Speakers - Technics SB-X50

Had this pair of Technics SB-X50 speakers for only about one week. Sometimes I like to purchase speakers just to give them a fair shake - especially speakers for which I hold hope for sounding decent. The SB-X50 retailed for $499.00 in 1979 and had mixed reviews, but boy do they look cool.

How did they sound? Just okay. Bass was somewhat weak,and this could be due to the age of the driver or crossover components, or simply following suit for most Japanese speakers I've heard. I listened to some George Winston piano pieces and these sounded fine, if not a bit too forward in the upper register. Jazz and Rock sounded alright, but the speakers had a compressed, boxy tonality to them that was distracting. When I closed my eyes I heard music coming from boxes, not floating in front of me.

Have any experiences with Technics SB-X50 speakers? Chime in!

Speakers - Pioneer CS-901

I've read in audio forums where people have referred to the CS-901 as ". . .the worst of the Kabuki era," and then there's this one from Audio Karma in which the author of the post referred to these as "[The CS-901] wasn't engineered - it was spec'd out by the marketing department. It's just a mindless copy of every speaker cliche they could think of."

I'll agree that the plastic horn in the center of the 15" woofer looks ridiculous, and that these were probably designed with a steep emphasis on form over function. I listened to this pair though, and they sounded . . .well, weak. The bass wasn't nearly deep enough for that size of a woofer, and so I pushed on the cone to find it was very slow to respond. I watched as the rubber surround material wrinkled during this exercise and realized these speakers have seen better days. One would have to spend the money to re-edge the woofers if they wanted these to sound anything like they did back in the mid-70s.

I'm sure these looked very impressive in a store window though - with or without the wood lattice grills, the Pioneer speakers in this series were certainly eye-catching if nothing else.

Have any stories or photos of your Pioneer CS-901 speakers? Please leave a comment or send me an email.

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Speakers - Interesting Site, Speaker Wire Article.

Thanks to a post on AudioKarma, I discovered an interesting speaker site that I wanted to share. Click HERE. Great collection of vintage Japanese home market speakers. These were not intended for export to the USA, so if you ever find any of them - GRAB 'EM.

Also - every wonder about the right kind/gauge/length of speaker wire? Wonder no more - Roger Russel's article is well-documented and covers the subject in-depth. . .yet it's an easy read - perfect for a quiet Sunday morning before the kids wake up.

Now, where are my donuts??

Have any links you'd like to share with our community? Please leave a comment or email me and I'll post them.