Proud Altec owner

[deaweber]

Hello there , this is my first post here and I would like to thank in advance all who take time to share their thoughts and expierience . I recently brought home two 1270a altecs . I have owned a 9444b aniversary series and just bought a 9444a aniversary upon reading on this site that the A sounds better than the B . I was using the B as a subwoofer amp for my JBL and it sounded much better than the QSC rmx1450 that it replaced . Cleaner and quicker . My question is this . those 9444 amps are big and heavy but the 1270 is bigger and heavier yet . Also the attenuaters on the front feel very precise . Just how does this amp compare to the 9444A and B in terms of design and build quality . I cant find much info on it . Sorry i cant do a listen but I lost a place for my gear when we moved , now its in heated storage . Thanks again .

[valhallax]

i assume what you're feeling is a stepped attenuater in the 1270.. i have a 9444sa which is a stepped attenuater version of the 9444. i also bought an A version for the same reason you did, adjusted the bias on it, and i agree, very fluid sounding..fast and light. ive never auditioned the 1270 amp before, so no comment there. please explain your speaker situation, as im currently running a 9446 amp for my subs, where the 9444 just wasnt cutting it, in fact i can easily clip the 9446 with the first octave in the 100 db range, tho keeping up with 210's for the mids for the 3rd and 4th octaves is a daunting feat for any amp no matter the effeicientcy of the sub system

[deaweber]

Thanks for the response vahallax , Youre right the attenuaters are stepped and very solid feeling . As for the sub I bought A large box with four 4in front mounted ports made to spec for A jbl woofer I cant remember the model # of ! Ill have to pull the woofer . It was 8 ohm and I thought that there wasnt much Xmax for a pro sub . It was supposed to go real low in that big enclosure . Its been awhile , sorry . I do know that the 9444b did fine in bridge mode at 600 watts .

[valhallax]

that makes sense, bridge mode.. even tho alot of folks swear bass is mono, i've convinced myself that stereo subs is the way to go

[deaweber]

Hey there I play IN a band and I can tell you can pick bass sources out of the soundsage very specifically .I agree that stereo subs makes sense , the bass player is not always mixed dead center , his amp is always off to one side with the guitar cabs . anyway I plan to get another jbl and have two Frakensteins monsters . A jbl sub , 3165 woofer , 902 8b + Mantaray ,= a monster ! Now I just need a room so I can build them . I was planning Hafler DH500 for the horns (up to 50 watts class A) , 9444a for the 3156s , and two 1270a in bridge mono 800 watts 8 ohm each fo the subs ? I have evcerything except the extra Jbl . Maybee I should wait untill Halloween to build em ?

[valhallax]

if ya get it done in the next day or so you can call it christmas, and then rock out for new years

[deaweber]

There would be no room for a tree ! This project has been going on for years , part money , part learning , part listening to the system for assesement . I still have lots of questions , for instance the mantarays cross over at 1200HZ and if I understood what I was reading (hopefully) altec designed the woofer to project somewhat within the pattern of the horn at that frequency in the model 14s . I wonder if my 3156s will work in that way . I hope so , I had a local hifi store (portland Or.) to come up with box dimentions based on the published specs on the 3156s . He used the exact same program that Jbl used . It was new then and recently adopted by Jbl then EV shortly after . The program was expensive evan for a buisaness and supposed to be the latest and greatest . So being A novice I am now backwards engineering and hoping the 3156 and mantaray cooperate nicely . This is not rocket science but Im learning as I go unfortunately . I know that a set of superb sounding Altec speakers that I built with the (MUCH APPRECIATED) help of others greatly appeals to me ! Thanks for sharing youre thoughts .