My realistic cd-3300 boombox, impressive for its age.

[gadgeteer123]

I hope this is the right section to post this... So i have a realistic cd-3300 boombox from march-1987 It has served me well for the 5 years i have owner it, it sound decent and worked well. Recently I decided to check on those old capacitors, and I tested it out by putting newer ones in, and wow this thing came alive. for it having 4" free-air woofers at 4rms each I am amazed. I tan sine-wave testes and I could hear down to 30hz, and 40hz was actually loud. Not bad for little 4" woofers. especially since there from 1987 in a boombox. Also to add my left woofers voicecoil rattles a little bit, i can tell its a tiny bit melted, probally from me running it so much off of bad capacitors, all that amp distortion... I wish I could find the same woofers, but thats not gonna happen. So I went digging for the best 4" woofers that would fit in here and work free-air. Please let me know if these will sound as good as my current speakers? Boston Acoustics 4 1/2" Woofers (pr) New Unused.. - eBay (item 360225641845 end time Feb-11-10 12:21:31 PST)

[gadgeteer123]

Well I got the woofers, they didn't fit at first, but I modified it so they would fit, and well they aren't as loud as the woofer that came with the boombox. They keep bottoming out, and they lack and good output?? I know they are more designed for home use, but I would of thought they would be better than these old 23 year old woofers, with accordion surrounds. The old woofers actually bumped and sounded like a tiny subwoofer was hiding in there, but these new boston woofers, just kind of suck, they bottom out really easy. what do you guys think I should do, either way, It needs a new left woofer, so what do i do to fix this.

[gripracer]

the older woofers were higher efficiency and had much higher mechanical Q. look for a woofer with high numbers in both of those specs.

[gadgeteer123]

what is a mechanical Q??

[gripracer]

basically how much resistance the mechanical parts of the speaker pose to cone movement.

Qms, Qes, total Q. mech, elec, total. look at Qms along with efficiency

[gadgeteer123]

ok thanks. These original speaker move really easy, and they have a good bass response, i hope I can find something as good if not better.

[gadgeteer123]

I wish someone would of put there 2 cents in before I bought the boston woofers. I hope to find something good, this time instead of wasting money. If anyone knows of a good woofer let me know. The current woofers can hit down to an audible 30hz, i'm not saying its a flat response down to there but it does hit it, and it hits 50hz great. I just want the same good subwoofer like bump it has now. I love that.

[gadgeteer123]

You said I need high efficiency, but the boston woofers have a sensitivity of 96db, you can't get much better than that with a woofer this small. can you??

[gadgeteer123]

I can't find anything good on ebay or parts express so idn where to look now. These woofers can't be more then 2" deep, and have a 4" cutout size. I would like them rated down to at least 60hz if anyone can help me i'd be grateful.

[InclinedPlane]

I suggest looking for another old 3300 boombox for the parts. It's almost a certainty that you won't find speakers with all the attributes you mention in a 4" size. But, it's likely that other boomboxes of that general age and type have similar drivers, if not the same ones.