Vintage Pioneer 99 a Speakers

[kuruvilajacob]

A friend of mine bought a Pioneer 99 A speakers but did not like it and was planning to sell it. I listened to it and immediately identified it as something very special and bought it from him. It went through a long process of a complete transformation both cosmetically and internally and it has come out on top. It's best when playing 50's 60's Jazz and similar music. It matches beautifully with a vintage Sansui Tube Receiver Amplifier Model 220 .I have been holding on to this amp for a long time. I would consider these speakers to be of top quality. It's a 5 way speaker with a 15 inch woofer, two mids,two tweeters and a Horn tweeter and with a sensitivity of 97db. Music appears to be just flowing out of it. It is bound to improve as I have changed all the capacitors. Some of the capacitors i could get from a old electronic shop ONS ! The Mids are amazingly smooth and the 3 dimensional effect of the speakers even without any special speaker positioning makes me feel i have a very valuable pair of Vintage speakers . Now for some pics

 

[reubensm]

the Japanese had an amazing way of getting these huge drivers to sound good in small baffles. truly amazing!!

 

[greenhorn]

Amazing to find these speakers with their cones intact and tweeters working these days!

 

[AVM]

Mr Jacob,
Just the kind of revival I had recently given thought of to my Akai SW175 speakers. These are also 5 way with a horn tweeter and 15inch driver.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I understand, all Japanese brands made these kind of speakers not to be left behind in competition. If you have not changed the capacitors, give it a thought. The character of the speakers really change if you can get quality caps to replace the originals. Most of them are non-polar and you may not get them in all electronic shops. When I bought my KLH model 5 speakers, all my friends were skeptical as it sounded awful. But I managed to get replacement caps from here and abroad and after it's break in period was over, it's transformed my listening room into a different level of listening experience. KLH model 5 was made to directly compete with AR 3a speakers and now my KLH speakers would put many modern speakers to shame. Even the Pioneer 99 A had changed so many hands before it came to me as it does not go well with digital source and needs to be matched with a valve amp to bring the best out of it. I see that you are using a valve amp with the Akai SW 175. I am sure it should be a good match for the speaakers

 

[AVM]

Before I moved up north from Bangalore, I had Sansui SU 81 passive radiators with move 10inch woofers.
Added a Akai SW177 later and both were paired to A Sansui amp.
The Akai sounded larger and more room filling. Sold them as I had to move house.
After I moved here got a pair of Akai SW 175 (94 db sensitivity) paired with Lyrita EL 84, 10 watt amp. Sounded fantastic.
Now I have the golds - Tannoy MG 15 paired with sweet sounding Luxman Class A.
I returned the tube. The speakers are resting at the moment.

 

[reubensm]

Even the Pioneer 99 A had changed so many hands before it came to me

This is one issue with these older classics. You are so lucky you got them in perfectly original condition. In the recent past, I've come across vintage speakers with tampered cross-overs, replaced inner baffle layering and at times, repaired (or replaced) drivers. This is a real deterrent for guys like me. Criteria like inner baffle dampening are critical to the performance and I came across speakers with the original inner dampening material changed to ordinary sponge. The common excuse the sellers says is "I got it exactly in this condition and I'm selling it as-is"

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Yes Reuben, Many a time these vintage classics come fully tampered. In this case, one of the mids appears to be replaced. Fortunately, I found an original on ebay and my cousin bought it for me. There are some scratch marks on the cones but they don't seem to bother the speakers from delivering some superb reproduction of Jim Reeves vocals and vintage Jazz and instrumentals. Your visit is long overdue.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I had some friends come home yesterday for auditioning the Pioneer 99 a . I played some instrumentals by Acker Bilk 'Stranger on the shore' and selected Jim Reeves record. They were impressed with the smoothness of the speakers in delivering the music. The kind of music that people would have loved to listen and 'feel' in the 60's and 70's. The real vintage rendering on Valve amplifier and record players of that era .

 

[angieyopkhe]

The real vintage rendering on Valve amplifier and record players of that era .

 

[kuruvilajacob]

The real vintage rendering on Valve amplifier and record players of that era .

That's exactly my cup of tea. There is nothing to better that in my listening taste. I was listening to Duke Ellington's 'Midnight in Paris' album and enjoyed every minute of it. Real vintage stuff. I listened it on 'JP' Turntable.

 

[saheb11123]

A friend of mine bought a Pioneer 99 A speakers but did not like it and was planning to sell it. I listened to it and immediately identified it as something very special and bought it from him. It went through a long process of a complete transformation both cosmetically and internally and it has come out on top. It's best when playing 50's 60's Jazz and similar music. It matches beautifully with a vintage Sansui Tube Receiver Amplifier Model 220 .I have been holding on to this amp for a long time. I would consider these speakers to be of top quality. It's a 5 way speaker with a 15 inch woofer, two mids,two tweeters and a Horn tweeter and with a sensitivity of 97db. Music appears to be just flowing out of it. It is bound to improve as I have changed all the capacitors. Some of the capacitors i could get from a old electronic shop ONS ! The Mids are amazingly smooth and the 3 dimensional effect of the speakers even without any special speaker positioning makes me feel i have a very valuable pair of Vintage speakers . Now for some pics

Wow :yahoo::clapping: