I've found some speakers. Now I'm selling all of my Altecs

**bowtie427ss** · October 29th, 2012, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Geekstar

Yo Bowtie, low blow, man...I was thinking more like this:

I was hoping you'd see the humor.

Great reminder, been a while since i watched a good flick with Lee Marvin in it.

**LICORNE** · October 29th, 2012, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Todd W. White

The BEST sounding and performing horn for the 802-902, in my opinion, was the Jerry Hubbard-designed Altec MR994A.

Your absolutly right Todd. Not enough people have experienced CD horns. For me there is no going bak to multicells. If I ever have the chance to get a pair of model 19 I'll make sure it's equiped with Altec MR994A.

Good Day

**gearfreak** · October 29th, 2012, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by LICORNE

Not enough people have experienced CD horns. For me there is no going bak to multicells.

To those north west of us, stand by. You might get lucky and see these flying by. ;-)

[HR9040A] EV HR9040A Horns Vintage Audiophile Rare White Whales!

I'd scoop them up, (literally?) but have had to store mine and switch to the HP1240's for now. The 120? horizontal has allowed for more creative positioning in my mode-encumbered space. i.e., yes, that extra 30? does make a notable difference.

I also don't need safety chains for the 1240's. hah.

**RonSSS** · October 29th, 2012, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by LICORNE

Your absolutly right Todd. Not enough people have experienced CD horns. For me there is no going bak to multicells. If I ever have the chance to get a pair of model 19 I'll make sure it's equiped with Altec MR994A.

Good Day

Well, they are WAY bigger than an 811, bigger than 511 as well. So you would have a custom M19.

Ron

**Geekstar** · October 29th, 2012, 03:20 PM

Licorne, which CDs and drivers are you using?

Any comments on how Mantaray MR994A compares with other small format CDs? There is a lot of newer stuff out there that looks good on paper, but then everything usually does!

A few months ago, I compared Renkus CBH820 CDs vs SSH820 exponentials with 2" 3301 drivers for about a week.
Winged the EQ using published curves for the CBH, ~6kc knee. 414-z woofers, xover at 1200hz. These are quite close in design and materials--short path, wide open fast flares.

Both sounded quite open and uncolored. Crystal clear. From 35 feet away, which means the other end of the house...as far as I can go, there was little to choose. Sitting 10 feet away in audiophile sweet spot posture, however, the exponential seemed to have a more solid stereo image, sounded more colorful and generally more "correct"--which might mean closer to my expectations, hard to say. Liked them both, but sold off the CBH820s and kept the expos.

Overall, I think simply saying CD vs. exponential or any such gross comparison skips a lot of the character points that make a horn good or great for domestic music enjoyment.

But keep the specific recommendations coming so we can stem the exodus to mini-monitors!

**Cal Weldon** · October 31st, 2012, 04:53 PM

I had to go back to the diyAudio thread to remember: Joe Roberts.

Cheers.

**Geekstar** · October 31st, 2012, 05:29 PM

Yep, that's me...a.k.a., "That off the hook dude who trashes 511s"

Speaking of alternative 500hz horns, I have had excellent results with the Emilar EH500. It is a 2" native horn and throatless at 2". Fast flare short horn.

I tried it with the matching 1' adapters using 802-8g and in my test setup it sounded very promising. I did not try switching it into a tuned stock Altec system in place of a 511B but I liked what I heard. Very smooth and full sound, no honk, no ring.

A friend snagged a pair on my recommendation and found they exactly fit a 511B cutout in his cabinets, so an easy retrofit.

Here's a few pics of one of these horns with the Emilar EC-175, 1" adapter, and original dust and cobwebs still attached.