oldcutlass

I hadn't played my old Pioneer surround stereo that we bought back in the 80's for about 10 years. Got a wild hair and replaced the missing belt on the turntable popped on an old album and everything sounded like CACA. So after going through all the wiring making sure all was hooked up correctly I popped the speaker grills off and noticed that the foam on the 12 inch woofers was gone. My wife informed me that she was wondering what the pile of black stuff that kept appearing on the living floor was over the past few years when she vacuumed. So I did a bit of research and found a pair of 12" replacements for just under $53.00 shipped to my door. The foam repair would have cost around $26.00 and a few hours of my time. I'll let you know in a few days how they sound.
http://www.parts-express.com/goldwoo...8-ohm--290-335

Destructor

Yea, those foam surrounds deteriorated. Luckily all my speakers use a different material which has proven to hold up well. I still use my turntable and Vacuum tubes.

vette442

Interesting - hope they turn out to be winners for you.

I bought my Boston Acoustics A60s and A70s years ago based on their OEM specs and sound, so I've done the refoaming repair to make sure they still sound the same. Those foam surrounds definitely will crumble after 15-20 years or so.

Terry

nj67

Hope the repair goes well, you will not be sorry for you efforts. I think most have forgotten how good vinyl is we are so spoiled with digital music. Besides the far superior sound quality listing to records is actually something to do I find when I have company we always all end up going through my albums reading cleaning and just enjoying the great sound and company.
Good Luck and enjoy
Chris

oldcutlass

When I popped one of the speakers out, it didn't look like anything expensive or special. The magnets weren't huge. That's why I thought the new speakers would be just as good if not better than the originals. I'll probably have to make the hole cutout a hair bigger, we'll see.

Destructor

Replace the crossover caps and I bet they'll sound even better. They also degrade with time.

Indy_68_S

Agree. The sound on even a midlevel totally analog system with vinyl is so superior to the thin plastic sound of digital.

Funny this thread popped up.

My teenage daughter has a fascination with the late '70s. She bought a new vinyl set of Pink Floyd's The Wall, but was just using it primarily as a decoration.

So, a few weeks ago, I dug out my old Technics SA-300 receiver & SL-220 turntable that I bought brand new around 1976 (still have orig boxes!). They had a hard life and I haven't used them in ~ 20 years. Used to have 300+ classic rock albums, but now am down to ~60 as most died in our basement flood.

Receiver would power on but with no lights. Signal meter would swing on AM, but nothing else & no sound. Took it apart, cleaned all switches/pots & bought & installed repl bulbs (all were dead - 6 for $6 shipped!). Everything now works and it sounds great. (& the smell when it warmed up was very nostalgic!)

Turntable was grimy, had no needle & the belt was now just a bunch of gummi strips stuck all over everything. Bought a mid level cartridge (Audio Technica AT95E) & a replacement belt - total = ~$40. Scrubbed it, installed belt/cart, and cleaned speed pots. Works & sounds great.

Threw a couple of old Bose bookshelf speakers on it (my original 100lb ElectroVoices are long gone ) & taught her the ritual of pre-play album cleaning. She's been working her way thru what albums I have left and is delighted.

(Her secret xmas gift is a mint set of old Pioneer SE-305 headphones complete with long coily cord!)




(Note the original second issue of Omni magazine from 1978 that she found in one of my old boxes of stuff & yeah, I've warned her about covering the vents...)

Good luck & please do !

Koda

Y'all are aware that not all digital is the same, right?

nj67

Yes for sure but I still personally think that a good vinyl on a good setup is still better then even a SACD. Most people will have regular CD's and Mp3's and if you compared both those formats against Vinyl the difference is huge with MP3's the worst. If you have never done a direct comparison it is a real ear opener, I have demonstrated to friends using the album Animals one of my favorite. I will start them all about same time and switch between the inputs while they are playing even the non audiophile can hear the difference. I find it pretty amazing how side by side the mp3 or cd sounds so compressed and tiny because I do enjoy them when out in my car and at that time don't notice how crappy it really is. Just my opinion of course.

