Dynaco Speaker Rediscovery

[thechatterboxman]

Review

Thank you for your reply. Cosmetically, my speakers are not "Mint." (I don't use that word much.) However, the speakers are very clean and presentable. As I said in my other post, the grilles are original with no tears, and only one small stain I'd never noticed until just after I'd told Vern there were no stains. (Funny how that works.)

It took me a while to get a handle on the sound of the A-50's, because the A-50's are very different from the newer and far more expensive speakers I've been using for a long time. The A-50's also had to "break-in" again, because I had never really used them very much. I think I can finally give folks some "feedback" on the A-50's sound. First, I kept listening for the "bass hump" one so often hears associated with the A-50's. I hear no bass hump. As Vern said, the A-50's must be off of the floor. They are not "floor-standing" speakers. If you put A-50's on the floor, you will indeed hear a "bass hump" and probably a fair amount of "boom" too. I've read that Dynaco sold stands for the A-50's, but I've never seen any of them. I also have the A-50's set up in a very long loom, which may help dissipate the A-50's supposed "bass hump."

The A-50's have what I would call a "laid-back" sound. They don't commit any glaring sins, but they don't make you go "Woo-hoo!" either. If you put on CD's or LP's that you thought sounded really good on other speakers, you might be disappointed with the way they sound on A-50's. I took this to be a lack of resolution, at first. The A-50's sound didn't surprise me, because my regular speakers are pretty good. I didn't expect to be blown away by the A-50's, and I wasn't.

As days have gone by and the A-50's have loosened up, I've begun to notice that certain pieces of music sound particularly "nice." This has happened most often when I play classical music. The A-50's can play rock music, but rock and roll is not their forte. If you want the A-50's to "Rock," you will need plenty of clean power.

As I said earlier, I did not consider the A-50's to be "high-rez" speakers. However, I had an interesting experience when I played a CD by a techno band I like called "Underworld." Underworld uses synthesizers and other electronic devices to create a very complex sound that requires speakers to resolve very fast, synthetically generated sounds which bounce back and forth from channel to channel and generate gut-thumping bass at the same time. I've heard this CD on a number of systems, and have heard a number of "high-end" speakers try to keep up with the music.

One of the things I've noticed about every system on which I've played this band's CD's is that most of the words in the vocals cannot be understood. The phrases I have been able to pick out here and there made no sense, which didn't help. I decided years ago that the vocals were just supposed to be part of the orchestrated sonic chaos Underworld uses to achieve their intended effect.

One day, I played an Underworld CD on the A-50's just to help break them in. For the first time, the A-50's did something that made me stop and look at the speakers. As a song I've heard hundreds of times played, there were the words. They weren't shouted, or lost in the sonic blast. The words were just there. The words still didn't make any sense, but they were there. The chest-compressing bass I've heard other systems try to extract from this song was absent, but there was bass.

Enough. If you want a pair of speakers that will anchor a home-theater sound system, you probably want something other than A-50's. They don't snap, crackle and pop and they don't go boom! However, if you use your system for music, especially acoustic music, (jazz, classical, etc.,) the A-50's might surprise you, if you give them a chance.

Three things the A-50s need. (1) They HAVE to be off of the floor. (2) They need a decent-sized room. If you have a small room and want to use Dynaco speakers, you might look at some of the smaller models. (3) This might surprise some of you, but A-50's love power. I got carried away once and played a growling blues track on this pair of A-50's far louder than I should have, and the speakers sounded great. I won't make a habit if doing that, but the A-50's didn't blow up the way the smaller Dynaco speakers seem to do when they are pushed hard.

Are A-50's equal to Klipsch speakers? NO. A-50's are the antithesis of anything with the name "Klipsch" on it. Are they the equal of the bigger Bozak systems? I certainly doubt it. Are they better than most people seem to think? Maybe so.

Randy

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Vern--

I am glad you enjoyed the pictures. I'm glad I was able to post them! It has been a while since I posted pictures of anything on the web. You have told me way more about the speakers than I would have ever known otherwise. I am going to copy and paste your post into an MS WORD document, so I can save it.

