Home Brew Cabs

[voice of the theater]

Altec Lansing Model 19 Cabinets! Avail Birch Oak Walnut - eBay (item 250769246412 end time Mar-07-11 14:31:11 PST)
I wonder if this is one of our members here. Too bad they don't mention/plug GPA in their ad--I think it might help them to sell more of these things if they mention the fact that brand new drivers are still available. How does the quality look to you guys? I don't see any bracing..... At $700 I certainly don't consider them a "steal" but I'm sure the materials aren't cheap and they are fairly labor intensive. Seller is in Atlanta, Georgia. I know it's a big city/region, but GM -- do you have any idea who this is? I guess that's kind of like meeting someone from Australia and saying "Do you know so and so? He's from Australia too"! He does seem to be an Altec guy though so I guess that narrows the field down (very) slightly. I found this horn in his other items for sale....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Altec-MR...item3a5f2fa928

I'd love to see GPA build cabs like these and offer brand new 19's again but they've got their work cut out for them and are doing a great job providing and repairing the drivers. Not to mention potential legal factors. I guess that leaves the cabinet building (one of the "easiest" ingredients to replicate at home), up to us.....

[ricohman]

Actually I think thats not a bad deal. When one figures in the amount of labor it takes to build these big caninets I think its a pretty fair price.
Where can someone buy new drivers/woofers?

[GM]

No clue, there's a number of Altec folks in the metro Atlanta area, which spans ~62 mi. in all directions from its center, but I've only met Richard C. AFAIK, the member that did the Model 14, 15 XO updates, though a few others have called. None associated themselves with aquariums or asked Qs about M19s though IIRC.

GM

[GM]

I think its a pretty fair price.
Where can someone buy new drivers/woofers?

I agree.

GPA: Great Plains Audio's Homepage

GM

[bowtie427ss]

I guess i'll be the odd man out. While i don't think the price is unfair or unrealistic, i do think calling them model 19 cabinets without the use of the word "clone" or "facsimile" is a stretch.

The issues i have are the choice of low grade plywood(this includes the birch faced softwood ply proposed in the description), and serious lack of detail, details that are part of what makes a model 19. IMO, good MDF is the better material acoustically, and is what Altec built them from, a wonderfully uniform and consistent material to work with.

I'm a stickler for details. The labor intensive veneer and cabinet work of a genuine model 19 is part of what makes it the legend that it is. IMO, to call it a "Model 19" you need to build a model 19, not a reasonable facsimile thereof.

The cabinets in question remind me of the "kit cars" that were available in the 70's that were built on VW Beetle chassis, a Ford GT-40 for example, looks a lot like the real thing but it's essence isn't even close. They're not made of the stuff that makes a speaker worthy of the Altec logo, Behringer maybe, but not Altec.

I'm not sure if any of the pics are still available in the threads, but member Reed Hinton has built some spectacular examples of classic Altecs that easily meet and generally exceed the quality of their original Altec likenesses.

Just my .02.......................... not always pretty

[voice of the theater]

Actually I think thats not a bad deal. When one figures in the amount of labor it takes to build these big caninets I think its a pretty fair price.
Where can someone buy new drivers/woofers?

Great Plains Audio makes brand new 416-8B and 416-8C woofers. Most Model 19's came "stock" with 416-8B woofers (mine did), but I have it on good authority that the last Model 19's produced came with 416-8C woofers. GPA also makes brand new 902-8A h.f. drivers (which were stock in the later model 19's), and I'm told they now make 802-8G h.f. drivers which were stock in most Model 19's (which are the drivers that are in my Model 19's). Great Plains Audio is owned and operated by former Altec Lansing employees--manufacturing brand new drivers on original Altec Lansing tooling using Altec's original plans/designs.....
Here are the links for the drivers:

http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/downloads/902series.pdf


http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/downloads/416_8C.pdf

Home Page Great Plains Audio's Homepage

I couldn't find any mention/links to the 416-8B or the 802-8G on the GPA website? Is it just that I'm not awake enough yet on this Sunday morning? Can anyone else point ricohman to the links? Is it a problem with their website that I can't readily find these drivers listed there or does GPA no longer produce them?

Also, I just went to GPA's ebay page and noticed that many of their products are not listed there. They have established quite a name for themselves, but there are still a lot of vintage Altec enthusiasts out there who haven't heard of them--people that do Altec searches on ebay for drivers, diaphragms etc. I think GPA could increase their client base by listing every single product they manufacture on ebay--even if they just mention several of their products at the end of one of their ebay listings so that anyone searching for those Altec parts on ebay will learn that GPA manufactures brand new parts for vintage Altecs...... For example, I just did an ebay search for "Altec 902" and "Altec 416-8B" and Great Plains Audio's parts/listings do not come up on those searches. I've got to think that's potential business lost..... Not to mention I don't see any of their diaphragms listed either. Between woofers, h.f. drivers, and diaphragms not coming up on ebay searches that's got to be a decent amount of potential business lost---and potential exposure--anyone searching for those drivers or diaphragms on ebay should IMHO see GPA results in their search and this could be the first time many of these people have ever heard of GPA--could be a great way to "spread the word". Even if these newly informed people don't buy now, at least they'd be aware of GPA the next time they blow a woofer or diaphragm etc. In other words, it might not amount to many sales now, but it would promote awareness of GPA which could in time "snowball" their client base as people who become newly aware of them (thanks to an ebay search) either blow drivers or start building cabinets for new projects etc. and eventually do business with GPA. I think ebay is often the first place people turn to for vintage Altec parts--and it seems a huge missed opportunity for someone doing a search on ebay for Altec parts to not see GPA results in their search. Anyone who's in touch with Bill might want to pass this suggestion on to him. I've got to think that just about everyone on this board needs GPA to thrive for many years to come to provide repairs and brand new parts to keep all the vintage Altecs alive and well. Anything we can do to help promote them is in all of our best interests......