Chris

oldcutlass

Giving that stuff to your daughter was a nice thought. I agree there is nothing that sounds like vinyl, I've got about 60 or so at the house. Cd's and mp3's are also a nice convenience in cars. I love my cheapy mp3 that I loaded hours of cruising music on and it plugs right into the nothing special Kenwood in the Cutlass.

vette442

It's mostly in the mastering but it's high end all-analogue LPs and mostly original Non-remastered CDs for me unless it's a DCC, MFSL or select SACD. Very few mp3s, and those are 320mbps.

Spend a few sessions the Steve Hoffman site and it'll drive you nuts. I've been there for a dozen years and it's been really expensive over time but sonically rewarding.....

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/forums/music-corner.2/

It's a great place to search and make sure that a new issue of an LP (or CD or download) is good or junk. Lots of crappy "cash grab" new LPs out there in the past few years, as well as some outstanding ones. Just need to do your homework.

Terry

vette442

A well-mastered CD can be as good or better than vinyl. Lots of DCC, Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions SACDs (among others) prove it. Many HD Tracks downloads are very good too, but some are from sketchy sources and mastering too. General rule of thumb is to avoid most commercial remasters. Loud, compressed, and brittle = painful listening experience.

TomDac

Vinyl sounds warmer and richer to me.. Always has.. That said, however, I ditched my analog gear YEARS ago... Digital convenience wins over the hassle of vinyl. SACD's come close to the sound of vinyl, though... and a good transport and DAC can be pretty amazing.. I've been DEEP into the hobby for many years..... Love music.

To the OP, speaker technology has come a LONG way since those old Pioneers. If it were me, I'd forgo getting them repaired and invest in something new. ;-)

Destructor

A quality vinyl album on a good turntable does sound impressive. There is also the receiver’s phono section. Back when vinyl was king a good receiver or amp had a well engineered phono preamp section. I listen to mostly CD’s now, a good CD player won’t sound harsh especially through restored vintage 60’s tube gear. A good quality solid state receiver from the 70’s can deliver some very good performance. When I’m not tinkering with my Olds or something mechanical I’m usually using or restoring my collection of mostly vintage tube audio components, of course CD or album it has to be a descent recording. There are crappy and good example of both.

83hurstguy

Wow, thanks for the heads up on these. I have a late 80's Pioneer system I was given by a family member that didn't have the space for it anymore, and I refoamed the woofers a few years ago... but somehow one of them has a coil buzz now at one narrow frequency range (I must have somehow accidentally glued the foam so it pulled).

It's a solid system that I use down in the basement from time to time, and occasionally used them as monitor speakers for my keyboards when I was sick of playing through headphones.

Let us know how they turn out, I may pick up a set.

Probably should do the crossover caps too... I'm not even sure where to start with those though.

oldcutlass

I doubt the crossover caps are bad on mine. Is your speaker buzz due to a loose component or a voice coil issue? The floor speaker cab's on my system are about 3.5' tall + another 8"of speaker stand. My amp supposedly puts out 130 w/channel, so I think these should withstand normal listening ranges at the rating of 120w RMS as they are rated at 240 max. I searched internet and my Pioneer system owners manual for the CS-F9000 ratings of this woofer but could not find the frequency range for the individual speakers, just for the cabinet as a whole. So I'm winging it with this one. The new speakers will be here on Thursday according to my UPS tracking.

Rocketguy

I'll bet your right. I don't mean to hijack the thread to automotive, but a recent resto I did needed a new dash speaker and I found this site. The guy was a joy to talk to and really knew his stuff. He said magnet technology has really changed over the years, and told me of how old ones can go bad. He was right. The old 4 X 10 dash speaker I was replacing had a magnet so worn it would not hold up a paper clip.

83hurstguy

I'm pretty sure it's a voice coil... had just gone through the speaker cabinets and checked for loose stuff, and it didn't start until after re-foaming. We might have nearly the same system. I won't be back home until the weekend, I'll have to check the model numbers on mine.

oldcutlass

Well the new speakers arrived yesterday and were promptly installed. Threw on a couple of albums and played them through, they should sound fine after they break in. Dropped right in the existing 10.75" cutout hole and just had to drill new mounting screw holes. Saved the old cores to replace the foam later down the road.

