Its a retro revival yo!

[sbisheff]

Many of you have seen my threads or posting about doing DIY and other things and just haven't been able to find what I really wanted. I thought I had decided on a few things then would do even more research and find out it wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted something to replace my ELT525M's and X-LS Encore's with something fuller sounding and better imaging.

I researched and researched and was going through Craigslist the other night and came across a set of vintage (early 80's) Boston Acoustics A-150's. My father in law has a mint set of these and I really like the way they sound. Well I look in the picture and it looks like there are two sets. The guy is asking $125 which is a very good price for these so I email him. He writes back and we exchange emails back and forth and he agrees to sell me BOTH sets of A-150's for $225 total! "thumbsup:

I went by his place today after work, took a listen and inspected them. Both have been refoamed and are the original series I design (the most desireable) but as you can see, even within the first gen there were slight changes to the faceplate of the tweeter as well as the cabinets themselves. The ones with the flat tweeter plate and larger oak overlay on the front are from the earliest of these made (serial numbers in the 800's). The others are from the 12k's.

I got them home and all cleaned up, put some wood cleaner on them and bring one of the sets upstairs. They're all hooked up to my Rotel RSX-1056 and sounding fantastic! I couldn't listen to them much tonight as it was already late but what I have so far ... WOO HOO!! They image SO MUCH BETTER and are so much more full sounding than any of the speakers I've had in this setup:

X-SLS
X-LS
ELT525M
Aperion 6B

So far, I'm stoked! I'm going to sand down the oak and stain it dark to match the woods we have in the room. I'm also thinking of disassembling one of the spare 150's and build a custom center channel with the drivers and crossover for this.

Here are the pictures before I cleaned them:




Earliest series on the right, the newest ones on the left







Earliest tweet:



Later Tweet:



You can see the two closest are the later series but the cabinets are in the worst shape:





Older set all cleaned up:



And all in place:

[InfernoSTi]

That looks way old skool cool....

[edward]

very nice looking speakers
And the Rotel gear isn't bad either:)

[sbisheff]

I spent quite a bit more time with these tonight, got my Rotel RSX-1056 all re-tuned and level matched to these speakers (MUCH more efficient than my last couple sets) and brought down my Rotel RCD-955AX CD player from upstairs.

I have to say that I am so impressed with these guys; its crazy :rock: They have great bass response that hits hard and is very clean. You can literally feel the kickdrum on songs and hear the mallet hitting the drums, not just a loud boom like what you get through most subs. It is very articulate. Midrange vocals are luscious and even though the speakers are a bit on the short side, they play well above their height. At normal sitting level on the couch there is no issue with the tweeters and mid being below ear level which really surprised me.

I honestly think this is the best audio purchase I've ever made. One set for $125 is fantastic. I really can't wait to get more time just sitting and listening. I'm totally in awe of what these old guys can do :whoopie:

[hawkeyejw]

Those look super cool! Pretty amazing to think that something build nearly 30 years ago and so cheap to buy today can make you so happy after switching from much newer speakers. And add to that the fact that they actually look really cool, just need some other speaker grilles to match the color on those and you're all set!

[sbisheff]

Those look super cool! Pretty amazing to think that something build nearly 30 years ago and so cheap to buy today can make you so happy after switching from much newer speakers. And add to that the fact that they actually look really cool, just need some other speaker grilles to match the color on those and you're all set!

It it is pretty crazy. I mean, the drivers look totally old school as does the cabinet and grills but they sound so dang good :whoopie:

The grills actually look really good in person and I'm going to refinish both sets of cabinets and stain them darker to match the furniture in the room but for now, I'm just totally enjoying them.

I was worried a bit that I might need more power for them since my Rotel is only 85 REAL WPC (not like Denon or Sony or ... watts on a receiver!) but they totally don't need more. This is plenty of power for them!

Ahh, how great it is to revel in a good purchase with zero buyers remorse :saywhat:

[corndog71]

Did you ever modify your old X-series speakers? Ninja Upgrades? No Rez?

[django1]

I'm going to sand down the oak and stain it dark to match the woods we have in the room.

You might not be aware of this but if that is oak veneer you want to be very careful sanding. It is easy to sand through the veneer. You might want to research your alternatives before you grab the sander...

