Pioneer CS 88A Adventure

[turnitup]

I just purchased an entire early 70s Pioneer setup from a widow in her later years, it’s all in pristine (single owner) condition, but close to 50 years old. It had belonged to her late husband who had been in the military. I’m going through every piece and restoring everything...but this is going to take time!

First up are the CS88As. Recapping the crossovers and replacing the surrounds on the tweeters (4 of them, ugh). Just finished one of the crossovers, and am going to start working on the other one. Just thought I’d post a few pictures from start to finish.

Fresh out of the speaker...




Fresh out of my billfold...




After the Cap-ectamy...



50 year old caps...



Hopefully, better than new. The new 50uf cap was so big, I had to mount it about an inch above the board, on a rectangle 1” block of wood! Time to clean the pots, and then test.

 

[Bodyblue]

I had a primo set of CS88s that I recapped. I really did not have a big enough room for them. No matter where I put them or what amp I put on them I could not get them to sound above average. They just never lived up to how good they were built and looked. I have heard the "A" models a few times but never long enough to get an opinion of them. Hope you like them.

 

[JamVal]

I have a set of Pioneer CS-A500 with the same size 3" tweeters that I refoamed. The generic 3" foam surrounds I bought were not quite right.
I believe the original stock Pioneer 3" tweeter surrounds were glued to the back of the cone. The ID of where the 'roll' starts on the generic 3" surrounds I bought is too small to glue to the back of the cones. In other words the ID of the roll is slightly less than the OD of the cone. And to further complicate things when centered and glued to the front of the cones they partially block the gold 'FB' .


I might be wrong, but I also think that the original surrounds were flat, no roll, which would make it very convenient to glue to the back of the cones.
About the time I was doing mine, there was a vendor on the big auction site that was providing refoam service for these 3" tweeters. The foams were a nicely contrasting tan color, flat (no roll) and rear mounted. I contacted him about buying just the surrounds, but he wouldn't do it, would only provide the refoam service. I haven't been able to find his listing lately. I toyed with the idea of cutting flat surrounds from thin packing foam sheet stock.