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Dynaco A10 recap

Justgotohm

Justgotohm

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I had the pleasant opportunity to freshen up a pair of A10’s recently. Man, these are super speakers, just outstanding for any bookshelf speaker especially for the size. They worked well with as little as a 12wpc vintage Kenwood Integrated.
The only caps are an 8uf on the tweeter (I used two 4uf caps), and a 24uf shunt cap for the woofer, I used a 22 given it’s what I had at hand.
To get the grills lighten up I used a 50/50 water bleach mixture and blotted it heavily on with a large sponge. I let it dry then reapplied and let dry. They really came out much lighter.
I installed new Velcro for the grills and added little brown ribbon pull tabs. One speaker had screw terminals and one had the standard Dynaco binding post. I installed small binding post that match. These are just a fun little speaker that performs well above its weight class.
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The label on the back of one of my (Scandyna) A-10's says the crossover frequency is 1000 Hz?
I don't know the math so I don't know if it's possible to calculate from the numbers you mentioned: Do you know the xo freq of yours?
 
I've never had a set of A10's but have had A25's a couple of times. I am genuinely surprised at how much more sophisticated the crossovers of your speakers are compared to A25's.
 
Well the tweeter tested 7ohms so with a 8uf cap that comes to around 2840Hz for these. I had an extra crossover I should have tested the value of the coil to see what’s going on there.
 
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I never listened to them before the recap. I was given three complete A10’s in various condition. I was asked to make one nice pair. I completely disassembled everything, tested all the drivers, all the woofers were fine. Two tweeters worked but one of the ones that worked had a different grill and some caulking on the frames, it was ugly. I took apart the nice looking tweeter that did not work and the ugly one that did, put the working diaphragm in the better looking tweeter so I would have a nice pair. Two of the cabs looked good one was damaged so lucky for me on that one. You can see below how dark the grills had become from nicotine, the bleach process worked great.
Two of the crossovers were original, one had been screwed around with so I went ahead and recapped the two that were unmolested while everything was apart. I have recapped several pairs of A25’s in the past with good results, the noramal for me to freshen up much older speakers always included a recap.
The owner is a very good friend who deals in large amounts of vintage gear, he and I know what he wants so I do my thing without question. I can say the A10’s sound very very good, they are not little wall flower speakers in the corner, they have a big presentation of sound even more so than some Rogers J129’s I had done a year or so ago.
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I've had some 10s for about 35 years now and use them sporadically. They also
impressed me with the size and quality of the sound. So I've been wondering if
it's worth the effort to recap. One way to find out :-)
 
A tasteful and well-executed refresh of the venerable A-10. Next time try a better cap than the Daytons. The Audyn Q-4's aren't that much more and I think you'll notice the tweeter is less harsh sounding.
 
I’ll give another brand a try for sure. I restock my cap inventory every six months or so and usually keep a mix of brands in stock. If I’m using Mundorfs, Obbligato’s and the like I’ll special order. I’ll stock Solens, Dayton’s, Audyn’s, Jatzen Crosscaps most often, in a collection of values.
 
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I'll have to try that 50/50 bleach trick on my A10's. The cabinets on mine are in great shape but the grills are very dingy looking.
 
I might be more inclined to try a product like Oxy Clean. Not as harsh on the fabric (especially a 50/50 mixture). Not as corrosive to surfaces and it smells much better.
 
I used the bleach with a sponge so I didn’t super saturate the frames which look to be poplar. I didn’t want to warp them. I wouldn’t say I cleaned the grills just bleached them. I use thinned out Tide in a spray bottle and a water hose to clean grills with plastic frames.
I am very satisfied with the results using as little liquid as possible. If Oxy Clean does that I would try it out.
 
Yes sir those look like the post that I used, I had bought a bunch of those years ago and can’t remember where I got them. Just make sure the shaft is long enough.
 
Justgotohm said:
I never listened to them before the recap. I was given three complete A10’s in various condition. I was asked to make one nice pair. I completely disassembled everything, tested all the drivers, all the woofers were fine. Two tweeters worked but one of the ones that worked had a different grill and some caulking on the frames, it was ugly. I took apart the nice looking tweeter that did not work and the ugly one that did, put the working diaphragm in the better looking tweeter so I would have a nice pair. Two of the cabs looked good one was damaged so lucky for me on that one. You can see below how dark the grills had become from nicotine, the bleach process worked great.
Two of the crossovers were original, one had been screwed around with so I went ahead and recapped the two that were unmolested while everything was apart. I have recapped several pairs of A25’s in the past with good results, the noramal for me to freshen up much older speakers always included a recap.
The owner is a very good friend who deals in large amounts of vintage gear, he and I know what he wants so I do my thing without question. I can say the A10’s sound very very good, they are not little wall flower speakers in the corner, they have a big presentation of sound even more so than some Rogers J129’s I had done a year or so ago.
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A bit late, I know, but do you still happen to have the spare woofer?
 
I know this is major old but worth a short. Which size binding post did you use? I can’t stand the screw on post. Hoping to replace when I recap.
 
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