Kota Theater, Garrison, ND Altec A5

[VolvoHeretic]

For posterity’s sake, here is the Altec speaker my kids grew up listening to, watching movies at the local movie theater; tickets are $3 per kid, popcorn is $.50. Jurassic Park sounded just as good at the theater as in our cabin/home though my A7-500s. I will get better pictures (hopefully this weekend) of the speaker and amp. Theater was built in 1949, enjoy.

[Panomaniac]

Nice! Still in use?

[VolvoHeretic]

Absolutely. And probably for at least another 75 years. (edit; town of 1200 souls)

[VolvoHeretic]

Here are a few large format pictures of what I figure is an Altec model 800 speaker, although it is a lot closer to 3’ deep rather than the advertised 2’, and is missing the top wing. It is flanked by two Seeburg DDS1 discoth?que satellites, and some unmarked folded horn sub.

Literature;
800 VOTT
Seeburg DDS1 & Altec H-811 B Horns Project - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

[GM]

Hmm 3 ft deep and spaced up? Must be a very rare original A5 which makes the horn a large format tar filled multi-cell, probably an 805 [as shown]:

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/ima...att1945.10.jpg

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/ima...945.prices.jpg

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/ima...att1945.15.jpg


GM

[Panomaniac]

Thanks for the photos and for the catalog pages.
That bass cabinet is much larger than that later 825/828. Saw one like it on eBay a few years back. When did they change to the smaller size?

Just FWIW. Peak movie attendance in the US and Britain was in 1946

[VolvoHeretic]

This town had a peak population of about 2000 people back in the '40s, as did the entire state. I wonder how many more gems are lurking in the spattering of small towns around here. I will have to start a new hobby and make a few road trips, take pictures, and make sure the owners know not to let someone talk them into upgrading their treasures. The amps were replaced about 6 years.

[GM]

You're welcome! I see I forgot to post the nice Altec site I got them from:

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/

Note on the horn selection/pricing sheet the '800' system [original A7-8] listing, though apparently not in the catalog. It's been suggested that it didn't arrive until the late '40s, with the downsized A5, A6 shortly after:

800 VOTT

ALTEC speaker Systems

I guess in a bid to capture as much of the post war market as practical, they initially offered a large variety of big, expensive systems, but the rapid rise of union labor costs and the sprawl of the new ?suburbia? with its desire for small neighborhood cinemas quickly forced a shift to a smaller/cheaper product line. The large A6 [minus its baffle stand] at my high school came from the late ?50s closing of just such a local strip mall cinema due to expanding to a Cineplex where even the downsized A7 series was overkill, peak sound power wise.

GM

[Ronald Lee]

You're welcome! I see I forgot to post the nice Altec site I got them from:

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/

Note on the horn selection/pricing sheet the '800' system [original A7-8] listing, though apparently not in the catalog. It's been suggested that it didn't arrive until the late '40s, with the downsized A5, A6 shortly after:

800 VOTT

ALTEC speaker Systems

I guess in a bid to capture as much of the post war market as practical, they initially offered a large variety of big, expensive systems, but the rapid rise of union labor costs and the sprawl of the new ‘suburbia’ with its desire for small neighborhood cinemas quickly forced a shift to a smaller/cheaper product line. The large A6 [minus its baffle stand] at my high school came from the late ‘50s closing of just such a local strip mall cinema due to expanding to a Cineplex where even the downsized A7 series was overkill, peak sound power wise.

GM

Actually, another reason for smaller theaters is that the movie companies can make more money showing movies in a small theater. Recently(like ~10 years ago) a local movie chain changed a large theater with single showing movie to 5 "more" intimate theaters, each showing a different movie.

[bowtie427ss]

Many thanks for posting VH!

I think this is probably a very rare opportunity to see one of those early A5 systems with all it's original underpinning and wings just as it was originally installed. A well preserved specimen too.