"Beginners" guide to the Altec world?

**taskvig** · May 24th, 2009, 05:30 PM

I'm quite new to the wonferful world of Altec and are therefore still a bit confused about all the differnt models of horns, drivers and woofers.

Is there any "guide" to the different models that's out there? It's not that easy for a beginner to understand the differnce if you read the papers from Altec, so if there is a guide out there or if "we" can write one it would have been great

(I would guess I'm not the only one out there with this need

)

I.e.
What is the difference between 808, 902, 908 and 909?
Which models are desired and who are not and why? I.e. why do people want 515 and not that much 3156?
Which horns/drivers fit to each other?
What hf/lf are good combinations and which is not
Are aftermarket diaphragms OK to use or should we stay away and only use GPA or Radian?

(These questions are only meant as examples of questions I would like to have an answer to in this guied)

**Todd W. White** · May 24th, 2009, 06:21 PM

My friend Jim Dickinson wrote one once, but since it's his work, I'm not at liberty to share it without permission.

I'll see what I can do to get permission from him. Perhaps I could make a pdf of it and put it on the website...

Oh, and RULE #11 in the Altec world: JBL is BAD - you must NEVER expose yourself to the evil world of J-ust B-ig and L-oud!!!!

**mah** · May 24th, 2009, 08:31 PM

From the late Bill Meckle website: intro

**Todd W. White** · May 24th, 2009, 09:11 PM

Well, that IS, indeed, the write up I was talking about.

Didn't know Jim had allowed it to be reproduced.

Oh well - at any rate, now you have it.

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · May 24th, 2009, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by Todd W. White

Well, that IS, indeed, the write up I was talking about.

Todd, JimD did the summary? I thought you were talking about the renovation articles.

**notloudenough** · May 24th, 2009, 09:55 PM

J-unk B-ut L-oud

**mah** · May 24th, 2009, 09:57 PM

Me too. The information on the Bill Meckle site has been around for a long time. Of course, if it is shown to be an unauthorised copy of Jim's work we can delete the reference.

Regards, Marshall.

**lowpoke** · May 25th, 2009, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by Todd W. White

Oh, and RULE #11 in the Altec world: JBL is BAD - you must NEVER expose yourself to the evil world of J-ust B-ig and L-oud!!!!

Good Lord, I was completely in the dark regarding Rule #11. I'm glad I read that before I broke the code!!!

**Todd W. White** · May 25th, 2009, 08:48 PM

Eckle was a GREAT guy! I had several wonderful email discussions with him - 1st Class!

I'm sure Jim knows about all this - is there any way Eckle's site could go dark?