How far can Altecs go.

[blackdog]

A couple of days ago, I had the wonderful benefit of visiting a man who had the following:

4 515-8Gs, each in their own cabinet. These cabinets are slightly smaller than the A5 (as far as I could see). Two cabinets side by side on each side of the room with about 1.5 feet of space in the centre of the room which separated the pairs of cabinets.

4 3184s, suppported by wooden block sitting on the floor (without enclosures) in front of the above cabinets.

Each channel of 2 515 + 3184 had JBL 2405, 2402 and two Pioneer tweeters that connected to a sectoral horn about 2 ft wide resting on a pair of the 515-8Gs. There was also a JBL 2420. The Pioneers and 2420 have 1 inch voice coils.

The gentleman, James told me he built his own amp (300B push-pull + 12AUX7 + 6SN7 = 10 watts), his own pre amp with gain + volume control. He also built his own crossovers configuring them as a 5 way system. He uses a Cambridge audio cd player.

He does not use expensive I/Cs or spkr cables etc. All parts must be available in the local hardware/electric store.

THE SYSTEM BLEW ME AWAY. I work in a building specialising in hifi. I have heard Krell, Mark, CJ, B&W, MBL, Conrad Johnson, Jadis, Westlake, PMC, Linn, Gryphon, etc. The above system blew away everything I have ever heard before.

The most analogue and natural sound I have ever heard. When the Shadows were played, it was as if they were playing in front of me. Not only is the sound analogue, but a piano, violin, clarinet and saxaphone sound like one. Instrument size was exactly like the real instrument being played! One could visualize the grand piano's size when eyes were closed. Violins had the box 'feel' - that is what makes violins unique. Ambience was palpitating, the 3184s barely made a sound, only moved air to support the music that was being played. The sound was huge (bigger than Avalon/Marting Logan or Appogee). Needless to talk about detail - it was there. Clarity or resolution - this was unbeatable. The volume loud enough to drown the sound of my mobile when it rang. I felt very comfortable listening at that volume, in fact enjoying and savoring every moment of it.

Words can not adequately describe what I experienced and felt. Everything that music should do was done on the morning of 3 Feb 2003. The gentleman's complaint - he needs to duplicate the size of an orchestra's performing stage and height.

I thought that Altecs were very good. I never realised that a home made set up could ever achieve what I heard. I am going to imitate the setup I have described and I want to know how many out there have ever done or are comtemplating doing the above, what are your experiences. How far can we take the Altecs?

[rolandr]

AUDIO NIRVANA??

To make a long story short Altec VOT components outperformed full range ribbons and electrostats in my hands. Not only in bass efficiency and dynamic range but also in transient response!!!

How can that be you say?

Altec cone drivers are light cone/light voice coil with edge wound wire in a very strong magnetic motor (15-20K Gauss). This results in very high resolution and efficiency. The compression drivers also use light aluminum diaphragm with edgewound wire VC in a very strong magnetic field. Both cone and compression drivers function under limited cone excursion conditions. Horns acting as impedance matchers dramatically increase efficiency ... cone motion is limited and therefore distortion is very low. So is no surprise then that Altec drivers can outperform other high resolution systems.

Horn colorations remain a problem... tractrix round horns sound more natural but are beamy. Cabinet induced colorations can be reduced
via infinite baffle (IB)use. Althought Altec drivers have limited LF output in IB via T/S numbers (thanks GERD, Jeff M, etc), they do very well when placed in IB corner settings where 9dB "bass" reinforcement occurs. IB subwoofers can also be added this may be the ideal situation. IB subwoofers are totally different in design. They are basically air pumps with high excursion cones and heat tolerant voice coils. Bass does need the watts of power!!

I think ultimately the "best" Altec speaker will be an IB setup with IB subwoof. No enclosures or enclosure colorations to deal with but you do need an IB ie: attic. Can improvement be made?? Beryllium diaphragms for the compression drivers certainly helped TAD but may toxic.... no problem I'll get the Prof to install these for me...what does he know!!

