Even response, crisp highs, defined bass, low listener fatigue

deep bass

I have my A25's through a Denon pra-1000 preamp, and a crown d-150 amp. While these speakers may be considered to be somewhat wimpy in today's standards as far as bass response, I believe that these speakers are the best value around. They offer even response, especially good for jazz or progressive music. My speakers have the typical wood cabinets and configuration. I have enjoyed them and would highly recommend to anyone that wants an accurate, warm sound at a low price.

Butyl rubber woofer surrounds - ability to reproduce low frequencies accurately, clarity of sound, solid construction.

Not quite as efficient as a lot of today's speakers, but then again not nearly as expensive, either.

My dad purchased these A-25's for about $100-125.00 through the military exchange (via a friend) in 1975. He used them though 1990 with a Yamaha CA-1000 amp with great results. For the last four years he used them, he piggybacked them on top of a pair of Realistic Mach 2's, disconnecting the woofers so as not to augment the Mach 2's already boomy (if not sometimes muddy) bass, and using the A-25's tweeters to enhance the Mach 2's dropout on the high end. All in all not a bad result. With the purchase of new equipment in 1990, and thinking that the A-25's woofers were blown, my dad bequeathed those beautiful walnut boxes to me. I simply reconnected the woofers, and I've enjoyed them ever since. They go great with my Onkyo A-8057 amp(circa 1986-87). I enjoy the tight bass that they put out, their ability to handle all kinds of music, especially jazz and classical, and their construction. These speakers were rated a best buy by Consumer Reports in 1973, and if you were to find a pair on E-bay or elsewhere for what they sold then (or a little more), it would still be an outstanding buy. I won't part with mine -- my dad has continued to ask to have them back for the last 10 years.

durability

deep bass sound

I have been using DYNACO (Scandyna) A25 for the last 25 years, and am surprised at their endurance. Back early '70s, I bought them at about 70,000 Yen/ pair. The sound has not significantly changed till now, the surrounding rubber of the woofers being still intact. My A25 have its soft dome tweeter mounted in the middle, with the slot at the top and the woofer at the bottom.
Recently I purchased Tannoy Stirling HE as a main system, and, as a result, A25s were transferred to the study room as a secondary system, where these are connected with a vacuum tube amplifier (KT-88).
Symphony orchestra is not good for these, but Phil Woods plays great on this tiny speakers.

Great sound in a bookshelf sized speaker. Great price for the sound you get.

Not the highest highs or the lowest lows around

I've owned these since I bought them used for $35.00 for the pair in 1978.

Sound: I have yet to find a bookshelf speaker that sounds as good as these. Very good definition and imaging. Can be played loud without distress. Actually plays clean, tight bass - something thats usually lacking in speakers of this size.

Construction: Very well made, durable, real wood finish, binding posts for connections and some heft to them when you pick them up. The woofers have rubber surrounds and don't rot, unlike a number of other speaker of this era that have foam surrounds. Can handle power. A solid speaker. For about $125.00 used (on eBay), the value can't be beat.

Weaknesses: Its only when used as a floor standing speaker that the A-25's short comings can be found. They won't go loud REAL deep and the high end also rolls off a bit quicker then other speakers I've heard. Don't get me wrong, these speakers, even with those shortcomings, are still good as floor standing speakers but there are better ones out there (maybe not for the money, but there are better ones).

If you are on a budget, snap up a pair. NOTHING can touch these for a bedroom or small listening room for the money and you could easily do alot worse, in both sound and value, with alot of other brands as floor standing models (I think you would need to spend +$450 to beat them).

My rating is for the A-25's as bookshelf speakers. I'd give them about a 3.7 as floor standing speakers.

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"old" Large Advents

A lot of sound for such a small box.

Keep 'em off of the floor if they're used as mains.

Bought 'em at a garage sale for twenty bucks an hooked 'em up as rears with my JBL L100's (bought new in '77) in a surround system. At lower volume levels stereo only I actually like to switch to the Dynacos. The L100's are great if it's loud and electric but with that trademark mid punch I'd rather use th A25's for acoustic. I guess comfortable is the best way I can describe them. But don't be deceived. These little buggers can rock. Amazing for their size. Plug in Warren Zevon's "Learning to Flinch", kick on hall mode, turn it up, and sit in the middle of all four of 'em and you are there.

