Todays Find

[WRGKMC]

I was pulling out to go to work this morning and got two houses down and in front of a stack of stuff the neighbor had set out at the curb were a set of Bookshelf Speakers. I stopped a minute to look and saw they looked to be in good shape. Old but solid wood. I figured what the hell, I'll throw them in my trunk or I'll walk them back to the house if they are too big to get in the trunk. Even if the drivers are blown I have tons of speakers at home or I can get some replacements from Parts Express.

 

I didn't pay much attention to the brand other then to see they had a tag on them. I checked them out more closely when I went to lunch. Low and behold, if they weren't a set of vintage Dynaco A-25 Speakers made in Denmark. Anyone who is up on Hi Fi gear knows these can be worth allot of money if they are in good working order.

 

My first Google resulted in finding them being sold used for $300.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dynaco-A-25-Vintage-Speakers-w-Walnut-Cabinets-Very-Nice-/201267752660

 

 

Dynaco went out of business years ago, but collectors know they made some of the best Hi Fi gear. I repaired many of their heads. They sounded great but could be blown up so they wound up being very rare. .They did some strings things like wrap a coil around the power caps to act as an inductor. Not sure what that was about but it must have some basis in science. Transistors for them are real hard to find too.

 

I haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but it will likely be the first item on my list when I get home. I looked to see how they might be opened If they need new drivers. The back and sides are glued together. That leaves the front. I likely have to remove the grille cloth frames. I'm hoping they are either lightly tacked in place or velcroed. They may even predate Velcro so I may have to pry any glue used to hold them in place. In any case I'll find out. If they work well they may wind up being an addition to my recording studio.

 

You can see the typical 60's 70's grill cloth in place> no tears. Theres a little scuffs on the wood. Nothing major a little lemon oil cant fix.

 

 

 

They have crossover outs for the tweeters and wall hangers on them. Looks like they have been hung before. If they do work its not a bad day waking up and finding $300 sitting on the side of the street.

 

 

[WRGKMC]

I actually got to try them out last night and they worked like a champ. I thought I would try pulling the grill cloth panel off one to look at the speakers first. It wasn't going well. I got one corner loose and was able to feel the rubber surround (not foam) was good on the woofers then stopped. I saw no sense in going any farther if they worked well.

 

someone must have stored them in a damp garage. The bottoms were full of mildew and two of the corner seams on one were separating.

 

I got to work removing the mold and then treating them with lemon oil (mineral oil) I re-glued and clamped the seams on the one and other then a few splinters coming loose from the veneer wiping them down they really didn't need anything else besides straightening out one of the logo tags.

 

Brought them into my studio and made room for them on the top shelf of my console. I connected them up to a 50W JVC Head and they actually sounded pretty good. I spent a couple of hours playing back come commercial and recorded music to check their ranges out and was quite pleased with curb finds. These aren't in mint condition but I still think they could easily make me $100 each, especially because the woofers are vintage alnico speakers many like over ceramics. I can say they do pack a nice midrange tone to them. I tried one out on my living room stereo and compared it to the set of Jensens I have out there with 12" and they didn't show any signs or breakup, even with the bass cranked all the way up.