"An Altec 210 mini-revival" or "An Altec 4th of July"

**Edford** · July 10th, 2012, 03:59 PM

I was fortunate enough to get the job at our community 4th of July event "The Red White & Blue Festival" in Mountain Home, AR on June 29th and 30th. I took my 210s out to our local high school graduation this year (a repeat job I have had since 1996) thinking, "who knows maybe somebody will be impressed with them and I will get another job". I usually do the job with four Altec 816s and 511 horns. Well, 2 days after graduation I got a message from the coordinator of RW&B. This is a 2-day event the weekend before the 4th of July featuring live bands, a movie in the park and music track for the fire works. On stage are the following components.

two Altec 210s
two Altec 299s with 1005 horns
four Altec DX1012-8AGs (floor monitors)
two Altec 937s (floor monitors)
two Crown DC-300s
two QSC RMX2450s

The bands were completely knocked out by both the FOH and monitor sound. Nothing but praise from performers and audience alike. At the start of the second day the coordinator came by to confirm me for job for next year. I will be taking them out as often as possible. They are so impressive in comparison to the current typical FOH junk that I'm certain I will get additional work.

Serious lessons in speaker and cabinet efficiency and low frequency directivity. People are shocked when they hear low frequencies still coming at 200+ yards.

Its like a Altec 210 mini-revival around here.

**gearfreak** · July 10th, 2012, 04:21 PM

Sweet.

kudos... nah I hate 'kudos', so: 'praise' for dragging them out and showing the masses!

**gvasale** · July 10th, 2012, 05:14 PM

An old and tired phrase, but "Right On!" I'd love to have been there too. Makes me wish I had a couple...

( don't know all the internet slang like FOH, but who cares)

**Aman2** · July 10th, 2012, 05:22 PM

WOW
I bet the sound was great! My PA rig consists of all altec amps, mixers and processing, but my speakers are community and yamaha. The sound is still very good, but I bet these would have blown my setup out of the water. I really really really need to get a hold of some altec speakers.......

**juniper** · July 11th, 2012, 07:05 AM

That is awesome to see, great job!!! Are those horns the correct ones for those monsters?

**Edford** · July 11th, 2012, 01:14 PM

@gvasale - Sorry for the short hand FOH = Front Of House - or the sound from the main speakers apposed to the monitor speakers.

@ Juniper - I got these speakers (I actually have 3 sets L, C, R) from an eBay auction. The high frequency drivers were originally 288-16k on a 1005 horn. Just before this job I updated the voice coils to 299? 399? whatever the latest that Bill at Great Plains Audio suggested. They still sound great and now handle 50 to 75 watts depending upon the crossover frequency chosen. The 288-16ks were only rated at 20 watts so I was a little concerned that I may stress them in an outdoor situation were I was trying to cover a 5000+ seating area (more or less). They performed exceptionally.

@ Aman2 - I like all things Altec, but their main thing IS their speaker systems. I have used them since the late 70's almost exclusively in my live sound work. In the beginning I messed around with some other cabinets with different levels of success. But Altec bass horn cabinets are really in a different class than other speakers systems. Mostly I have used the more portable 816 cabinets (single 15" driver) in my outdoor setups because they are easier to haul. When I first got the 210s it was just to get the 515 speakers from the cabinets. I was going to use them in more 816s or maybe 817s. But I always wanted to hear the 210s anyway, so I hooked them up to listen. BIG MISTAKE! I couldn't bring myself to take them apart after that and I struggled for the next few years about how to work out transportation if I was going to start to use them in my rental business. I solved that problem this year and will now use them as often as I can because they truly jaw dropping, litterally, I have seen jaws drop.

)

The model 210 large format bass horn from Altec, is truly in a class by itself. No other single speaker cabinet can even comes close. THE END!

**Edford** · January 8th, 2014, 06:12 PM

Oh btw, as a follow up to this post. I got the job this year as well. Took the big boys out once again. Still dropping jaws all over the county. This year my band got the job to play the show as well, so I got to play through my own rig. You can check out my band at the link below.

www.melodikats.com

Also, I have already been booked for both jobs in 2014!!

**Phil-G** · January 8th, 2014, 09:51 PM

hi Ed, i love to hear first person experience. i really like your 210 setup. it really makes A7s as living room speakers make more sense. the only problem is, now i have to hear the 210s myself. in my case i'll probobly end up building a pair.
i listened to some y'alls samples over my "little" altecs at home and tried to imagine being at the rwb.

**Altec Best** · July 11th, 2012, 12:45 PM

It's just a matter of re-educating Folk's on the quality of sound those vintage Altecs really had ! I mean HAVE !!

**Alien_Shore** · July 12th, 2012, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by Edford

People are shocked when they hear low frequencies still coming at 200+ yards. Its like a Altec 210 mini-revival around here.

Love it!
This is the issue that has been brought up on many threads here - the ease of installation vs. sound quality. It really boils down to an economics concern for large traveling pro sound units. LA set ups can push so many more SPL for the weight and size than these traditional horns, but quality is the tradeoff. Good to see you working to swing the pendulum the other way!