Buy them now $18,000.00

[Altec Best]

This is reflected in the price that will be paid. If the bidding field is wide, ie worldwide, then the worldwide market sets the price, irrespective of it being one or five individuals.

value of these older units will increase, as they become rarer and rarer.
Values ARE increasing.

This is IRRELEVANT Magnarc ! This isn't even an auction !!!! It is a BIN with Best Offers.And the listing is listed for 30 days.At this length the seller IMO is listing very high because he knows it is HIGH hoping someone will bite ! And is in for the duration.You don't list items for 30 days unless you feel it may take awhile for someone to purchase at the listed Price !

As anything becomes more rarer and rarer, they naturally become more expensive.

I too have been following prices on a daily basis and for a longtime.I have been collecting Altec gear for 30 years.

I would also want some pictures of the HF diaphragms as on the last pair that was on eBay that sold for $14,100, both HF diaphragms were on the brink of breaking.This has to detract from it's value.Also one cabinet looks like it had a different speaker in the one cabinet as you can still see where the gasket is stuck to the baffle.

WRT the worldwide market.Obviously the prices are pretty much geographical.Speakers sold in China,Korea,Japan,will be twice as much as here in the USA,but those prices there in the overseas markets are considered ridiculous here in the USA.Not even the ridiculously priced shipping fees will deter them from purchase sometimes.

So to us here in the (USA) they are ridiculous !!!! To folk's overseas maybe not ?



Just my $.02 !

The Cabinets are in great condition which is the hard part to find, the drivers are in a little rough shape from the pictures.

And this is very odd ! Usually it is the other way around.I think these drivers have been sitting on a shelf somewhere and installed in these cabs after they were cleaned up a bit.If these drivers have been in these cabinets for 50-60+ years they should be pretty clean.They seem to be particularly dirty around the back of the cone and the spider.So I think these have been put together recently after someone polished up the cabs after seeing a pair just like them sell for $14G's a couple months back.... Again in the one cabinet you can see where a speaker gasket has been stuck to the back of the baffle.And those 604's have no gaskets !

[Audio_by_Goodwill]

I've been tracking Altec prices now for 4 years. Values ARE increasing.

Have factored in the decline of the dollar?

[Old Guy]

It comes down to the old one man's trash argument. Value is relative.

There is a very limited number of buyers at ridiculous prices. Kind of a bell curve, with most in the middle and cheapskates like myself won't pay a lot. there is always something else to buy.


I do think the boxes in this auction were stripped and the duplexes added, so a nice set of furniture is being used to palm of a forgettable set of speakers for top dollar. In my world, unethical. But caveat emptor applies. Whoever buys these is paying for a fantasy. The fantasy is more valuable to some than reality.

[magnarc]

This is IRRELEVANT Magnarc ! This isn't even an auction !!!! It is a BIN with Best Offers.And the listing is listed for 30 days.At this length the seller IMO is listing very high because he knows it is HIGH hoping someone will bite ! And is in for the duration.You don't list items for 30 days unless you feel it may take awhile for someone to purchase at the listed Price !
WRT the worldwide market.Obviously the prices are pretty much geographical.Speakers sold in China,Korea,Japan,will be twice as much as here in the USA,but those prices there in the overseas markets are considered ridiculous here in the USA.Not even the ridiculously priced shipping fees will deter them from purchase sometimes.

This IS my point. Selling any item that has a high price takes time, and requires a length of time for advertising etc to allow the buyer who wants it and is willing to pay the price asked or thereabouts, to see the item, and decide they want it.
It is not different to the on eBay system of buy it now for a 30 day listing with offers.

My point re worldwide was more along the lines that the buyers in the east WILL pay more than the US based buyers generally, and those sellers who offer items worldwide can ask and will get the high price.
My opinion.

[Nipper]

Heres the BAD news.

50 years from now.... Someone will probably be selling YOUR Altecs for 60k.

[Altec Best]

Heres the BAD news.

50 years from now.... Someone will probably be selling YOUR Altecs for 60k.

Oh Heck No ! My custom casket will be lined with my Altecs hooked to a bank of car batteries with cables brought to the surface so they can be charged once a month ! My Altecs are MINE !!!

[Audio_by_Goodwill]

I do think the boxes in this auction were stripped and the duplexes added, so a nice set of furniture is being used to palm of a forgettable set of speakers for top dollar. In my world, unethical. But caveat emptor applies.

Could you please explain?....... I don't understand the "forgettable set of speakers". I thought 604s of any letter designation where highly regarded?

[juniper]

Could you please explain?....... I don't understand the "forgettable set of speakers". I thought 604s of any letter designation where highly regarded?

I think the latter ones might be a little better???? The only reason I say this is that to this day many a recording studio still use them. Check out what Jean Hiraga has done with some of the latter model 604's.

[cradeldorf]

I would bet the earlier ones were better sounding. Just my $.02

[VolvoHeretic]

Hey, for what it is worth, you guys low brow my new Altecs, but even though I still don't know what compression driver they have, they still sound like Altecs and still sound great...!!!?????