For sale are a pair of Altec Valencia speakers, originally sold through Heathkit as model AS-101, and branded with Heathkit logos. A friend gave me a demo of his modified pair of Heath speakers, and they were VERY impressive. And when he offered to help me set a pair up like his, I went looking and found this pair.

These speakers' first owner was David Nurse, the President of Heathkit. When he passed on, his son owned them, and he sold them to me as he downsized in 2018. I paid U-ship to deliver them from western Ohio to my home in Fairfax, VA.

The Heath cabinet design is a classic take on the Valencias. Some say its a more attractive style. They are large cabinets, so my first mod was to add furniture wheels to the bottom so they can be easily moved. Per my audio guru, I attached granite and ceramic tiles to the rear and bottom to give them mass, so they play lower frequencies than other Valencia's do. I also added (removable) 18x18 inch granite tiles on top of the cabinet. The woofers have added mass to help them go lower, and the horns are heavily damped to remove ringing and shrillness. The cabinet is set up as a "half-*** transmission line," filled with lambswool, and they have a custom crossover network. They play a wider range than stock Valencias - hearing is believing.

Basic list of mods -

  • Original Woofer with custom treatments for lower bass range
  • Original Tweeter with modified back-cap pad and vent holes (relieve back pressure)
  • Horns modified with 2 layer of QPad lead based damping material.
  • Notched Fiberglass panel installed between woofer and horn.
  • approx 4 cups of well fluffed lambs wool in lower cabinet area around woofer.
  • Existing rock wool left undisturbed on sides and back panels.
  • Removed rock wool blocking "vents" at ends of horns.
  • 13 AWG stranded silver wire in teflon jacket replaced original internal wiring.
  • Major rebuild/update to crossover network with polycarbonate & Teflon caps
  • Used stock inductors & horn tweeter controls.
  • 2 tiles installed to the cabinet bottoms - one 18x18 ceramic, one 12x12 granite with RTV silicon for constraint layers
  • 2 tiles installed to the cabinet rear panel - one 18x18 ceramic, one 12x12 granite with RTV silicon for constraint layers.
  • 18" Granite tiles built up with constraint layers and placed on top of cabinet (removable)

These Heath/Altecs are quite efficient and play well with medium power tube gear, or newer transistor amps. Why am I selling them? I love speaker projects and love hearing different gear, but I currently have 4 pairs of large speakers in my living room, and I'd like to declutter and downsize this pair and one other (the JBL L212s will remain)

Complete details on all of the upgrades and modifications, as they occurred, with internal pictures and more can be read here,
Altec Valencia = Heathkit AS-101 | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Located in the Northern VA/DC Metro area.
Please PM any questions or offers to me ...
Local demo and pickup only (or hire uShip as I did to get them delivered).

Basic list of mods -

  • Original Woofer with custom treatments for lower bass range
  • Original Tweeter with modified back-cap pad and vent holes (relieve back pressure)
  • Horns modified with 2 layer of QPad lead based damping material.
  • Notched Fiberglass panel installed between woofer and horn.
  • approx 4 cups of well fluffed lambs wool in lower cabinet area around woofer.
  • Existing rock wool left undisturbed on sides and back panels.
  • Removed rock wool blocking "vents" at ends of horns.
  • 13 AWG stranded silver wire in teflon jacket replaced original internal wiring.
  • Major rebuild/update to crossover network with polycarbonate & Teflon caps
  • Used stock inductors & horn tweeter controls.
  • 2 tiles installed to the cabinet bottoms - one 18x18 ceramic, one 12x12 granite with RTV silicon for constraint layers
  • 2 tiles installed to the cabinet rear panel - one 18x18 ceramic, one 12x12 granite with RTV silicon for constraint layers.
  • 18" Granite tiles built up with constraint layers and placed on top of cabinet (removable)

These Heath/Altecs are quite efficient and play well with medium power tube gear, or newer transistor amps. Why am I selling them? I love speaker projects and love hearing different gear, but I currently have 4 pairs of large speakers in my living room, and I'd like to declutter and downsize this pair and one other (the JBL L212s will remain)

Complete details on all of the upgrades and modifications, as they occurred, with internal pictures and more can be read here,
Altec Valencia = Heathkit AS-101 | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Located in the Northern VA/DC Metro area.
Please PM any questions or offers to me ...
Local demo and pickup only (or hire uShip as I did to get them delivered).
Price lowered to $1500, so if you are interested, PM me and let's talk.
Cash only, no trades please.

AS101-1-Heath-Valencias-NoHeils.jpgAS101-2-Tweeter-cap.jpgAS101-3-QPad-Horns.jpgAS101-4-stuffed.jpgAS101-5-Full-View.jpgAS101-6-Crossover-New.jpgAS101-7-Bottoms-2tile details.jpg