511E... factory or DIY?

**speakerdave** · September 14th, 2007, 05:22 PM

I've always thought it was understood that the 511E was a modified 511b. Since the throat has been shortened the lower frequency cutoff would be higher. Also I would think that the expansion angle of the throat entry and the driver throat would be a little off, so there would be a slight but abrupt change in the expansion rate. Also I've noticed in SOME of the 511's I've had the quality control of the welds has not been that great. I have apprised the purchasers of that and they still wanted them and paid well for them too and air freight to Japan and Switzerland. I've never thought the 511E was the best horn for the large format Altec drivers. It's just the smallest, most livingroom-friendly one.

I'm not as clear on the Altec history as some others, but isn't this a product of the years when Altec had been spun off by the robber baron and was struggling for survival with its encumbering debt load? Wouldn't that explain why the 511E was create from a hacked 511b? And wouldn't that make it equally unlikely that Altec would undertake to design and tool up for a more proper replacement? Just quessing here.

Best regards,

David

GM · September 14th, 2007, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by speakerdave:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by bowtie427ss:
I'm always floored by the amount of knowledge that surfaces here. . . .

Well it's either knowledge or guesswork. I've seen no evidence that the lighter gray horn in the auction is a factory 511E.

The other looks like a hack job done by an amateur.<hr /></blockquote>True enough, but I believe I did at one time, at least I had a factory pic of an off white looking, heavily coated 511 labeled a 511E I found on the 'net a long time ago, but unfortunately lost it when one of the early virus attacks (Melissa?) destroyed every pic on my machine.

Indeed, until this auction's photo I thought it was basically the same horn as used in the 9848 since the camera angle hid much of the throat end's details, so until more info is made available about the light gray unit we'll have to agree to disagree since we're obviously not interpreting the pics the same forums

.

**speakerdave** · September 14th, 2007, 05:56 PM

Originally posted by GM:
. . . . until more info is made available about the light gray unit . . . .

Whoever buys those horns is going to have some first-hand knowledge. Maybe we can get him to report back to us.

David

GM · September 14th, 2007, 06:07 PM

I hope so! If I had the disposable income I'd try to get them just to satisfy my curiosity.

**bfish** · September 14th, 2007, 07:04 PM

Originally posted by speakerdave:
Your ex-lady may have missed a good thing. One of Mingus's wives said she would wake up in the night and Mingus would be playing bass in his sleep and she would be the bass.

Judging from the photo you posted, it looks like the screw has turned again for you, bfish.

David

Well, a Mingus I ain't, though I've been told of some general wierdness I do in my sleep...

I'd never heard your "screw turning" expression before, but it's appropriate. Not a life-changing win, but for the second time in my life, I'm flush with the world, owing no man a dime. Feels pretty good too, but suddenly I'm at a loss for new blues lyrics...

Thanks for sharing!

**Old Guy** · September 14th, 2007, 07:33 PM

I've seen exactly one set of horns with Altec 511E labes- they had single lugs....I am open to there may be 2 versions. wouldn't surprise me...I agree so far only the single lugs have been documented.

Could somebody tell me- is my mind fading- or was there a verione of 511 that had some blue stuff in the seams? I thought I saw a pic somewhere...

GM · September 14th, 2007, 07:58 PM

Originally posted by speakerdave:
I've always thought it was understood that the 511E was a modified 511b. Since the throat has been shortened the lower frequency cutoff would be higher. Also I would think that the expansion angle of the throat entry and the driver throat would be a little off, so there would be a slight but abrupt change in the expansion rate. Also I've noticed in SOME of the 511's I've had the quality control of the welds has not been that great.

I've never thought the 511E was the best horn for the large format Altec drivers.

........but isn't this a product of the years when Altec had been spun off by the robber baron and was struggling for survival with its encumbering debt load? Wouldn't that explain why the 511E was create from a hacked 511b? And wouldn't that make it equally unlikely that Altec would undertake to design and tool up for a more proper replacement? Just quessing here.

So did I until this recent auction.

Right, shorter axial length = higher Fc.

Yes, both the expansion rate and HF response would be affected.

I've seen some pretty pathetically welded up horns too. When I cut the welds out of the vanes of several 511Bs, they popped out of shape they were so mis-aligned/stressed. At the throat, I had one pair I wound up align honing to get a good match to the drivers, which had the most audible difference other than properly damping them.

No, the 9848's performance left me and the others at the distributor underwhelmed and a 'why did they bother?' attitude, so never really considered it a viable option for HIFI. If I'm right about this 'new' one though, it could be a smaller, ~500 Hz version of the 311-90, but it appears to be even more rare than the 31189/511E, if it exists at all.

Not sure when the Ling Dynasty ended, but these would be during the long financially strapped era before its collapse and if they did design a new one it would probably have been due to the 31189/511E not being accepted in the prosound community combined with the loss of the 311 series. Not to mention the Mantaray series was initially slow to be accepted, at least around here.

Just my SWAG too based on what I know and what I'm getting from the photos since by the time the 9848 came out I was pretty disgusted with Altec's QA and my hobby priorities had shifted, so didn't keep in touch with the distributor as I once did, only buying replacements for the most part, especially after they began pushing B@#$ prosound systems in lieu of Altec.

Oh well, nothing brings out the truth quicker than idle speculation, so not a complete waste of time. forums

**Old Guy** · September 15th, 2007, 02:02 AM

The seller noted he had a box for one, i emailed- he said the short one came in a box.

So it was either sold seperate from the monitor, or it's a 511E and the other is ?

**Old Guy** · September 15th, 2007, 02:12 AM

Originally posted by GM:

Not sure when the Ling Dynasty ended, [/QB]

WAY before the 511E. I actually collected one paycheck from Altec Corporation in 74- he was long gone.

If my brain still functions, the 511E came around 78.

**speakerdave** · September 15th, 2007, 03:25 AM

Dimensions of the horn mounting flange are approximately 23 and 5/16 by 10 and 9/16. Distance from the back of the horn flange to the driver mounting surface is about 11 and 3/8. There is a single mounting lug at the back. The dividers in the horn mouth have an aquaplas seam.

I have one pair left and will be hanging onto them for now, but thanks.

David

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