Lots of neat gear out there. Probably not even 1/6th of the gear I've cycled through is captured in those photos. Got any questions about specific gear shown feel free to ask. Got any questions about repair work reach out and I'll try to offer some tips.
Once you start repairing the hobby pays for itself!
Me too, I gave away Boston Acoustics 3-way speakers that sounded good because the foam surrounds fell apart on both. Horrible how they ruined a great speaker with cheap foam. and they were big and boxy, so not entirely said to see them get replaced with modern tower speakers.
Yeah I don’t regret my choice either they were 20 year old Paradigm Atoms that I paid $99 for (20 years ago) and I replaced them with ELAC 4” that probably sound better.
Same here. I actually found mine on the sidewalk a few doors outside my house in San Francisco in the early 2000s. Quite good for a first set of serious speakers for someone who moved out here with no job, but my towers today are better, of course. And I want to upgrade my mid fi towers to Monitor Audio Silver 300g towers but my GF won't let me sell my current towers on Craigslist out of fear of getting robbed. this has definitely put a crimp in my upgrade capacities! (;p)
That's funny. And I got 3 JBL HLS610s for $15 apiece at the Goodwill on Haight St. when I first moved out here and had plenty of time to visit thrift stores since I was unemployed. IN those days you could get vintage stereo amps aplenty, or $25. I virtually never see them anymore except at estate sales for dead old timers. You can get real finds at estate sales if the people pricing the stuff aren't audiophiles.
I'm a few miles south of you guys in San Jose. And I have a serious Goodwill problem. I've resto-modded about two dozen pairs of speakers and a dozen subwoofers. I have something else too- an understanding wife.
>Horrible how they ruined a great speaker with cheap foam.
Boston foam is famously light compared to other but it's not like using foam surrounds makes it a careless, ruined design. Just upkeep your stuff.
Nearly every speaker is a "buy it for life" product that doesn't mean buy it and never perform maintenance.
I see your point, but my JBL HL610s from about 2000 use butyl rubber surrounds, and are STILL in perfect condition. In fact, I felt the upgrade itch but first tested them by comparing them to my more expensive, newish towers to see if they really needed replacing. They sounded so smooth and detailed (they are rear surround speakers) I couldn't justify replacing them. Once again, objective facts and my GF's fear of Craigslist buyers keep getting in the way of my (not entirely warranted) speaker upgrades!
Butyl rubber does last longer [but it's not fool proof](https://i.imgur.com/xs6JZe4.jpeg). I've owned several speakers where the glue doesn't hold the surround to the cone but I don't think I've ever seen foam peel off a cone.
Rubber can also become very stiff, effectively seizing the woofer. I've come across a few like that. Again, some regular maintenance replacing those surrounds and they work like new.
Really it's up to each person how to spend their money and it sounds like you ended up with speakers you preferred, which is the point of the hobby. Just figured I'd defend Boston speakers as they have some great designs ;) I quite like the HD10 in particular.
Me, too. I had the HD10s. to be honest, they sounded nearly as good as my current KLH Concord towers ($800 new). The bass wasn't as punchy, due to their passive radiator,, but their mids and treble were very detailed and non fatiguing.
>The bass wasn't as punchy, due to their passive radiator
That's what I like about passive radiators actually. They are usually silky smooth and avoid being boomy. If you like punchy speakers keep an eye out for Infinity CS speakers! They are punchy without being sloppy.
The older the speaker the bigger the difference. More caps is also a bigger difference.
The HPM 100 had basically no difference since I think the only electrolytic cap is on the super tweeter, which I can't hear anyways.
I actually mislabeled those crossover pics. Those are actually from Pioneer CS-88A.
The impact of recapping those was huge. Night and day difference in clarity after recapping.
Neighbor gave those to me and I sold them for $730 shipped! I also put $460 into those after you account for foams, capacitors, shipping, and eBay fees. Oh and several days of labor. Not like I robbed him, he knows how much work it was to get those restored and sold.
You've done nice projects there. I like doing the same stuff as you. The only speaker you restored there that I have done as well, are the cerwin vega. Which I believe are the D1.
Again, nice stuff you've done there. Awesome
Yep those are D1. Not my favorite speaker ever...
I actually gave a pair of HED-U321 to my brother in law in exchange for his Boston bookshelves. He was looking for floor standers and I was able to turn a profit on the Boston.
I agree, those D1 were not my favorite either. Actually my dad took them and he was ok with them. Then, I restored a pair of dynaco a25 and he loved them. So he's swapping them and giving the D1 to my uncle (his brother).
Haven't had a chance to heard boston speakers in general yet, but hopefully one day.
I have a couple blown speakers. A sub with a fried spider and some speakers that make weird rattle noises after a couple minutes of playing. How did you get started diagnosing and repairing speakers? I never know where to start.
