Altec 920 8A drivers any good?

**BillWojo** · March 5th, 2017, 09:50 PM

I know they are designed for ceiling and wall mounting, I assume in some sort of enclosure but can they be used for other purposes? Would mounting them in a thrift store speaker enclosure give them a new and respectable life?
I looked in the archives and could only find specs for 920 8B drivers and no mention of an enclosure design. Does anyone know where to find that info?
Is it even worth it? Sure are a funky design with the HF driver mounted on the front. Designed for some serious power to.
Some on Ebay for a decent price, might make a fun project.

BillWojo

**Elitopus1** · March 5th, 2017, 10:09 PM

I am also curious about those. I have seen quite a few on ebay. And there are some for sale pretty close to me. Think they want 75$ a piece.

Someone is going to have to try them out!

**mah** · March 5th, 2017, 10:09 PM

Bill, A link to the spec. sheet and good input from Bowtie:

Altec Lansing 902-8A | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

**Elitopus1** · March 5th, 2017, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by mah

Bill, A link to the spec. sheet and good input from Bowtie:

Altec Lansing 902-8A | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Hey thanks for the link. Its always good to get Bowtie's input early on. I like how he mentions the 616-8a in that thread too. Thats one of the reasons I bought my pair.

So maybe if someone could get a pair of 920 for less than 100 bucks they would be cool to play around with

**mah** · March 5th, 2017, 10:18 PM

Thiele-Small parameters.

Altec Thiele-Small Parameters

**BillWojo** · March 5th, 2017, 11:13 PM

Thanks guys, looks like a no-go. I will keep an eye out for some 616-8A though, pretty speaker to boot.
Sometimes I come across old speakers at the GoodWill or other thrift stores for little money that have nice cabinets. My thought is to reuse the cabinets with one of the smaller Altec full range drivers. I know it's not going to perform like the big Altec's but if it has some of that Altec magic......

BillWojo

**Old Guy** · March 6th, 2017, 12:34 PM

The only use I have found is they make an acceptable stage wedge

**Todd W. White** · March 6th, 2017, 12:37 PM

They work really well as a floor monitor, and equally well in ceilings in a distributed system, especially where noise and bad acoustics are a problem. They have an ability to "punch through" noise and still be heard with good articulation without having blast people with super-high SPL's.

In a properly tuned 3-cu ft box, however, the 409 sounds surprisingly magnificent.