Quote Originally Posted by Wes Dayen View Post
Thanks for the welcome guys.
The "Hippie" I referred to was Richard Donaldson, one of the engineering techs that watched the stuff coming off the line. He did a lot (I believe) to help perfect the 9440, working closely with the lab guys up front. He was also a blast to me to work (indirectly) with. Always something enjoyable going on back in that back room.

I knew a lot of the guysin the stockroom too, and I was back there alot needing this or that. Can't say I honestly remember you though Dave. Wish I could say I do. I worked alot with Dick and Bruce Johnson however. Anyone heard anything from any of these guys in years past ? I always wondered what happened to them all.

I was always kind of a hands-on guy when it came to production stuff, whether speakers, drivers, amps, equalizers, etc. I must confess I did not care for the tangerine plug when it came out. Never appeared to have a smooth response when I was testing, where the original all aluminum diaphrams always did. Course they would never stand up to the higher power the symbiotics did. They also were not quite as smooth, at least with a sine-wave sweep.

I do have quite a bit of hands-on with the mics too (if someone has a question and this old brain can still remember). Also worked alot with Bill Hayes, who I had the privilege of meeting up with at his home about 6 months back. Heck of a nice man.

Nough for now. I'll try and touch base with the forum when I can. I'm on the road quite a bit now, so it may be only once every couple weeks. What a loss the old Altec is. Was it 1981 it moved to OK. ? I left in 79.

God Bless y'all !!
Wes
Thanks for checking in again Wes! Sounds like some interesting and fun times for you (like working with Richard Donaldson for example). I personally haven't heard anything from/about Dick or Bruce Johnson but maybe someone else here has. Not to mention, new people are finding this website/joining here all the time including former Altec employees like yourself so maybe you'll log in and find posts from them here--after all this is THE place to be for all things Altec. If you are still in touch with Bill Hayes, I'm thinking he might appreciate being told about this website (if he doesn't know about it already).

As far as the tangerine phase plug, I think it was when they combined it with the H.F compensation in the Model 19 crossover (and other similar Altec crossovers produced in those days through the Oklahoma days) that the "magic" happened (smooth extended frequency response). This document shows the frequency response with the crossover in play (and controls set to the "optimum" position). http://www.altecpro.com/pdfs/vintage...r%20Manual.pdf
Interesting that they didn't measure very smooth without the H.F. compensation from the crossover-- this type of info from those days is "pure gold" IMHO.

To answer your question regarding the move to Oklahoma, I'm not sure when they started moving everything to Oklahoma City (there are most likely others here who can chime in about this). According to this timeline (which is probably far from "gospel"), it looks like by 1984 everything had moved there. http://www.altecpro.com/about/timeline.htm This may be of interest to you. I'm pretty sure I saw a "better" history/timeline somewhere, but can't find it today of course. Anyone else out there know of one?