It is a pleasure to see minty grille cloths after all these years.

The grilles are indeed original, as far as I know. There are no tears or repairs. I see no evidence of them ever having been wet or "cleaned." When I got the speakers, the only real flaw, other than some superficial scuffs and nicks, was a missing "Dynaco" badge from one grille. I ordered a pair of the badges off of the auction site, and got badges that were a dead-on match for the one badge I had. I attached the "replacement" badge as closely as I could to where it is on the speaker that still has its original badge.

When I got the speakers, I sanded them lightly with a fine-grit sanding block and applied a number of coats of Tung-Oil. I like Tung Oil, because it penetrates, seals and strengthens wood. I lived in VA at the time, and humidity is often an issue there. I touched up a few small flaws in the cabinets' sharp edges, but other than that, the speakers are as I got them. I was lucky, because the speakers were not far from me. I went and picked them up, so I did not have to pay any shipping. I think I paid $189 for the pair. I would love to find another pair for that price, but I don't expect it to happen any time soon.

I only ever serviced one A-50 because of a defective woofer, in nearly 2 years of servicing at the local Dynaco warantee depot.

Thank is good to know. Thanks!

Randy

Hi again

I am guessing that maybe less than 5,000 A-50's were made compared to the over 1 million of the A-25's.

Due to the method that Dynaco used in applying serial numbers we will never know for certain.

There has been no published figures as to quantities other than the A-25.

The A-10 is a very over-looked model with a very high build quality and terribly under priced when new.

The less available supply of original woofer's would be the only issue I see.

[dynaco_dan]

Review

Thank you for your reply. Cosmetically, my speakers are not "Mint." (I don't use that word much.) However, the speakers are very clean and presentable. As I said in my other post, the grilles are original with no tears, and only one small stain I'd never noticed until just after I'd told Vern there were no stains. (Funny how that works.)

It took me a while to get a handle on the sound of the A-50's, because the A-50's are very different from the newer and far more expensive speakers I've been using for a long time. The A-50's also had to "break-in" again, because I had never really used them very much. I think I can finally give folks some "feedback" on the A-50's sound. First, I kept listening for the "bass hump" one so often hears associated with the A-50's. I hear no bass hump. As Vern said, the A-50's must be off of the floor. They are not "floor-standing" speakers. If you put A-50's on the floor, you will indeed hear a "bass hump" and probably a fair amount of "boom" too. I've read that Dynaco sold stands for the A-50's, but I've never seen any of them. I also have the A-50's set up in a very long loom, which may help dissipate the A-50's supposed "bass hump."

The A-50's have what I would call a "laid-back" sound. They don't commit any glaring sins, but they don't make you go "Woo-hoo!" either. If you put on CD's or LP's that you thought sounded really good on other speakers, you might be disappointed with the way they sound on A-50's. I took this to be a lack of resolution, at first. The A-50's sound didn't surprise me, because my regular speakers are pretty good. I didn't expect to be blown away by the A-50's, and I wasn't.

As days have gone by and the A-50's have loosened up, I've begun to notice that certain pieces of music sound particularly "nice." This has happened most often when I play classical music. The A-50's can play rock music, but rock and roll is not their forte. If you want the A-50's to "Rock," you will need plenty of clean power.

As I said earlier, I did not consider the A-50's to be "high-rez" speakers. However, I had an interesting experience when I played a CD by a techno band I like called "Underworld." Underworld uses synthesizers and other electronic devices to create a very complex sound that requires speakers to resolve very fast, synthetically generated sounds which bounce back and forth from channel to channel and generate gut-thumping bass at the same time. I've heard this CD on a number of systems, and have heard a number of "high-end" speakers try to keep up with the music.

One of the things I've noticed about every system on which I've played this band's CD's is that most of the words in the vocals cannot be understood. The phrases I have been able to pick out here and there made no sense, which didn't help. I decided years ago that the vocals were just supposed to be part of the orchestrated sonic chaos Underworld uses to achieve their intended effect.

