SX828POWER
FEEL THE KABUKI THUNDER
Good evening everyone,
Having the chance to sit down after finishing tonight's project (which took nearly 7 hours), I was compelled that my experiences were worth writing about. Just before Christmas I found a pair of Pioneer CS 99A speakers on craigslist by some miracle for only $100 and naturally couldn't resist. I cant say I was looking for a pair of these as I've been through my fair share of CS line speakers and have only kept a few of them laying around. As of late I've focused more on building my own speakers and what brand name speakers I do run now are larger Acoustic Research / big east coast models or pro grade audio junk I modify and mess around with. However I needed a belated Christmas present for my dad so these seemed to fit the ticket. Throughout my many years of speaker travels and buying/selling I confess I've never actually owned a pair of 99s before now, but have always been infatuated with they're appearance. Sure enough I went to pick these up in downtown NYC and there they sat very scuffed up looking, but with pristine drivers all working with FB stamps to boot.
The procedure:
After lugging them home they sat on the porch for about a week until holiday hustle and bustle was done with and I could begin on the cabinets. First I re-glued all of the interior cabinet seams to ensure they were solid and airtight. Next, I completed a compound sanding procedure and was luckily able to salvage the originally beat veneer. There are still some small nicks in the corners but for the price I'm not concerned. After some polishing and tung oil they look almost as good as new. The big step which I tackled just earlier this evening was recapping the crossovers. I replaced every single capacitor with brand new Solden/Audyn/Dayton poly caps (whichever matched the values closest of the originals) and was sure to regasket every seam on the enclosures. This to me is a critical step. Many people complain of how bass shy sealed speakers of this style are but often neglect to realize how poorly sealed their enclosures are after so many years. While yes these units are inherently going to lack in bass presence due to their minuscule enclosure volume, there are a few ways in which they can be enhanced. Besides ensuring they were completely airtight I removed the original fiberglass deadening and replaced it with religious amounts of polyfil. No more itchy hands
. Once they were totally reassembled it was time to listen.
Early Impressions:
(Some insight about the room and the listener): The listening environment in which they reside for testing is a 14'x18' rectangular and moderately live room with 9 foot ceilings. Floors are hardwood, and walls are busy with paintings and other decor. The speakers were placed along the short wall projecting longways across the room. Each speaker was just over a foot in front of the back wall, and two feet from the side walls, resting two feet off the ground facing straight out. Speakers are powered by a Pioneer SX 828 receiver with 14 gauge OFC cable linking them. Music source is my Thinkpad with a nice soundcard and spotify premium. Gain was set low on both the program and the computer. Vinyl is always preferred but wasn't practical for late night testing. I am a young person with well trained ears, excellent pitch hearing, and much music listening and room equalizing experience, so in other words I have a keen ear.
First song: Refugee by Tom Petty...
Wow ok they are pretty efficient and have a wide soundstage. Mids already seem quite present, bass is controlled and tight, but pretty shy and reluctant to extend. Treble is forward but still polite. Lets try a song with a little more low end.
Second song: Love of My Life by Santana...
Very clear and live mids right off the bat, crunchy snare, full guitar, but the bass is still veiled below 60hz and a tad boomy in the 250Hz range. Solution... lets crack out the ART 31 band equalizer. Subdued the 200-315hz area slightly and brought up the 50Hz and below substantially, ending with 6 decibels of gain at 31hz. Also brought back the 2000 and 2500Hz a few decibels and brought up the 10kHz and higher bands slightly.
Third song: Through the Eyes of Ruby by the Smashing Pumpkins...
Equalizer in the mix now, and no surprise that my immediate reaction was...
. Big happy. Night and day. What a difference. Just a little bit of compensating for what tones the speakers were reluctant to play in the given environment and we have rich and buttery full range totally flat response. The CS 99As have very enjoyable presentation with a wide and live sound characteristics. Midrange is supremely detailed, highs are polite and crisp despite being horn loaded. Bass is rich and authoritative.
Final Impressions:
These speakers have not nearly broken in yet after the recap so they will certainly improve with time, however I was very pleasantly surprised thus far. This model genuinely gets a bad rap on here, and while yes the prices they call for are unjustified, for what I paid for them they are solid performers. My previously restored and slightly upgraded CS 63DXs have a much better reputation on the street but really aren't all that much better of a speaker from what I can perceive. They have larger enclosures, and seem to have a higher quality supertweeter meaning that intervention from an eq is not as necessary. Yet the smaller 99A has a significantly higher Xmax woofer and warmer bass. Mids also seem more colored and detailed. The vibraphone in Dire Straits' Love Over Gold is so present, there are small background rolls that I never caught before. Overall the FB cones might just have a nicer tone, leaving me to conclude that its a tossup. The CS 63DX is my favorite of the line and I am very biased towards them, having deeper bass and barely sharper top end. However the 99As are definite keepers when powered and placed properly, so I would say the two are a tie in the end. Hopefully my dad will be equally as pleased.
Pics coming tomorrow.
