hello everyone need a bit of help with my 604e's

[k9wkj]

Hi all
new here (yesterday)
been interested in Altecs since i remembered i have a pair of 604e's in custom cabs
i have had these for 12 years and never fired them up till this week.
if my reading has paid off they were built the 46th week of 1966 (391646)
i am the second owner of these, they came from a close family friend that back then
was moving some items along to me that he didnt want to get trashed by folks who dont know or care what quality is. aside from the 604's he had passed on to me a 100 watt FM transmitter that he had built with a stereo modulator all built by him (very nice stuff)
he passed away in late 2008.
he told me all those years ago that one of the 604's had a blown voice coil, so i assumed that it was a woofed woofer.
but i pulled them in to the house this last weekend and low and behold it was just a blown HF voice coil.
i have spent alot of time reading here on the forum and enjoying the nice bunch of folks work around here.
but i still dont fully understand my options for getting a replacement voice coil.
new,used,GPA,Orange,chinese
and should these be replaced as a pair so they will have the same tonal qualities.
cost is a issue.
after hooking up the fully working cab to my marantz 2220 in mono
i have now been fully converted to a Altec way of thinking.
im thinking these cabs are a bit small as well they are only 5.5 cu.ft.
thanks for teaching me so much already

de k9wkj

[Art J.]

Cq K9wkj, welcome to the board. Did you pull the diaphragm out and have a look?
A lot of times the problem is that the conductive strap to the coil breaks. In many
cases they can be repaired with some careful soldering.

A coincidence, the speakers in my picture were given to me by another Old Ham
before he passed away, for the same reason. He didn't want them to get trashed by *heads.
73 Art

[oface1]

Welcome to the forum,


I would give Bill a call @ GPA and get those 604's boxed up and shipped to him and have him replace both HF diaphragms. I would keep the old working as a spare. Also he will re-mag the speakers too.

Great Plains Audio: Contact Us In the past it was way easier/quicker to get a hold of someone @ GPA by calling, now Tom , who runs this forum picks up the email traffic. I prefer talking over the phone, but that will depend on your time zone, so emailing might be your ticket.

Sounds like your cabs resemble a smaller 612, you are only missing the lower octaves, and you could runs a sub to augment those if your tastes require it.

Good luck,


-chris

[k9wkj]

thank you Art and Chris for the welcome
when i get a couple more posts up
i have a web album started to document what im doing
ill post the link when i get my 3 posts in
i will be moving off the farm here soon and i wanted to get these beauties
ready to roll for that time
i feel really stupid for not using them all this time
had no idea what i was missing!

cul de k9wkj

[k9wkj]

per Art's thoughts i rechecked the HF diaphram and its open in the coil so no hope there

ohh well it was worth looking at again


de k9wkj

[k9wkj]

here is a start of the pix
Picasa Web Albums - 11153866445894913... - 604e

[Art J.]

Very nice except for that Owens Corning. It looks like that old dusty itchy stuff.
Fiberglass dust is very bad for the mechanism. Others may have current recommendations for you..........

[Altec Best]

Hello k9wkj, Welcome to the forum, as noted they usually break at the leads that go through the dome here is a pic

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/d61ae283.jpg

[k9wkj]

Picasa Web Albums - 11153866445894913... - 604e
that will show where i checked for the open

[Altec Best]

Looks like a hole,was something stuck through there. Either way it will need to be replaced if the lead was broken you could of had repaired if someone is real good at soldering the leads,but if the actual coils are broken/severed that is not repairable GPA has new frams for $91 + shipping.Sorry Regards ~ AB