Altec 604-8H or GPA Series 2 or 3 ?

[baja]

hi,
I'm just wondering about my next steps. After a competing audition of a pair 604-8H, the last with alnico magnets and the first with mantaray horns in 612 cabinet, against a pair of 604E in 620 cabinets, I fell in love with the 604H. mids and highs are really superior and in a certain sense the mantaray sonic was a little bit "more modern", what I would prefer. after the audition I drew up a plan to rebuild those 604-8H with their 612 cabinets, because they were not up for sale.
but it's really hard to get a pair of 604H!
after contacting GPA I have to re-think, if it might be more practical to purchase a new pair of their series 2 with ferrite magnets - or even if it would be an advantageous purchase to go for the new series 3 with urei horn?
now I'm a little bit worried about what to do, because I have to buy them blind and they have to be shipped to germany.
in regard to my preference (mids, highs and a more modern sonic) probably anybody could give me an advice?
thanks for suggestions!

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ July 30, 2008 04:28 AM: Message edited by: baja ]</font>

[RonSSS]

I've never heard a duplex with the Urei horn. I don't know what it's advantage is.
Why not ask GPA?
I have heard the manta horn....in my 904's....they are ferrite. Basically the same as a 604-8K after I added the alum diaphrams. I love them.

If you liked the 604-8H with the Manta horn, I doubt you could go wrong with the same in the GPA version.

What crossover was connected to what you heard?

Ron

[baja]

hi ron,
it was a custom made crossover (the same in both), done by werner jagusch from JABO. he offers his crossover on e**y. you will find it there on the german page.
I've already asked steven upchurch, but GPA seems to be in a hurry. in short he advised his new series 3 with urei horn. ok, this is how it goes, getting the impression that you have one shoot only.
hopefully I find someone who was/is in the luxurious situation to know both. although this is still quite subjective, it may top out my plans.
best,

[gortnipper]

Hey Baja - maybe ping Todd White (moderator here) since he *may* have heard them both, or drop Bill at GPA a line - I am sure he has.

[Todd W. White]

I have heard them both.

BOTH sound EXCELLENT.

BOTH are vastly superior to other two-way's, including the best of the other 604's.

However, while I have spent a great deal of time listening to the 604-8-II's, I haven't had nearly as much experience with the III's yet. Hopefully, I can do so soon.

Bill and Steve, on the other hand, have spent a lot of time listening to the III's, and can tell you more first-hand at this time.

But for now, I'm listening to the sound track from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" here in my office on a pair of Altec Model 6's powered by a 1964-vintage Altec 711A Receiver, and, though it doesn't sound AS GOOD on them as it does on the 604's, it's pretty impressive...

[gortnipper]

Todd - were you able to A/B the IIs/IIIs? Any other observations?

[Todd W. White]

Not yet - going to try that in a couple of weeks when I'll have time to go to GPA and spend the day listening.

I know Jerry Hubbard, who has measured the 604/UREI horn combo, said the UREI horn won't go as low as the MANTARAY (or the true multicellular horn originally used on the 604 and 604B, which loads lower than any of them), so the crossovers have to be different. Bill has a proprietary crossover for each...

[baja]

hi out there,
nobody who can give an advice?
I'm a little bit in a rush, because I'd like to make a decision quite soon. my secure-favorite decision would be to order the 604-8HII from GPA. but my intuition tells me to go for the series 3 with the urei horn ... but this is really buying a pig in a poke. is there any experience in audition regarding the series 2 and 3?
thanks,

[baja]

todd,
thanks for short information. probably that the urei won't go as low as the mantaray would cause a shift in favor of the series 2, regarding my plans to put them into a 612 cabinet. and presumably there could be a lack in 'bass' using the series 3 with a 612 cabinet. I'm not sure about, if a crossover could be capable to smooth away this difference?
I can only argue from my own experience of the competition between 604e in vintage 620 cabinets and 604h in rebuilt 612 cabinets: this was really a sensational result for the 604h.
to be honest, before I was quite convinced from my highly expensive audiophile gear and I won't expect such a surprise while listening to a 'vintage' duplex speaker. this was for me a trace back to music and affects me to quit all my capricious luxury stuff to go for a no frills solution. I'm quite confident, that the 604h is the best starting point for this 'new life' of listening to music.

[Todd W. White]

Well, in reality, no horn that small is going to load very low. In fact, the crossover point for the multicellular horn used in the 604 and 604B, though rated originally, if memory serves, around 1500 cps, was above that somewhat.

The UREI horn, as can be seen in the frequency response graph, has much smoother HF output than the one with the MANTARAY: