New to the whole scene, willing to learn

[InspectorExacto]

Hello all! I thought that my Aiwa stereo system I got second hand sounded pretty nice for a while. It had a 160w reciever and 2-way speakers with 6in woofers. That was when I was a junior in high school. But that all changed when my best friend's dad sold me a pair of rather large speakers for $1 (I didn't ask where he got them, this sort of thing was common for him). I had no idea what they were but I knew they were vintage and probably sounded better then what I had. Turns out they were Zenith Allegro 2500's (2 way with 8in woofer, horn tweeter). When I hooked those babies up, I was blown away. I was like The quality was on a level I had never heard, especially knowing they were MINE! Well, they were 40w speakers, and I didn't want to blow them sending them twice the watts so I decided to upgrade them... Thats when I got interested in DIY audio... Since I'm poor pretty much all the time, I ended up buying a pair of Dayton Audio DC200-8 woofers fron partsexpress.com. They seemed to be the PERFECT replacements as far as encloser size, frequency, and wattage. So since then, I've aquired a Quasar CS11 reciever which I can tell is WAY better than the Aiwa reciever.

Well, thats as far as I've gotten with my stereo system but now I'm in the market for some smaller speakers (vintage) for use with my current living situation, but I wanted to learn more about DIY audio and want to take it on as a hobby. I am always strapped for cash but I know I can find some good vintage stuff at my local thrift stores for cheap, but they are usually in need of TLC, so thats why I came here. I hope to learn a lot from you guys so I can be completely satisfied with my system.

[planet10]

Welcome to the forum...

Having more power than required is usually safer than too little.... actually the whole power thing in home audio is over rhot...

The drivers in alot of the Zemith Allegros is actually fairly decent (there were a lot of variations as Zenith went thru different OEMs), but the boxes were really bad. You would do well to consider reboxing the ones you have -- also just have a losten with the backs off (if you have a version with removable backs -- if not a jigsaw works)

dave

[InspectorExacto]

Thanks for your reply Dave. You know, from what I've read, your not the first to say that the boxes are bad for the Allegros. What about them isn't very good? They feel pretty sterdy to me, but I've got no experience with this. Is it that their too thin? I guess this digresses from the whole 'introduction' topic though... sorry

[planet10]

Originally posted by InspectorExacto
boxes are bad for the Allegros. What about them isn't very good?

Cheap material, too thin, unbraced, drivers rear mounted. I've probably burned at least 30 of them.

dave

[c2cthomas]

Hello InspectorExacto - and Welcome to diyAudio!
My standard advice to newbies is …………… RUN!!!! 'Cause if ya keep hanging around this place you'll wind up with workbenches stacked up with half finished projects on which you will spend to much time and all of your $$$$$. Soon you will have shut out all of your current friends that enjoy doing normal things - like getting some fresh air and a little exercise - and replaced them with late night sessions of running speaker response curves or learning the latest electronic circuit simulation program - and asking for tips and advice from your new friends here.

Here is a good site for newbies to learn some of the electronic side of things - http://www.bcae1.com/

[Cal Weldon]

From one inspector to another, welcome to the forums.

[InspectorExacto]

Thanks guys. I love joining a forum where the members are actually pleasant to talk to. (I hope I don't get in trouble for this...) If any of you have an eMachines computer and encounter any problems, I am a moderator at the unofficial emachines forums found at http://www.dexplor.com/phpBB2/ But back to audio...
I'll be aquireing a set of bookshelf speakers soon as my current living arrangements restrict me to that, and I'll be needing lots of advice as far as making them what I want them to be. Thanks again!