Are they or aren't they?

[voice of the theater]

I just looked at the seller's other items for sale. He's got some cool Western Electric and other Altec (not as rare) stuff for sale as well......

[Steve Schell]

As far as I have been able to determine, these one piece cast H-811 horns were only produced for a year or less in about 1952 or '53. They replaced the earlier H-808 800Hz. eight cell multicellular horn which had been made in several versions dating back to 1937. Radial horns, an invention of RCA engineer John Volkmann, were all the rage in the early 1950s after the introduction of RCA's new radial horn designed for theatre, PA and monitoring. The radial horn combined the excellent directivity of the conical horn in the horizontal, while sacrificing directivity in the vertical but maintaining exponential loading with the heavily curved upper and lower walls. This and later 811 horns would be classed as modified radial horns due to the narrower angle of the initial throat section, which concentrated high frequencies and made for a nice looking on axis response curve. Most of the RCA horns had a narrow throat as well.

Anyway, these H-811s are quite scarce. I've never owned one, though a friend has managed to collect a half dozen.

[A7fan]

I checked his other items for sale. There is also 811B listed. On the back of the flange is a stencil " MADE IN U.S.A.". Now i you look at the early models he has listed on the back of the flange is what looks to be the very same stencil, MADE IN U.S.A. Perhaps a very close production run between the two. Doug

[Old Guy]

Steve is pretty accurate on his dating. To back him up, take a look at the 1954 catalog at LH

Page 13, two piece horn.


Back cover, old one piece.



I had a couple pairs one not sure of date and one pair 1952. There was an overlap where both horns were available.

From what I understand the one piece resulted in a lot of rejects. It was a complicated multi-piece mold and if parts of the mold shifted the horn was ruined. The two piece used cheaper tooling and created less scrap.

FWIW the 802 originally used the same 3 bolt mount as JBL one inchers later used. When the horns, specifically the 808, went to 2 piece castings, it was changed to 2 bolt.

Here's an 801B (field core 802) see top image

[Davidg]

Steve is indeed correct in his dating of these as I understand it they are 1952 and prior. This has been discussed here one other time that I am aware of when another pair came up for sale. It will be very interesting to see what they sell for as I own a pair of these except mine have been coated with sound deadening and painted therefore not original and yes they are a one piece, probably a sand cast unit. They sound very nice.