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Thread: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    I thought I'd just start a new thread as my questions will be running the gamut. Summary - having bought 2 Altec 9440A's, while researching those I unknowingly caught Altec fever and purchased a pair of A7 in Atlanta without having a clue what was in them and also as ignorant as one can be on horns or any Altec speaker. The seller just told me his father bought them new, bowtie427ss pinpointed them to a pair of 1959 A7's that had been inverted.
    Getting the back off wasn't too easy, turned out there was a sheet of veneer over a few screws on one of them, looks as tho they may have put veneer over all the screws in the other. On the one off so far, the HF driver was the 802D, the LF driver the 803B and then 811B horns. Both have the N-800-D network divider, one of them also had a N-1600-C - popular opinion is they at one time toyed with 3 way.
    All caught up now.

    The LF drivers. Only got the one out of the cabinet, was assuming the other was the same since supposedly bought new but I noticed something different about them today. The one I got out has your typical dust cover on it. Straightening out what I'm pretty sure was screwed up wiring and flipping the cabs to see how they sound this way, I noticed the dust cover on what I assumed was another 803B in the speaker I haven't yet got the back off of yet is completely different than the one I did get out. You can't tell from the picture but the inner circle is just a screen, I can see down inside the coil. My 1st thought was maybe it's been re-coned but if it has been, if not done by the factory someone highly skilled did it as it sure looks original. Have to wonder if they used different dust caps on the 803B, if a different series, at some point maybe this was a replacement driver ?
    Any info is appreciated as always - tho it looks like it's pushed in in the pic, it's not, probably be hard to since it's just screen
    C2AmHho.jpg

    Ignorant as I am, pretty sure the wiring was not right. They had the woofer connected to the N-1600-C and the HF driver on that speaker was just loosely wrapped and taped around terminal 4 while on the other speaker with just the N-800-D the wire was soldered on terminal 2. Guessing they were experimenting with the one speaker and when they tired of that, just left everything as it was. I need to clean off the horrific soldering on both N-800-D's but for now I just want to experiment with how they sound flipped over as it seems they were originally, just setting the horn on top for now.
    Finishing up with the 2nd one now, will give it a listen for a while, difference in dust caps was bugging me tho.
    As if I don't have enough to research and learn already, am going to wait until they are home but let's just say this may not be the only Altec speakers I own here in a couple of days.

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    Just a quick ok, I get it. Wiring straightened out for the most part, speaker flipped with LF on top, HF simply sitting on cabinet - experimenting with different terminals - far from perfect but the potential can't be missed. Listening to various high res digital files, on Cat Stevens Father & Son I heard parts of the guitar in the background I've never heard before and I'm partial to my other speakers, a pair of MartinLogan SL3. At the moment they are still far better but I'm talking about components simply sitting on top of the cabinet, no padding in the cabs etc - guessing when the A7 are more completed, each will have different strengths, each serve different need of my ear.
    I get the Altec love now tho in the potential I've been listening to for the last hour or so.
    Also think I now also see why these always seem to be a work in progress for many.....

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    Senior Hostboard Member gdmoore28's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    Hi Don,

    The woofer in the picture with the screen under the hole in the dust cap is the way they should look. Are you saying that the other woofer is missing the screen? Or has a solid dust cap? Let's see a pic of the other woofer cone. I gotta say, it's a lot of fun watching your discoveries!

    GeeDeeEmm

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    well now that I know it's how it should be, I can see they added this dust cover. From the looks of it, something damaged the cone and must have damaged the dust cap so they added this one
    sVcQe1r.jpg

    I'm probably moving to Mexico so may have to make a decision to go smaller so I bought those 838B's that Old Guy posted a link to for $400 - or just buy a trailer from harbor freight to haul everything down there. I'm picking the 838B's up Tuesday. Seller was great, holding them for me (or else no one else was interested lol ) These should do it Altec speaker wise, now need to get the altec amps working

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    Senior Hostboard Member bowtie427ss's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    Nice score on the Carmels! Had they been something more reasonable than a 12-14 hour round trip i might have pulled that trigger myself.

    If you;re going to buy a trailer for your move, give strong consideration to an enclosed trailer. You'll have far superior protection from the elements, and you'd be surprised how handy the lockable storage will be while you settle into new digs. When your need is over, send it back where you found it, the land of craigslist.
    Not all vegetables make good leaders.

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    8 1/2 hour drive for me. Changed it to picking them up Wednesday. Nice of him to hold on to them for me.
    For a trailer, yes, wouldn't even consider one not enclosed. Trailers cost a fortune, guess harbor freight doesn't sell theirs any more. Northern Tool has one for $239. I figured buy it, build box out of plywood on it. Has to make one long trip, just paint it, that would protect wood long enough. Obviously would have to check into cost of plywood etc but while I haven't priced them, I bet a box trailer that speakers would fit in be $700 and up used.
    I'm just happy u said good score - hearing u say that confirms it........

