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Thrift Bozak 302A's

superdog

superdog

AK Member
Found these Bozaks at my favorite thrift today.Cabs are in pretty good condition with a few nicks and a couple of scratches on top(no doubt caused by the thrift people moving around).Grill cloth nice and clean and legs nice and sturdy..What can anyone tell me about these Bozaks.My camera died or I would post pics.In the quick research I did there is an identical pair for sale on classicaudio if one would like to know what they look like.What are owners powering them with.Being new to Bozak any comments would be helpful.Paid $29.99.Thanks.
 
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Nice score. Like this?

b-302a.jpg


b-302a-2.jpg
 
No.From my quick research I think those are Centurys.Mine are Urbans.Could be wrong I never had Bozak before.Mine have legs.Those yours?
 
The speakers pictured are 302 Urbans. They came in many styles of cabinets. The fact that your speakers have legs does not change the Model. Centurys would look the same as urbans, the difference is the mid range speaker and X-over. The Century only has the woofer with the tweets in the center of it. BTW those tweets are wired in series so the amp sees it as 1 tweeter. At 29.99 you stoled the speakers. I have powered mine with both SS and Tube amps. As much as I hate to say it, they sound their best with SS amps around 60~100 WPC. There are nice speakers and I think you will find them quite enjoyable.:yes: Nice score.:thmbsp:
 
I've owned a pair of 302s for just under a decade ad also have their big brother, the Symphony that are my main speakers. You got more than an excellentbuy, you got a steal. There is a lot of discussion as to whether Bozaks do better with tubes or SS and part of the debate is b/c Rudy remarked that he preferred SS for his largest models but these can suck up some power with no breakup or increased distortion. The 302s will do very well with tubes and equally well with SS. I've had both on my 302s from the small Dyna SCA35 integrated tube amp to the ARC D76a tube amp and from a Philips 785 SS receiver to a Philips 210 watt power amp. A great set of matches actually were th Sherwood S5000I integrated tube amp and also the S9500c SS integrated amp. It seems the best from them came from several amps in the 18-50 watt rms range. The specs call for 5 - 100 watts rms. The key is to carefully match the average listening level so that the dynamic range does not exceed the music power of the amp and clip or over drive the speakers as compression occurs earlier than with AS designs. There is a very active Bozak users group on Yahoo.
 
Don't judge these by the way they sound now. When I got mine and hooked them up, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what all the fuss was about. As a matter of fact, I thought they bodered on sucking.:D The thing is, Rudy used lots of caps in his crossovers, and they go way up in value as they age. It throws the crossover points way off.:thumbsdn: Go to the Steve Hoffman audio forum and check out the Urban thread. It has all the instructions for doing the Pat Tobin crossover mod on these. I've had lots of offers on mine since doing the mods, but will never sell'em.:music:
 
As far as power, mine sound way better on SS. Tobin says that is because they need a high damping factor that tubes don't offer (I think he's right on the money).:yes:
 
I'll chirp in too, keep them and follow Jay's advice and they may become your favorite speakers. You can listen to them for hours with no listening fatigue. Surrounds do not rot, tip up the front a bit to get them aimed at your ears, they are directional in the treble range. You can hear the difference in mine as you sit down in the sweet spot. Plus they'll kick subwoofers to the curb.
 
jaymanaa said:
As far as power, mine sound way better on SS. Tobin says that is because they need a high damping factor that tubes don't offer (I think he's right on the money).:yes:
Click to expand...

Amen to that. I've noticed that on even small Bozaks.

I think that's it's not just damping factor... it's that the speaker wants low output impedance from the amp, at all frequencies... to keep the crossover in balance...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
jaymanaa said:
As far as power, mine sound way better on SS. Tobin says that is because they need a high damping factor that tubes don't offer (I think he's right on the money).:yes:
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that because all I have is SS.I have quite a selection to choose from. Thanks for the input as I am fairly new to these type and could use all the info.I had been waiting and had a feeling something like these would surface locally.I am going to open them up tonight to see whats in them them audition.Damn I wish I had my camera working.
 
When you open tem up, make sure you copy down the driver information such as the model numbers and date codes. Also look for the crossover model that is usually on the board.
 
