Altec A7 build

[VolvoHeretic]

Beautiful Altecs Santhoshi, They look wonderful.

[santhoshl]

Beautiful work ! Nice job ! I noticed you are using 16 ohm woofers and 8 ohm HF drivers.I'm curious on the mismatch ?

With 16 ohm woofers you won't need as much attenuation for the 8 ohm horns.

Very beautiful build, bravo! I think you will be very happy with the 805s. You really should close up those ports some, you'll get more bass.

I thought the same thing. And yes, great build. Thank you for sharing with us.

Thanks friends, I am glad you liked it. Though I love to DIY and have been following speaker builds for several years, this was my first speaker build and I must thank you all for the knowledge I have gained from reading this forum. About the HF being 8ohm, I did not have much of a choice. I searched for almost 3 months after I got the 416s and finally managed to find a pair of 802-8gs in pristine condition in Singapore while on business travel. Not know much about these things, I too was worried and wanted to get 16ohm frams but was hesitant because my 802s have the original thinner? diaphragms. But I was lucky to have a friend, Rajiv (not sure what his handle is here) guiding me at each phase. He is an exprienced audiophile and an Altec enthusiasts. He listens to Altecs too (built using 515s and 288s with Stereo Lab Tractrix horns with a 2A3 SET amp). Like Panomaniac mentioned, Rajiv too told me that I should be fine with the correct attenuation and pointed me to some online calculators. After, a few changes in Lpad values, I zeroed in on what sounded right to me .

[santhoshl]

You really should close up those ports some, you'll get more bass.

I'm gonna lean the other way and say I bet the bass is pretty nice.

I am getting ample clean bass which I think could be because I am using 416s and not 515s. I will definitely try reducing the ports and post my findings here.

I also want to try with a pair of 515s that I have, but they need new cones and that will take longer as I am saving up to buy suitable amplification to replace the Adcoms .

Beautiful Altecs Santhoshi, They look wonderful.

Thanks VolvoHeretic, thats a lovely Volvo you have in your avatar. Kindly PM me a link to larger pics. Thanks in advance

[aditya]

I'm gonna lean the other way and say I bet the bass is pretty nice.

I will also say the same.

It is true that when the port size reduces it lowers the tunning, and there will be an extension to the the LF. But the 825/828 is not a straight forward BR design. It is with a FLH. How on earth anybody can match upto that extra gain unless a "lump" is created by a higher tunning ? For me the blending between the LF horn, the port and the HF horn always got lost whenever I tried it. The LF horn became clearly audible. Ofcourse I am talking about a situation of no equalizers in the path.

Another point to note here is that, while the Altec stable was full of BR designs and many with port holes almost like slits, why the designers tuned the 825/828s so high ? I don't think they missed anything here on this matter particularly ?

[aditya]

Very good setup there, Santhosl.....congratulations.

[Altec Best]

With 16 ohm woofers you won't need as much attenuation for the 8 ohm horns.

Very beautiful build, bravo! I think you will be very happy with the 805s. You really should close up those ports some, you'll get more bass.

Are you sure ? You mean 16 ohm HF drivers and 8 ohm woofers will need less attenuation.With less resistance the HF horns will receive more power.. Crossovers (attenuation) were never my strong suit though.So I'll defer on this one..

[VolvoHeretic]

A7's can make plenty of low bass without EQ. You just have to be sitting at least 100 feet away from them.

At that distance, the lows magically appear, the mids get tamed, and with a gaggle of Piezo tweeters, the cymbals and cow bells shine through.

[Panomaniac]

Are you sure ? You mean 16 ohm HF drivers and 8 ohm woofers will need less attenuation.

Ooopps! Yes, that IS what I meant. And it's how I run my system. (must have been the rum and coke talking)

[Altec Best]

Ooopps! Yes, that IS what I meant. And it's how I run my system. (must have been the rum and coke talking)

No Worries ! That's what I thought you meant.. Yes 16 ohm HF drivers and 8 ohm woofers will give the desired attenuation. I need to come by and catch up with some rum and cokes, and a smile, Or a Vodka Martini with lots of Olives

[Panomaniac]

We have all of the above, along with Altec gear.