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LBL L-100

Clarity, efficiency, range

Bass could be tighter

I bought my original pair of A-25s in the mid 1970s from Lafayette Radio. Over the years I have replaced an occasional driver, and updated the crossover capacitors. Last year, I bought a home theatre receiver, and needed three other speakers. I decided to purchase two more pairs of A-25s on Ebay (price paid: $50 to $110). I have no regrets. Before making this decision, I auditioned a pair of expensive AR-303a speakers, and found the crisp and lively A-25s far superior.

In addition to the Kenwood VR-309 home theatre receiver, I also have a self-restored mid 1960s Sansui 1000A tube receiver. I have set up a switch box that allows me to use either the Sansui (via a Dynaco quadadapter) or the Kenwood on all five speakers. The A-25s absolutely shine when used with the Sansui and the quadadapter.

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AR-4, Lafayette Criterion speakers (really dating myself here)

Clean, clear sound with no harshness. Bass is tight.

Do not reproduce the lowest octave of Bass and roll off around 50 Hz.

I purchased my Dynaco A25 loudspeakers in the 70's and I still have them. They, to this day, perform up to spec, and are still my favorite speakers. They are extremely good at reproducing the human voice and string instruments. Unlike some speakers of their era that have had their foam surrounds rot out, the Dynaco's rubber surround has remained in excellent condition. Although they use a ported cabinet in an aperiodic design, they are not highly efficient and seem to blossom with amplifier wattages of 60-90 Watts RMS.I have used them with a low power Dynaco SCA-35 tube amplifier that only had 17 watts per channel, but the amplifier was not powerful enough for them to sound their best. They would be great with a Dynaco 70 amplifier or the newer high quality tube amps in the 60 watt per channel range. They were clearly superior to the Deluxe Advents in the mid range and highs although the Advents did reach further down in the bass region. A number of years ago I sold the Advents, but kept the Dynacos. Because of the limited bass response and lower efficiency, these speakers are not for someone who likes their music extremely loud with thumping bass. But if you want clean clear sound and operatic arias that can float on the air, the Dyanco A25 is a great buy.

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Deluxe Advents, Acoustic research AR4X

Great sound, very clean, not too big.

None

I got these back in 1992 when i was 10 yrs old. My uncle built my first stereo for me and these where the satillites he chose. Over the years these speakers have just sounded better and better. Truely a great speaker. I only recently packed these away in storage as they were replaced by my Cerwin-Vega E-712's. I'm debating wheather or not to put these up on an auction. can somebody email me @scsa3166@aol.com, and give me some ideas what i should ask for or what i might get for these.. thank you

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Pioneer bookshelfs

Small size great sound. rubber surroundings

old. Some new speakers can produce similar sound with smaller size

Yes. I got it for $3 (including an old receiver). Don't be so upset. I had to fix one of the tweeters.
I think these speakers are similar to old Advent speaker, which I had one time several years ago, in some way; size, two way, etc. But I think Dynaco A-25 produces better sound. more warm(if my memory about Advent is correct) and better midrange. Even my wife said A-25's sound is fine. This is unbelievable because she is so picky, she hardly say "the sound is fine". ex)she was satisfied with Apogee Centaurs, Klipsch Heresy, B&O 150S... Was not happy with Vandersteen 2CE and Magnepans(unfortunately, my current main speakers are Maggies).That doesn't mean A-25 is better speaker than Vandersteen or Maggies. However, A-25 is an excellent speaker for its age, used price, and size.
So, I beleve this is a one of the best vintage speaker you can find. If you find one at right price(not $3, I think little bit more than $100 is right), grab it. Just be careful to detach grills if they still have Dynaco logos. The logos are screwed to the boxes.

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Advent

Great Speakers, The best pair I have ever listened to

These A-25 classics are a great reproduction of Dynaco's original A-25's .
Panor Corporation is knocking them off at $199.00 for the pair. Definitally check them out on ebay or call Panor Corporation (dynaco) at 631-434-1200 extension 16 (for Dynaco sales