What the ??

[voice of the theater]

Thanks MAH for shedding some light on my questions with the links you provided in your new thread here:

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700...me-others.html

Personally, I'll do any further posting about these Japanese Altecs in your (more appropriately titled) thread. This will be my only duplicate post just to transition/link these two threads......

THE FOLLOWING 3 QUOTES ARE FROM THESE TWO LH LINKS--SOME GREAT PICS/INFO IN THESE THREADS!

The Altec "4343"

Altec 9861 / 9862

I have had mixed information on this and the other Altec monitors that were developed at the same time for the Japanese market (9861, 6041, 604 Valencia). Todd White told me that they were designed and produced by Altec in Aneheim from around 1979 until the sale of the home division to Sparkomatic in 1982. However, the former product manager for Altec's home speakers from 1974 to 1981 told me that Altec had nothing to do with the systems other than supplying the drivers and that they were developed by their Japanese distributor Electori. This seems to be supported by pictures of the 6041 that were sent to me by a Japanese owner that I have attached below. It doesn't say "Made in the USA" anywhere, and the serial number and sticker are Electori's. I'm curious if there is a similar Electori sticker on your 9862.

Supposedly, the 950-8A was developed just for the 9862 and was never used in another system or sold separately. There was a later 950-8A in Altec's catalog that was a completely different driver - basically a 902-8A with the small Mantaray horn from the 604-8K.

BTW, if the Ebay auction where you aquired your 9862's is the same one I saw, I remember that the seller noted that one the 416-8BD's had a rubbing coil. He contacted me to find out if recones were still available. I had no idea what the difference was between the 416-8B and the "BD" version, so I couldn't provide any definitive advice. If yours is that system, I'm curious what you did about the woofer.

I am the actual owner of the Altec 9862's and will try to answer all the questions that I can.
First, there is no reference anywhere on the cabinet, in the cabinet, or on any hardware of Electori. On the baffle mounted face plate for the attenuator controls it identifies this as Made In the USA, I will try to post a picture.
Second, Don mentioned the original seller contacting him about a rubbing voice coil. He told me the same and said he had found an exact replacement woofer that he would include for a nominal fee. I accepted the offer. When the speakers arrived via Yellow Freight I couldn't wait to get home and unpack. The identical woofer was a 416-8C not a 416-8BD. However I don't knock him for that but it didn't sound quite the same when mounted. You could pick out which channel had the 416-8C. I then went onto the forum at Great Plains Audio and asked for help. Don McRichie answered my call quite clearly. He told me of the differences as he understood them and felt the 416-8BD was voiced somehow differently than the 416-8B. He suggested Bill at Great Plains to inspect and advice. I then contacted Bill and he said "no problem" send it down and he would inspect and let me know what he could and couldn't do. I then put in all in writing and sent the document and the woofer to Great Plains Audio. I anxiously waited to hear if the voicing was different because I had decided to then send the second woofer to them and have both converted to 416-8B's if he could not repair as new. I then received a phone call for a credit card number to pay for the repairs to the 416-8BD in the amount of $30 or so. The person on the other end was surprised at my questions about the voicing. I didn't ask if it was Bill I was talking too but was certain it was. He acted confused and bewildered about the whole thing and said he would look into it, that was the last I heard from Great Plains Audio. The woofer actually had a internal connection that was loose, it's now repaired works perfectly and is still original.

Third, how do they sound? I have compared them to the L300's and the 4343's in my home. They outperformed the L300's hands down. more kick and punch. I love the high's from this tweeter the 950-8A which is quite large if you note the picture above comparing it with the 802 driver. When comparing the sound to the 4343 it is clear that the 4343 is top dog! This Altec copy is good but doesn't sit on top of the porch with the 4343. Maybe first step but the 4343 just outperforms this copy.

