My new-to-me 820s

[wws944]

I took a side panel off each one this morning. My uncle was right - they are both called 820Cs. Both have 802C/H-811 horns, 803A woofers, and N800D crossover. In the older one, the components are painted dark gray, and the newer one they are Altec green.

Both have schematic diagrams on the interior of the side panel. On the older one, the drawing is dated 8/30/54 and is noted as "Issue 1" - which I would take to mean it is the first version of the 820C. On the newer one, the drawing was redone. It lists itself as "Issue 2" with a date of 2/31/55, but then also shows an 11/14/55 revision date as "Issue 3".

The 803As on the older cabinet have a date code of "3-55" and have "20409" stamped on the cones. The newer 803As have a date code of "May 1957" and have "20750" stamped on the cones. (Looks like my uncle bought it in 1957, not 1956.) I didn't see any date codes on the 802Cs or the horns.

Note in the photos that the crossover is mounted on the shelf on the earlier version, and next to the horn on the later version.

[GM]

Interesting! It seems almost like these were assembled somewhere other than the factory as the 391 manufacturer date code goes back to WWII. Even more head scratching is they were still building the 'A' with an 'Iconic' label, 811 horn as late as '56. This still doesn't explain the difference in vent design as the woofers should all be pretty much identical through this period.

I presume these have N-800-D XOs.

GM

[Altec Best]

Yes I have that book too.Could be. But my recollection was on one of those pink Altec sheets... I'm pretty sure I saved it.. I just have so much stuff I can't find it now.And I recently had an external hard drive crash on me that I can't access so it could be on that one.