One day, I played an Underworld CD on the A-50's just to help break them in. For the first time, the A-50's did something that made me stop and look at the speakers. As a song I've heard hundreds of times played, there were the words. They weren't shouted, or lost in the sonic blast. The words were just there. The words still didn't make any sense, but they were there. The chest-compressing bass I've heard other systems try to extract from this song was absent, but there was bass.

Enough. If you want a pair of speakers that will anchor a home-theater sound system, you probably want something other than A-50's. They don't snap, crackle and pop and they don't go boom! However, if you use your system for music, especially acoustic music, (jazz, classical, etc.,) the A-50's might surprise you, if you give them a chance.

Three things the A-50s need. (1) They HAVE to be off of the floor. (2) They need a decent-sized room. If you have a small room and want to use Dynaco speakers, you might look at some of the smaller models. (3) This might surprise some of you, but A-50's love power. I got carried away once and played a growling blues track on this pair of A-50's far louder than I should have, and the speakers sounded great. I won't make a habit if doing that, but the A-50's didn't blow up the way the smaller Dynaco speakers seem to do when they are pushed hard.

Are A-50's equal to Klipsch speakers? NO. A-50's are the antithesis of anything with the name "Klipsch" on it. Are they the equal of the bigger Bozak systems? I certainly doubt it. Are they better than most people seem to think? Maybe so.

Randy

Hi Randy

Are A-50's equal to Klipsch speakers? NO. A-50's are the antithesis of anything with the name "Klipsch" on it. Are they the equal of the bigger Bozak systems? I certainly doubt it. Are they better than most people seem to think? Maybe so.

If you haven't read the speaker shootout I posted please do so.

The A-50 was one of four in that contest and makes for some interesting comparisons.

Dynaco classic speakers are more in sonic comparison to AR, KLH, EPI, Advent, Allison, Bozak and the like, than Klipsch, EV, JBL, Altec, etc.

The Klipschorn was the most efficient speaker system sold when new..

Each speaker system sounds similar but not the exact same, sometimes even within one brand.

Perhaps in the future another visitor will have more data.

[thechatterboxman]

Hello Vern--

I didn't mean to imply that Klipsch speakers are better or worse than the Dynaco speakers, and yes, I know Dyna series of speakers are more in line the "East Coast" sound. I was trying to point out the entirely different approach to design and the difference in the results of those designs. I should not have used the word, "Equal." I could have worded that section of my "review" more clearly.

[thechatterboxman]

Vern--

Where can I find this review/shootout of yours? You told me how to find something you had in here, but I can't remember where I found it.

Randy

[dynaco_dan]

Vern--

Where can I find this review/shootout of yours? You told me how to find something you had in here, but I can't remember where I found it.

Randy

Hi Randy

Back out of this topic and goto, "other speakers & electronics" and see, "enjoyable reading at bed time".

I sure wish I had other issues from that same source.

Not a perfect comparison but I found it interesting seeing as how I don't have the opportunity to hear them together.

The tweeter used in the H-K speaker was the Philips 8 ohm dome unit which was quite inexpensive here way back when.

[thechatterboxman]

Hello Vern--

I found the article. I think I have seen that article before. I read whatever I could find on the A-50's over the years, and I looked especially hard for old data on them after I got my pair A-50's.

The Dynaco A-50 descriptions were interesting. The bass of the A-50's I have does not seem as distorted as the article would suggest, probably because I am using an amp with 220,000 microfarads of current storage. That much "torque" will make drivers do what they are supposed to do. However, the A-50's do not go as deep as one might think they would, since they have dual 10" woofers in each system. A-50's are not going to give anyone "chest compressions." I remember listening to the A-50's, liking the way they sounded, and wondering how they would sound with a modest-sized, high-quality subwoofer.

I also agree that the A-50's sound "comes out of the box" the most when they are being played at moderate to higher volume levels. A-50's won't reproduce shotguns or A-bombs, but they like to be pushed a little. The A-50's are apparently not as delicate as the other Dynaco speakers, and they respond well to moderate amounts of CLEAN power.

