Altec Valencia shrillness

**Steve Mac** · September 18th, 2010, 11:02 PM

I have a Jethro Tull CD and it is one of the worst recordings I have ever heard. Do not judge the Altecs until you've played good recordings on them. For instance, do you like Elton John? His Cds are excellent...Steely Dan?....great recordings! I love Jethro Tull and I'm extremely disappointed in how such a great band was handled. It's a crime! Essentially what I'm saying is that I had the same experience. Something to consider is that the better the speakers, the more they reveal...which means bad recordings sound REALLY bad.

Oh...another thing...you've got like 400 extra watts in those amps. These speakers are very efficient and will make a big sound with a 10 watt amp. I went through an amp upgrade when I built my Altec system...moving from a Mackie PA power amp to an Adcom amp to a Crown D75 to the current Odyssey Audio amps. There is a sonic difference in hi quality amps. Having said all this, step 1 is to ensure the speakers are set up right and you are running credible program material. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

**haryn** · September 18th, 2010, 11:21 PM

By shrillness, I mean it hurts your ears. But I only hear it on certain songs. What do I need to get to make these old speakers sound new again?

**bowtie427ss** · September 19th, 2010, 02:29 AM

Oh...another thing...you've got like 400 extra watts in those amps.

At least!

By shrillness, I mean it hurts your ears. But I only hear it on certain songs. What do I need to get to make these old speakers sound new again?

"Driver cry", turn it down, or move up to speakers designed to produce the SPL's your "volume knob" hand craves.

FWIW, Altec "for Heath" components are distinctly and clearly identified, i haven't seen any described here.

tar-filled X-over box sounds like Heathkit

I've never seen a potted Heath XO, do you have a pic?

The green N800-G XO and 803B suggest an "iconic" model, perhaps early enough to have been before the "Valencia" name was given to them, circa 1960-63 or so.

Just my .02.....................

**haryn** · September 19th, 2010, 09:52 AM

Maybe they aren't Heathkits. I assumed the one pair was, since they were different than the pair that is marked Altec on the wires input.
This is what the unknown look like on the inside.
Attachment 887

This is the outside.
Attachment 888

The other pair looks like this:

Attachment 889

This is the xover with the blown cap.
Attachment 890

Even though the tar filled xover is working, shouldn't it be replace just due to age?

On other albums, they do sound good. The bass beats off your chest, and you can hear the highs.

Are both pair of these Altecs?

**Altec Best** · September 19th, 2010, 12:35 PM

The tar-filled XO is a Heathkit the other Altec, now that is a blown Cap literally blown apart.

As Bowtie has suggested that looks like a very early model "Iconic" That woofer is old maybe late 50's very early 60's

WRT to tar-filled XO IME they (Caps) should be replaced as they are still original.And quite old, caps have an effective life of 20-25 years give or take.

**haryn** · September 19th, 2010, 12:55 PM

I didn't see how to replace them, as they were all encased in the tar or whatever. What about a Behringer? That is an "active" crossover? Does one unit do 2 speakers, and let you adjust the sound?

**Old Guy** · September 19th, 2010, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by haryn

What about a Behringer? That is an "active" crossover? Does one unit do 2 speakers, and let you adjust the sound?

There are lots of actives, there are good used ones for cheap, and some decent cheap ones...

Active crossovers go ahead of the amp. you would need a second amp. and use your current amp for lows or highs depending on it's power and sonic qualities.

If this is too complex, just ask here...the glossary of terms at least will be useful

http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

Don't worry about dumb questions, the dumbest question is the one not asked. We are here to help.

**LICORNE** · September 19th, 2010, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by haryn

By shrillness, I mean it hurts your ears. But I only hear it on certain songs. What do I need to get to make these old speakers sound new again?

Yes it's normal. That is what the Voice Of The Theater is all about.My 604-8G do that on some recordings. Especially ABBA .

Enjoy

**scott fitlin** · September 25th, 2010, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by haryn

By shrillness, I mean it hurts your ears. But I only hear it on certain songs. What do I need to get to make these old speakers sound new again?

Much of the SHRILLNESS in the upper mids and high frequencies are in fact recordings of that era. Some were good, some were really bad. You play a recording with very pronounced excessive energy in the 1k o 6.3k range, the ALTECS are merely letting you hear everything your recordings are about.

Some EQ can help, but play a really well recorded tune through your ALTECS and see how that sounds.