10 replies to this topic

[Pete B]

>If any of you have a mint pair of totally original Dynaco
>A-25's you might want to give Stereophile Editor John Atkinson
>an email as they have been doing reviews and tests of vintage
>gear and just finished one in the previous issue of
>Stereophile on the Small Advent.
>
>I wish I had never sold my A-25 or my AR 3a's for that matter.
>It might be fun to see how they test after all these years.
>
>www.stereophile.com
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim Tavegia

I have a pair about ready, do you have an e-mail address?
These are not mint, but they're functionally fine, and I've tested
the drivers/system.

Pete B.

[dynaco_dan]

>If any of you have a mint pair of totally original Dynaco
>A-25's you might want to give Stereophile Editor John Atkinson
>an email as they have been doing reviews and tests of vintage
>gear and just finished one in the previous issue of
>Stereophile on the Small Advent.
>
>I wish I had never sold my A-25 or my AR 3a's for that matter.
>It might be fun to see how they test after all these years.
>
>www.stereophile.com
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim Tavegia

Hi Jim;

I am still happy with my AR-3A's and A-25's after all these years.

I am particularly happier with the no-rot Dynaco surrounds.

I do know that there are much better speakers and associated equipment today, at an elevated price as well.

It is now maybe impossible to find out which version of Dynaco A-25 speakers J. Gordon Holt did such a rave review of, initially.

I believe he did a backtrack in in his enthusiasm the following issue.

Probably flack from all the KLH Nines and Altec A7 speakers systems owners and other more expensive systems.

I would welcome J. Gordon Holt commenting on this, if he will.

It is easy to re-think ones opinion after a good night sleep, but after it is published it is too late.

I remember my big bros subscribed to his Stereophile magazine back then, it was our hifi bible, then.

My big bros threw out a few of those back issues a few years ago.

J. Gordon Holt may not have known that there were at least 2 versions of A-25's being sold as well.

Even my working at the warantee depot I had no knowledge of the Scan version, I had to see a pair in a store at that time and spotted the inverted fibreglas opening through the grill cloth.

It was not until I started ebaying and especially this site that I became aware of so many differences.

Scan or Seas drivers.

I am certain that Dynaco did not just change suppliers of their drivers without they sounded familylike.

It would be interesting to read of someones first hand knowledge of that transistion.

Even second or third hand would be welcome.

I have seen mirror images of each version as well on ebay.

When I worked at the local Dynaco warantee depot, we only received Seas replacement woofers and tweeters.

We did go through a lot of woofers under warantee, an awful lot, hardly ever a tweeter.

There was memos warning us of if we heard a faint buzzing and even if the woofer was burnt it was covered under warantee.

This faint buzzing is the insulation adhesive they used to bind the voice coil together and when you hear a faint buzzing, the bubbles are rubbing in the magenetic gap.

Even today it may be possible to disassemble the cone and polish the bubbles down.

I've never done it, but anything is possible and considering if that is all that is wrong with the woofer, then its certainly worth a try.

Apparently some of the adhesive glueing the voice coil to the former failed to bond and the voice coil slipped back and forth.

If memory serves me right, SCA-80 and Q's took out a lot, too much heavy rock and drugs back then.

I would appreciate a copy of the original Stereophile A-25 review if anyone can scan a copy, please.

[Wally]

Try the Dynaco site.

Can't remember the URL but it did give info on the differences between the different versions of A25's.

[Pete B]

Thanks for your comments Wally, I wonder how different the XL is?
Your observations in comparing to a newer design make a lot of sense. I notice that the A25 sounds best below the woofer axis, and with some tilt back to bring the woofer forward, seems to come into focus but the A25 and A25-XL could be different in this sense. Thanks again.

Pete B.

[Wally]

Hi Pete,

Couldn't remmeber what thread we started this in.

Anyway, I listened to the A25XL's tonite with music and pink and white noise.

My preferred listening position would bewith the center of the speaker enclosure at ear level, that would be aboutan inch below the top of the woofer.

With my ears above that point the sound seems trebly and overly bright in balance. Below that it sounds heavy and too much mid bass.
Curiously I can move my head left and right almost a foot each way from center with no apparent difference in response when in alistening position centered between the two. I tilted them back up to 30 degrees back with little change in the response.... thsi from my preferred height of mid speaker ear height.

On a comparison to an adjacent pair of Boston A70's, th Dynaco's seem dark and mid bass heavy. I had to turn the tweeter pots up to full to approximate the high end sound of the A70's. They don't have an adjustement for the tweeters. The A70's exhibited less change in response than the A25's when changing height. This may be due to a different crossover frequency and the A70's have 8" woofers instead of 10's like the A25's.

