I hate my Altecs

**sanhanul** · May 24th, 2013, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by Todd W. White

A properly setup ALTEC speaker system will make you hate most of your recordings - most of them are THAT BAD!

Should we start a new thread of the best recordings that deserves Altecs ?

GM · May 24th, 2013, 02:12 AM

That will be a short one!

GM

**alancohen** · May 24th, 2013, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by sanhanul

Should we start a new thread of the best recordings that deserves Altecs ?

Most any Steely Dan Album

I can't listen to my Yes albums any more.

Duane Allman sounds incredibly like Duane Allman regardless of the system.

**voice of the theater** · May 24th, 2013, 09:26 AM

I agree with much of what's been discussed in this thread. A good pair of Altecs are very revealing of strengths and weaknesses of both your system and source recordings. Shortly after I bought my Model 19's (and 14's) I had to replace my amps and phono cartridges--and on the 19's and 14's that I own you could really hear the improvement. Back in my high school and college days (with Model 9's and Valencias), I upgraded to Dynaco power and pre amps (PAS-3X and Stereo 70) and also Phase Linear pre and power amps (I owned two systems) because my old amps sounded terrible with the Altecs. I also returned countless LP's (largely the more dynamic recordings that I owned with extended "quiet" sections") to my local record stores until I could luck out on a copy with minimal surface noise. I remember that at friends' houses different recordings sounded pretty much the same on their systems (a recording would have to be pretty bad to sound bad, and nothing sounded really good!) whereas at my house you could really hear the difference between one recording and another....

One analogy might be that a good pair of Altecs compared to an "average" pair of speakers is like a really good hi def TV compared to an old school TV. As soon as you get your 50" 1080p Plasma hooked up, VHS is unwatchable and even DVD's don't look nearly as good as Blu Ray whereas on the old school 32" Sony, DVD's looked crystal clear and even VHS (2 hour speed with high quality tapes) looked pretty darn good......

Originally Posted by alancohen

......I can't listen to my Yes albums any more.....

I think Rhino did a great job (re)mastering the Yes catalog in 2003. If you haven't heard these on your Altecs, I recommend checking them out. I think Eddie Offord (produced Yes and several other bands) was a genius.....

Amazon.com: Yes Album: Yes: Music

Amazon.com: Fragile: Yes: Music

Amazon.com: Close to the Edge: Yes: Music

Haven't yet heard what Steve Hoffman did with the 2013 SACD release

Amazon.com: Close to the Edge: Yes: Music

Eddy Offord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**cradeldorf** · May 24th, 2013, 03:55 PM

I'm gonna stick with the theory that a 15" LF and a 1 3/4" HF cannot be made to cover the full spectrum efficiently. Now Maybe if you were running the large format drivers with the larger phragm and drove it down to 300-500Hz It might be capable of pulling it off. But I have my reservations about the small format drivers. Sure they'll make sound, but so will a pair of Sparkomatic 6 x 9's. Sorry if I'm coming off as Buzz Killington.....

**alancohen** · May 24th, 2013, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by cradeldorf

I'm gonna stick with the theory that a 15" LF and a 1 3/4" HF cannot be made to cover the full spectrum efficiently. Now Maybe if you were running the large format drivers with the larger phragm and drove it down to 300-500Hz It might be capable of pulling it off. But I have my reservations about the small format drivers. Sure they'll make sound, but so will a pair of Sparkomatic 6 x 9's. Sorry if I'm coming off as Buzz Killington.....

I replaced my 288-16Ks with 802-8Gs from GPA in my A6s and I haven't looked back. But I was thinking the other day that now that I've had some time for the 802s to burn in to my brain, I might put the 288s back and see what I think.

**voice of the theater** · May 24th, 2013, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by cradeldorf

I'm gonna stick with the theory that a 15" LF and a 1 3/4" HF cannot be made to cover the full spectrum efficiently. Now Maybe if you were running the large format drivers with the larger phragm and drove it down to 300-500Hz It might be capable of pulling it off. But I have my reservations about the small format drivers. Sure they'll make sound, but so will a pair of Sparkomatic 6 x 9's. Sorry if I'm coming off as Buzz Killington.....

You don't come off as "Buzz Killington"--everybody should feel free to express their opinions here no matter what they are (within reason). Just my opinion, mind you, but I think the reason that you believe what you stated above is because of the small horn on your 604's. I agree, asking your 15" woofer to play up to 1600 hz is far from ideal, and asking the tiny horn on your 604's to play down to 800 or even 1200 hz is also not ideal. So, in your case, you are correct that your woofer and horn aren't an ideal combination to cover say 800 hz to 1600 hz IMHO. Which is not to say that with the right crossover that they won't sound good. However, if you use a small format Altec driver with an 811b horn, you won't have that problem--it will play down low enough so that your woofer won't have to play up too high. I've been a firm believer in this "fact" since I owned my first pair of A7's and also Valencias back in the 80's. Those Altec two way systems (with 15" woofer, small format h.f. driver and "large" horn) ROCK! (and comprise some really great sounding two way systems) The large format h.f. drivers will play even lower and sound amazing, but they'll need an added tweeter IMHO/three way system to cover the highs....

**mah** · May 24th, 2013, 09:23 PM

Try these: Honor Roll of Dynamic Recordings

And these: http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/cd.html

**sanhanul** · May 25th, 2013, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by mah

Try these: Honor Roll of Dynamic Recordings

And these: CommonSense Audio Recommended CD Page

Is it common thing that everybody knows or am I the slow one?
The Loudness War Analyzed | Music Machinery

Thanks Mah.

**cradeldorf** · May 24th, 2013, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by voice of the theater

You don't come off as "Buzz Killington"--everybody should feel free to express their opinions here no matter what they are (within reason). Just my opinion, mind you, but I think the reason that you believe what you stated above is because of the small horn on your 604's. I agree, asking your 15" woofer to play up to 1600 hz is far from ideal, and asking the tiny horn on your 604's to play down to 800 or even 1200 hz is also not ideal. So, in your case, you are correct that your woofer and horn aren't an ideal combination to cover say 800 hz to 1600 hz IMHO. Which is not to say that with the right crossover that they won't sound good. However, if you use a small format Altec driver with an 811b horn, you won't have that problem--it will play down low enough so that your woofer won't have to play up too high. I've been a firm believer in this "fact" since I owned my first pair of A7's and also Valencias back in the 80's. Those Altec two way systems (with 15" woofer, small format h.f. driver and "large" horn) ROCK! (and comprise some really great sounding two way systems) The large format h.f. drivers will play even lower and sound amazing, but they'll need an added tweeter IMHO/three way system to cover the highs....

Thanks Vott, I think part of my opinion is because I've been hanging around the other audio forums lately. But I still feel that your asking even more from that tiny aluminum diaphragm than it can produce efficiently...well not efficiently but...what's the word I'm looking for.. It makes noise very efficiently but when you ask it to do say 500 hz I'd think your pushing it's limits. Much like any other tweeter. Your horns have a throat about a 1/2 long and then it begins to expand, where a 604's is a straight tube for about 6 inches before it starts to expand. I'm picturing a bunch of standing waves in a situation like that.