what is driving your altecs?

[RonSSS]

Model 19's driven by home brew transformer coupled PP300B amps with Citation II OPT's.
Santana's driven by Heath W5M modified with 6B4G.
904-8A duplexes driven by a similar pair of Heath W5M.

Ron

[Old Guy]

I'm embarrassed by all you guys- right now I just have an old Harmon Kardon 70's vintage receiver... when I get it benched I am switching to a mint condition Heath AR-1500 I got for 30 bucks at the flea market.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/AR-1500A.jpg

Just old garden variety 846b's with some tuning.

For what I listen to- mostly Blues and Blues rock...it wails.

[bfish]

On deck at the moment,

1. Altec 9444A/SA
2. Altec M500s
3. I'll elaborate on the question that has mostly been ignored....why that amp?....because it only does the job I ask of it, which is to amplify a signal. It doesn't sing along, make a statement, or inspire critique. It doesn't sound warm, cold, open, closed, musical, lyrical, or magical, in fact the only sound I can attribute directly to it is the soft murmur of the fan. It doesn't contain any "audiophile grade" components, just the industry standard Spragues, CDEs, etc. No precious metals, gemstones, chrome plating, or fancy housing. Counting the initial minor repair parts, it cost me less than $100. Totally unimpressive, and basically an invisible, "fugettaboutit" amp. Just the way I like it.

[vintageboris]

I play as well in the "unspectacular" league:

Marantz 2245 receiver, driving a pair of 9872 on the direct channel and a pair of "Alesis Monitor One", on the "remote channel". Those give me just the right amount of lower bass that cannot be reproduced by the Altecs.

Mainly old-fashioned vinyl records (well, LPs) playback by Hitachi HT500/Grado (a very decent direct drive turntable from the 80s).

Yeah, my Deep Purple, ELP, Hendrix & Coltrane, as well as Glenn Gould records rock!

[timp]

My system is simple.

414/806a and homemade crossovers. I drove many of you crazy in the process of putting them together.

Home made 12sn7 pre and 12ax7/6dj8 phonostage based on Kuei's design (I think his real name is Thorsten). The tubes are sitting on top of electrical boxes which I bought from home depot (cheap!)

And Eico HF14s.

I would describe my system as a fat and ugly soprano singer. If you know what I mean...

[timp]

Hey Boris

Jon Lord on Hammond was lovely. Emerson of course, I saw twice with Lake and Palmer. Gould playing Bach. They are indeed great keyboardists.

Tim

[Davidg]

Main system; GPA 604-8H-II in Billfort style cabs.
Pre-amp; Threshold SL-10
Power amp Threshold 400A

[bfish]

Aside-

On the Harmony Central site (musical gear reviews), a final question is "what would you do if it was stolen?".

In my case, a thief would have to be pretty diligent to even get to the 9444...if he needs it that bad, he can have it. I got another. Might even send him a thank you card for clearing a new path. No need for insurance, kids and critters can go wild with no worries.

[Altec19]

+1 on the Dynaco ST-70 with Curcio Mods

Link to ST70 Restoration

[cclark65]

I have several different things that I want to try and use on different cabs when I have the time to play (not much time usually)

Right now it's a Yamaha receiver on my Model 14's and model 6's (front and rear channels of home theater)

In the wings, I have a set of 604-8G's andsome 9440A'a, an Adcom GFA545, older Yamaha R9 receiver, I want to try them all in different configurations. I used to have an old Eico tube amp, but traded somebody a LONG time ago for something that I can't even remember what it was. I wish I had it back.