Poor man's Altec?

[timp]

They look good. Thanks.

[martyh45]

The best way I know to get Altec sound on the cheap is to buy single Altecs that need rebuilding. Avoid the super rare stuff or it will take forever. When you have a pair send them off to GPA to be rebuilt and *presto* you have a perfect pair.

[timp]

How much does it usually cost to rebuild a pair? And what are the fair price for beat up single altec? Plus what are the common altecs that are easily found? I am looking for 15" or 12".


Thanks

Tim

[gamalot]

You can get a pair of 416-8Bs completely rebuilt for around $250 plus shipping. I think it is close to the same price to get the 12 inch 414s done.

There are all kinds of tricks you can do such as buying 15 inch frames from a musical instrument cabinet, I think they are 421s and then have Bill at GPA rebuild them to 416 specs.

Lots of ways to skin this cat and I have seen perfectly good frames sell for next to nothing.

I have pairs of 416-8As and 416-8Bs all completely rebuilt by GPA and ready for boxes and I doubt anyone could hear any difference between them. The cones are the same weather the frame is the fat lip or narrow lip.

Gary

[timp]

So, buy a couple of frames and send them over to Bill is one of the options? I will definitely keep that in mind. I feel like ebay price has gone up about 30% in the last 2 weeks. Could it be a Christmas bug?


Thank you.

[bowtie427ss]

Just my .02 here, and a friendly wager.

By the time you have paid for a pair of used 416's, shipping from the seller/s to you, shipping to GPA, rebuild cost, and return shipping from GPA to you, you're going to have spent within 100-200 bucks of the cost of a pair of brand new GPA 416-8C's.

It's my understanding that in regard to sound/performance, the GPA 416 is the best yet.

I'm living a similar dilemma with 604's, my wish is a pristine/new pair of 604-8G. After weighing all of the options and possible routes, one of which is parting together the pieces and having them "re-born" at GPA, the conclusion i reach is that by the time all is said and done i'm within a few hundred of the cost of brand new 604-8H II's from GPA.

My plan is to "nest egg" the funds i would otherwise spend on the parts and shipping and combine with tax return or other windfall to buy new from GPA, and not look back.

OTOH, it is possible to get lucky and fall into a good working pair from a respectable seller with competent shipping/packing skills on ebay, could be a big savings but is a gamble at best.

The GPA route is foolproof and guaranteed.

Just some food for thought.

[jnorv]

I have about $750 in my 515B's. $500 in 2002 to buy and then $250 in 2004 to have GPA recone. What is the price of new 515's from GPA?

Jim N

[Steve Mac]

I've got the receipt here somewhere for the 515's that I bought from Bill earler this year. I know they were around 350 bucks apiece. For brand new...I thought that was a fantastic price considering.

[Steve Mac]

Yeah, don't you guys find that pretty crazy what with the price people are paying for these speakers on crudbay? I have no idea why Bill doesn't advertise the heck out of this. Brand new....same tooling...from what I can see the build quality is beautiful. I know I could've afforded and bought classic Altec vintage gear, but honestly...wouldn't everyone on this forum love to see Bill's business do well?

[gamalot]

Exactly what Bowtie427 said!

I bought 2 each 416-8a wide lips and 416-8bs on ebay for around $300-350/pair. Both claimed to be sounding great.

Both pairs required the round trip to GPA for full rebuild so I now have well over $600 in each pair. Some get lucky but I just seem to get to read about them!

New GPAs are a sure bet unless you are willing to take some ebay chances or can find some good ones locally.

These days I would prefer to pay the price then to go through the aggrivation when I find I just got bent over.

Gary