[scott fitlin]

YES!!!! Thats it in a nutshell. The coherence and believability of the Altec horn loaded systems! the voice just hangs right in front of you, so REAL sounding! So coherent. And the dynamics. WOW!

So, once you get past what they say according to what they see on a test bench, the ears say ALTEC makes it sound REAL!

I guess you could take Altec,s as far as you wanted to! Ive also heard some custom boxes designed for Altecs. I find the electronics you use have a very great influence on these systems!

[Murray Keidge]

Hello,
I have taken the Altec's a long way, but in perhaps a different direction to most people on the user's board.

Whilst I have 604-8g's etc in my home, I use Altec's on a daily basis for live concert production.

Years ago I compared many loudspeakers and decided that the "Altec" sound was what I liked.

It is very satisfying to have this sound in your home, but to achieve it at an outdoor orchestral concert for 60 000 people is another level of satisfaction again.

It is interesting that I receive some comment, from competitors, that the Altec's are old and not relevant any more.

However, the comment from the customer & more importantly, the conductor, musicians & audience members, is that they have never heard sound this good anywhere else.

I have not found any other loudspeaker that performs as well, sonicaly, as the Altec in the home and live situations.

Murray.

[scott fitlin]

yup, Murray, they tell me ALL the time to get rid of my Altec stuff. Cant take any powert they tell me! I dont need 1600 watts per channel! They come in here and hear this system and they go from telling me to get rid of it to how can they make their stuff sound like this! I tell em its easy! just throw your stuff in the ocean!

Yes Altec works on older principles but NOTHING sounds like this stuff. Hearing is believing!

[Mike D]

Over the past 25 years since I bought my Altec Model 15's I've done a few blind tests in comparing them to friends speakers.....In all the tests I set up my friends speakers right next to mine (or on top of mine) and we have a sheet in front of the speakers. We then switched from one speaker to the next......EVERY SINGLE time my Altecs were picked as the better speaker and at times I was offered over 3 times what I paid for them....

Speakers that I did this blind speaker test with (Magnapans, Apogee, JBL, Pioneer, Snell, Advent)

Never once have I been unhappy with my speakers....Even after 25 years...

[scott fitlin]

Ive been using my VOTT since 1974! I grew up on this, and ive tried many things more modern. And none of it can make me get rid of the Voice Of The Theatre!

My 6 double 15 Altec cabs are powered by 3 Crown DC-300A,s. A fraction of the power being used today! but the sound I get, and I get ALOT of it is better and more musical than anything I could buy in the market new!

[Charles Chance]

I've had my A7's since circa 1970. I've raised 2 kids with them. Many times the visiting teenagers or younger twenties would say something like "Wow, how many watts will they take".

My response has always been, it's not what you put in, but what you get out - both in quality and SPL. Sometimes they want further explanation and I reply to the best of my non-technical ability.

[Mike D]

>> "Many times the visiting teenagers or younger twenties would say something like "Wow, how many watts will they take"."

That is ALWAYS the response from someone who doesn't know the first thing about audio....How many watts...They judge speakers totally on how many watts a speaker can handle....One of my speaker tests was to show someone that how many watts a speaker will handle doesn't matter....My Altecs are rated at 65w.....My friends Pioneers were rated at 200w.......It took me hours to explain and show him what efficient speakers were....And that a more efficient speaker will play loudly at very low wattage.....And I still don't think he understood it.....Spent way too many hours at the low-end audio stores.

[cclark65]

I use Altec 421A's, 417-8h's, and 511b/902 drivers for live sound all the time still. I have had a lot of people tell me that they can't believe how loud they go and how clear they sound. When I tell them that I am only running a couple hundred watts to the mains, (considerably more to subs), they just can't believe it. I have had many discussions with people about sensitivity and power handling. The best sound I have ever heard from my system comes from a park down in a valley along the river where they hold church services a couple times a year. the sound down in there is just awesome.