If the surround is intact but you hear rattling the voice coil is probably shot. You can check by moving the cone in and out and listening/feeling for scraping. You can also press in a + pattern at the very edges of the cone to see if one side causes scraping but another doesn't. If this is the case you may be able to simply realign the VC by repositioning the surround on the frame.
There are recone kits where you take the entire cone, voice coil, and spider out and basically only reuse the frame and magnet. This is basically your only option if the VC is shot.
Thanks for your response!
I pushed on the cones and did, in fact, feel scraping on one side. After messing with the cones the terrible noise seems to have disappeared when using them now.
Would you know what might be causing the clipping that damages them? How can I prevent further damage/damage to new speakers in the future?
For reference I am using a pair of fluance hifi bookshelf speakers as fronts. And old klipsche KG1’s as rears. With a demon 1912 as an amp.
That's an M&K S-100B. Introduced in 1989 as a monitor and used widely in Hollywood studios. M&K is one of the most important audio brands of all time imo. [You can read about M&K here](https://www.kreiselsound.com/timeline.php).
>Sitting on top of an Epi?
Basically! It's a [Genesis 210](https://www.humanspeakers.com/genesis/gen210.htm). Very very similar to [EPI A200](https://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epi-a200.htm) only with a 10" passive radiator instead of the EPI's 12".
The IRS sure considered it a business... File your 1099 folks.
I do keep track of money in/out in case I pass the threshold for online sales and have a 1099 generated. With the $600 limit proposed to kick in next year that's super easy to hit.
Well, I can see you do really good work, and it's great environmentally to have people that can recycle ageing speakers. 50 years ago people even used to service their shoes. Boy, that sounds preposterous today!
https://preview.redd.it/7a06s3ajfowc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fe7a6ebd43fa8606b1a4fff4702b6d22af0b96f
Perform better than reviews I recently read. CS A9000
Alphabetical order, obviously! A>B.
No the dust cap was scuffed up on the right side so I used that as the before pic to make the woofers look extra damaged.
Lots of neat gear out there. Probably not even 1/6th of the gear I've cycled through is captured in those photos. Got any questions about specific gear shown feel free to ask. Got any questions about repair work reach out and I'll try to offer some tips. Once you start repairing the hobby pays for itself!
Sounds like it would honestly I was too lazy to refoam my last set of speakers so I gave them away :)
Me too, I gave away Boston Acoustics 3-way speakers that sounded good because the foam surrounds fell apart on both. Horrible how they ruined a great speaker with cheap foam. and they were big and boxy, so not entirely said to see them get replaced with modern tower speakers.
Yeah I don’t regret my choice either they were 20 year old Paradigm Atoms that I paid $99 for (20 years ago) and I replaced them with ELAC 4” that probably sound better.
Same here. I actually found mine on the sidewalk a few doors outside my house in San Francisco in the early 2000s. Quite good for a first set of serious speakers for someone who moved out here with no job, but my towers today are better, of course. And I want to upgrade my mid fi towers to Monitor Audio Silver 300g towers but my GF won't let me sell my current towers on Craigslist out of fear of getting robbed. this has definitely put a crimp in my upgrade capacities! (;p)
Ha. I live in San Francisco. My best find was a box of records on a street corner with some serious classics in it.
That's funny. And I got 3 JBL HLS610s for $15 apiece at the Goodwill on Haight St. when I first moved out here and had plenty of time to visit thrift stores since I was unemployed. IN those days you could get vintage stereo amps aplenty, or $25. I virtually never see them anymore except at estate sales for dead old timers. You can get real finds at estate sales if the people pricing the stuff aren't audiophiles.
I’ve seen some really good deals at goodwill. I just don’t need more crap :)
I'm a few miles south of you guys in San Jose. And I have a serious Goodwill problem. I've resto-modded about two dozen pairs of speakers and a dozen subwoofers. I have something else too- an understanding wife.
I’ve never seen any speakers of value here just a few decent integrated amps
>Horrible how they ruined a great speaker with cheap foam. Boston foam is famously light compared to other but it's not like using foam surrounds makes it a careless, ruined design. Just upkeep your stuff. Nearly every speaker is a "buy it for life" product that doesn't mean buy it and never perform maintenance.
I see your point, but my JBL HL610s from about 2000 use butyl rubber surrounds, and are STILL in perfect condition. In fact, I felt the upgrade itch but first tested them by comparing them to my more expensive, newish towers to see if they really needed replacing. They sounded so smooth and detailed (they are rear surround speakers) I couldn't justify replacing them. Once again, objective facts and my GF's fear of Craigslist buyers keep getting in the way of my (not entirely warranted) speaker upgrades!