This on the other hand is quite easy to do :

[sbisheff]

Did you ever modify your old X-series speakers? Ninja Upgrades? No Rez?

Nope never upgraded them. I still have my X-LS' in Piano Rosewood that have the Encore upgrade as well as my ELT525M's. I may upgrade those sometime in the future.

I didn't get new speakers because I wasn't happy with the sound of the two extra set of bookshelves I had, I got new speakers because I wanted to go a totally different path and experience things outside of the AV123/Danny Richie designed world. Danny's a great guy and fantastic at what he does but almost my entire history of speakers have been AV123/Danny Richie speakers. It was time for experimentation :D

[sbisheff]

You might not be aware of this but if that is oak veneer you want to be very careful sanding. It is easy to sand through the veneer. You might want to research your alternatives before you grab the sander...

This on the other hand is quite easy to do :

Oh really? I didn't know that. Why do you need to be so careful? Is Oak veneer thinner than other veneers?

[bunnyma357]

Congratulations on the amazing deal, those look really cool. I've got a 26 year old pair of Allison's that still sound great. It is really neat having an older pair of speakers that were designed well enough to still sound great.


Jim C

[corndog71]

Nope never upgraded them. I still have my X-LS' in Piano Rosewood that have the Encore upgrade as well as my ELT525M's. I may upgrade those sometime in the future.

I didn't get new speakers because I wasn't happy with the sound of the two extra set of bookshelves I had, I got new speakers because I wanted to go a totally different path and experience things outside of the AV123/Danny Richie designed world. Danny's a great guy and fantastic at what he does but almost my entire history of speakers have been AV123/Danny Richie speakers. It was time for experimentation :D

I hear you about wanting to try new things. We all have our particular tastes. I've been on this journey for 15 years and have owned several different brands over the years. For my ears, all I can say is Danny really knows what he's doing. I have AV123 SLS, Voce, a pair of XCS' and now a pair of Omnis.

For all but the Omni's I've upgraded them with sonicaps including platinum bypasses on the tweeter caps. In each case it took them to a whole new level. Just listening to the omnis I can hear how badly the stock caps are holding them back. The encore tweeter is waaay better with sonicaps.

It appears to me that most speaker companies skimp on the crossover parts before anything else and they get away with it because they can hide them inside the speaker. Heck, even AV123 does it.

But yeah, it's fun to try different brands. I still have a killer pair of Klipsch KG4.2 towers. The last ones designed by the old man himself! They have some limitations but can really rock the house with not a lot of power. :rock:
I even upgraded the crossovers in those and heard a substantial improvement. I still want a pair of B&W DM303's as they were one of the best sounding bookshelf speakers I've ever heard.

[sbisheff]

Oh I definitely agree that Danny really knows what he's doing. No question there. Its just nice to get a different take on how stuff should sound as every designer comes with their notion of what sounds "right" and its fun to hear what is "right" to a different designer.

I have heard great things about upgrading the crossovers in the AV123 speakers and plan on doing a ninja master for my X-Voce but just not quite yet. It'll be a fun project when I do it though!

[django1]

Oh really? I didn't know that. Why do you need to be so careful? Is Oak veneer thinner than other veneers?

Not necessarily thinner. Have you tried doing what you propose to do before? If you have done it with success great! If not just be aware that it is fairly easy to sand through the veneer especially around the edge or somewhere you might be trying to remove a dark spot. This applies mostly to sanding with an electric sander...

[sbisheff]

Not necessarily thinner. Have you tried doing what you propose to do before? If you have done it with success great! If not just be aware that it is fairly easy to sand through the veneer especially around the edge or somewhere you might be trying to remove a dark spot. This applies mostly to sanding with an electric sander...

Got ya, I have not done it before but my dad (who would be helping me) has done this before. I was just planning on using a hand sander (non powered), block type (sorry I don't know the trade name) to do a light sanding which would hopefully get the spots out and give me the base I need to stain/finish them. My dad's built speakers and veneered stuff in the past so I'm sure he knows how to do it but of course the research is half the fun as well.

Thanks for the heads up, though, I'll be sure to pay closer attention now that you've mentioned it :salute: