Altec Voice of the Theater

**Jimmy-time** · August 15th, 2012, 06:19 PM

Wow, found an add stating "Big Speakers for Sale". Went to check them out and found these crazy looking things. Looked home made except they had a green Altec name plate on the back with the words attenuator. Took a chance and bought them cheap. DSC03400.jpgHitched them up to a vintage Pioneer Spec System, hey they work and sound pretty good as well.DSC03401.jpg Time to cut open the tolex fronts!Altec 104.jpg Voice of the Theater, amazing, this is a great find. Now to identify the model. Well the labels read as follows: Speaker 416A / Horn 511B / Driver 802D / Crossover N500G. Hmmm. The closest I can find from Altec Lansing spec sheets is a 1966 A7-500-8? But the A7-500-8 has listed Speaker 416 8B /Horn 511B / Driver 802B. Not sure what model it is now? Altec 105.jpg Altec 106.jpg I remove the horns, the speakers are stuck to the mounting board after removing the bolts. A member on this website gives advice for easy removal. The previous owner had glued 5 layer plywood to the sides and top of the cabinet and was also nice enough to nail approx. 30-40 finishing nails and counter sunk them for good measure. I begin the task of using a chisel and hamer to remove one layer of plywood at a time while pulling finnishing nails.

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · August 15th, 2012, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by Jimmy-time

I begin the task of using a chisel and hamer to remove one layer of plywood at a time while pulling finnishing nails.

Why? They looked great.

**hemicuda** · August 15th, 2012, 10:06 PM

I agree that they looked great. Just looked like vintage BIG speakers that had really been taken care of or restored. Much better than the rough plywood used in older VOTT setups (like mine). I think I would have left them alone even if I didn't like the color. Well, maybe I'd painted them but that's it.

**Alien_Shore** · August 15th, 2012, 10:12 PM

Hmmm...yeah, leave the cabinets alone. Re-cap those XOs. Check out the drivers and see if they are holding up ok... I have a pair of 416As in some front-loaded horns and they are fantastic.

**bowtie427ss** · August 15th, 2012, 10:51 PM

He may want them to look like these.

Vintage Altec Voice of the Theater Speakers *** VOTT PA Sound System

IMO, that's not wrong.

**Jimmy-time** · August 16th, 2012, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

He may want them to look like these.

Vintage Altec Voice of the Theater Speakers *** VOTT PA Sound System

IMO, that's not wrong.

You got it! I want them to look just like that. Now those look great!

**Jimmy-time** · August 16th, 2012, 12:21 PM

The picture may have been deceiving, up close the plywood was poorly painted by brush and the fronts had dirty silver Fender Amp style tolex. It is looking better now.

GM · August 15th, 2012, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Jimmy-time

Speaker 416A / Horn 511B / Driver 802D / Crossover N500G. Hmmm. The closest I can find from Altec Lansing spec sheets is a 1966 A7-500-8? But the A7-500-8 has listed Speaker 416 8B /Horn 511B / Driver 802B.

Your parts make it an A7-500, which is a nominally 16 ohm speaker Vs an A7-500-8, which is nominally an 8 ohm speaker. As such, you ideally want to drive it with an amp rated for 16 ohms, which most modern amps aren't.

GM