New Heathkit AS101 owner - First post.

**cradeldorf** · November 4th, 2012, 10:52 PM

I started with As101's too, The Altec slide Is a slippery slope, Have a great journey I did. Kicking back and enjoying some great sound now.

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700...ant-gloat.html

**Alien_Shore** · November 4th, 2012, 11:12 PM

Welcome to AUB, Alan.
You certainly chose an excellent speaker to get started with (as CD says down the slippery slope!)
Recapping those XOs is a no-brainer, you'll hear vast improvement with that. Another thing to check is the diaphragms in your HF comp drivers. Depending on how they've been treated over the many years, they may be in good shape or possibly torn up. Another thing to check is the strength of the magnets on your drivers...the old Alnico drivers can lose quite a bit of their zip again depending on what they've been through.

**alancohen** · November 4th, 2012, 11:35 PM

Thanks, Mike. That brings up an interesting question. I got these speakers from a guy that buys and sells estates. They came from a house that has been closed up for 20+ years. I guess the original owner passed away and his house was closed up until recently when it was sold.

So these speakers haven't had a hard life of use, but sometimes non-use can be worse for some things. There doesn't seem to be any mold or corrosion anywhere. But it would probably be a good idea to remove all the drivers and give them a good look over.

How would I check the magnets? Would they loose their zing more from use, or non-use? Maybe sending them off to Bill for a recharge wouldn't be a bad idea. I know he does that for free with a diaphragm replacement or re-cone, but do you know what he charges a-la-carte? I've read that while GPAs replacement diaphragms are good, they are not exactly the same and might not have that exact "Altec sound". Myth?

I'm in NJ and haven't worked since Sandy paid her visit. As of this morning, my office still had no power. If that's the case tomorrow, I'll pull the drivers and post pics of what I find.

**cradeldorf** · November 4th, 2012, 11:44 PM

Thank god they survived the storm!!! If they sound good I wouldn't bother messing with them....well of course I'd mess with them but watch that slope.

I'll be posting an update on my obsession in a few minutes.

**Cal Weldon** · November 5th, 2012, 01:00 PM

Hi Alan,

Not mentioned yet is the flipping your drivers 180? to help relieve the downward stress of having sat that way for how ever many years.

Also, I noticed you have wired your L-Pad as a series resistor. Doing that will alter what your XO does. You'll want to correct that. Here is how:
https://www.google.ca/search?sourcei...iring+an+L-pad

And yes I know Altec does it that way also. For the life of me I can't ever sort out why. It makes no sense to have an L-Pad and not use it as one.

**voice of the theater** · November 5th, 2012, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

Hi Alan,

Not mentioned yet is the flipping your drivers 180? to help relieve the downward stress of having sat that way for how ever many years.

Excellent suggestion--I've done that with all of my vintage Altecs--glad you thought to mention it!

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

Also, I noticed you have wired your L-Pad as a series resistor. Doing that will alter what your XO does. You'll want to correct that. Here is how:
https://www.google.ca/search?sourcei...iring+an+L-pad

And yes I know Altec does it that way also. For the life of me I can't ever sort out why. It makes no sense to have an L-Pad and not use it as one.

Alan, your crossovers/L Pads are currently wired the way Altec crossovers and the AS 101 crossover are designed to be wired. Keep in mind those crossovers are designed to work with your specific drivers and that re-wiring them as mentioned in the Google search will alter what your crossover was specifically designed to do. In other words, you wouldn't be "correcting" the wiring of your crossover by doing so, you'd instead be "altering" the design of your crossover. I personally wouldn't recommend doing so......

EDIT: In the interest of experimentation, IMHO there is no harm in trying out rewiring the L Pad to see what it sounds like. If you do decide to pursue this avenue, I would recommend rewiring one L-Pad and do an A/B comparison between the two speakers to see if the one with the original wiring scheme sounds/operates "better" or "worse" to your ears than the speaker with the re-wired L-Pad before deciding to re-wire both....

**alancohen** · November 5th, 2012, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by voice of the theater

Excellent suggestion--I've done that with all of my vintage Altecs--glad you thought to mention it!

Alan, your crossovers/L Pads are currently wired the way Altec crossovers and the AS 101 crossover are designed to be wired. Keep in mind those crossovers are designed to work with your specific drivers and that re-wiring them as mentioned in the Google search will alter what your crossover was specifically designed to do. In other words, you wouldn't be "correcting" the wiring of your crossover by doing so, you'd instead be "altering" the design of your crossover. I personally wouldn't recommend doing so......

EDIT: In the interest of experimentation, IMHO there is no harm in trying out rewiring the L Pad to see what it sounds like. If you do decide to pursue this avenue, I would recommend rewiring one L-Pad and do an A/B comparison between the two speakers to see if the one with the original wiring scheme sounds/operates "better" or "worse" to your ears than the speaker with the re-wired L-Pad before deciding to re-wire both....

I was assuming that Cal was talking about my other speakers when he mentioned the L-Pad wiring, as they are indeed wired as a series resistor quite intentionally. It happens to fit fit that driver and cab configuration.

DIY Speakers

I will certainly flip the drivers. I never thought of that.

As far as rewiring the crossover, I really don't have much inclination at this point to change anything. I'd be willing to bet $1 that the people that set up this system know a little more than me about speaker design. I want to hear then as intended for a while. Only then will I be able to tell if any changes are helping or hurting.

**Cal Weldon** · November 6th, 2012, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by voice of the theater

and that re-wiring them as mentioned in the Google search will alter what your crossover was specifically designed to do.

Actually it will keep the XO doing what it was does at all L-Pad settings. Having it as a variable resistor will change the XO slope and leave a whole or an overlap at the XO point as you increase or decrease the resistance.

you'd instead be "altering" the design of your crossover. I personally wouldn't recommend doing so......

I don't undertand how it can be called a 'design' if it's wired that way.

**mah** · November 9th, 2012, 09:46 PM

FWIW a clean pair of Altec-Heath crossovers on Oz Ebay.

Altec crossover Heathkit AS-101 | eBay

**alancohen** · November 10th, 2012, 11:07 AM

So, I'm replacing the caps. Got one done and just removed the other.

I noticed one thing that might be an issue with the "speaker of lower volume". That is the one that has the replaced 8-Ohm cap. Well I guess the previous owner figured 16-Ohms was close enough.

DSCF0640.jpg DSCF0641.jpg DSCF0642.jpg

And to set the scene, we have Treasure of the Sierra Madre playing in the background.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Trailer - YouTube

We don't need no stinking badges! - YouTube

Oh, and one more little problem. It seems like the two of the caps were run to ground inadvertently.

DSCF0646.jpg

All done. I invited Aretha over. She's sitting on my right speaker singing Chain of Fools at the moment. Gotta go and listen.