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    Senior Hostboard Member bowtie427ss's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    If Old Guy has posted it, it's most likely GOOD stuff and a GOOD deal.

    IMO, those speakers are easily worth twice your entry fee just for the components alone.

    Yes, a used trailer is what i meant. Something that can be sold for most or all of your investment after your need for it is over.
    Not all vegetables make good leaders.

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    I'm about ready to walk out the door to go get those caramels, checked my email - guy sold them, said a local buyer showed up so he sold them to him. Turned out he wasn't some nice guy holding them for me, he just didn't have any other buyers........but audio karma is working in my favor, I saw an ad for this Kenwood equipment priced far below it's value and started talking to the seller, she said the equipment was her dad's, an audio nut and he died, she was just getting rid of it. Guy had Kenwood KA-9100 in the original box, really nice stuff. I told her while I'd love to have a mint KA-9100 for $150, she priced it far too low and long story short she pulled the ads and asked more reasonable prices for them and while the KA-9100 was still a good price, didn't really need it so wished her well, figured was the end of it - was a little more to it than that, we had talked for a few days, but is the gist of it.
    She messaged me last night, said she had a what she thinks looks like brand new Kenwood KR-9600 receiver, wanted to know if I wanted it for $350. I told her she could put it on craigslist and sell it in a day for $550, was worth $650-$800 easy. She said she knows, just wondered if I wanted it.....I bet you she won't tell me 3 different times no problem I'll hold them for you and then sell it to someone else....lol.
    I'm not much of a receiver guy but this one's a brute with supposedly one of the best tuners made by anyone on it (wow, can't remember last time I listened to radio). Down side is tho it is rated at 160 wpc - and those are 1970's real 160 wpc, not sure it does 4 ohm and below loads too well but I'm sure I'll find something to do with it....man I hate re-capping receivers.
    Little trivia since already a bad post - reason I said real 1970's 160 wpc was in the 70's, Japan was trying to improve it's reputation for quality around the world and they set standards on audio and I believe camera manufacturers that had to be met before they could export anything. As far as the power rating on the stereo equipment, it had to be able to meet the rated specs for one hour - so if rated at 20hz-20khz , 80wpc at .05% distortion it had to be able to play for a solid hour and meet those specs. This would be why equipment seems under rated from that time period. Today they will say something is 200 watts and that could mean for a brief second at 1000hz it hit 200 watts, not really sure what the standard is anymore. Ok, I didn't say it was great trivia
    Can't believe he sold those speakers. I was supposed to get them yesterday and I emailed him said I could be there but today would be better and he said nooooo problem, make it Wednesday.
    I really wanted those - am loving these A7's

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    Senior Hostboard Member bowtie427ss's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    Too bad you're so far south. I've got a nice set of 9846 monitors to make you feel better.
    Not all vegetables make good leaders.

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    Junior Hostboard Member donberry's Avatar
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    Re: As ignorant as one can be - my journey with the A7

    bowtie427ss - 1st, have to ask, what is this 427 ss in anyway ? 2nd -I believe you vastly underestimate just how far I'd go to enhance my home listening experience It's not the drive that's the impediment to me buying those if u really are selling them, I think the bigger impediment would be being able to afford them. I didn't research them, just a quick google to look at them, not that I needed it but thanks for planting a seed.......I'm never going to make it to Mexico.


    The A7's - I have not done anything to them except flip them over and move the HF driver to just sitting on the cabinet. These have been very surprising speakers. While my living room is a decent size, being a bachelor and able to do as I please, I've set up a little workstation in this room for working on a bunch of amps I've had sitting around for years and need to figure out what I have so I've condensed the room and would have thought my seating position is far too close to the speakers yet the imaging has been really surprising to me. I just measured, the speakers are 6'3" apart, inside to inside and my chair is about 7' back, roughly centered. I've spent zero time playing or working on positioning them. I flipped them over, dragged them to either side of the tv stand and that was the extent of it. Sitting in my chair, if watching tv except for the quality you could probably convince someone the sound was coming from the tv. I don't watch a lot of tv so have been enjoying these mainly with music and they continue to grow on me and considering how they are at the moment, am excited about the potential waiting to blow me away. It will be a while before they make it to be my main project and while I know they will be vastly improved with just a few things done, they are good enough now where it's not like I'm rushing with the other stuff to get to these.
    Simpler way to say it is I love these speakers. Whenever I do make it to Mexico, I can't imagine me not pulling a trailer with these in it. Be great if I could stuff those 9846 in there but $400 project speakers with the drivers they have in them is more my price range. Would have been interesting to see if those caramels were enough to replace my ML SL3.
    I think I have my main room speakers set in these A7's

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