Dynaco A25s: best Valentine's Day gift ever?

[wiredbecker]

Also, found a nice pair of A25s for $30 at a rummage sale yesterday!

[nyazzip]

just ripped into one of my new a25s this evening....dang near wrecked the tweeter(still possible that i did)....now i know what a dome tweeter is! i didn't really expect the back of it to fall out when i removed the mount screws
anyway, just wondering how critical the capacitor values are; guess i'll replace it. is there some sort of engineering ideal that i should shoot for? is an "overcapacitance" value bad? will a high voltage/high capacitance number be as transparent as a cheaper smaller one? cost (it seems)is really not an object; these speakers are mine: i can swing an extra $1.19 per speaker if it can really make a difference, ya know?
i posted some new pics at this link: http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii229/nyazzip/

the cabinets are hopelessly fragged, deep scratches and chipped off/separated veneer. i can't decide what i'm going to do with them. i think for the grills i'm going to get some NOS "Marshall" salt n pepper cloth...looks sharp as heck. i have even been considering mocking up the cabs to look like guitar amps, with tolex and chrome corners and stuff. nahh. then i'll have to route particleboard.
then the prospect of new cabinets starts coming into view...would solid pine, built to the same dimensions/ original insulation, sound bad in a hi-fi speaker...? i know its not as dense. ok then, oak or maple? whats the word on the streets? how about asphalt roofing to dampen a resonant cabinet interior?

[nyazzip]

i just finally got around to pulling out the capacitors, they are labelled "Wilcon, For Crossover, 5uF, 50v peak".......just ordered the 4.7uF Solens, thanks for the recommendation. my a25s sound great and the caps appear just fine, but i don't want to have to rip into them again anytime soon, or imagine that i am hearing things, because i left the old caps in......
still not sure how to address the fragged veneer cabinets. guess i'm going to have to paint them
the binder posts are absolutely shiny, i guess it might be nickel plate. i can't justify replacing those.
will post pics in a month or so when they are done....need to see 70F and dry before i break out the rattle cans

[wiredbecker]

Why not just use them in their cosmetically challenged condition? If you are vigilant, you will find more pairs in better condition.

[K-MAN]

I've got the same problem with mine except the cabinets are in even worse shape Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_13 It looks like the only way to access the crossover is by removing the front speaker? BTW what is the rotary switch on the back for?

[erichayes]

That's a tweeter attenuator that you can use to tune the high frequency response of the A-25 to your room's acoustic characteristics. I believe the range was ±6 dB, but I can't recall the hinge frequency. Given the value of the crossover cap, I'm going to SWAG it at around 4 kc.

[nyazzip]

anyone here ever try painting dynaco cabs? just wondering what kind of prep is in order. i think i might just sand lightly and see what happens with rattle can primer and enamel
i tried some citri strip tonight, and it seemed to bring a nasty tar to the surface, but after i cleaned it off with paint thinner, it looked pretty much the same. i'm thinking if/after the stripper penetrates the veneer, it can't be good for the underlying glue layer.
also i think i might run the cab edges over a router to get rid of the knife edge corners, which are not practical over a lifetime of vacuum cleaning, moving vans, etc, but i worry how that vintage loose-looking particle board underneath the veneer will take to the router bit
on an unrelated note, i was surprised to see Dynaco used mahogany veneer on the back edges of my speakers- i can ID the mahogany clearly where there is damage and bare wood. the main surfaces do not appear to me mahogany though....

[wiredbecker]

Paint over the veneer? Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_21 You'd be surprised what a course steel wool will do to bring the surface back to its former glory. Also, power tools might be a little too aggressive for the veneer. I noticed you said you used paint thinner. Why? Careful removal of the Citrisolve with a putty knife should have left just about zero stripper on the cabs. Really.

[nyazzip]

i used thinner to mop up the oily mess of tar residue from the citri[solve/strip TM]. didn't look like it would evaporate any time soon
my veneer is chipped off, exposing the particleboard, in many places, so steelwool won't do much for me there.
but anyway, i did go ahead and try some corner rounding with the router. so far so good. so i'm committed to painting now. it stinks though, probably formeldehyde and god knows what in that early chipboard/MDF or whatever it is
believe me, i'm not a prissy neat freak- these speakers wouldn't simply "clean up" with steel wool. i think the brown wood/jute grill combo looked awful, even when pristine, anyhow. i don't mind 1920s, '30s, '40s, '50s, and most '60s design aesthetics, but early 1970s? nuh uh....too wisconsin-sabbath-stoner-den for me.....not that i'm above listening to "embryo" once in awhile
i'll post pics soon, i think you may be pleasantly surprised with my vision

[K-MAN]

Does anyone know how hard it would be to remove the top or side panels? I can't see anyway to fix the miter joint if it's coming apart. I have a sheet of mahogany veneer plywood I might replace it with.

[nyazzip]

my speakers are made of a pretty crumbly particleboard. i can't imagine trying to coax them apart with any success at all. if you're bent on having a traditional wood veneer finish, then maybe try injecting the separated joint with an epoxy or other glue to keep it together(woodworking stores sell syringes for this purpose), then either re-veneer over top of the old stuff, or live with the crappy re-glued edges.
but before i ever got around to messing with veneer, i think i would just rebuild entire new boxes from scratch- and then you are risking changing the a25 sound altogether.
veneer to me is cheesy- its trying to pretend that something is solid wood, when it ain't; its akin to plastic hubcaps that mimic alloy wheels on a car..... if veneer is done factory perfect, then fine- but when you start to see joints separating, and chips and scratches which reveal the underlay, then its brutal
for me, the decision to just paint was obvious- these speakers sound mighty good, but they were never elegant enough to be worth meticulous cosmetic restoration, or outright reconstruction...if they're fragged, they're fragged, and its time for a plan B

[TerrySmith]

I wonder how A-25's would sound if you built new cabs out of modern MDF to the same dimentions?

I would love to see speaker cabs made from real wood, but they just don't sound right.