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Boston Acoustics A-60's - Tweeters


Guest Scorpion8

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Guest Scorpion8

I know that replacement tweeters are available for the BA A-40 series from Madisound Speaker Components, but I have my eye on a pair of BA A-60's at the thrift with the 1st generation cone 1-1/2" tweeter. Trouble is they've been cut by some errant fool, and would need to be replaced. I don't see anything similar in the Madisound catalog.

Does anybody know of a source for replacement tweeters, or an acceptable substitute? Thanks.

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Guest Cliff

Hey Scorp,

Love your moniker. I have all but one original imports of their 12" LP's from Action to Lovedrive.

Anyway, I believe I have a pair of A-60's at home that are for sale but I'll have to double check the model. I think the woofer surrounds are shot but I'm pretty sure the tweeters are good. I'll check tonight when I get home and let you know tomorrow, maybe we can work something out so you can take two pairs and make one good pair?

Whaddya think?

Cliff

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Guest Scorpion8

Cliff -- Sounds good, but I'm in the boonies of America far far away from civilzation. I could probably just use the tweeters rather than shipping the entire enclosures as pre-scrap all the way to Alaska.

Been a Scorps fan since 1978. I even have one of their German-language releases. Although I hate to admit it's probably time for them to all retire and age more gracefully.

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Guest Cliff

Scorp,

An original German language release? Sweet! Which album?

I don't really want to part out the speakers, they are in great shape except for the woofer surrounds. The cabinets, tweeters and grills are in excellent condition and would be perfect for restoration. If you pass on the thrift ones, these would be easy and the only work would be re-edging. Something to think about.

Cliff

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Guest Scorpion8

Absolutley, I'll ponder that. Am leaving on vacation for a week so I'll let you know when I get back.

The Scorps German release is one from before "Fly to the Rainbow". The band members are different, I think only Klaus and Rudolph might be the same. I'll have to dig it out of storage and look.

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Guest Cliff

Hey Scorp,

Take your time on your decision, I'm not actively trying to sell the speakers, but if someone wants them...

The only album before "Fly to the Rainbow" was "Action" which was later changed to "Lonesome Crow". I guess Lonesome Crow sounded cooler. Anyway, now I have to look for one of those.

Peace,

Cliff

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Hello Scorp,

Boston Acoustics is still around, and they sell replacement drivers for their classic models. I know for a fact that they sell the woofers for the 1st generation A60s at a price of $40 each. It is likely that they also sell the tweeters. Here is the phone number:

Boston Acoustics: (978) 538-5000

I called them, because I picked up a pair of 1st gen. A60s from the trash on the sidewalk recently. One woofer is bad on mine, but the tweeters work fine. If you get really desperate, I might be convinced to sell you the tweeters from mine, as I am not currently using them, but try calling the company first. That may work just fine. Good luck.

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Guest Scorpion8

Thanks Bandolino. I just refoamed my A-60's and can't wait for the glue to cure. I wanna hear them bad! I'll try calling BA and see if they have the generation 1 tweeters for these.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Guest Scorpion8

No, this project kind of fell on the back burner. I refoamed the woofers and they seem to play and image just fine. I am thinking my tweeters don't need replacement, but you can contact the member above who offered them.

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I have decided to hang onto these speakers for now, because I found out that the problem I thought I had with the woofer is probably completely fixable by simply refoaming. So, the tweeters are not for sale after all, unfortunately.

If the speakers you have do include the tweeters, but the tweeters appear to not be working, there is at least a chance that the problem is actually not with the tweeters, but with the capacitors in the speaker's crossover. You can test this, by taking the tweeter out of the cabinet, and connecting the speaker wire from the amp directly to the bare wire or terminals of the tweeter itself, so that no capacitors are in between.

You must use extreme caution with this method to avoid doing damage to the tweeter! Also, I am no expert, so I won't guarantee that this won't damage your tweeters. However, I have used this method on one of my own tweeters, and it worked fine. There is another method to test if a driver is working, that does not risk damage; it involves using an electronic meter of some sort, but I don't know the details. Here is what I did:

First, connect the wires with the amp turned off--the positive, or red wire going to the positive terminal of the tweeter, and the negative, or black wire going to the negative terminal. Before you turn on the amp, make sure that the volume control is set to the absolute lowest setting (if it were playing, it would be silent), the bass control is turned all the way down, and the balance control is set all the way to the side of the tweeter you are testing. Tweeters are easily damaged by trying to play low frequency sounds (low notes), and the lower the volume of the sound, the less chance of damage. Now you can turn on the amp and a sound source, and very slowly turn the volume up, listening for the tiniest bit of sound. You can do this test at very low volume levels; it is best not to turn it any higher, because that risks damage to the tweeter. If the sound you hear is not distorted, and matches the level of sound you would get at that volume from a working speaker, then your tweeter is probably ok.

When I tested a tweeter this way, I first tried it with the capacitor in the line of the signal (in between amp and tweeter). I had to turn the volume up very high to hear a very small sound from the tweeter. But when I connected the speaker wire directly to the tweeter terminals, I could hear the tweeter with the volume at very low levels.

I know this is a long description, but I hope it might help a little. Good luck with your speakers.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest southphillyboy2

I have some ba a60s for sale

The woofers an tweeters work fine there in almost flawless condition

Email me southphillyboy2@tmail.com

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