restoring A7's

[badtoby]

I have a pair of 1969 16 ohm 500's that I got off craigslist. Someone painted them orange for a church halloween production. Cabinets and horns are orange, drivers are not. Can anyone help with matching the paint for the cabs, don't know what to do about the horns. Also,will need decals. Thought about keeping them orange and using them for deer season but they clash with the carpet and drapes. Have seen photo's here of others A7's and see that the ports have been modified, any info on this would be helpful. They sound great and with all that paint on the horns I've not noticed any ringing. For the most part they were only overdriven on sundays. Thanks


bt

[robertbartsch]

Have you considered changing the carpet and drapes to orange?

I would scrape some orange paint off the back and see if you could get to the factory gray color and then take a gray chip to the Depo for a paint match. I would safely assume the paint in that day was oil-based not latex so you may be dealing with different coats of paint (e.g., latex over oil). Ask the paint professionals how to best prep the boxes for a new shade of gray.

As far as the horns are concerned; that is more tricky if you want to remove the paint. Modern paint removal chemicals are not very effective IMO. Glass beeding and repainting the bare metal factory black is a possibility.

The painter of orange did some serious damage to these units but you know that, I suppose.

Please post pictures.

[Altec Best]

Here is a link for the decals. Set of 4 for $20, And one step I highly recommend is to prime the cabinets first for a long lasting finish.Have the primer tinted the same color as your finish coatings/top coat.This way it will minimize color change(tint) after drying.

Altec Voice Of The Theater DECAL set of four (4) - eBay (item 280453569200 end time Jun-17-10 17:13:03 PDT)

[robertbartsch]

If you live in the East Coast, try Erik Wayne at Gabriel Sound in NJ. He has a glass bead machine that he used to clean the gunk off my 2405 top plates that worked well.

Glass beading is not rocket science so you may be able to find a machine at a shop close to home. Anyone that does powder coating probably has one.

[Steve Schell]

I the past I have used the solvent product "Goof Off" to remove house paint, most likely water based latex, from Altec horns and drivers. It melts the latex away, leaving the Altec finish unaffected except for the driver decals which unfortunately dissolve.

[badtoby]

first try at photobucket.

[whitebroncoii]

Have seen photo's here of others A7's and see that the ports have been modified, any info on this would be helpful.
bt

In 1988 I asked Jerry Hubbard (Altec engineer in OKC)
for the following port openings on the A7, A7-500;

8.25"H port when horn mounted on top
13.75"H port when horn mounted inside the cab

[gearfreak]

One of many:

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/alte...port-size.html

You can also search on:
A5
825
828
... and 'port'.

other suggestions:

1) locate/read the "small v.o.t.t." paper
(and the large v.o.t.t. paper if interested).

This may be titled "smallVOT.pdf" (google)

2) Also of interest may be:
"soundpractices_spaltec.pdf"
Title: Altec "Voice of the Theater" Speakers for Hi-Fi ...a 1993 article by Jeff Markwart and John Tucker.


3) decide if you want wings, before defining the port size 'irreversibly'.
(per GM suggestion, possibly the thread above).


My wings and any mods are on hold for now, I am getting by with some 'subs' (as the kids would say) below 100hz.

[Panomaniac]

A smaller (and maybe longer) port will help, for sure. I actually have bass out of my cabs now. =)