Thanks for reading and any input is welcome,
-Johannes
Having the chance to sit down after finishing tonight's project (which took nearly 7 hours), I was compelled that my experiences were worth writing about. Just before Christmas I found a pair of Pioneer CS 99A speakers on craigslist by some miracle for only $100 and naturally couldn't resist. I cant say I was looking for a pair of these as I've been through my fair share of CS line speakers and have only kept a few of them laying around. As of late I've focused more on building my own speakers and what brand name speakers I do run now are larger Acoustic Research / big east coast models or pro grade audio junk I modify and mess around with. However I needed a belated Christmas present for my dad so these seemed to fit the ticket. Throughout my many years of speaker travels and buying/selling I confess I've never actually owned a pair of 99s before now, but have always been infatuated with they're appearance. Sure enough I went to pick these up in downtown NYC and there they sat very scuffed up looking, but with pristine drivers all working with FB stamps to boot.
The procedure:
After lugging them home they sat on the porch for about a week until holiday hustle and bustle was done with and I could begin on the cabinets. First I re-glued all of the interior cabinet seams to ensure they were solid and airtight. Next, I completed a compound sanding procedure and was luckily able to salvage the originally beat veneer. There are still some small nicks in the corners but for the price I'm not concerned. After some polishing and tung oil they look almost as good as new. The big step which I tackled just earlier this evening was recapping the crossovers. I replaced every single capacitor with brand new Solden/Audyn/Dayton poly caps (whichever matched the values closest of the originals) and was sure to regasket every seam on the enclosures. This to me is a critical step. Many people complain of how bass shy sealed speakers of this style are but often neglect to realize how poorly sealed their enclosures are after so many years. While yes these units are inherently going to lack in bass presence due to their minuscule enclosure volume, there are a few ways in which they can be enhanced. Besides ensuring they were completely airtight I removed the original fiberglass deadening and replaced it with religious amounts of polyfil. No more itchy hands
. Once they were totally reassembled it was time to listen.Early Impressions:
(Some insight about the room and the listener): The listening environment in which they reside for testing is a 14'x18' rectangular and moderately live room with 9 foot ceilings. Floors are hardwood, and walls are busy with paintings and other decor. The speakers were placed along the short wall projecting longways across the room. Each speaker was just over a foot in front of the back wall, and two feet from the side walls, resting two feet off the ground facing straight out. Speakers are powered by a Pioneer SX 828 receiver with 14 gauge OFC cable linking them. Music source is my Thinkpad with a nice soundcard and spotify premium. Gain was set low on both the program and the computer. Vinyl is always preferred but wasn't practical for late night testing. I am a young person with well trained ears, excellent pitch hearing, and much music listening and room equalizing experience, so in other words I have a keen ear.
First song: Refugee by Tom Petty...
Wow ok they are pretty efficient and have a wide soundstage. Mids already seem quite present, bass is controlled and tight, but pretty shy and reluctant to extend. Treble is forward but still polite. Lets try a song with a little more low end.
Second song: Love of My Life by Santana...
Very clear and live mids right off the bat, crunchy snare, full guitar, but the bass is still veiled below 60hz and a tad boomy in the 250Hz range. Solution... lets crack out the ART 31 band equalizer. Subdued the 200-315hz area slightly and brought up the 50Hz and below substantially, ending with 6 decibels of gain at 31hz. Also brought back the 2000 and 2500Hz a few decibels and brought up the 10kHz and higher bands slightly.
Third song: Through the Eyes of Ruby by the Smashing Pumpkins...
Equalizer in the mix now, and no surprise that my immediate reaction was...
. Big happy. Night and day. What a difference. Just a little bit of compensating for what tones the speakers were reluctant to play in the given environment and we have rich and buttery full range totally flat response. The CS 99As have very enjoyable presentation with a wide and live sound characteristics. Midrange is supremely detailed, highs are polite and crisp despite being horn loaded. Bass is rich and authoritative.Final Impressions:
These speakers have not nearly broken in yet after the recap so they will certainly improve with time, however I was very pleasantly surprised thus far. This model genuinely gets a bad rap on here, and while yes the prices they call for are unjustified, for what I paid for them they are solid performers. My previously restored and slightly upgraded CS 63DXs have a much better reputation on the street but really aren't all that much better of a speaker from what I can perceive. They have larger enclosures, and seem to have a higher quality supertweeter meaning that intervention from an eq is not as necessary. Yet the smaller 99A has a significantly higher Xmax woofer and warmer bass. Mids also seem more colored and detailed. The vibraphone in Dire Straits' Love Over Gold is so present, there are small background rolls that I never caught before. Overall the FB cones might just have a nicer tone, leaving me to conclude that its a tossup. The CS 63DX is my favorite of the line and I am very biased towards them, having deeper bass and barely sharper top end. However the 99As are definite keepers when powered and placed properly, so I would say the two are a tie in the end. Hopefully my dad will be equally as pleased.
Pics coming tomorrow.Thanks for reading and any input is welcome,
-Johannes
