HeathKit AS101's in the house!

[BillWojo]

So after playing around with my 511b horns and 908 drivers using my Klipsh Heresy's as the low end I knew I wanted the real deal. Yea, I know, that wasn't a great combination but it's what I had on hand. LOL
So I worked out a deal with a fellow on BarterTown (AK forum). Traded a spare tube amp and some cash for a set of HeathKit AS101 speakers. Pretty much Valencia copy's. Wow, what a difference from the Heresy's, bigger sound, REAL BASS and super smooooooth. I always kind of knew that the tweeter horn in the Heresy wasn't really integrated well into that speaker but I loved the sound of the mid range horn. My Mac MC40 monoblocks drive them with authority, these are the best speakers I've had on those amps.
The fellow has already recapped one speaker with Solen and Jantzen caps and gave me the parts to do the other one.
But right now I'm just enjoying them, I'll tear into them later. I'll be back later with questions about driver upgrades. I do have a set of 908 drivers and some brand new aluminum diaphragms from GPA sitting here. Can these get even better?

BillWojo

[Elitopus1]

Congrats on the new pair of speakers! I use Jantzen caps with my A7's and they sound pretty good. I bet there is a big difference between the speaker with old and the one with the new caps huh?

If the diaphragms are not original and have been replaced with chinese phragms you will notice a big improvement switching over to the GPA phragms. If they are original I would probably just leave them.

I would stick with the stock 806 HF drivers and not put the ferrite drivers in. I am an AlNiCo driver fan though

[mah]

FWIW:

Your choice between 2 sets of Altec small format drivers.... | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Bill, do your 908s have 7/8 inch or 1 inch exits?

[bowtie427ss]

FWIW:

Your choice between 2 sets of Altec small format drivers.... | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Bill, do your 908s have 7/8 inch or 1 inch exits?

Be sure to ignore my posts in this thread, they are not accurate, and should be deleted. At the time(early 09), i had never had a 908 in the flesh, and i was still drinking the internet koolaid thinking that the parrots must be truthful. You know, 1 inch throat, best midrange of a small format driver, and all that jazz.

Today, i have the luxury of first hand experience. I've toyed and flipped my way thru several sets and singles of 900 series driver, and spent easily a couple hundred hours listening and measuring both in my spaces and my good friend's drum studio(very anechoic and soundproof). What i have heard, and seen seems to support exactly how Altec applied the 900 series driver. Altec did not cross them below 1200hz, and for good reasons. They make great tweeters.

[BillWojo]

My 908's have 7/8 exits. I can machine transition adapters to smooth the flow from drivers to horns. That's not going to be an issue.

BillWojo

[BillWojo]

If I update the 908 drivers with the new diaphragms (aluminum), remove the plastic loading caps and add the rear covers with felts, make the 7/8 to 1" adapters and cross at 1200Hz, would I notice an improvement? Or is it so small as not to be worth the bother?
I already have the diaphragms, rear aluminum caps and felts. Need to make adapters and figure out a crossover.

BillWojo

[bowtie427ss]

You'll likely notice the HF extension vs the 806, as well as the ~3db increase in sensitivity. The increased sensitivity gives you the ability to use an EQ'd network(a la m19/N-1201) to further smooth the HF response.

[Phil-G]

Altec 909 8A Pascalite Tangerine Compression Driver | eBay

here's our chance to find out. I asked the seller to measure the throat. may answer, may not.

[BillWojo]

Hi Phil, I have that on my watch list, actually hi bidder at 99 cents, wonder what it will end at.
Right now I'm just enjoying listening to these amazing speakers, they sound so natural on my system. But I do like to tinker. I've been studying the model 19, I see it crosses at 1200Hz. Would there be an advantage to do that with mine?

BillWojo

[mah]

That listing shows the Altec drawing which has the exit shown as 1 inch. I hope the seller provides an answer