My 19 build begins in earnest - H811b arrives....

[Coelacanth]

Hi Steve. Thanks very much for your input here.

Firstly, I found this tiny (about 5mm long) maker's mark stamped into the horn - "WD Co". This seems to attest to Altec having at least for a time, outsourced the casting work....



Re your technical observations and advice... I am not even close to having more than a very basic understanding of this stuff.. What I do have is curiosity and some skill with tools and equipment. If there is a better design, more suited to the GPA 902 driver I intend to use in this build, well, I am happy to build it. But someone would have to supply me with plans, because there is no way I could work it out myself at this point.

One of my plans however is to experiment with different horns once I have the 811 copies up and running (along with the rest of the system!), so I am happy to continue as planned with these.

I do appreciate the suggestions - and if you can point me to plans for any horn you deem more suitable, I will gladly take a hard look at them :-)

[westend9]

Check out the A300 radial horns in post #6 of this thread. There are also some comments on the 811 from Steve Schell in post #11.

I've been tossing around the idea of a wood horn for the 802 but, actually, I find very little wrong with the 811 for my listening habits. I have heard better horns that have a more dispersed presentation and a finer sound (large format drivers, to be exact) but the 802 is a damn fine driver and my 811's work all right for me. If there is a next iteration it may be a wood horn with the larger format drivers.

[Altec Best]

Hi Steve. Thanks very much for your input here.

Firstly, I found this tiny (about 5mm long) maker's mark stamped into the horn - "WD Co". This seems to attest to Altec having at least for a time, outsourced the casting work....



Re your technical observations and advice... I am not even close to having more than a very basic understanding of this stuff.. What I do have is curiosity and some skill with tools and equipment. If there is a better design, more suited to the GPA 902 driver I intend to use in this build, well, I am happy to build it. But someone would have to supply me with plans, because there is no way I could work it out myself at this point.

One of my plans however is to experiment with different horns once I have the 811 copies up and running (along with the rest of the system!), so I am happy to continue as planned with these.

I do appreciate the suggestions - and if you can point me to plans for any horn you deem more suitable, I will gladly take a hard look at them :-)

Where on the horn is this stamp ?

[Coelacanth]

I'll take a pic in an hour or so, but its on outside of the shell, towards the middle, behind where the central cabinet mounting screw hole is - it is present on both halves of the horn.

[Coelacanth]