[bside123]

I've been playing around with a vintage pair of 1979 Snell Type A/II (A/I Improved) since the weekend. The woofers were upgraded to non-degradable surrounds by Snell in 1994. I had only read about the work of Peter Snell, but had never heard his speakers until now. These specimens are beautiful and in excellent shape considering their age.

I am really enjoying these speakers. Very musical with a very natural presentation. Sparkly & Open. The midrange is wonderful. I am wondering what it would be like to replace the internal speaker wire as well as possible cap changes to modern standards.

[bside123]

Deleted

[medium jim]

Why muck with them if you like the way they sound?  Just enjoy them!

Jim

[bside123]

Good point! Wouldn't want to muck them up by mucking with them, unless with a few simple adjustments they would improve. 

And yes... I am enjoying them already as is...

Why muck with them if you like the way they sound?  Just enjoy them!

Jim

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Congratulation on your new old speaker... oldie but still goodie.

    I agreed, why change anything if you like the sound now. If you do tinker with it make your you keep the old parts and that you can go back to the original way.

    One of the Snell design still lives on with the current Audio Note speaker line, they were and still are based on older snell's.

     BTW... Do you have pic of them without the grills.

Take care,
Buddy 

[bside123]

I haven't taken the grills off yet. When I do, I'll post some pics.

I'm not in any rush to change anything and certainly not to change for change's sake. Though as I've read, Type A owners have pretty much universally agreed that an updating of the speaker wire has fantastic advantages.

Otherwise, many differing opinions when it comes to the other parts, i.e., caps, woofer's, etc. One has gotta believe that there was a reason why these were made the way they were made, especially as they have become such a classic and have withstood the tests of time and music.

On the other hand, I've seen many a good thing turn to a bad thing when supposedly good things were added that turned out bad!  And, we certainly don't want that...

For now... these are wonderful and getting better. 

[medium jim]

I haven't taken the grills off yet. When I do, I'll post some pics.

I'm not in any rush to change anything and certainly not to change for change's sake. Though as I've read, Type A owners have pretty much universally agreed that an updating of the speaker wire has fantastic advantages.

Otherwise, many differing opinions when it comes to the other parts, i.e., caps, woofer's, etc. One has gotta believe that there was a reason why these were made the way they were made, especially as they have become such a classic and have withstood the tests of time and music.

On the other hand, I've seen many a good thing turn to a bad thing when supposedly good things were added that turned out bad!  And, we certainly don't want that...

For now... these are wonderful and getting better. 

Must be waking up from a rip van winkle

Jim

[geowak]

Last year I got rid of some Snell E5's that I had for 13 years. GREAT speakers, I loved them. I kinda wished I would have kept them. But I had to finance some newer speakers, so with regret I sold them. ARRGGG!

[SlushPuppy]

Those speakers really match your room!

[Letitroll98]

I still own a pair of Type E Series IV Snells.  A combination of the original Type E and Series II are the ones Audio Note has reworked, The AN speaker has a rear port like the II, but no rear super tweeter as on the original.  Both significantly different speakers from the Series IV.

Anyway, somewhat similar, the Type A Series II adds a rear firing tweeter, 1" I believe, from the original design.  The midrange driver also changes going from 5" in the original  to 4" in Series II.  As far as changing any crossover parts, each driver was hand tuned by Peter to match spec +/- 0.5 db, so no two crossovers are exactly the same, just the response is.  If you had ordered a replacement driver for some reason when the company was still in existence, they would have pulled the specs on your individual speaker, measured and tested the replacement, and included crossover parts (usually a cap to wire in parallel, sometimes a resistor) and instructions to modify your crossover to bring the new driver within the 0.5 db spec.  Pretty F'ng amazing, huh?  So I would change any crossover parts with great trepidation, only if you have a bad cap that has to be replaced.  The wiring, go for it, Peter never believed in anything but hook up wire and it may even be corroded by now.

