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Boston Acoustics A40 = Wow!

This thread caught my interest. I picked up a pair of A40s at a flee market figuring they'd be great garage speakers. They languished in the garage for a few years mated to a Spectrasonic 220 receiver which I picked up with the A40s.

last night, I brought them in and hooked them up side by side with my favorite bookshelf speakers, my EPI 50s. Although they lack the bass punch of the EPIs, the A40s are a damn nice balanced speaker and have now replaced the EPIs on my bedroom system. I have the A40s hooked up to a Sherwood 7100A and they sing very nicely.
 
N9JCQ said:
This thread caught my interest. I picked up a pair of A40s at a flee market figuring they'd be great garage speakers. They languished in the garage for a few years mated to a Spectrasonic 220 receiver which I picked up with the A40s.

last night, I brought them in and hooked them up side by side with my favorite bookshelf speakers, my EPI 50s. Although they lack the bass punch of the EPIs, the A40s are a damn nice balanced speaker and have now replaced the EPIs on my bedroom system. I have the A40s hooked up to a Sherwood 7100A and they sing very nicely.
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Good to hear you have them matched to your Sherwood 7100A because I just bought a 15 wpc Pioneer SX-450. Same wattage almost as your Sherwood.

I take it the Bostons are plenty efficient then for these receivers? I'm thinking of going with this speaker to complete a system I'm trying to build on about a $200 budget for a birthday present in a couple of weeks. Was also considering the Sherwood you have.

Everything I've read about the A-40's and both those receivers has been extremely positive
 
Sculptura,
I can't speak to the Pioneer, but as I said, the Sherwood drove the A40s with no issue. I chuckled when you described your attempt to build an under $200 budget system. I don't think the Sherwood 7100A gets the respect it deserves. I stole the A40s (I think I did anyway) for $20. I only paid $15 for the Sherwood in great condition. So I have plenty of room for a turntable, CD player and Cassette deck if I wanted to go your route.
I think you'll be quite pleased with the system you are building. Can't beat the A40s for a lower power system.
 
N9JCQ said:
Sculptura,
I can't speak to the Pioneer, but as I said, the Sherwood drove the A40s with no issue. I chuckled when you described your attempt to build an under $200 budget system. I don't think the Sherwood 7100A gets the respect it deserves. I stole the A40s (I think I did anyway) for $20. I only paid $15 for the Sherwood in great condition. So I have plenty of room for a turntable, CD player and Cassette deck if I wanted to go your route.
I think you'll be quite pleased with the system you are building. Can't beat the A40s for a lower power system.
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You got a great deal on the speakers and receiver. On my end I'm looking at a refoamed pair of A-40's locally for $60 and the Pioneer SX-450 set me back $65, but it's cherry and just serviced. I guess that's the beauty of these components of the not so distant past - it's very nostalgic for a lot of guys but by all accounts they're better made than any of the mass-produced stuff you see today, can be had for little investment, last a lifetime, sound great, and look great. Plus with many components the newer it is, the more affordable it seems to be. I see more guys on here with 70's equipment than anything else. There must be an economical factor there as well.

So the plus for me is I can do the same thing and build a great system and not have to spend hundreds or thousands. In case you're interested, here's what I've got going so far, assuming I end up with the Bostons that is :) Also locally checking out some 70's Pioneers (CS-77's) and 70's Sansui's (SP-3500's), but those will be putting me a bit beyond budget

Pioneer SX-450 $65
Sansui PD-10 $20 (may upgrade this later but it's a decent 80's direct drive, great for a first time record player and to me sounds punchy and tight)
New Stylus $35
Technics CDP $20 (1991 make and this thing sounds as good as my Apollo)
Bostons A-40's $60
 
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I realize this thread is getting old, but I just got around to doubling the amount of polyester fill inside the speakers. I also removed the thin woofer gasket and replaced it with a thicker closed cell foam type of gasket.

It seems to have tightened the bass as well as well as make it a little deeper. Happy with the results. Waiting for replacement caps (3.3uf bipolar axial electrolytic) and new resistors (4 ohm, 5 watts).

Still, they are a pleasure to listen to. I would call them "very musical" and an excellent compliment to my large advents in my listening room. YD
 
I passed on the ones I was going for tonight - it's back to the drawing boards. They sounded good, but they were too darn small for what I'm looking for/expecting they would be. Also they were chipped and peeling. I think I expected these to be the size of probably what the A-60s are, which I think would be more the size I want.
 
Andy_H said:
These speakers are indeed as wonderful as everyone says. I think you can match them with just about any decent vintage receiver and get great results.
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Agreed. Though I've never had A40s, I've paired A60s, A70s and A100s with the following in almost every combination possible, always with excellent results:

Kenwood KR-7600 80 wpc
Pioneer SA-6800 45 wpc
Sansui SA-7500 40 wpc
Yamaha CR-640 40 wpc
Sherwood RX-4109 (100 wpc--though these are "modern" watts)
 
I gave my nephew a a pair of A60s along with a little Nikko receiver. They paired beautifully and both he and his wife were thrilled (he for the sound, she for the unobtrusive size).
 
Oddly enough I got a chance to check out a pair of A40's today. I thought they were pretty nice ( didn't know they were that small either). I stopped by an Audio "tag" sale about 1/2 hour away from my place.

The Dude was super nice with tons of classics in his stash. Seems there's a lot of Audio Cave dudes here in MA and NH.
which is a blessing and curse at the same time. A blessing in the fact that there is a wealth of solid enthusiast Knowledge in the area and there's always the chance that someone locally will post that missing thing that you were looking for. - The curse? well that is the curse. There are so many other Junkies in the area that it's hard to ever fully give up the habit.

Just when you convince yourself that enough is enough, "oohh, is that a ( insert name of product here) up for sale? and the cell phone wallet and car keys get scooped up and before you know it, there's something that plays sound sitting in the back seat of the car taking a ride back to your place with you :)
 
Bostown said:
The curse? well that is the curse. There are so many other Junkies in the area that it's hard to ever fully give up the habit.

Just when you convince yourself that enough is enough, "oohh, is that a ( insert name of product here) up for sale? and the cell phone wallet and car keys get scooped up and before you know it, there's something that plays sound sitting in the back seat of the car taking a ride back to your place with you :)
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Yeah, baby, you said it Bostown! New England is the best for this habit. I think it's all those people who bought great stuff using their employee discount at the great manufacturers that make this area so good.
 
Got a refoamed pair of a40 and drive with a JVC ax-s331 integrated amp. 100wpc. They sound very nice but I am afraid since the amp is more than double the power of the speakers. I had the a40 on my sansui R30 and it.soinded dim while the jvc just woke them up and they sound amazing.
 
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