Bauhausler
Rational Subjectivist
Sorry. I dropped a zero. Half a million is what I heard. Either way, a definite metric sh**load of them, and for good reason.
Dynaco A25 rehab - a work in progress
- Thread starter wiredbecker
- Start date
Sorry. I dropped a zero. Half a million is what I heard. Either way, a definite metric sh**load of them, and for good reason.
It's funny, the one time I drag my wife into an actual vintage stereo shop as opposed to a just an ordinary thrift store, she immediately gravitates to a pair of A25s from across the room and says, "I like those, they just look so good!"
The way I see it, this is my best chance to get her to understand my addiction to vintage audio. If I can get her completely hooked, I'm home free! Hello huge Altecs, Klipsch and Bozak Concert Grands!
Probably would have been a whole shitload easier and cheaper to just buy the A25s for $180 from that shop. The thing is, I've really enjoyed the process. This is a good chance for me to put my money where my mouth is. Not to mention the fact that my wife is going to love it.
Oh yeah, I basically have tonight and tomorrow night to get this done. I have to deliver the goods on Thursday morning.
hes got 2 days left before the deadline......
Heck ...even if he doesnt make it........who cares. I think the other half would understand. I would say it would be better to take your time and do it right rather than rush the job. You will take more pride in them ...the more time you take.
Good project!
Heck ...even if he doesnt make it........who cares. I think the other half would understand. I would say it would be better to take your time and do it right rather than rush the job. You will take more pride in them ...the more time you take.
Good project!
specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
wow, I must be blind. Blinded by all of the other cool cabs down there!
Thanks a lot guys.
My wife has always had sub-Yorx BPC so it's pretty important that I deliver the goods. With the deadline looming I plunged full steam ahead last night, stopping by my 24 hour Longs Drugs on the way home from work and grabbed some matte black latex paint and some oil. I had been planning to use tung oil but unfortunately Longs doesn't stock tung (they have a wide assortment of woodworking oils and products) so I grabbed the oil with the least ingredients; some non-toxic orange and beeswax oil and went to work. It smells great! :drool:
The thirsty speakers guzzled oil like a long distance runner. So thirsty in fact, they easily absorbed moisture from finger tips and from a fallen leaf that I had accidentally placed them on. It actually left a stain that I had to sand out.
After the first oil wash it became apparent that I had missed a few spots of embedded black paint and primer that was lodged deep within the wood grain. I used a dentist's pick and a swiss army knife to dig out the cavities followed up with quick massage with some #0000 steel wool. Fortunately the walnut veneer on these speakers is quite forgiving. The oil finish only benefited from the scrub which tells me that I will have to do multiple passes of oil followed by successive steel wool scrubbing. The worst damage, other than the plant stain, can be seen in the dinged upper left corner of the speaker on the left. Adjacent to that ding is a hole on the other side that I tried repairing with a "walnut" colored fill. I know it sucks but it will provide structural integrity while I source a triangular piece to patch the veneer. I might try fixing up a batch of fill myself from sanding some walnut and saving the dust. I just don't have time for that, I gotta get these done!
Now for the black paint. I applied the oil first to act as a resist, hopefully blocking accidental drips onto the veneer, which with careful brushwork and masking I managed to avoid. I think I need to do a second pass of black. Better safe that sorry.
The flash is misleading. It's not as dark as I'd hoped but it will do for a while. In natural light the black has a blue tint, so at some point in the future I might repaint the faces with blackboard slate. :thmbsp:
Gotta remember to grab the appropriate screws from the hardware store on my lunch today.
My wife has always had sub-Yorx BPC so it's pretty important that I deliver the goods. With the deadline looming I plunged full steam ahead last night, stopping by my 24 hour Longs Drugs on the way home from work and grabbed some matte black latex paint and some oil. I had been planning to use tung oil but unfortunately Longs doesn't stock tung (they have a wide assortment of woodworking oils and products) so I grabbed the oil with the least ingredients; some non-toxic orange and beeswax oil and went to work. It smells great! :drool:
The thirsty speakers guzzled oil like a long distance runner. So thirsty in fact, they easily absorbed moisture from finger tips and from a fallen leaf that I had accidentally placed them on. It actually left a stain that I had to sand out.
After the first oil wash it became apparent that I had missed a few spots of embedded black paint and primer that was lodged deep within the wood grain. I used a dentist's pick and a swiss army knife to dig out the cavities followed up with quick massage with some #0000 steel wool. Fortunately the walnut veneer on these speakers is quite forgiving. The oil finish only benefited from the scrub which tells me that I will have to do multiple passes of oil followed by successive steel wool scrubbing. The worst damage, other than the plant stain, can be seen in the dinged upper left corner of the speaker on the left. Adjacent to that ding is a hole on the other side that I tried repairing with a "walnut" colored fill. I know it sucks but it will provide structural integrity while I source a triangular piece to patch the veneer. I might try fixing up a batch of fill myself from sanding some walnut and saving the dust. I just don't have time for that, I gotta get these done!
Now for the black paint. I applied the oil first to act as a resist, hopefully blocking accidental drips onto the veneer, which with careful brushwork and masking I managed to avoid. I think I need to do a second pass of black. Better safe that sorry.
The flash is misleading. It's not as dark as I'd hoped but it will do for a while. In natural light the black has a blue tint, so at some point in the future I might repaint the faces with blackboard slate. :thmbsp:
Gotta remember to grab the appropriate screws from the hardware store on my lunch today.
pqrannes
Tubes warm your heart too
Going back to the Dynaco A-25 source: http://home.indy.net/~gregdunn/dynaco/components/speakers/index.html
Nice work on those cabs!
I've got about 2 pairs plus a couple of pairs of A-10!
Peter, Denmark (where all the A-25 came from!)
Why can't Radio Shack be open 24 hours a day?
Thanks for the offer Zilch! Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon your perspective) my wife is at grad school in Eugene, Oregon. The finished speakers are going in the car, along with my dog, and taking a road trip. She has no idea and is totally going to be so freaking happy, I can't wait.
We can definitely mess around with the "Spare", I'm not aggressively searching for its mate. I already have drivers for it. I just need to pick up another Solen for the crossover. Then we could run a comparison of spare A25 and A25XL as I have a pair in daily use in my main system.
So are you just looking for a pair of AR4 cabs to hack up for under $20? I've added them to my ever expanding list of crap to keep my eyes peeled for.
I have a question before I solder things up. One of my 10Ω 5W wirewound resistors is completely crushed inside one of these speakers. Can I use a 10Ω 10W wirewound resistor in its place?
Yup.
Load your spare A25, and we'll measure it in comparison to an XL. Then I'll load it....
:
Man they sound great. The wife loves them. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I'll post pictures next week sometime. It's not that big deal really. They're just your standard mirrored A25 with matte black fronts and backs and the normal oily woofer cones.