OT: Vitavox Multicells

**magnarc** · November 2nd, 2010, 11:02 AM

RARE 4x Large Vitavox 10-Cell Metal Horn Flares (eBay item 220689004729 end time 07-Nov-10 20:37:31 AEDST) : Musical Instruments

Look like nice units.

I think they may have the Altec 3 bolt pattern.

Have heard of them existing, but never seen any.
As for here in Oz, we rarely got VV gear from the UK, more often Kalee branded stuff.

**Old Guy** · November 2nd, 2010, 01:36 PM

Vitavox was OEM for JBL thru DuKane. I am 90% sure those are 3 bolt 1 inch JBL.

Decent horns.

FWIW early Altec one inchers are 3 bolt too. When Altec switched to two piece horns they changed. After Lansing left he continued with the original pattern.

As far as the seller not having seen them in "40 years of trading". kinda makes me think the seller is pretty ignorant about stuff. I've seen dozens, they are not "rare" at all.

A little knowledge being dangerous and all that...I wouldn't comment except the seller seems to use the fact they haven't seen them as a selling point. To me it reflects negatively on the seller.

**magnarc** · November 2nd, 2010, 09:28 PM

That's Smithy though (the seller).

Known for that. Nice bloke, has traded pro audio for 40 yrs.

They are probably quite rare in Oz, I'd say some would have been installed from the 50s-70s, but most stuff there then was Altec, and most of that has been trashed.

I only got told the other day 'we threw out hundreds of A4s and A7s during the 70's and 80s'

Sigh.

**bowtie427ss** · November 3rd, 2010, 12:26 AM

Those look to be tar filled, or filled with some type of damping compound. The description indicates they're fairly heavy. In my mind 200Kg packed on a pallet means approximately 100 lbs each for the horns and throats, and 40 lbs for the pallet and packing materials.

GM · November 3rd, 2010, 12:33 AM

Even earlier down here in 'Hotlanta' due to all the growth in the late '60s, so the older cinemas Palaces that didn't get torn down were 'upgraded' with JBL to be in 'tune'

with the new ones, though a lot of the mini-plexes that popped up had either multiple A7-500 or A5 systems with at least a couple using A8s. One of them even had a secondary four channel surround system with A5s with 805s positioned out at the four corners of the room for movies like Grand Prix and later, Pink Floyd, The Dead, etc., feature length music videos. Worked pretty good considering the simple delay boxes they used. Last I saw, it was a grocery store.

GM

**mah** · November 3rd, 2010, 05:33 AM

Attention, J Henry. Could be what you are looking for.

**Old Guy** · November 3rd, 2010, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

Those look to be tar filled, or filled with some type of damping compound.

They are filled.

A Brit friend says materials varied.

USA ones I believe were filled with foam. He says he has heard of sawdust filled.

Straight up I never asked about tar, my bad. I just remember him mentioning the sawdust.

220 Hz flare BTW.

There are also some custom jobs Vitavox did.

These guys are pretty knowledgeable about the Brit versions

The unofficial Vitavox website- 220

**Altec Best** · November 3rd, 2010, 09:39 AM

You can tell those 220-300 Hz horns they are much longer and narrower than the 500 Hz horns.To me though they just look like a cheaper version of an Altec.