billatgpa items - Get great deals on Electronics items on eBay.com!


(Last minute addition) I just did a very general ebay search for "Altec Lansing diaphragm" and not one GPA result came up--but plenty of results like this came up:

Diaphragm for Altec 604 802 806 808 8 ohm NEW P#10-908 - eBay (item 220314678199 end time Feb-06-11 12:35:43 PST)

And I see activity (bids/questions asked) on some of these non GPA listings! No one else's ad says anything to the effect of "Great Plains Audio is owned and operated by former Altec Lansing employees--manufacturing brand new drivers on original Altec Lansing tooling using Altec's original plans/designs" because no one else can truthfully say that--GPA has a huge edge due to their credentials. One ebay ad could list all of GPA's diaphragm part numbers and have the words "Altec diaphragm" in it and then they would come up as a result for EVERY ebay search whenever someone's looking for new diaphragms instead of coming up in zero search results. I know GPA doesn't currently do a lot of ebay business, but I think passing this suggestion on to them could help change that and in time "snowball" awareness of them/client base.

[GM]

I guess i'll be the odd man out.

Hmm, 'clone' means exact replica in all details whereas he (She? Never know these days) calls them 'replica style', so just means it maintains the general 'look', like your kit car analogy, so you're not really the odd man out.

I was so bleary eyed when I read the ad though that all I saw was 'Birch' and 'plywood', but now that I see it's furniture grade with all its potential internal 'squeaks', I can't recommend them for serious music appreciation at any price, so Caveat Emptor.

WRT MDF Vs furniture grade plywood, I agree that MDF is the lesser of two evils, but 19 mm no void plywood Vs 3/4" MDF........ we'll definitely have to agree to disagree if you believe MDF is the superior building material for a high SQ, lower mids on down speaker cab. Ditto Altec choosing to build with it for any reason other than lowering manufacturing cost as much as practical or they would have been using it at least since the mid '60s for all their consumer cabs when the original cabinet grade HDF (now MDF) became available.

If one wants the MDF's finishing properties and/or save a bit on materials, then at least use the much more rigid and consequently more expensive cabinet grade HDF the higher end manufacturers use today.


Reed's and some other DIYer's cabs with rare exception are so much better constructed than Altec's (or any of their competitor's) products that the comparison isn't fair to them IMNSHO.

Once Altec, et al began competing for the general public's disposable income as opposed to catering to the (near) wealthy, all aspects of design/manufacturer was regulated by the 'bean counters'. Between this and Ling 'crippling the hands' of Altec's R&D, product designers, in retrospect it's amazing to me that they continued to be a market innovator as long as they did, a real testament to their collective knowledge base.

For sure, in a similar situation, Cutler-Hammer didn't do nearly as well after Eaton bought it out, though in all fairness, I imagine there was far more opportunity for its knowledge base to find new employment than in the relatively small world of acoustic systems design.

GM

[danquin88]

Hi Everyone. My first post here. I was clearing out our climate controlled storage and came across my Altec Lansing model 6 speakers. Thinking about selling them. They're in good condition. I had the woofers replaced sometime in the 80's because the foam had gone bad in one of them. I was surprised to find this site. Interesting.

[bowtie427ss]

WRT MDF Vs furniture grade plywood, I agree that MDF is the lesser of two evils, but 19 mm no void plywood Vs 3/4" MDF........ we'll definitely have to agree to disagree if you believe MDF is the superior building material for a high SQ, lower mids on down speaker cab.

I don't disagree at all GM. Specifically, my point was that MDF would be preferable to what was used in the pictured cabinets, and no less than equivalent to the birch "faced" ply proposed in the description all the while recognizing that what we call MDF can vary greatly in it's composition and density from manufacturer to manufacturer, that's all.

Reed's and some other DIYer's cabs with rare exception are so much better constructed than Altec's (or any of their competitor's) products that the comparison isn't fair to them IMNSHO.

Totally agree, just didn't want to overly stress the fact out of respect for the members who love their vintage factory Altecs.

[Cal Weldon]

I, like GM, believe the only reason cabinets are made from MDF is cost. If you have had the chance to listen to identical speaker systems in different cabinets, I bet you will never build a speaker from MDF again. I agree one of the objectives of the cabinet is to remain as inert as possible and at no point should it impart a signature of it's own but having had the opportunity to listen to 3 different systems side by side I cannot suggest that MDF is a good cabinet material. It simply sucks the life out of the speaker. Kind of like a crossover with too many components.