New Altec lover

**Petro** · October 13th, 2016, 10:39 PM

Hello hope everybody is well tonight. My name is Steve I live in Southern New Jersey. I've been in Altec admirer for some time now and I've never bought a pair , while flipping through a million pairs of speakers. I finally gave up and purchased a pair of model 15. They needed Total Restoration, sanding, veneer repair, New L pads, soldering crossovers having woofers rebuilt at GPA, gluing phase plugs, building stands adding some heavy duty binding post and I also made a pair of pretty cheesy covers which I'll never use just wanted to try it.
Today I just picked up a pair of A7. I got them for a song the cabinets are pretty much shot they actually nailed cheap plywood to the sides painted it black. There is some original wood under there so I'm going to try and carefully strip off the plywood and see if there's anything left but I highly doubt it. They came with beautiful nearly perfect 511b's. They also came with 808- 8A drivers, just ordered a new diaphragm for one of them. Also a pair of n801-8a crossovers which look to be in pretty good condition. They also came with a near-mint pair of JBL d130 drivers these are really nice except for a couple dents in the dust caps. I'm thinking of selling JBL and buying 416-8a just to have all Altec stuff. I just measured my friends Valencia because I'm looking to make a cabinet where I can put the horn on top of the cabinet and I figured the Valencia's without the top part would be perfect. But if anybody has a link to a better set-up where I could use the 15 inch drivers and put the horn on top of the cabinets I would really appreciate it. I searched around but couldn't find a whole lot.
Just wanted you guys to know my brief Altec history. I'm not a speaker guy comparable to many of you, but if I can take it apart I can put it back together, and I can do some woodwork.

Thanks so much for having me on this great and very informative forum. I'll leave you a couple pics please don't make fun of my cheesy covers it was my first attempt. Lol

**gvasale** · October 14th, 2016, 12:00 AM

Enjoy the ride.

**bowtie427ss** · October 14th, 2016, 06:45 AM

I wouldn't sell those D130's until you hear them against 416's.

IMNSHO&E, i prefer 416 in a large bass reflex box, period. My VOT's are loaded with JBL's and it had nothing to do with convenience.

**Petro** · October 14th, 2016, 06:25 PM

Thanks!!! Oh I'm going to definitely try the jbl's first. My first thought was to fix a7 to original and sell them, since my listening room is pretty small. After seeing the cabinets up close I thought maybe just sell off the parts. But seeing these big horns and 15" woofers sitting here, I'm not sure I can part with them. I will probably do my own smaller scale, better braced version of A7 cabinet with some smaller ports which means selling my model15 when I'm done to fund the next project.
These parts are way too cool to get rid of

**BillWojo** · October 14th, 2016, 06:46 PM

Hi Steve, I'm fairly new here myself, from Burlington. Where in SJ do you live?
I started with a set of 511b horns with 908 drivers sitting on some Klipsch Heresy's. Soon after I picked up a set of HeathKit AS101's that are basically Valencias in nicer cabinets and a slightly better crossover. As soon as I get some extra money I'm going to build a set of Model 19 crossovers for the AS101's.
I'm really enjoying the Altec sound with my tube amps, they will only get better I'm sure.

BillWojo

**je2a3** · October 14th, 2016, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Petro

...which means selling my model15 when I'm done to fund the next project...

IME, it is easier to blend the 32 horn with a 12" or 15" Altec woofer for a smaller domestic listening environment than an 811 or 511. So before selling the Altec 15, I'd suggest comparing the sound of the 511 vs. the existing 32 horns in it - pull out the compression drivers and mount them on the 511s on top of the cabinet using the same crossover.

Just my 2 cents...happy listening!

JE

**Petro** · October 14th, 2016, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by BillWojo

Hi Steve, I'm fairly new here myself, from Burlington. Where in SJ do you live?
I started with a set of 511b horns with 908 drivers sitting on some Klipsch Heresy's. Soon after I picked up a set of HeathKit AS101's that are basically Valencias in nicer cabinets and a slightly better crossover. As soon as I get some extra money I'm going to build a set of Model 19 crossovers for the AS101's.
I'm really enjoying the Altec sound with my tube amps, they will only get better I'm sure.

BillWojo

Hello Bill, I live on Long Beach Island. Yes, year round. Lol. I've been looking at Heath kit designs. I like them alot. I'm sort of a tinkerer, I will easily build a cabinet from a mix of other people's ideas that I like, and add my own ideas and if it doesn't work. Well then I bust it up and start over. It would be strange if I liked the first attempt.

Originally Posted by je2a3

IME, it is easier to blend the 32 horn with a 12" or 15" Altec woofer for a smaller domestic listening environment than an 811 or 511. So before selling the Altec 15, I'd suggest comparing the sound of the 511 vs. the existing 32 horns in it - pull out the compression drivers and mount them on the 511s on top of the cabinet using the same crossover.

Just my 2 cents...happy listening!

JE

Thanks!!! I love that idea. I had 2 pairs of model 15's a series 2 and these, I tested the drivers in both and liked the 902-8a's best so that's what is in mine. Sent the series2 to a friend. I'm going away for 10 days, as soon as I get back I will do that. Try the 511's with both sets of drivers.
Thanks again for the idea.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh btw I forgot to mention I run an older Viva 300b with a Rega turntable and ortofon cartridge. Only tubes and vinyl in my house

**Elitopus1** · October 16th, 2016, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

I wouldn't sell those D130's until you hear them against 416's.

IMNSHO&E, i prefer 416 in a large bass reflex box, period. My VOT's are loaded with JBL's and it had nothing to do with convenience.

Just curious what JBL woofers do you run?

**Petro** · October 16th, 2016, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Elitopus1

Just curious what JBL woofers do you run?

They came with jbl d130's. I plugged them in briefly but didn't really test them because I need another diaphragm for one of the 808's . But I'm looking at a couple others, a broken pair of 416-8z and a beautiful pair of 416-8a. But I will try with the jbl first.

**bowtie427ss** · October 17th, 2016, 08:02 AM

Just curious what JBL woofers do you run?

2035's uber light cones, 3 inch voice coils, copper shorting rings in the poles. They have a sonic signature similar to the new GPA 416C, cost less, and handle more power. Most important to me is their nearly ruler flat impedance across their usable BW. Of course every time i post openly about them the price goes up and the supply shrinks, imagine that.

because I need another diaphragm for one of the 808's

808's were originally equipped with symbiotik diaphragms, for hifi apps they need to be replaced with the proper tangential aluminum surround diaphragms. If you are still using a symbiotik phragm in one of the 808's it's not going to sound the same or have the HF extension of the driver with a new GPA phragm in it.

Anyone use the plugs for the a7's? They have the xover wired to the plug

I assume you are talking about the 1/4 inch phone plugs. They are not a proper termination for a hifi speaker cable, period.

IMO, any low pressure contact is unacceptable for low impedance audio(speaker) wiring. I prefer binding posts or screw terminals that can be tightened down to provide a "gas tight" contact area that will not degrade over time from oxidation which effectively creates a resistive bottleneck. Banana plugs are for test equipment, you won't find them used for anything else in my stable.