Small format MantaRay horns...finally!

[Todd W. White]

The MR994A and the 909 made stunningly nice sounding system when combined with the 3156 in Altec's short-lived M500 system.

[cholt]

Anyone have factory cabinet plans for the m500 or the model a10s (THX certified 2 x 3154s;8254s?). I have components, hoping to build cabinets, thanks, curt in LA/[email protected]

[GM]

Greets!

Is the M500 the utility cab version of the 9815 studio monitor?

No drawings of either, but if it's a 9815, then it's a basic vented design that can be calc'd 'close enough' from published dims, and IIRC the vents are fairly short ~3" diameter cardboard tubes.

No drawings of the A10 either, but again, it can be calc'd 'close enough' from published dims except it's a sealed cab. BTW it was loaded with (4) 515Bs, whereas the considerably smaller A9 only had (2): http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/...ers/a9-a10.htm

Anyway, I wonder if you meant the A6, which was an 8256 sub (dual 3156) with your choice of Mantaray horn perched on top, which it too can easily be reverse engineered.

GM

[cholt]

GM,
Thanks for the comments on the "vintage a10 & a9, I certainly have enough 515s to install in these sealed enclossures, as well as the tar filled horns/288s to complete the system. However, the "new" a10 was manufatured in the early 90s (? 1993) and was altecs only THX certified theatre system. I believe that it in fact, had 2 3154s (ported enclosure), a 906 8a with that extra THX HF peak! (will substitute a 288 16h of course), and a MR 945A horn. I have not been able to get these plans from BH at GPA, problem with retrieval in his system. Anyway, I also have been in contact with a person (Michael Christ)that has the resources and skill to build some A1s!!!!! Now, I just have to save enough to get the A1s done, thought the new a10s would be a bit more space and dollar smart. Curt

[cholt]

Wooops, I meant 511s or 311 90s to go with those a9s, a10s, respectively...

[GM]

Greets!

Learn something new every day! I was under the impression that the earlier one was THX certified due to its much better vertical directivity and smoother low end response over previous designs. Anyway, sorry for the misinformation.

Not familiar with this later one, it was after I quit following most things audio, but browsing, I found this and its cab can be reverse engineered 'close enough' also: http://www.lansingheritage.org/image...ro/1993-36.JPG

A1s look cool, but I imagine the standing waves generated by coupling all those parallel walls would require too low an XO point to make them smooth. Even a 500 Hz XO point for a single 210 wasn't really low enough until I went to 4th order.

What app are these for, a large cinema? These late A10s are way too long throw for even a large HT.

GM

[bfish]

Curt,

I think I've got your M500 cabs. I drove up to St Cloud, Mn. last fall to pick up 4 M500 cabs w/flyware, 2 were still factory loaded with 3154/MR994A/909/M500 XOs, and 2 were empty, the components having gone to LA. (Seller wouldn't ship the cabs). Sound familiar?

Turns out the seller had called Bill before listing them for info, who obliged, but said they'd be crazy to sell them. When I got them home, I had to order some other parts, and while I had Bill on the phone, mentioned I'd bought them, and the price....I could hear him shaking his head through the silence....then he said he was glad they'd ended up where they'd be appreciated. He didn't say so, but I got the feeling the M500 was one of his "babies".

The cabs are semi-utility, covered with black laminate, and have black fabric grills, and full flyware. The XO looks like the pictures I've seen of the 9xxx monitor XO GM mentioned, with the pushbutton EQ selector. Dual 3" round ducts. Lacking the space at home, I flew the complete pair in my fishin' buddy's workshop/garage, and set him up with a spare 9444A and a disc player, so we'd have some tunes in our second-favorite hangout. Even with the concrete floor, open-truss ceiling, and a big aluminum boat to make a very "live" 25'x35' room, they sound excellent. We chose to leave the XO EQ off, it was just a little too much in those conditions with it on. I'm kinda glad his wifey wouldn't let us fly them in their LR....When we fired 'em up with the rollup door open, even the horses 200 yds away paid attention!

The empty pair are in storage 40 miles away, but I can get the dims from the "full" ones pretty easily in a few days if you want them to duplicate some cabs (unless you want to sell me your components?)

[bfish]

C.B.

I only got them set up a couple of weeks ago, and have only got to listen to a few CDs there. With them being in such a non-standard environment, and nothing else there to A/B with, it would be hard to say, and I haven't listened to any 19s in years. With no EQ, and where they're at, I must say that I was very impressed that anything could sound that good under those conditions. Since it's more a standing/walking-around situation, we swung them from the 8' rafters, tipped down about 10-15 degrees, about 12 feet apart on the long wall. At 15-20 feet, you can move around quite a bit without "losing it" (big sweet spot). One is closer to a corner than the other, so you can notice a little LF imbalance, but that would be my only complaint. Even though the 3154 is a less-efficient Altec, there was no shortage of clean bass, and we never had the 9444 over 1/3 volume, and still knocked several wall-hung items to the floor, before curing all the rattles. We listened to The Kentucky Colonels (Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and Panama Red playing acoustic folk), Steely Dan, SRV, some Floyd, and The Band, all sounded VERY good.

I think I'll listen some more before further comment, so hang on to your A7s and 19s. Maybe when the fishin' heats up you can come over for some fishin'/listenin'/whittlin'/lyin'.

[RonSSS]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry that I jumped in front of you for the MR994's. I have kept an eye open for a pair for a couple of years, and to be honest, haden't even looked at Ebay in months and there they were.

I have always wanted to compare them to the sectorals, both 511 and 811's. (I prefer the 511's to the 811's BTW)

Anyway, ever since I began listening to my 904 duplexes with the small manta horns, I knew I liked the CD horns.

I do attribute some of the hollowness to the plastic, but that is easily fixed. And I'm sure the model 19 X-over isn't ideal. And, with the new horns on top of the 19's, the horn and woofer are too far apart to blend real well. Still, the sound is quite good.

I need to spend some time listening and tweaking. But first impression is good, and I think the possibilities are very promising.

Ron

[yup]

Ron,
No problem. I just happened to see them myself and could not convince myself to hit the buy button... I am glad someone here bought them so I could learn "risk free".

What is the size of the cut-out for mounting them? And the mounting depth (without driver)?Hopefully it is fairly close or slightly larger than the 511 cut-out. That way I could go ahead and build my boxes big enough to fit either horn by just changing the cut-out size. Then if I come across a pair in the future I can change them over easily.

Thanks,
Jeff