I could have had me a pair of furniture quality Bozaks back in the day (of ignorance) if I knew what I was looking at. They stood about 5' tall with two woofers (I think) and four vertically aligned tweeters (I think) in a weird furniture cabinet that had bunched fabric behind a decorative wire grill. The manager said that they did not work. Mine for about $25. Problem was that I drove an Accord at the time and they would never fit. I still wonder what they were. You know what they say, "It's only worth what someone is willing to pay."
 
This is whats inside.Woofer stamped 5912 w/serial#A2114.Mid is stamped what looks like O78 w/serial#f1152.Crossover has two exposed copper windings parallel to the bottom of the cabinet unlike the crossover photo on classicaudio.VOT I had to make two trips with one each in an open trunk to get them home.They were coming home if I had to dolly them.
 
VOT, sounds like a set of Symphony cabinets. You could buy the cabinets with a basic 302 stuffing, 1 woofer2, 1 midrange and 1 pair of tweeters and then build up as funds permitted. You added drivers through kits, the next being the addtonal woofer and another pair of tweeters yeilding the model 305 component system in a larger enclosure. Then you added then other 2 pair of tweeters for a total of 8 tweeters for the full buildtout. A number of Symphony and Concert Grand owners disable 4 of the tweeters in their system cithing better results. For $25 for the pair you'd have had the deal of the year as getting them up and running usually required little more than understanding the wiring configuration and doing it right. I've seen a number of these build up systems over the years with the additional drivers mounted but never wired in or miss wired.
 
coman61 said:
The speakers pictured are 302 Urbans. They came in many styles of cabinets. The fact that your speakers have legs does not change the Model. Centurys would look the same as urbans, the difference is the mid range speaker and X-over. The Century only has the woofer with the tweets in the center of it. BTW those tweets are wired in series so the amp sees it as 1 tweeter. At 29.99 you stoled the speakers. I have powered mine with both SS and Tube amps. As much as I hate to say it, they sound their best with SS amps around 60~100 WPC. There are nice speakers and I think you will find them quite enjoyable.:yes: Nice score.:thmbsp:
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With all due respect, this quote is not really accurate. The speakers pictured above have Century cabinets. The distinction between Urban and Century has to do with the cabinet style, not the type or number of drivers. A B-302 system contains the B-199 woofer, the B-209 midrange and 2 tweeters. The B-302 configuration came in several different cabinet styles. The B-300 system contains the B-199 woofer and two tweeters (without the B-209 midrange and larger crossover). I own two sets of B-302As, in the Century cabinets (pictured above) and also a set of Italian Provincials. The Italian Provincials started out as B-300s until I upgraded them by adding the mid-range and crossover. Great speakers!!
 
superdog said:
Found these Bozaks at my favorite thrift today.Cabs are in pretty good condition with a few nicks and a couple of scratches on top(no doubt caused by the thrift people moving around).Grill cloth nice and clean and legs nice and sturdy..What can anyone tell me about these Bozaks.My camera died or I would post pics.In the quick research I did there is an identical pair for sale on classicaudio if one would like to know what they look like.What are owners powering them with.Being new to Bozak any comments would be helpful.Paid $29.99.Thanks.
Click to expand...

BTW, superdog, You probably also found a "curtain" inside hanging about in the middle of the cabs too??? It's important to replace this if it's falling apart (most do). You can use any type of heavy material, like an old blanket or such (heavier the better). I'm not up on the science, but this curtain was there to somehow make the cabs more like an infinite baffle (I think by damping vibrations before they could get into the wood). Rudy was against relying on the cabinet vibration to help things go lower. His idea was to design a woofer that would go low on it's own. He did good too.:thmbsp:
 
There was a "curtain" there. It appeared to still be well connected.I had a mark on one of the grills and tried to use a fabric cleaner on that spot.Now I have a lighter colored stain.Any advice on how to darken back to original?Susurus I like those speakers.I checked that thread out.Big and Bozak.Very cool.How do you like them?
 
They kicked some fine sounding speakers to the curb, yes. Imagine yours will too.

I recently read a very detailed thread on finishes/waxes, lots of input. Have to find the link for ya.
 
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