Pioneer CS-88A speakers snagged from thrift store

Flaminroids

Active Member
I was making a donation on a Saturday and I saw some old lattice grilled speakers sitting on a cart. I went and checked them out and they turned out to be four Pioneer CS-88A's. I knew they would be out Monday morning (the store is church ran and closed on Sunday) so I decided to make sure I was there first thing Monday morning. When I got there on Monday, I was delighted to see this:
A little rough, but only $8 a pair so I snagged them instantly. I took them home and went right to work.
All original FB cones and the cabinets only had surface scratches so a light sanding and some oil fixed them right up.
The bass is pretty lacking, but they sound great otherwise. The tweeters need to be refoamed (will this hurt the value?) but they sound terrific!
 
No, refoaming the tweeters wont hurt the value unless you do a poor job.
Ya, a lot of people complain about the lack of bass on these speakers. I had a pair of cs-99a which I thought had good tight bass that wasn't overblown. I also have the cs-88a and cs-77a. I didn't seek these out, they just happen to come my way cheep. I had the cs-77a tweets refoamed then did the cs-88a's myself. As far as the bass, I think it depends on how you set them up and the amp you use. I sold the 99a's last year. They aren't audiophile speakers but make for great party speakers! They will play very loud and clear if you feed them quality watts.
 
Nice find! I also have 2 pairs of CS-88As that I acquired a few years ago. One pair was really nice and all speakers intact (except the tweeters, which is common). The other pair was missing a driver so I found a good used one online and made those complete. I re-varnished the first pair and they look real nice, but I agree, the bass is somewhat lacking. My daughter now has the first pair and my son the other and they are thrilled! My daughter likes the vintage look.
 
I have a pair of CS-77As that are waiting to have the tweeters reformed. Several projects in the queue at the moment...


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Cool snag! Those are known to not have a lot of bass, but try different heights for them (both high and low), and if you can, try them a little closer to the corners of your room. But be careful, as the bass might start to smear if you get them too close to the corners. One thing that these will need to actually get them boogying is a little is more volume and power. The larger structure of those speakers have a lot of mass, and generally require more output from your amp to get them going. Way to give them a new home though. BTW, what did you do to pop the dust cap back out on the one speaker? You did a good job!
 
"what did you do to pop the dust cap back out on the one speaker? You did a good job!"
I used a vacuum cleaner and heavy construction paper rolled up into a cone. The trick is to use a really crappy vacuum, a shop vac will pull that dust cap right off. Only one speaker had a crushed dust cap and that sucker popped right out. How I smoothed it out is a secret. The tweeters are rotted, but they look ten times better than any I've seen on other Pioneers so I may just leave them alone.
 
^Cool. That's a good technique, thanks for sharing. How come the smoothing technique is such a secret? I am sure there would be many here on AK that would benefit from such knowledge. After all, everyone's vintage pieces should look just as good too! ;) You sure you can't share?
 
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Hehe, the trick is a secret because it doesn't work most of the time and I would hate for people to ruin their woofers. The caps on these were pretty thick and heavy so it worked out in this case. The process isn't much different than getting wrinkles out of a shirt, you just have to be very very careful. So yeah, I used steam. Probably not a great idea, but the vacuum hose and the thick construction paper rolled into a funnel worked surprisingly well.
 
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Did you pick up both pairs or leave a set for someone else?

I grabbed all four. At this particular thrift store, stuff like this isn't really appreciated. I saw a set of Mach One's (I didn't buy because the cabinets were really really bad) and they sat for weeks and accumulated holes in the caps and cones from people jamming their fingers in them. I have plans for a quad setup and these will be perfect.
 
Did you pick up both pairs or leave a set for someone else?

That's kind of a strange question. Obviously from the Thrift's point of view they want them gone sooner rather than later, more profit, more floor space. It's not Flaminroid's job to look after the welfare of everyone who might be looking for 50 year old Japanese speakers. :scratch2:

cubdog
 
Hehe, the trick is a secret because it doesn't work most of the time and I would hate for people to ruin their woofers. The caps on these were pretty thick and heavy so it worked out in this case. The process isn't much different than getting wrinkles out of a shirt, you just have to be very very careful. So yeah, I used steam. Probably not a great idea, but the vacuum hose and the thick construction paper rolled into a funnel worked surprisingly well.

Wow, steam! Don't know if I'd have the sack to do that myself, but if I did, I'd use a vacuum with the steamer to suck up the excess steam. But like I said, the vacuum hose and paper funnel thing is a good idea. I'll have to try that. :) To sum up, either way I guess it "sucks" to have pushed in dust caps. lol ;)
 
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