent caps? Any suggestion would be welcome.
Thanks,
Jim

 

[punchback]

Parts Express is the go to place for replacement caps. Remove the woofer so you can see the values needed.

 

[Marco Riquel]

Parts Express is the go to place for replacement caps. Remove the woofer so you can see the values needed.

I have a pair for these Akai SW-156 for many years however, I'm not happy with the sound either, I think is because the cone of speakers become quite rigid, I tried to find a couple of woofers to replace them and change the crossover but, I couldn't find the right ones so, I left them in a corner of a spare room.