It sure is I am replying to this while listening to War Child side 2 by Jethro Tull on vinyl.
I have both my A200's and A150's going and it's like a concert hall in here.
A wealth of knowledge, well mannered company and good music........
Boston Acoustics A200 - wow!
- Thread starter simonz
- Start date
It sure is I am replying to this while listening to War Child side 2 by Jethro Tull on vinyl.
I have both my A200's and A150's going and it's like a concert hall in here.
A wealth of knowledge, well mannered company and good music........
Kenny Brant
Kenny bugs
On adding a sub-woofer, I did add one to my A200's. I added a set of JBL L14's in transmission lines that I have used with other speakers in the past. They are driven by a plate amp crossed over at 60 Hz. Before the add the A200's sounded good but the bass was a little light sounding. After the add of the sub-woofers the bass is full and low. I have had the A200's since new in either 1979 or 1980. I power the A200's with a Yamaha A1000 integrated amplifier. The sub-woofer does seem to balance out the sound a lot better to my ears. I just refoamed the A200 woofers about 6 months ago.
Hi,
I just got a pair of a-200 from my friend for $75.00. I really love them, currently, I am running them with a Luxman r-404 and my Pioneer pd-700 cd changer. I have never heard any other Boston Acoustics but they dominate my old Polk Audio monitor 7s and are pretty close to as good as my old Infinity sm-150s.
I just got a pair of a-200 from my friend for $75.00. I really love them, currently, I am running them with a Luxman r-404 and my Pioneer pd-700 cd changer. I have never heard any other Boston Acoustics but they dominate my old Polk Audio monitor 7s and are pretty close to as good as my old Infinity sm-150s.
I just got (today) a pair of low-woof 200's for a Franklin--very nice cosmetically, need foam. Currently impatient to refoam.
Wouldn't you consider the A200 to be more of a competitor with the Monitor 10 than the SDA? I've got both, so I'm really looking forward to the 'comparo'.
Wouldn't you consider the A200 to be more of a competitor with the Monitor 10 than the SDA? I've got both, so I'm really looking forward to the 'comparo'.Kenny Brant
Kenny bugs
I just took the subwoofer back out of my system and hooked up my Kenwood KA8006. This is the amp I used when I first got the A200's back in 1982 (somewhere around the early 80's anyway). The A200's had just came out. The stereo salon I got them from tried to talk me into buying a pair of DCM's top of the line (I believe that was the speaker, I can't remember for sure). But I stuck to the A200's because I read a stereo article on them and they praised the sound of them.
I got into designing and building my own speakers and around 1990 took the speakers and put them in the back of my 30' by 40' garage. I just left them there with no cover over them and no care for them. They were scratched up a little and I thought I could build better speakers. WRONG. My house and that garage went through a tornado and the garage got the roof ripped off. It was water logged from the 6 inch rain that followed. But the speakers survived surprisingly well.
I brought them back in the house after sanding down the cabinets (walnut) and tung oiled them. The grills (black) were not torn but discolored in places. I thought what the heck I couldn't ruin the grills anymore then they were so I took a black magic marker and colored in the lighter discolored places. Matched the black of the grills pretty good. I then refoamed the woofers. The cabinets and woofers turned out great.
I have them proudly playing in my stereo room and keep a hand towel on top of each speaker so they won't get scratched or dusty.
My stepson said hey aren't those the speakers you had in the living room when I was a kid. You know, the ones I was hiding behind when my sister came in with a glass of milk and I jumped up and scared her and she threw the milk straight up in the air. That was so funny. I said why yes. He couldn't believe how well they look now.
Anyway, to make a long story short (LOL), if the cabinet is sound you can bring any speaker back from the grave. You can rip the veneer off and reskin them and rebuild or find replacement drivers. Keep the original drivers and don't replace them with some different brand.
I got into designing and building my own speakers and around 1990 took the speakers and put them in the back of my 30' by 40' garage. I just left them there with no cover over them and no care for them. They were scratched up a little and I thought I could build better speakers. WRONG. My house and that garage went through a tornado and the garage got the roof ripped off. It was water logged from the 6 inch rain that followed. But the speakers survived surprisingly well.
I brought them back in the house after sanding down the cabinets (walnut) and tung oiled them. The grills (black) were not torn but discolored in places. I thought what the heck I couldn't ruin the grills anymore then they were so I took a black magic marker and colored in the lighter discolored places. Matched the black of the grills pretty good. I then refoamed the woofers. The cabinets and woofers turned out great.
I have them proudly playing in my stereo room and keep a hand towel on top of each speaker so they won't get scratched or dusty.
My stepson said hey aren't those the speakers you had in the living room when I was a kid. You know, the ones I was hiding behind when my sister came in with a glass of milk and I jumped up and scared her and she threw the milk straight up in the air. That was so funny. I said why yes. He couldn't believe how well they look now.
Anyway, to make a long story short (LOL), if the cabinet is sound you can bring any speaker back from the grave. You can rip the veneer off and reskin them and rebuild or find replacement drivers. Keep the original drivers and don't replace them with some different brand.
My wife was away this weekend so I took out my pair of B&W 602's to compare them with my A200's. The A200's replaced the B&W's several months ago when I couldn't get the idea of owning them out of my head.
The B&W's are no slouches, but I was much more pleased with the Bostons. Honestly, they were more open and the highs were crisper.
Guess I'll move the B&W 602's to a spare room or the office. Not sure where to move the 601's.....good problem to have.
The B&W's are no slouches, but I was much more pleased with the Bostons. Honestly, they were more open and the highs were crisper.
Guess I'll move the B&W 602's to a spare room or the office. Not sure where to move the 601's.....good problem to have.
I just got (today) a pair of low-woof 200's for a Franklin--very nice cosmetically, need foam. Currently impatient to refoam.