My Dynacos are a centered vertical array with about 1/2" separation between the edges of the woofer and the tweeter.

Hope this is of some use to you.

[craig]

>If any of you have a mint pair of totally original Dynaco
>A-25's you might want to give Stereophile Editor John Atkinson
>an email as they have been doing reviews and tests of vintage
>gear and just finished one in the previous issue of
>Stereophile on the Small Advent.
>
>I wish I had never sold my A-25 or my AR 3a's for that matter.
>It might be fun to see how they test after all these years.
>
>www.stereophile.com
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim Tavegia

Hi Jim;

I am still happy with my AR-3A's and A-25's after all these years.

I am particularly happier with the no-rot Dynaco surrounds.

I do know that there are much better speakers and associated equipment today, at an elevated price as well.

It is now maybe impossible to find out which version of Dynaco A-25 speakers J. Gordon Holt did such a rave review of, initially.

I believe he did a backtrack in in his enthusiasm the following issue.

Probably flack from all the KLH Nines and Altec A7 speakers systems owners and other more expensive systems.

I would welcome J. Gordon Holt commenting on this, if he will.

It is easy to re-think ones opinion after a good night sleep, but after it is published it is too late.

I remember my big bros subscribed to his Stereophile magazine back then, it was our hifi bible, then.

My big bros through out a few of those back issues a few years ago.

J. Gordon Holt may not have known that there were at least 2 versions of A-25's being sold as well.

Even my working at the warantee depot I had no knowledge of the Scan version, I had to see a pair in a store at that time and spotted the inverted fibreglas opening through the grill cloth.

It was not until I started ebaying and especially this site that I became aware of so many differences.

Scan or Seas drivers.

I am certain that Dynaco did not just change suppliers of their drivers without they sounded familylike.

It would be interesting to read of someones first hand knowledge of that transistion.

Even second or third hand would be welcome.

I have seen mirror images of each version as well on ebay.

When I worked at the local Dynaco warantee depot, we only received Seas replacement woofers and tweeters.

We did go through a lot of woofers under warantee, an awful lot, hardly ever a tweeter.

There was memos warning us of if we heard a faint buzzing and even if the woofer was burnt it was covered under warantee.

This faint buzzing is the insulation adhesive they used to bind the voice coil together and when you hear a faint buzzing, the bubbles are rubbing in the magenetic gap.

Even today it may be possible to disassemble the cone and polish the bubbles down.

I've never done it, but anything is possible and considering if that is all that is wrong with the woofer, then its certainly worth a try.

Apparently some of the adhesive glueing the voice coil to the former failed to bond and the voice coil slipped back and forth.

If memory serves me right, SCA-80 and Q's took out a lot, too much heavy rock and drugs back then.

I would appreciate a copy of the original Stereophile A-25 review if anyone can scan a copy, please.

I have a mint pair that were rehabbed in a way i don't like (crossovers).
If they want to help me make them original again i would be glad to let them test them, no damage at all on the good pair drivers and tweeters, my other pair has a damaged woofer from a bad room mate i no longer have, it was repaired.
It may be the rehab that is bringing more imperfections in my pre amp but at louder volumes it seems to be a little too piercing in the highs after rehabbing crossovers.
Here is a pic of of one i failed to take a good pic of both left and right of the good pair in one pic, but i can take more pics if interested, The first pic is "R" for pair that are mint with red fronts, B for pic with damaged woofer pair and black fronts. The ones that appear reddish have tweeter on other side, kinda strange.

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[Horswispr]

I've had one pair of Dynaco A-25XLs pass through here. I didn't like them as much as the originals. Here's my summary. See also the Most recent comment to the review from someone named Sam-pro.

http://www.epinions....nt_554942697092

If the original wroter's A-25XLS were vertically aligned, mightn't they have been later American A-25XLs? The Danish XLs I had here for awhile had the drivers aligned like original A-25s, both SCAN and SEAS.

[dynaco_dan]

I've had one pair of Dynaco A-25XLs pass through here. I didn't like them as much as the originals. Here's my summary. See also the Most recent comment to the review from someone named Sam-pro.

http://www.epinions....nt_554942697092

If the original wroter's A-25XLS were vertically aligned, mightn't they have been later American A-25XLs? The Danish XLs I had here for awhile had the drivers aligned like original A-25s, both SCAN and SEAS.

Hi Colin

I certainly enjoy your reviews at Epionion.

I scanned a review of the Dynaco A-25XL speaker system and see why Dynaco never used it in their advertising.

When I have my own computer up and running soon I will post it and comment.

It was quite an eye opener for me, to be sure.

I rescued and still have a pair of A-25XL's bought during my rescueing days.