Model 14 Wiring Info Needed

[Jim Butler]

I'm reassembling a pair of refurbed Model 14's.
The cossovers came from different sources and neither were marked for terminal attachments. There are 3 blacks, a white, red, and green. Can anyone let me know what the proper wiring sequence is?
Looking forward to hearing these for the first time.
Thanks in advance.

[gamalot]

Hi Jim. I DO NOT have 14 XOs but on all my other Altecs the blacks are common, Red is HF, Green is LF and White is Input.

I am not sure if model 14s do any reversing of the red/black on the horn but think you could try it either way and see how it sounds.

Gary

[Richard C.]

Jim,

All three of the black wires connect to the same point, but the ends should be different - because of where they go.

The input black wire has a 1/4" quick connect or possibly a spade terminal to go on a screw. The white wire should look just like the input black wire.

The black wire with a bare end goes to black on the 902 HF driver. The red wire should be the same length and go on the red HF.

The green wire goes to the woofer red term with a 1/4" quick connect. The last black wire should have a 1/4" quick connect for the woofer.

Richard C.

[Jim Butler]

Thanks Richard.
Well...heres a weird one:
All wires have quick connects except one crossover's long white and long black....which must be the inputs because this crossover came from a 9844 monitor. I'm assuming the inputs were soldered.

I quess I'll be connecting the rest of the black short wires to the "neg" woofer and 902 terminals. The long blacks will go to inputs and the colors will go to the proper drivers. I quess the 902's used for these particular crossovers had spade terminals like the woofers...

[Richard C.]

I hope you are wrong about this coming from a 9844 monitor! That would be a 800 Hz crossover, and you will need either a Model 14 or 9842 monitor crossover, which crosses at ~1800 to 2000 Hz, and has a rising CD horn EQ compensation.

Don't try an N800 crossover with a small Mantaray horn.

Here is the link:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/image...operation1.jpg

Richard C.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ February 15, 2008 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Richard C. ]</font>

[Jim Butler]

Sorry Richard...I mis-spoke. It is indeed a 9842-8D. I picked it up off ebay a few years ago as a cheap way to get a Model 14 crossover.

At any rate they should be up and running this weekend. Looking forward to doing A/B with a number of other Altecs.

Thanks a ton for the wiring info!

Jim

[Richard C.]

Jim,
By the way, which version of this crossover do you have? There are 3 different ones: 6 or 10?f, and the 6?f with the 2nd inductor.



Richard C.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ February 15, 2008 10:12 PM: Message edited by: Richard C. ]</font>

[Jim Butler]

HI Gary,
This may seem lame to ask, but would that mean that all the black wires are interchangable? ie, can they be hooked up to any speaker or input assuming the white/green/red go to the correct terminals?

[gamalot]

Originally posted by Jim Butler:
HI Gary,
This may seem lame to ask, but would that mean that all the black wires are interchangable? ie, can they be hooked up to any speaker or input assuming the white/green/red go to the correct terminals?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes Jim! Since all the blacks terminate at the same point on the XO chasis it makes no difference which black goes where.
I often remove the quick connect spades and direct solder to avoid future poor connections.

If you need the quick connects then just make sure all the lugs are clean and the fit is tight and solid so that no vibration will affect it.

Gary

[Jim Butler]

Richard and Gary: Thanks for the info and the pics of the 3 versions of the Model 14 x-overs. When I was installing them I remembered the earlier posts on the different versions. I checked mine and have one which is 6uf and one that is 10uf. Both have only the single inductor.

After redoing the cabs and making sure everything was caulked and airtight I hooked 'em all up. Immiediately noticed one HF driver was down quite a bit in response. I relized I had crossed one woofer's polarities-idiot(!). After fixing that I fired 'em up.
WOW!! These speakers rock! I spent a couple of hours doing an AB test against a pair of Santiagos (806+811+411+attenuator network). They and the 14's are crossed with stereo 411 powered subs crossed at 80 hz at 24db slope with a Behringer elec. crossover.

The character of each system is amazingly different but, to me, equally fantastic. The Santiagos are clearly less efficient but the 411 from 80 to 800 hz is deep, powerful, and nuanced. It feels luxurious.

The 14's are much more like the classic Altec sound of clear midrange and remarkable efficiency. This is my first listen to a CD Mantaray horn. I am luvvin it. The spatial soundstage is precise and vivid. I have been playing a number of Cowboy Junkies tunes and Margo Timmons voice is ghostly-real. I DO have to boost the 411 subs at least 6-8 db to keep up with the 14's, but the Model 14 woofer is no slouch either. These are fresh recones from Bill and they sound, to me, fast and sharp.

I know that the 14 crossover has been reported to have a spike at 1800hz. Though its not scientific I pulled down the midrange about 4 db. It seemed, to my ear, to be plenty of adjustment. I'd really like to try the "corrected" version of the 14 crossiver (I've downloaded the diagrams) but it will have to wait until I can acquire the knowledge to read the symbols and buld them.

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.