Old Dynaco Speakers?

With reference to another thread..."High End" is not eqivalent to "High Price".

Also, the type of music is a major factor. As I have said a few times, really lousy horn driver speakers sound really good when you play dixieland jazz. I have some little B&W monitors that are exceptional for solo violin. (They are about the size of a violin body). KLH5 speakers were great for spoken dialog. Getting it right for all kinds of sound is difficult and that is what you are paying for with High End speakers. However, for some one particular type of sound, an elcheapo speaker might be the best.

here in is the irony of today's hi end...and why so many audiophiles are going retro. no one makes 'em like they used to..not even the guys who used to.

I used a pair of Dynaco A-25 speakers for a good while driven by a Dynaco Stereo 150 and a PAT 5 preamp. It made for excellent sound by any standards and you never felt anything was missing. My source (main) was a Dual 1229 Turntable with a Shure V15 Type III and then a V15 Type IV. I eventually changed to a double stack of the (at the time) "New" Advent speakers. Hafler and Kloss were some of the best and they will be missed.

Amazing how we forgot how good the old vintage stuff sounds -turntables, speakers & event the solid state amps, tuners & rcvs. & built to last

If i remember correctly, the old Dyna speakers used Seas woofers in an aperiodic ( vario-vent ) cabinet and were pretty good sounding for what they were. I can't remember what kind of tweeters they used though.

Quite honestly, thanks for posting what you did. I've discussed this very subject with quite a few folks and many people swear that "old speakers suck" and "can not compare" with newer models. All i can tell you is that if you took those Dyna's and upgraded the crossover parts / wiring, you might not like your VA speakers too much anymore, especially for the price differences : )

The "old school" speakers that were sealed / aperiodic / transmission line designs are typically much better sounding than newer designs using ports and passive radiators. Granted, drivers HAVE gotten better and technology has moved forward, but the concerns over efficiency ( quantity of sound ) have typically caused the quality of sound to take a beating. This is not to mention the increased profit margin that most "high end" manufacturers and dealers want to make resulting in a lower grade product with more corners cut selling for a higher price. Sean
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Sean, I wonder how many of the current posters here on this forum were around with these speakers to know if they "Sucked" or not. Kind of hard to get a pair this old in "Perfect" working order to compare to newer speakers.
I agree with you. I sure wish I'd kept a few to "Upgrade" with todays cap technology.

loudspeaker designs have not necessarally moved forward. in fact one might say they've gotten a lot worse. the trade off for making speakers 'disappear' is making the music disappear with them. just several of hundreds of examples ....compare the b&w 801 matix to the newer model...compare any of the classic klipsch designs to the newer models...and yes even the earlier sonus faber models will sound better than any of the new stuff...does anyone remember the paridigm export or the celestion ditton line....i could go on and on and......

Would u like to sell me your A35 s? thanks shay

Shay, you might want to take a look at the dates on the posts that precede yours!
-Bob

FWIW, here is a copy of a post I made on another thread of same theme. The topic was my impressions of the old Infinity 2000a electrostats.

"I used to own the [Infinity] 2000a electrostats too. They followed me around for almost 35 years! By the time I put them out of their misery, the woofer surrounds had dry rotted and I think the electrostatic tweeters were shot. . . . .

As I recall, when J. Gordon Holt's Stereophile magazine was still a little booklet pub that came out every couple of months back in the 70s, the 2000a was rated Class B, which was pretty impressive. Aside from using electrostatic tweaters made by RTR, the 2000a supposedly even loaded a crude transmission line woofer. I say crude because compared to a Vandy transmission line set up which uses highly damped baffles and compartments, the 2000a transmission line looked like a bass reflex port that was hand stuffed with damping material.

So, I kinda agree with [A'gon member]'s comment that speaker technology has moved on in the last 30 to 40 years. My goodness, the 2000a was loaded with a midrange and woofer that used a paper/cardboard cone. Heck, the woofer's cone was hand damped with putty on the outside around the voice coil.

Thanks for the memories."