The presentation of the A was not pinpoint imaging like modern speakers, Peter wanted to recreate the orchestral experience with all of it's reflected sound glory.  These are sit back and enjoy speakers, as you may have discovered.  The other goal was extended dynamic range, something else you may have noticed if you've cranked them up yet.  Bass is a little wooly, highs are slightly recessed, but the whole makes for a gorgeous musical experience.

All the best, enjoy.   

[rollo]

I still own a pair of Type E Series IV Snells.  A combination of the original Type E and Series II are the ones Audio Note has reworked, The AN speaker has a rear port like the II, but no rear super tweeter as on the original.  Both significantly different speakers from the Series IV.

Anyway, somewhat similar, the Type A Series II adds a rear firing tweeter, 1" I believe, from the original design.  The midrange driver also changes going from 5" in the original  to 4" in Series II.  As far as changing any crossover parts, each driver was hand tuned by Peter to match spec +/- 0.5 db, so no two crossovers are exactly the same, just the response is.  If you had ordered a replacement driver for some reason when the company was still in existence, they would have pulled the specs on your individual speaker, measured and tested the replacement, and included crossover parts (usually a cap to wire in parallel, sometimes a resistor) and instructions to modify your crossover to bring the new driver within the 0.5 db spec.  Pretty F'ng amazing, huh?  So I would change any crossover parts with great trepidation, only if you have a bad cap that has to be replaced.  The wiring, go for it, Peter never believed in anything but hook up wire and it may even be corroded by now.

The presentation of the A was not pinpoint imaging like modern speakers, Peter wanted to recreate the orchestral experience with all of it's reflected sound glory.  These are sit back and enjoy speakers, as you may have discovered.  The other goal was extended dynamic range, something else you may have noticed if you've cranked them up yet.  Bass is a little wooly, highs are slightly recessed, but the whole makes for a gorgeous musical experience.

All the best, enjoy.

 Great advice here. After about fifty hours o so when they settle in again your gonna be a happier man. Try with grilles off. They  also like a good sound stand. Enjoy ! 

charles

[SteveFord]

Unless they're shy, let's see them with their grills off.

[bside123]

Unless they're shy, let's see them with their grills off.

Not so shy as "uptight." The grills on the upper module are attached to the cabinet with a series of lots of small nails. In order to get the grills off, it would require prying the entire grill frame loose from the upper module. Eventually I'll get to it and post some pics. In the meantime, I've been looking for a decent pic of some naked improved Type A (A/II) speakers on line with little success. More later...

[bside123]

... the Type A Series II adds a rear firing tweeter, 1" I believe, from the original design.

No rear tweeter in the AIIs. The rear tweeter appeared in the AIII version, with a switching ability to turn it on & off. From what I've read, most people seemed to have turned it off.

These Series II speakers have no lack of sparkly, high-end without the addition of another tweeter. I really wouldn't want any more reflected sound, as the speakers are extremely dynamic as you mentioned.

[James Romeyn]

Leave 'em stock.  IMO any change will upset what is obviously proper and enjoyable balance.  Don't mess with the audio/speaker gods in this case! 

Ask Snell what was the tolerance for L/R capacitor values in that production era.  Depending on the specification, you might, and I underline might consider, if you really want to tinker, matching the values closer. 

Well, now that I typed that, you could possibly check what type of caps are employed, then do some research, and possibly consider another type with audio qualities closer to your preference.  Then of course you could consider litz coils or air core coils if they employed iron core.  For series tweeter resistor, I do very much like the Deuland that invert the resistive effects change as the tweeter value changes with rising voice coil temperature.  Oh well, we should never have turned down this path.   

But if I was you, in case you might ever sell, I'd build entirely new xo board with the ability to swap caps with moderate ease.  IOW, I'd completely remove all OEM xo, terminal boards, and wiring and replace them en masse.  I would maintain the ability to return the speakers to OEM shape for resale.  If you did resell, return them to OEM and keep quiet about your replacement xo then after money has already changed hands, offer the xo separately.  This maximizes resell value of the new xo.     

That room and those speakers belong with each other. 

[Rocket_Ronny]

I heard these way back in the early 80s and thought they sounded wonderful. Enjoy.

Rocket_Ronny