my 820a (need advice)

[puppybeast33]

I came into one of these bad boys today (cabinet 821a). I'm a newb and this is my intro into audiophile stuff. My question: What do I do with it? Yes it sounds great (in MONO) but surely there should be something better than hooking it up to the left channel of my receiver and listening to all Phil Spector and Beach Boys albums...right? What do you guys do with just one big speaker cabinet.

[bfish]

Originally posted by Nat M.:
...What do you guys do with just one big speaker cabinet...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Build another!

Reed's project

[puppybeast33]

Thanks for the link! I was thinking about this but the matching components are pretty expensive. I do have a fully outfitted woodworking shop. (listening...) Wow this thing sounds nice...The Beach Boys are my favorite band so it's kinda weird that I got one of these. If anyone cares this is a good story: Over the past few months I've been building a vinyl collection of Beach Boys albums. Brian Wilson only mixed in Mono partly because he only has one good ear and cannot hear in stereo. So 2 weeks ago I'm looking for a record player to play all these old LP's on and stumble into the Audiophile world on the Internet. I've just been reading the forums and stuff and then I see that everyone loves these old Altec speakers. Then I say to myself (last tuesday) "hey don't they have one of those things at the Salvation Army down the street?" They are only open on Saturdays. I prayed to every God on earth for 4 days that it would still be there. It was. It was $30. It's now mine. Everything seems to be all original and working great. I've listened to nothing but mono recordings for the past 4 months (Phil Spector back to Mono box set...insanely good!) so maybe there is such a thing as Karma.

[LICORNE]

Nice cabinet.Image from Steve Schell at Lansing Heritage forum.



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<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ November 19, 2007 11:24 PM: Message edited by: CONVERGENCE ]</font>

[bfish]

Great story, Nat!

Having one's kinda like a wish sandwich ain't it...

[cclark65]

sweet deal, I love stories like this that have a happy ending. All too many of these old speakers end up in landfills

[Steve Schell]

Hi Nat,

You have done very well! The Altec 820 systems were made from about 1951 to the mid or late '50s and were Altec's best home system at the time. They are sought after by collectors, especially overseas. They are among the few systems that are exported intact despite the cost of shipping the cabinets. Single examples have sold on ebay for $3,000. to $5,000. This is one system that is definitely worth more intact than parted out.

The 820A used the cast aluminum H-808 multicellular high frequency horn. The earliest 820C examples used the first version of the 811 horn, the H-811. This is a rare horn, and is identified by vertical vanes that curve outward in front. Later 820Cs used (I think) the more common 811A horn. Your speaker seems to have some form of 811 lurking behind the grille cloth, though I can't tell which type.

As the 820s predated the stereo era they were sold as singles originally. Some were later combined in pairs, and a pair of 820Cs in the home of an ex Altec employee provided my first taste of the Altec sound.

As you continue to listen to this excellent speaker with its lifelike dynamics and clarity of sound, lesser speakers will no longer sound pleasing. Welcome to the audiophile ranks!

[puppybeast33]

Thanks Steve. I can't believe how much difference speakers make to the overall sound. My ****** CD player hooked up to a 90's model Onkyo receiver already has my music sounding 1000 times better than on my Bose. Vocals are much more clear and separated and drums (snares in particular) really jump out at me. I can't wait to get a good turntable. I guess my next question is: would it be worthy to tie together the left and right speaker wires so the entire signal passes through?

[bowtie427ss]

.....already has my music sounding 1000 times better than on my Bose

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Please pardon my opinion, but vintage Altecs deserve better than to ever be compared to ANYTHING bearing the bose name. Bose is a corporation that has reached it's status thru mass marketing originality, and specifications that are total bull-c-r-a-p.

Here's a lengthy but enlightening read:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

Historicaly, they did make a few truly good products, the vintage 501 speakers were not half bad, and the 800 industrial was a very compact yet formidable PA speaker, the 1800 pro and 1801 home power amps were really fantastic units and still receive high regard from those familiar with them.

would it be worthy to tie together the left and right speaker wires so the entire signal passes through?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This will likely release the magic smoke from your Onkyo, once the magic smoke escapes, the Onkyo will no longer work........... if you get my drift.

My advice would be to find a worthy loving USA home for the 820, and get yourself a PAIR of fully restored altecs from a later generation, and put the other half of the sale proceeds in the bank.

Just my .02 y'all understand................

[valhallax]

we've yet to have follow up from reed on how his 820's sound after a few months of listening.. tho ive no doubt whatsover, they sound fantastic! if it were me, i would consider myself a thousand dollars ahead, and build a replica of the existing cabinet. for half the cost of a pair of 820's you could have a set! pure audio heaven. in the mean time continue listening to mono recordings and live better than most.