This joint needs some more vintage hifi

pumpkinman

I decided this time I would be patient on a refurb of a pair A200's. I refoamed the woofers and recapped/resistors the xovers with new Parts Express poly caps. I made plates out of 3/16" plexiglass so I could accomadate the larger caps also adding 5 way binding posts. These were in deplorable condition but I drove nearly 2 hours to pick them up. I looked and thought oh well you wanted a project now you have one. There was only one sharp corner out of all of them. For now I'll play them for a while before I go any further.

P- man

pumpkinman

I bought the smallest pice of this stuff they call car film to practice on the A200's. I think it looks good but how much do I really want to spend ??

pumpkinman

The original plates were made of Masonite. Here are the plexiglass ones with the new binding posts. I didn't glue them in instead I used screws and gaskets.

littlewoodboats

Using film will make any future work more difficult. Do rough repair and spray them in a satin black. The paint will hide the ugly for the time being and be a solid base for a future veneer job.

cnh

Nice work P-man! I'm currently listening to my pair (A200s). Drivers are all in excellent shape but I haven't the faintest about the crossovers, they sound fine for now. But I'd be interested in your part order for those!

Gear in play: Nakamichi CA-5 Pre-amp, NAD 214 power amp. Yamaha Tuner.

pumpkinman

@cnh

One day this week I'll make up a list with all the part #'s and send you a PM.
Made a bigger diff. than I would have thought. Mostly 5% Dayton poly caps.
I imagine that the 35+ year electrolytics were way out of spec. Total cost for the xovers was around $60 give or take. So far I have about $125 into them including buying them.

boston1450

Great job & great price Pman & think of all the fun playing around & listening to the differences afterwards. Makes you proud & them special.

pumpkinman

@boston1450

Thank you sir

cnh

pumpkinman wrote: »

@cnh

One day this week I'll make up a list with all the part #'s and send you a PM.
Made a bigger diff. than I would have thought. Mostly 5% Dayton poly caps.
I imagine that the 35+ year electrolytics were way out of spec. Total cost for the xovers was around $60 give or take. So far I have about $125 into them including buying them.

Many thanks, P-man! No rush, probably won't do anything till the semester is over!

mhardy6647

I am -- ahem -- a little envious of these big Bostons ;- )

Pumpkinman - in all seriousness - has a nice touch with rehabbing them ol' monkey coffins... and I know he enjoys the fruits of his labors!

Thanks again & to all for sharing pics and anecdotes to this thread!

mhardy6647

just playin' around...

DSC_3092 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_3095 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_3088 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_3087 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_3100 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

55LS70

Well, how did it work out? I haven't heard any Altecs since my misspent collage days. From what I remember, they sounded pretty good. Seems to me they were large cabinets with 15 inch woofers and horns similar, maybe a little smaller, to what you have here. They were hook up to a EL 84 based receiver. I think we listened to Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs. It must have impressed somewhat because it wasn't long after that when I bought my first tube amp, a Marantz 8B. I should have hooked that up to those Altecs. Anyway, I envy you, enjoy.

mhardy6647

Well -- I cannot say that it sounds better than the Duplexes themselves with the MR/HF so configured... but it sounds good and boy-oh-boy does it sound BIG.

With 3.5 watts per channel, that is.

Oh -- I listen to vintage Altecs pretty much every day.
Just not with 802Ds on 511Bs :-P

pumpkinman

I swapped out the A200's for my stock Polk 2A's. It's not even close the Boston Acoustics must bow down before Zod.

[Deleted User]

Yet still a rockin' project! Good work.

pumpkinman

After a call to David I may have over stuffed the A200's. So I picked 2 yards of the Dacron polyester. Later on I'll remove the new fiberglass I put in and replace with the poly fill.

pumpkinman

Picked this up at The Hippie Hut in Columbus Ohio while visiting my daughter.
Realistic LAB-500, this turntables heads hell has a Shure cartridge built in and cannot be removed. It sounded bloody horrible. I found a Sansui head shell and installed a Goldring Electra cartridge. Sounds really good "now".

WagnerRC

you got great deal on that 9090DB congrats

TNHNDYMAN

pumpkinman wrote: »

Picked this up at The Hippie Hut in Columbus Ohio while visiting my daughter.
Realistic LAB-500, this turntables heads hell has a Shure cartridge built in and cannot be removed. It sounded bloody horrible. I found a Sansui head shell and installed a Goldring Electra cartridge. Sounds really good "now".

Nice pickup. I've got one as well. Not a bad table at all. I have a Shure M97xE on mine it sounds pretty close to the Technics SL-1600 (my best table at moment). I think it was probably Rat Shack's best table during that era.

boston1450

Montoya

Just got these in my shop going to be hard to sale it's a really nice setup. Marantz SC-80 pre, SM-80 amps, CD-72 Hard to let go is more correct lol

pumpkinman

Montoya wrote: »

Just got these in my shop going to be hard to sale it's a really nice setup. Marantz SC-80 pre, SM-80 amps, CD-72 Hard to let go is more correct lol

Very nice !!

mhardy6647

What it's like at my house sometimes...

025a by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Couple of pairs of loudspeakers on loan from a Boston-area AKer. He is currently dipping his toes in the Altec Duplex waters; I lent him the Bottlehead Paramours to try on his 604Es; he left a pair of Tannoy Devons and a pair of KLH Fives here -- sort of a quid pro quo :- )

Listening to NPR's On Point on VPR (their Windsor, VT transmitter @ 89.5 MHz) on the Devons, driven by the EICO ST-70 in the center of the frame. They're interesting, all righty -- sort of poor person's (relatively speaking) Tannoy coaxials. The KLH Fives are doing yeoman service as speaker stands :-P

highway_chile

mhardy6647

mmm... Luxman. Always in good taste :-)

highway_chile

mhardy6647 wrote: »

mmm... Luxman. Always in good taste :-)

Actually, I am planning to get the C-1010 recapped so I'm using these Luxmans right now. They're a little less vintage IMHO, but sound better as of right now, so a man does what he's got to do.

pumpkinman

@highway_chile

Beautiful gear sir

Polkie2009

gorgeous Luxman equipment HC! Did you ever see the Luxman cassette recorders they made in the 80's with the retracting faceplate?

jdjohn

Some stuff from my dad's garage. I'm going through it all slowly.

Marantz 2235

Sony TA-1150

Rotel RX-602 and Realistic Optimus T-100 speakers - not bad sounding!

Sansui AU-999

Sansui 9090 - lights work!

oldrocker

Nice toys. Damn, no fair, no fair....

B, Love that Victrola label...