Stonehenge V

[voice of the theater]

They look to be in nice shape--glad to hear they're all original. I agree with all of your listening impressions--I've found 19's project a great sound-stage--I love mine. I also agree they have a nice flat extended frequency response (depending of course on where you set the two crossover tone controls)--the sound is very "balanced top to bottom" as you put it.....

They look very nice, with no dents in the cabinet, although at least some of the veneer appears to have been replaced. The drivers are all original. The crossover is stock. The grills are in very good shape. I paid $2250.

Although I don't have my old 604-8Gs anymore to compare to, if memory serves (and it probably isn't terribly accurate) the 19s seem better balanced top to bottom. I was never very happy with how the 604s imaged, but even with the 19s up against the wall, the imaging is VERY good. I am VERY pleased with them, and glad I didn't go to the trouble and expense of having new speakers built!

Dave

Attachment 2078

[GM]

They look very nice.........

Although I don't have my old 604-8Gs anymore to compare to, if memory serves (and it probably isn't terribly accurate) the 19s seem better balanced top to bottom. I was never very happy with how the 604s imaged, but even with the 19s up against the wall, the imaging is VERY good. I am VERY pleased with them, and glad I didn't go to the trouble and expense of having new speakers built!

Indeed, all that seems missing is the foam horn inserts.

That's because they are, though a properly tuned larger cab and M19 concept XO will tonally balance the 604 to ~match the M19's.

Yeah, the longer the horn and/or the narrower its polar response, the greater its 'throw', so to compare imaging between these two requires a much closer 604 listening position, which of course isn't surprising since it was designed for near-field recording studio apps. My speakers typically position the lead singer/performer ~ in front of the listening 'sweet spot', which is ~15 ft away from the baffle plane 'as the crow flies', causing at least some 'discomfort' to most folks 'raised' on high distortion cone/dome speakers that 'throws' an image mostly behind the baffle plane.

GM

[Altec Best]

A bit OT - but, you use Photoshop, right AB?

If so, after you resize go Filter menu -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask and then in the dialog you can play with the three sliders to get a desired effect.

For line drawings, try something like
Ammount: 228%
Radius: 8.8 pixels
Threshold: 2 levels

But experiment.

No I was using AVS software...

They look very nice, with no dents in the cabinet, although at least some of the veneer appears to have been replaced. The drivers are all original. The crossover is stock. The grills are in very good shape. I paid $2250.

Although I don't have my old 604-8Gs anymore to compare to, if memory serves (and it probably isn't terribly accurate) the 19s seem better balanced top to bottom. I was never very happy with how the 604s imaged, but even with the 19s up against the wall, the imaging is VERY good. I am VERY pleased with them, and glad I didn't go to the trouble and expense of having new speakers built!

Dave

Attachment 2078

Nice score mine are Oak as well... As GM has said the horn inserts (Foam) should be installed.Also if the crossovers are still original they should be recapped.. Replace the resistors and capacitors in them,that's all that needs to be done.Do NOT change the coils/inductors they very rarely go bad.They were done in house at Altec and are part of the voicing.I also had the wires changed from the small single conductor (24-26 awg) to high strand 14 awg. It made a huge improvement in mine !

[dth31]

Thank you all for the comments and advice. Replacing the internal wiring, caps and resistors is on my "to do" list, but I've been enjoying them so much it's going to have to wait for a bit!

Dave

[Altec Best]

Trust me Dave you will Love the improvement ! Also you need to do the ground bypass Mod if they were built before Altec redesigned the wiring.. Last pic.















In the last photo there is also a ground wire that goes from lug 2 to 4 that isn't highlighted.It runs right under the yellow wire if you look close you can see it.