Introductions

[speakerdave]

My first Altec was a single Heath Legato with the 800 cycle horn and a pair of 15" woofers. I picked this up somewhere, a garage sale I think. My apartment was so small I didn't have room for it, so I left it in my van and hooked the radio up to it. It was a crowd pleaser for sure. Eventually sold it to a small club in San Francisco. One of their amps DC'ed and took out the woofers.

Approximately ten years later I stopped one day at a Salvation Army store to see what was up. Guy pulled into the slot next to me in a mini-pickup with a pair of walnut A7 500's in the back. He was there to donate them for a neighbor. $50 and five minutes later they were in my van. Loved those speakers and kept them for a while, but my whole house then was less than 1100 square feet for me, the wife, two kids, a piano, a dog, a cat, some cockatiels and a fish tank. So I sold them and went to a pair of AR 11's

Not long after that I saw a classified for some Altec 609-8G's for $250. I knew it was a typo and got there first with the money. Liked those speakers a lot and still have them, though they are currently parked while I'm working through my JBL desires.

Love those Altecs. Love those bargains.

David

[RonSSS]

I'm addicted to Altec speakers and my life has become unmanageable......that's step 1!
Nice to hear from all you folks. Makes this group more personal. Cool.
And isn't it interesting that all our stories are a bit similar.
I remember a trip to Yakima Wa with a buddy. We went to one of his friends houses...and the guy had Altec 810's???? Corner cabs with two 15's and a 511 horn. My god.....I know the beer and whiskey and......were flowing...but that knocked my socks off, one of those setups I'll never forget. I believe all the gear was Mac.
Ron

[Jim Butler]

HI All,
I picked up a pair of model 19's that were advertised in the local buy and sell paper about 9 years ago. I had seen a picture of the 19's many years before and filed it away in my brain. I went to the guys house (he used to own a night club), paid the 400 dollars, and wrestled them home. I called Altec in OK City (they were still in business) and they said, sure, ship out the woofers and we'll fix 'em. When I reloaded the cabs I had no idea what to expect. I had a little Marantz 2200 receiver hooked up to a CD player. When I turned it on (Mark Knopfler0, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It was, I guess you'ld call it, "the sound I'd always been looking for". Since then I've indulged my speakerholicism, figuring, enjoy it now because you can't take it with you. I've got pretty much Altecs whole line up from the seventies and early eighties. And, thank God, my wife says she "can't live without good sound". I am a lucky man.

Jim

[scott fitlin]

Well, for me it began in the spring of 1973, at the ripe old age of 11, when my dad and my uncle opened up the Eldorado Auto Skooter in Coney island NY! A bumper car ride, where you ride with the lights out, and they opened the place up with a sound system and hit music! The first system in here was 4 Altec A7,s with a Mc MX-113 preamp/tuner, a Mc amp, 2105 it was, a JVC 8 track ( remember those ? )a Dual 1229Q turntable with Pickering cartridge and away we went! I walked in with my dad opening day, saw all that great stereo stuff in the control booth and I was amazed, and these speakers were like none id ever seen before! I walked behind the controls, and heard my dad yell " SCOTT, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING "! Too late, my hand was already on the McIntosh volume knob! WOWEE! Music, and LOUD music! This was great! My uncle comes running over, and he asks me If i like the stereo, I say Oh yeah! We were listening to War- Cisco Kid! The Marvin Gaye- Lets get It On! This was just toooo good! When the other kids were playing ball, I was here with my dad every chance I got, playing music, It just took me over!

Fast forward to 1976, the movie Saturday Night Fever comes out, and Disco is all the rage! So pop and my uncle purchase a bigger system, a Disco system this ones called! Unfortunately, the designer of this system used medium efficiency drivers, direct radiator cabinets, and not enough of them, and basically the system didnt cut it! So the A7,s go back up, and they go to AST in manhattan NYC and buy alot more Altec speakers, and something else i really hadnt seen up until this point! Crown amps! Crown xovers, and this stuff really kicks good! Now we had 2 Altec 815,s 4 new altec A7,s and 4 new altec 816,s all 421 loaded, and 2 Altec 311-90,s and 4 811,s! Were crankin! For the day, it really did sound terrific!

This buisiness grew, so did I, and so did the system, we got subs, 18in horn loaded subs, supertweeters, more power, music was hot, and by 1978 this place was famous for its sound and music we played!

I reached the age of going out, and doing so, started to hear many other systems using other brands and types of gear! To my surprise, NOTHING sounded like the Eldorado! I knew Altec was a special sound! All i wanted was more and more!

Through the 1980,s we kicked hard, into the 90,s, and now into the 21st century! I have heard many things, and many different tyupe of electronics and speakers, and to this day, Altec is my sound, still using Altec bass horns 421-8LF loaded! And its still special and magical!

Its a huge system and its commercial/pro but its a great sounding place! Under this roof twelve Altec Bass horns 421 loaded are still pumping today, along with many subs, horns, tweeters, crown amps, we still play records on turntables, how bout that? As well as CD,s too! All analog signal processing, and everyone isa still bumping their A$$ES off at the Eldorado Auto Skooter, 1216 brooklyn NY 11224!

Altec rocks!

