Different A-25 Components

[cruisaire]

For some reason, my tweeter/drivers don't look anything like the commonly listed manufacturer types. Any ideas?

[Horswispr]

It looks like you have (what I've always assumed to be) an early American Dynaco A-25 pair. The Scanspeak A-25s (thought by most to be the earliest) also had 3-hole tweeters, but I don't think yours are Scanspeaks. The woofers are slightly different as well, and my guess is they don't say SEAS on the backs. Does it say Made in Denmark near the terminals? If so, then my hypothesis is wrong (assuming the drivers to be original). But my guess is that it doesn't.

If you get a chance, try to A-B yours with some "regular" A-25s and see if you can hear a difference. I've always wondered about the "red tweeter" Dynaco A-25s. I've never heard a pair. The cabinets ARE high quality walnut veneer, right? Were the screens off-white? Or the later reddish tan?

Keep us posted,

--Horse

For some reason, my tweeter/drivers don't look anything like the commonly listed manufacturer types. Any ideas?

[cruisaire]

These don't say made in Denmark as my others do. My Dynaco A-25s have yellow insulation, these had pink. Grills are off white. The cabs were walnut veneer and pretty much trashed on the corners, back edges and bottoms. Had to let 'em go but gently removed the crossover boards, grills and kept the tweeter/drivers. I'm not typically into gutting quality speakers, but the boxes just weren't worth the significant effort to bring 'em back. Tweeters check out at 6.3 and 6.5 ohms. Woofer surrounds are rubber and completely intact.

It looks like you have (what I've always assumed to be) an early American Dynaco A-25 pair. The Scanspeak A-25s (thought by most to be the earliest) also had 3-hole tweeters, but I don't think yours are Scanspeaks. The woofers are slightly different as well, and my guess is they don't say SEAS on the backs. Does it say Made in Denmark near the terminals? If so, then my hypothesis is wrong (assuming the drivers to be original). But my guess is that it doesn't.

If you get a chance, try to A-B yours with some "regular" A-25s and see if you can hear a difference. I've always wondered about the "red tweeter" Dynaco A-25s. I've never heard a pair. The cabinets ARE high quality walnut veneer, right? Were the screens off-white? Or the later reddish tan?

Keep us posted,

--Horse

[slim tidwell]

Hi all ! I have the same exact set of a25's as pictured in the first post. I also have the more common version with the seas woof and tweeter.

I do believe the insulation in the less common (Seems like you'all refer to them as 'early american') is pink entirely and is the loose kind you see in the walls of your home while the insulation in the more common pair is yellowish with a more rigid type applied to outside faces. The early american is filled to the brim with insulation while the more common version has some open space.

The cab of the early american is nice real wood venner walnuttish while the more common cabs are real wood veneer cherry looking. Both sets look great !

The 'early american' 3 hole tweeter is quite different than the 4 hole in the more common version. I've swapped them in an out of each set, both of which have stock 5uf caps in crossovers. The 3 hole is a more mellow and veiled sound but nice. I've considered swapping them for the modern SEAS Prestige 27TFFC, but at $90, I'm not sure it's a good gamble, especially since I dislike most modern hifi gear. I do like the tweets in the more common set a touch more. A bit more realistic and more extended for sure.

The woofers are also quite different sounding. Neither is 'better' but it is nice to have both sets since different music is better suited to each.

The seas woofer has more overall bass and a different character. The midrange is also different. I actually prefer the mids on the 'early american' models, (but maybe prefer the lows and highs of the seas models.) The mids in the early american are fuller and richer, emphasizing male vocals more (low mids) whereas the seas models emphasize the female vocal more (high mids). This fact is the biggest difference between the two pair for me....... I prefer a rich low mid heavy sound generally. The mids are also in different spaces in terms of where they come out of the overall sound window, maybe further back in the 'early emerican' version, but yet more rich. Kind of a dichotomy but hard to describe.

But the short story is that I love each of these versions of the dynaco a25 ! by far my favorite speaker of those i've tried in similar configurations. For example, compared to similary sized ADS, the dynaco have less 'clarity' and punch but a more overall natural and enjoyable sound. While i like old ADS 2-ways too, they can be a touch mechanical sounding whereas the dynaco are 'earthy' and visceral in a more mellow way. Amp is and old mac 250, no pre.