The only web information that I have found on these products is on this Japanese website:

http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~ash-k/altec2.htm

There is a 9862 owner on this forum that that describes his system here:

The Altec "4343"

I have had mixed information from the few people that know anything about them. There is no question that they were designed for the Japanese market to be in competition with JBL's successful marketing of their largest monitors into Japanese homes. The former product manager for Altec (who was responsible for the all of the "Model" home speakers such as the 15, 17, 19) said that their design staff had nothing to do with these speakers. He stated that they were specificied and designed by their Japanese distributor Electori. This seems to be supported in pictures I have of the label for the contemporary 6041 that describes it as an Electori Altec Lansing speaker. However the 9862's owned by a forum member has no mention of Electori on the label and is definitely marked "Made in the USA".

The bass driver, mid horn and tweeter for the 9862 appear to have been developed for that system, and with the exception of the 416-8BD, were never used in another Altec system (the 416-8BD showed up as the helper woofer in the contempory 6041).

The only place that I can think of to try and get more information is from Electori. They are still around. However, finding someone there that speaks English and can remember those systems may prove difficult.

HiFi-Do McIntosh/JBL/audio-technica/Jeff Rowland/Accuphase

Altec Model 9862 on thevintageknob.org

Couldn't figure out how to navigate and translate this one:
ALTEC LANSING Fan Site

From what I'm reading here it looks like these are late Anaheim era speakers, not Altec Pro/Oklahoma City era. Not a whole lot of info on them but what info there is seems very interesting. Drivers produced at Anaheim plant but speaker systems themselves may have been designed and produced in Japan (although Ken's 9862's say Made in the USA (whatever that means?))? I'd love to learn more about these rare birds (rare "over here"/USA anyways) and see some specs, crossover schematics, measurements, etc.......

[bowtie427ss]

The only thing they likely did in Japan is slap "Electori" stickers on them, like they have with hundreds of pieces of Altec and JBL both new and used when they arrived in Japan.

Consider that probably a third or more of that stuff has now been irradiated to a point where it'd be a health hazard to have in your home, we don't want that stuff back.

[voice of the theater]

The only thing they likely did in Japan is slap "Electori" stickers on them, like they have with hundreds of pieces of Altec and JBL both new and used when they arrived in Japan.

Consider that probably a third or more of that stuff has now been irradiated to a point where it'd be a health hazard to have in your home, we don't want that stuff back.

You mean irradiated by last year's tsunami related nuclear melt down(s)? Yeah, come to think of it, if that's the case, I wouldn't want to get too close to those systems that were effected. I wonder, if they're "long throw"speakers, if the optimum listening distance from the speakers coincides with the safe distance to sit from irradiated matter? I hope I wouldn't offend any EBAY sellers of these speaker systems from Japan by asking them to do geiger counter readings before I PAYPAL them any funds. I always wondered if eating a Hershey's bar after the Hershey Pennsylvania nuclear incident would be a problem as far as radiation--and come to think of it, what about my new Panasonic Plasma TV? It was manufactured since the tsunami--should I get a geiger counter here to check it out? :O

[bowtie427ss]

You mean irradiated by last year's tsunami related nuclear melt down(s)?

I mean STILL being irradiated by the continuing uncontrolled reactions taking place and extreme contamination of the ground water and surrounding geology. The event is still in it's earliest stages. Consider that Chernobyl is still a serious global threat, the radiation is so high that the current containment shell is crumbling, and a collapse could put enough highly contaminated dust in the air to be catastrophic to the immediate vicinity, and a major concern to the entire globe .

Do a youtube search for "pripyat", and see what current dosimeter readings are there.

Panasonic Plasma TV? It was manufactured since the tsunami--should I get a geiger counter here to check it out?

No worries there. Japan quickly followed the USA in moving it's manufacturing to locations where labor is much cheaper and environmental laws don't get in the way. There's probably nothing in your Panasonic that's ever been in Japan, chances are.

Now, if you just bought a freshly made Futaba radio.............................