I recently refoamed my set of low-woof A200's with the old Seas tweeters.
I had also recently replaced a locked driver and a miswired tweeter (I didn't do it!) in a beautiful pair of original SDA's. To be specific, I'm talking about the original SDA-2's with the twin tweeters, three drivers and passive bass radiator. They look great!
The A200's absolutely smoked the SDA's.
The SDA's had more low-mid and bass, but very little high end compared to the A200's. The A200's have fantastic clarity. I prefer the clarity. And when you sit on the floor directly in front of the A200's the bass deficit I bi+ch and moan about disappears and you have sonic perfection.
My SDA-2's sit disconnected in the corner while the A200/A150 combo puts out concert-hall quality sound every evening. I love it, I love it, I love it.
PS- Okay, koseltri... Refoam your A200's let me know how they stack up to your Polks.
PPS- A200's for a Franklin.... I'm sick with envy. Where do you guys find these bargains?
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What model SDA sound better than your A400's? Would you mind describing the differences?
My SDA-2's (two tweeters, three drivers, one passive radiator) simply do not have the high end or clarity that the A150's or A200's provide.
If you're talking about 400 pound reference Polks, okay- I'm not suprised. If you're comparing speakers similar to mine then I may need to start from square one with the Polks. I would expect one of the two SDA's to sound different than the other (as they did with the previous driver problems)... Maybe it's simply personal preference?
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The Polk 2.3's are well up the SDA food chain from my dual-tweeter SDA-2's... I would love to own a pair of 2.3's someday.
I am not convinced my 2's could ever smoke the A200's. However, you've got me thinking about tearing them apart for a little electronic autopsy. The locked driver I simply chalk up to cross-country shipping and the baboons working at FedEx. The three non-original tweeters (one reverse wired) and the non-matching binding posts btwn L and R have me plenty suspiscious about the cause and quality of previous-owner tinkering.
So I'm thinking four updated Polk tweeters (from their website, of course). Pretty easy since I'm not even using them. Even if the SDA-2's don't knock off the A200's I'll have some tweets and drivers just waiting for me to resurrect a set of SDA 2.3's- and a fun summer evening project.
In the meantime, long live my A150/A200's! They are and will always be a quantum leap beyond the 6x9" car speakers mounted in green 5 gallon plastic pickle buckets I started with in the mid 1980's... They smell better too!
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jsarsfield
The Pioneer Pirate
Franken-Pickles anyone?
Somehow those didn't have as much success as Eddie VanHalen's FrankenStrat... doubt we'll see $20,000 reissues of the Franken-Pickles...
See, by mounting the speakers in the lids of the pickle buckets I was foreshadowing the rise of SVS and Hsu cylindrical speakers... or something
I could make the room smell like pickles by cranking my stereo... a 33 watt Luxman, I think... My bro wound up with the speakers, my parents took the Luxman. 20 years later I finally get my first *real* stereo speakers with the A150's, A200's and SDA-2's.
So to paraphrase the very first guy's point:
Boston Acoustics A200's- WOW!
SDA-2 Polks- OW! (but I'm not giving up)
Franken-Pickles- when's lunch?
jsarsfield
The Pioneer Pirate
It's all about the journey I love upgrading .... My BA's rock my socks off coupled with a homemade turntable mat that I made last night it's all good.
Hope that you get those Polks running properly but I wouldn't automatically assume they are 'better' than the BA's I wouldn't part with them .....
Check out Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on them it's audio bliss for me
Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" album is spectacular on my Bostons. And the remastered "Boston" album also sounds good on the Bostons- go figure.
I'm not convinced I can make the Franken-Polks sound better... but I'm always open to it. I still may prefer the A200 tone to the SDA's, or it may depend on which room I have them set up in.
Any way you slice it, the Bostons are a great-sounding bargain... they're keepers, and a functional souvenir of the '80s.
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jsarsfield
The Pioneer Pirate
I like that :thmbsp:
I think what we have with the A200's & A400's is a speaker that does a lot of things really well and is really enjoyable to listen to.
There not totl but they will give you a really pleasurable experience.
I was nearly going to buy some Yamaha NS1000's but balked at the idea because they are not as forgiving as my A200's on program material and related electronics.
IMO A200's and A400's speakers allow you into the HiFi realm.
There not totl but they will give you a really pleasurable experience.
I was nearly going to buy some Yamaha NS1000's but balked at the idea because they are not as forgiving as my A200's on program material and related electronics.
IMO A200's and A400's speakers allow you into the HiFi realm.
I'd love to find a good pair of A200's to try. At the moment, I'm just having some fun with a pair of A400's and A150's (low woofer/seas tweeter) I picked up this weekend. I was originally planning just to pick up a pair of A150's that have been listed for sale for a few weeks now. The seller was fairly locall too. Of course, what happens but Friday after work, I checked a for sale forum and lo and behold, a pair of A400's were posted for sale, so.....I checked em' out Saturday. For power at the moment I'm using a Marantz SR9600 in stereo. I may pick up a pair of T930's too. The only others I'm interested in aside from the A200's are the T830's, 930's and 1030's. My first stereo system was a Class AA technics SU-V40 50 watt per channel integrated amp and a pair of BA A70 series II's. They were big for bookshelf speakers. They were almost a mini tower. With careful use of the loudness and bass control to boost the bass without going overboard, those speakers were quite satisfying. Anyhow, I'll do lot's of listening to the A150 and A400's and report back 
The only pic's I have of 3 way A series BA speakers with woofers higher up are that of the A150's. All my A200 pic's show the woofer down below.
The only pic's I have of 3 way A series BA speakers with woofers higher up are that of the A150's. All my A200 pic's show the woofer down below.
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