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Boston A150 project

bswinehart

bswinehart

New Member
I recently acquired a nice pair of A150's series 2's in VGC. Woofers were replaced with new OEM's from BA about four years ago and all drivers function well though I may check and/or replace the ferrofluid in the tweeters as these are 30 plus years old. Crossovers have never had any work done. I'm planning on recapping the crossovers while keeping the budget reasonable.

Based on a fair amount of researching forums on recap projects; I'm leaning towards replacing the caps and resistors as follows.
Caps:
Highs - Mundorf Supremes of equal value
Midrange - Mundorf Supremes or Dayton 1% polys
Lows - Dayton 5% polys or Dayton NP's

Resistors:
Mills non-inductive of matching values

I refoamed the woofers and recapped the x-overs (caps only, did not replace the resistors) on my original Boston A70's with great results using the Dayton 1% caps but I'd like to really make these A150's sound better than new.

I've read that the Mundorfs provide a noticeably more neutral and better overall response compared to the lesser priced Daytons (and comparably priced Solen, Audyn and Jantzen caps) in the highs and mids. I've talked myself out of spending much more for Clarity CMP's or other higher end caps since I'm not sure I'll be able to hear the difference above a certain level of "really good".

I'm looking for some feedback and/or thoughts on my selection(s) for this recap project. Thanks for your feedback.
 
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Just curious- do the replacement woofers have paper cones, or poly-plastic cones? Boston has done both in the past, for replacements for some of their older models.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
Looks like the original paper cones to me just like the ones in my A70's. Here's a pic.
 

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Without getting deep into the eternal internet cap vortex I'll say this. I just sold a pair of Advents that I restored few years ago. Populated the crossover with films caps. The fellow AKer/speaker nut who brokered the deal had them for a bit and ended up throwing a resistor inline with the tweeter to tame it. This ferrofluid tweeter would've sounded better with an np electrolytic.

Dayton 5% films are fine for where you need them. Varying +/- 5% in value means nothing to the crossover. If I can ever find my missing woofer, I'm just refreshing my pair of 150s with lytics.
 
It's your money, but I would not buy Mundorfs for Boston A150's. Diminishing returns is in heavy play, as stated by cwh above. I had a Jensen copper in oil cap on my A70's with the same tweeter as these (not for long). Just get some Daytons. Maybe Solen if you're really feeling it. Also the 5% Daytons measure to 2% according to many people on this forum, save a few bucks.
 
I recapped my Boston HD7's with Dayton 5% poly's and they went from being "how fast can I unload these things" to "you want me to sell what?" Did they sound better than stock? It wasn't even close.
 
Boston a150s are high value speakers. I recapped mine with film caps to, but I do not believe expensive ones make the difference. It's a very well designed and great sounding speaker for the money. I would definitely replace the ferrofluid in the coils, refoam if necessary and of course recap with films for longevity.
 
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