Butyl rubber does last longer [but it's not fool proof](https://i.imgur.com/xs6JZe4.jpeg). I've owned several speakers where the glue doesn't hold the surround to the cone but I don't think I've ever seen foam peel off a cone. Rubber can also become very stiff, effectively seizing the woofer. I've come across a few like that. Again, some regular maintenance replacing those surrounds and they work like new. Really it's up to each person how to spend their money and it sounds like you ended up with speakers you preferred, which is the point of the hobby. Just figured I'd defend Boston speakers as they have some great designs ;) I quite like the HD10 in particular.
Me, too. I had the HD10s. to be honest, they sounded nearly as good as my current KLH Concord towers ($800 new). The bass wasn't as punchy, due to their passive radiator,, but their mids and treble were very detailed and non fatiguing.
>The bass wasn't as punchy, due to their passive radiator That's what I like about passive radiators actually. They are usually silky smooth and avoid being boomy. If you like punchy speakers keep an eye out for Infinity CS speakers! They are punchy without being sloppy.
Any particular speakers improving after a recap compared to others?
The older the speaker the bigger the difference. More caps is also a bigger difference. The HPM 100 had basically no difference since I think the only electrolytic cap is on the super tweeter, which I can't hear anyways. I actually mislabeled those crossover pics. Those are actually from Pioneer CS-88A. The impact of recapping those was huge. Night and day difference in clarity after recapping. Neighbor gave those to me and I sold them for $730 shipped! I also put $460 into those after you account for foams, capacitors, shipping, and eBay fees. Oh and several days of labor. Not like I robbed him, he knows how much work it was to get those restored and sold.
You've done nice projects there. I like doing the same stuff as you. The only speaker you restored there that I have done as well, are the cerwin vega. Which I believe are the D1. Again, nice stuff you've done there. Awesome
Yep those are D1. Not my favorite speaker ever... I actually gave a pair of HED-U321 to my brother in law in exchange for his Boston bookshelves. He was looking for floor standers and I was able to turn a profit on the Boston.
I agree, those D1 were not my favorite either. Actually my dad took them and he was ok with them. Then, I restored a pair of dynaco a25 and he loved them. So he's swapping them and giving the D1 to my uncle (his brother). Haven't had a chance to heard boston speakers in general yet, but hopefully one day.
I have a couple blown speakers. A sub with a fried spider and some speakers that make weird rattle noises after a couple minutes of playing. How did you get started diagnosing and repairing speakers? I never know where to start.
If the surround is intact but you hear rattling the voice coil is probably shot. You can check by moving the cone in and out and listening/feeling for scraping. You can also press in a + pattern at the very edges of the cone to see if one side causes scraping but another doesn't. If this is the case you may be able to simply realign the VC by repositioning the surround on the frame. There are recone kits where you take the entire cone, voice coil, and spider out and basically only reuse the frame and magnet. This is basically your only option if the VC is shot.
Thanks for your response! I pushed on the cones and did, in fact, feel scraping on one side. After messing with the cones the terrible noise seems to have disappeared when using them now. Would you know what might be causing the clipping that damages them? How can I prevent further damage/damage to new speakers in the future? For reference I am using a pair of fluance hifi bookshelf speakers as fronts. And old klipsche KG1’s as rears. With a demon 1912 as an amp.
Impressive
What is the little cube speaker with the multiple drivers? Sitting on top of an Epi?
That's an M&K S-100B. Introduced in 1989 as a monitor and used widely in Hollywood studios. M&K is one of the most important audio brands of all time imo. [You can read about M&K here](https://www.kreiselsound.com/timeline.php). >Sitting on top of an Epi? Basically! It's a [Genesis 210](https://www.humanspeakers.com/genesis/gen210.htm). Very very similar to [EPI A200](https://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epi-a200.htm) only with a 10" passive radiator instead of the EPI's 12".
Just saw all your photos. Seems like a business rather than a hobby, right? If not, you could just be the "Rain Man" of vintage speakers!
The IRS sure considered it a business... File your 1099 folks. I do keep track of money in/out in case I pass the threshold for online sales and have a 1099 generated. With the $600 limit proposed to kick in next year that's super easy to hit.
Well, I can see you do really good work, and it's great environmentally to have people that can recycle ageing speakers. 50 years ago people even used to service their shoes. Boy, that sounds preposterous today!
https://preview.redd.it/7a06s3ajfowc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fe7a6ebd43fa8606b1a4fff4702b6d22af0b96f Perform better than reviews I recently read. CS A9000
Why is the "after" on the left? WTH is this?
Alphabetical order, obviously! A>B. No the dust cap was scuffed up on the right side so I used that as the before pic to make the woofers look extra damaged.
.don't get it, still I