Clarification on 803, 804, 805 & 806

[Steve Schell]

Hi magnarc, all,

The 804A driver had a smaller magnet than the 806A which replaced it. We hashed this out in an old thread on Lansing Heritage:

60's Altec info - Page 2

There was an 803 woofer which preceded the 803A. It would have been finished in grey crinkle with a stamped steel (Utah sourced) basket AFAIK. An Altec Service Corporation bulletin dated June 14, 1948 says this:

"The low frequency speaker now being furnished with the "800" Speaker System is coded 803-A. It is a redesign of the 803 Speaker and is 2DB more efficient than the 803. Due to this increase in efficiency it should no longer be necessary to consider the use of the 515 Speaker in the "800" Speaker System." The memo also mentions that the h.f. attenuator should be set for 2dB less loss when the 803A is used.

[magnarc]

Hi Steve thanks for that info, thats really helpful.
I'm a curious one and like to know the ins and outs of Altec stuff, keeping track of that oddball stuff intrigues me.
These are the three 803A units I've got pics of. Which one would the 803/Utah look like?

- - - Updated - - -

bowtie, AB, also thanks, the point on the never labelled 806-8B is important, I think that and the noted differences in the 804 v 806 are really good points for record.

[bowtie427ss]

These are the three 803A units I've got pics of. Which one would the 803/Utah look like?

The first pair. Altec Woffer ID help

Did not the earliest 803 woofers also use a phenolic spider?

[GM]

The one I saw from 1948 did along with a paper surround, ~60 Hz Fs.

GM

[Alien_Shore]

There was an 803 woofer which preceded the 803A. It would have been finished in grey crinkle with a stamped steel (Utah sourced) basket AFAIK.

Well, a couple of pairs of Utah 803-A's have been sold recently. One pair had the manufacturing tag on it dated June 9, 1948 looked just as Steve described. Grey crinkle, gold foilcal, grey stamped frame. That one was serial #512, so the "predecessor" 803 had to be 1947, early '48. Can't say that I've seen one of those.
803A Model Tag.jpg

[Old Guy]

The only thing Utah is the frame. In those days Utah made parts for everybody.

BTW:

Vintage Altec Lansing Voice of The Theater 803 A Theatre Serial 975 | eBay

[magnarc]

From Steves little pic on the other board, it seems the 803 Utah doesnt have the magnet cover, while the 803A Utah does, plus the other noted changes.

[GM]

Yeah, in the original brochure it shows no pot, but these much later woofers out of an A800 have pots and as best I can tell, one is tagged 803, the other looks more like 515 than 803 on its tag, yet obviously an 803. Anyway, maybe someone with Photoshop or similar can improve these damaged tags. Neither are they Utah frames, yet have the spider suspension. I can only guess that post WWII economics forced them to cobble together whatever they had on occasion, especially if it was a rush order.

GM

[Altec Best]

Yeah, in the original brochure it shows no pot, but these much later woofers out of an A800 have pots and as best I can tell, one is tagged 803, the other looks more like 515 than 803 on its tag, yet obviously an 803. Anyway, maybe someone with Photoshop or similar can improve these damaged tags. Neither are they Utah frames, yet have the spider suspension. I can only guess that post WWII economics forced them to cobble together whatever they had on occasion, especially if it was a rush order.

GM

GM I converted it to a pdf where you can blow it up but is still tough to tell.The labels are damaged too much..I uploaded it to the library so I can post a pdf file here.One thing is for certain is..I'm sure glad Altec developed their own frames as those Utah baskets are plain Fugly !


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bxpsbgncj...iders.pdf?dl=0

[GM]

Thanks! Yeah, but mainly they don't 'breathe' near as well at high frequencies where the front horn is amplifying every reflection/nuance off the cones.

GM