Altec 616-8A Ceiling Speaker

[Rex Mills]

New to the forum, so Hi to everyone. Great place! Thanks Todd! I came into a pair of 616-8A Duplex ceiling speakers and was hoping to get some feedback on them. Checked out the product sheets so I have that info. Does anyone know what Altec woofer would be similar to the low frequency section of the 616-8A? Thanks for your responses.

[Steve Burger]

From my understanding they are actually closest to a JBL LE15 woofer- which was one of their best. Very good low end. the horn driver is an 806. Good speakers.

[Jim D]

Just to add to what Steve said, the 616 was designed by ex JBL designer Bart Locanthi in his short tenure at ALTEC. It has a 4" voice coil, uses the same frame as the 411 woofer and is of a flatter cone style than the traditional deep cone ALTECs. The basket has identical topology as the classic JBLs. The cone is reputed to be similar to the JBL LE-15/2205. The driver is coupled to the cone with a short expodential horn that uses the cone for its last expansion. HF pattern narrows somewhat with frequency. The unit was designed for the first MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Quite a few are still in service and the unit has a nice full sound. From my knowledge, none have ever been T/S measured. It works well in 6-10 cubic feet box. Jim

[Rex Mills]

Great information from both Steve and Jim. I am surprised to hear Mr Locanthi worked for Altec. I'm guessing this was before he went to JBL? A true Genius!

[Jim D]

Bart Locanthi worked for ALTEC in about 1970-71 right after he had quite JBL after a disagreement with new owner Sid Harmon. Unfortunately, the Texas bankers who were in control of ALTEC after the LTV fiasco went to Anaheim and fired Locanthi and several other talented staff at the same time, just because they could. They maintained a whole staff of deadwood over at Ling Electronics, who did nothing. Bright guys!!! Jim

[Rex Mills]

I have a couple Cetec Gauss 15" drivers and certainly recognize a certain family resemblence to Altec 15's. I recently e-mailed Telex/E.V. customer support with a question about a Gauss 15 and never received an answer to my querry. I guess the attitude of "Not Made Here" is alive and well at Telex.

[Don McR]

The Cetec Guass drivers were designed by another ex JBL engineer - Edmond May. Ed left JBL in 1969 after spending the previous decade as Director of Engineering. He had worked under Bart Locanthi since starting in 1956. Bart's role at JBL was generally considered to be the theoretician while Ed was the practician that developed working systems. Contrary to Bart's bio, Ed was responsible for the detailed design of the LE series of drivers. He was also responsibe for the JBL 4310/L100 and 4320.

It was Ed that recruited Bart to Cetec Gauss after he was forced out of Altec. However, Bart did not work on speakers. He was invloved with electronics.

As far as I can tell, the Gauss line was killed by Telex at the same time as Altec in 1998.

[Don McR]

There's a nice bio of Locanthi written by John Eargle after Bart's passing here:

Locanthi Bio

Bart was involved with JBL from 1949 to 1970 - with a hand in every significant JBL product from that era. 1970 was the year Dr. Sidney Harman purchased JBL from Bill Thomas. It was the new management installed by Harman that did not see eye to eye with Bart and led to his dismissal. After leaving Altec, he worked briefly at Cetec Gauss before ending up at Pioneer America. There he would design the HPM speaker series and the complete line of TAD components. These components continue to be a mainstay for large format monitors in the most prestigeous studios in the world.

[Steve Burger]

Yep and finding parts is a nightmare. I found that out after I sold 2 sets a few months ago on ebay. One set was good the other had one good woofer and one bad one. They both sold for the same price. I then shipped them and screwed up big time mixing up the shipments- I'm human and occasionally subject to making a mistake. One set went to the midwest and one to Taiwan! I have been searching for the match since to square up with the guy. Bill H. ended up with a bunch of parts but is not very familiar with the line or his inventory on it apparantly and he was not sure if he could find the right parts for them. If you are looking for parts it is worth contacting him. He is likely to have the later ones as he acquired much of the parts inventory from Telex/EV when they laid off their competition.