[Valveboy]

Been into tube amps for about the last 15 years, when I first heard a Mac c22 and mc60's driving a pair of Maggies at my college roommate's dad's house one weekend. Fast forward to now, where my current system is a Curcio PAS and Mac MC240 driving ADSL810's. Currently have a Dyna ST70 on the bench, installing the premium Curcio mods. Have always heard you gotta have horns to get the most from your tubes. A few weeks ago, I'm eBay'ing some equipment to clean out the closet. So I have some extra cash, when I find out about an abused pair of Altec 19's a friend of a friend of a friend has for sale. I had that cash from fleabay for maybe two days. Now I have a pair of 19's in my garage, the drivers are on their way to GPA, and the wife and I are plotting how to reconfigure the furniture to make room. I sort of welcome the fact that they need work. I find the hands-on aspect of vintage audio to be almost as enjoyable as the listening. By the way, I bought them only half-auditioned, merely on the praises I've read here and in other places. One was speaker was dead so I've never even heard them both running. I hope you guys are right! I'll know in a few weeks when the rebuilt drivers return home.
Dave

[Mike Gibson]

I've been thinking of spending some weekends down in Portland near a busy interesection with a sign that says "WILL WORK FOR ALTECS"

[armandh]

a gal in my sisters class in high school was the local altec rep had an 802 altec pre amp and power amp, gerrard changer.
later a friend grabbed some VOTTs in a theater tear down best Ive done are the almost altec
http://www.pbase.com/armandh/root&edit=Y
great for out door or big PA work.

[donaldpatten]

Hi
I was just out of collage when a friend who had 604 super duplexs turned me into an Altec snob. We ordered my set but got 605As because it was 1963. I got married and told my bride we were getting some speakers. When they arrived at my friend's, we had to drive to Peoria ( 150 miles ) to pick them up, and the Carmel cabinets. She was shocked at ther size, since we had a small two bed room apt. It turned out the fiber glas was not fastened properly and had all fallen down. So we got a bucket of rubber cement and to spread it with sticks. Well she dicided to use her hands and got them covered in cement. When we finished she could not get her hands clean and as the cement dried it froze her hands. All the way home she picked off bits of the goo. She still remembers that trip.
I built most of my electronics, HK Citation I II & III, Heathkit & Eico test equipment, and an Eico tape recorder.

[BugC]

Hi,

I just stumbled into this site last week and have been skimming over the various topics since. WOW! Lots of useful info to ponder on. Started on this hobby (audio) six years ago. Started with solid state receiver and bookshelf speakers and now into tubes and horns.

My first experience with Altec drivers was not a pleasant one. I thought it was too loud and unrefined. This was 5 years ago. I was listening then to a pair of 604-8G?s on open baffles driven by a stereo 300B amp from a distance of 6ft ?. Kept wondering then what was it that made people gaga over these drivers! A year after, I heard a pair of 403A drivers on 6ft voigt pipes. Again, I didn?t like what I heard then. Said to myself these drivers will only be good for instrumental music and not for vocals. However, 2 years later, I heard those same 403A?s on open baffles, and thought to myself, they could do vocals pretty well after all! But because of the limited range of these drivers, I said to myself, these drivers are not for me. After that, I got to listen to a pair of 755C's on voigt pipes. They were a lot better than the 403A's but there still was something amiss! Last year, I got to listen to a pair of 604-8G?s in a folded voigt enclosure. I still wasn?t impressed by their sound. But one thing I noticed then was the presence! They sounded big.! This year, I got to listen to these same speakers mated to JBL 2405 tweeters and modified crossovers. This radically changed my thinking about Altecs! ? They are awesome speakers, to say the least ? Last Nov. 11 and 12. I got to listen to those 515 woofers with 511B horns plus JBL 2405 tweeters in half-horn enclosures ? Now, I?m lusting after those Altec sound! ? I used to listen to Lowther drivers (DX3 & EX3) in Big Fun Horn enclosures designed by Ketil Parow. They are wonderful speakers with very articulate bass. The sound of the Altecs however has more weight and presence ? Could this be because of the 15? drivers as compared to the 8? drivers of Lowther ... I also listen to a pair of Rogers LS3/5a?s with AB1?s. These speakers are superb especially in smallish rooms. Their sound is hologrbaphic and are very natural sounding! ? However, after that Nov. 11-12 experience with the Altecs, my mind has been preoccupied with that BIG LIVE SOUND that the Altecs deliver!

Cheers to all!
Bets

PS. I have a pair of 415A Biflex coming in this December. Am planning to put it in a 10cuft enclosure, with internal dimensions of 42? (H) x 26? (W) x 16?(D) and a 3? round port 3? long mated with a JBL 2402 tweeters crossed at 7k . Hope to finish this before Christmas with the help of a carpenter friend. ?Am I in the right direction of achieving (even partially) that Altec sound that?s been going through my head this past few days? Thanks in advance to your thoughts on this matter!

[Old Guy]

Have been into audio since the '60's. Started out with some kits from Lafayette Radio in the early 60's, as a teen I helped out some friends in a rock group.

Moved to the city in the 70's, wound up working at an Altec contractor.That was my first exposure to Altec.

Several years later interviewed for the job as rep for Altec in the Midwest. Actually collected one paycheck from Altec, but it just didn't work out- not much to the story. Sorta neat thing about this board- actually heard from the guy here who wound up in the job.

Helped liquidate some excess stock Altec had, sold dozens of 290 drivers left over from Vietnam. Bought 12 myself to build my first REAL PA. Have been doing live audio since, with a few studio sessions along the way.

Came off the road for a while at the beginning of the 80's to manage the Pro Audio dept of a large music store, finally went back to the road. Semi retired now just do a few local festivals.

Have probably built over 400 speaker boxes. Almost all for live work, a couple dozen for personal sound. My stuff isn't pretty like some of the stuff the guys here have, I'm not much of an artist I learned more to build for funcion. Some of the cabinet work here is so pretty it makes me cry. Wish I could do that.

Present system is small- I stay in an apartment. Am working on a farm situation so I can have a decent workshop and more room. Maybe I can then improve my skills with cabinet cosmetics. My present stuff looks like it's made from boiler plate.