Oddly, I have never had the opportunity to listen to a set of AR-3's or AR-3A's, despite being in the hobby since the 1960's. No one I've known ever liked them particularly. I was a member of the Richmond Audio Society in Richmond, VA. for several years, and I was the president of the club when I had to leave the area to look after a disabled family member. Not one of our members ever mentioned AR speakers. I had a pair of AR-2AX's which seemed to work well, but I didn't keep them long. The AR-3(A) definitely seems to be a polarizing design. People either love them or don't care for them very much at all. I've heard AR-3A's dismissed as being "box speakers," when they've been compared to more contemporary designs.That said, their place as a landmark design is unquestionable.

The Infinity speakers in the article are models I've never heard, and HK was headed downhill by the time I came along. I have no opinions or observations about those models.

Thanks for posting the review.

Randy

[dynaco_dan]

Hello Vern--

I found the article. I think I have seen that article before. I read whatever I could find on the A-50's over the years, and I looked especially hard for old data on them after I got my pair A-50's.

The Dynaco A-50 descriptions were interesting. The bass of the A-50's I have does not seem as distorted as the article would suggest, probably because I am using an amp with 220,000 microfarads of current storage. That much "torque" will make drivers do what they are supposed to do. However, the A-50's do not go as deep as one might think they would, since they have dual 10" woofers in each system. A-50's are not going to give anyone "chest compressions." I remember listening to the A-50's, liking the way they sounded, and wondering how they would sound with a modest-sized, high-quality subwoofer.

I also agree that the A-50's sound "comes out of the box" the most when they are being played at moderate to higher volume levels. A-50's won't reproduce shotguns or A-bombs, but they like to be pushed a little. The A-50's are apparently not as delicate as the other Dynaco speakers, and they respond well to moderate amounts of CLEAN power.

Oddly, I have never had the opportunity to listen to a set of AR-3's or AR-3A's, despite being in the hobby since the 1960's. No one I've known ever liked them particularly. I was a member of the Richmond Audio Society in Richmond, VA. for several years, and I was the president of the club when I had to leave the area to look after a disabled family member. Not one of our members ever mentioned AR speakers. I had a pair of AR-2AX's which seemed to work well, but I didn't keep them long. The AR-3(A) definitely seems to be a polarizing design. People either love them or don't care for them very much at all. I've heard AR-3A's dismissed as being "box speakers," when they've been compared to more contemporary designs.That said, their place as a landmark design is unquestionable.

The Infinity speakers in the article are models I've never heard, and HK was headed downhill by the time I came along. I have no opinions or observations about those models.

Thanks for posting the review.

Randy

Hi Randy

i was a subscriber of The Stereophile Magazine back in the 1990's for a few years.

When I would read a review I was getting very confused.

If you used this equipment with a pair of speakers then when you added or changed to that they sounded different, for, better or worse.

Rarely did any two reviewers agree with the same choice.

I have a mid 1990's condensed issue ot the best of the best, so to speak.

It was painful to read, even in the upper end of unafforability, for me at least, there wasn't but a handful in complete agreement as to which to mate

what with.

These were full time sound testers, not casual listeners like most all of us here.

Most, if not all a - b tests are difficult beyond just comparing a pair of speakers, never mind 3 or 4 pairs.

This is side by side with the same amplification, etc.

Here someone arrives at a perfect system then they replace the cables, amp, pre-amp, room conditioners, rooms even, or speakers and a whole n

new sound pops up.

For those that like reading, goto BAS, Boston Audio Society, and read some of their past issues.

There was at least one issue that had a member list of what equipment members owned, great reading.

These are older write-ups but at least you can see what real hifi buffs found to their liking

[Horswispr]

Funny that I've restored over 30 pairs of A-25s and maybe 10 pairs each of A-10s and A-35s and I've NEVER heard a pair of A-50s. I look forward. Right now I'm listening to a pair of AR-3as, and they DO sound substantially different from A-25s, though both are good. I look forward to more comments about the SOUND of A-50s. I'm here to start a new thread. There's a really unusual pair of A-25s on eBay right now. Or at least they SEEM unusual.