Horn flavors...

[grasshopper]

The Altec history is certainly a classic one with regard to American industry. I see all sorts of things Altec made showing up (on eBay, Audiogon, etc) that I have never seen before. As a new Altec enthusiast, I wonder what various types of horns Altec made throughout their run- specifically materials, size, and so forth. For example, did Altec make many plastic horns? Did they make many mid/high freq wooden horns?

School me...

[MikeInNH]

Many more people here can give you a much better history then I can.

Many of the Mantary horns and even their curved radial horns were made of plastic. I don't know of any horns made by Altec that were made of wood. Plastic and metal and even Fiberglass were the only materials I know Altec used.

Altec's horns are legendary. The sectorial horns and the Multi-Cell horns dating back to the 40's set the standard. The 811 and 511 are still considered by many people to be the sweatest sounding horn EVER made.

Their CD horns (Mantaray) design are copied and used in some sort by many other manufacturers.

[Old Guy]

Plastic, metal, and fiberglass pretty much covers it. The only thing I can add is I understand the 808 multicell was made of urethane foam during WWII when aluminum was unavailable. Don't believe Altec made any wooden horns. Have never heard of one.

[Wagtbtoobz]

And don't forget that Altec made many PA outdoor systems where wood couldn't suffer rain/sun changes !