Railguy

A couple years ago I put a nos 8 track in my omega and put new speakers in old pioneer boxes. Someone on this site posted that the new speakers wouldn't work with the old deck.well they do work but have a really muddy sound . I can't find the original thread. So I thought I would ask on this one if anyone could tell me what speakers would be compatible with the old deck?
Railguy

Lady72nRob71

Eric, lemme know if you need any details on foam replacement if you decide to do it. I refoamed a pair of 10" woofs a few years ago and it was pretty easy - just takes an hour or two. I even made a picture story of the process...........

oldcutlass

You need to find out what impedance and power output your 8 track amp is rated for and go from there.

Rob, I watched a bunch of youtube videos on how to do it and the new foams are about $28. The old speakers as I mentioned earlier in the thread don't look like anything high quality, so I figured I'd just replace them. I tried to research what the specs for old woofers were and could not come up with the frequency range. I have all the manuals for the stereo and speakers but they only showed the range for speaker cabinets as a whole. The new speakers sound pretty good right out of the box and again as I mentioned earlier they will probably sound even better once broken in.

Indy_68_S

x2

IIRC, the OEM speakers were 4 ohm?

Also, make sure you have them wired in phase. + to + and - to - on both.



If one side is flipped, it'll sound weird.

oldcutlass

You OEM speakers were probably 10 ohms. 8's will probably work with a low watt ratting. The stock 8 tracks were not very powerful.

Railguy

This is an aftermarket 8 track. so I have all the papers that came with it.
Railguy

oldcutlass

I thought, since you mentioned NOS it stock. What speaker impedance and power output is listed in the manual?

Railguy

[QUOTE=oldcutlass;882227]You need to find out what impedance and power output your 8 track amp is rated for and go from there.


I've been meaning to do this for a while. I kept forgetting about it. The impedance is 3 - 8 ohms.
Railguy

3 - 8 ohms per channel.
Railguy

oldcutlass

If the speaker requirement is as you state, then you can use either a 4ohm or an 8 ohm. Not much selection in 8 ohm speakers anymore though.

cherokeepeople

"the" animals or pink floyds "animals"! that is my favorite floyd album.

Railguy

I don't know much about electronics. I guess per channel is per speaker?
Railguy

Railguy

[QUOTE=cherokeepeople;915289]"the" animals or pink floyds "animals"! that is my favorite floyd album.[/QUOT
IS that the one with several species of small furry animals gathered in a. ......? Did anybody ever play that backwards?
Railguy

cherokeepeople

pigs on the wing!

young olds

didnt know there were other audiophiles on here. next to cars and bicycles i also like old home audio equipment. heres my kenwood ka-6004 and kt-6005, wired to a switch board so i can select which speakers i want to play with the press of a button, and an additional resister switch so i can play more speakers than i should without adding to much load to the amp. also running a bluetooth adapter plugged into my aux port so i can play off my phone.
AB7E355D-721D-457A-9F29-A3F255FD9407_zps07mma6xd.jpg
1B5F71CA-B2CD-4630-AAF4-3A89B15D075F_zpsksieu2nh.jpg

i mainly run my kl-777d's, with my amp and tuner its a matched set of what you could have bought in the mid seventies. ive got a supercope cassette deck and am looking for an era correct turn table to complete my "mid 70's system".

oldcutlass

Just cant beat the old stuff. Damn near lasts forever.

11971four4two

i like carver stuuff
and a vintage kit like yours

young olds

My dad likes carver stuff, he has some magnaplaners I want as well. I'm not partial to any brand as long as it has a silver face and wood grain. I would like to play with some sansui stuff though

11971four4two

My father Daddio was a staunch Marantz fan. Now I have a marantz amp , adccom separates , some dynaco and yesterday landed some HK gear I have lusted after for many years. Wife calls this stuff "junk" same as the Oldsmobile parts etc LOL

Happy 20 22

H/o

I was just looking at some of the vintage stereo equipment and can't believe what their selling for., Who know maybe in a bout 10 years my Sherwood system from the early 80's might be worth something.

Koda

That's often "with rebuild," but I agree.

solly

My old Sansui model six still in service, getting the job done !!!!