New Altec owner here.. Looking forward to joining in

[orangedude71]

So happy for you and the purchase you've made! You should be having quite a lot of fun.

Modifications: Listen to them for a while before beginning mods. That will determine exactly what you like and do not like about the speakers. Want more bass extension? There are mods for that. Do the horns sound too "horny?" LOTS of crossover mods/builds to address that, as well.

As GM pointed out, the one mod that practically everybody does is extensive stiffening of the curved panels (the horn) that surround the woofer. These resonate in stock condition and need to be either re-enforced with more bracing and/or deadening materials. There are numerous threads on this process here, on Lansing Heritage Forums, and AudioKarma, among others. Same for the crossover/equalization process.

Just listen to them, move them around your room and experiment with placement. Once you've found the "sweet spot" and have a good handle on what impresses you and what aggravates you, you will be ready to dive in and fix what you don't like and improve what you do like.

Just tell us what you think about their sound and the experts here will guide you smoothly through the process. I'm looking forward to watching!

GeeDeeEmm

- - - Updated - - -



Yep. That's the powdery-looking substance on your mounting brackets. It is highly toxic and needs to be removed. There are a number of threads on the subject. Just do a google search.

(Over the years, I have removed lots of this stuff without knowing it is toxic. I just brushed it off and breathed it right in without any thought whatsoever. I've seen recommendations that suggest sealing the surfaces with clear coat spray paint after it's removed.)

GeeDeeEmm

On the placement.. just now making some room to get them spread out far enough on the wall and closer to the corners.. Hoping that improves some of the bass response a little. So far thats been my only complaint is a little more bass response would go a long way. But its not a deal breaker for me at this second. Its clear these things were made to play music before hip hop. So far anything pre-1975 or so has sounded great on them. I also think i probably will build a small 2x4 pedestal base to get them up a couple more inches and ill probably build spikes into the feet to get a nice secure mount to the floor. The horns are pretty well built. Appears to be double layer then glued application from looking at the backside. Probably the first thing to be tackled will be the bad attenuator on the one speaker. Ill take care of the brackets when i start that process out. But mostly need to get some listening time in with them to see what I really want to go after. they are such a huge improvement over the AE speakers i had before that its going to be a while before i really find something to nit pick about for real

[LowOhms]

YOUR QUESTION : Bass response and speaker positioning......................

The closer to the rear wall ( or corner, its NICE to have equal corners, and use some toe-in if needed ) ...but anyway, the closer to the rear wall, the more the speaker will couple to the rear wall, to reinforce low bass. If you get too close, the bass will predominate, and the presentation from the upper bass on up, will become muddy.

You alone, need to set up distances by EAR, methodically and incrementally moving the entire enclosure in and out from the rear wall. I use tape on the floor, and set up a grid, to narrow down the sweet spot. It is a COMPROMISE position.

Further away from the rear wall, you lose lowest bass but the upper bass and midrange will get clearer, You want to find a compromise position, and measure it twice, and record it in your NOTES, put it on your computer, etc for future reference.

There is a question of " flipping " your speaker 180 degrees, but incremental distances, in and out from the wall, in either case, is HOW you determine the best compromise positioning. Relax, take your time. Do NOT be in a hurry to mod, especially if its a non-reversible mod !!

Jeff Medwin

A7-800s, .......mass loaded stock enclosures instead of braced, with 515Bs, 802Ds, extensively internally rewired, custom DIY crossover.

[orangedude71]

Yep. That'll do for now


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[LowOhms]

Yep. That'll do for now


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Is this room a main family type room, where others are making use of it continuously, or, is it a spare room, where you may have control of the space, without WAF ( wife acceptance factor )??

The reason I ask you is, although I am not a speaker expert, I would think the 15 inch driver, horn loaded, and sitting directly on the floor, will sound better ( as in a VOTT A7 ), with the 15 inch driver at the top of the enclosure.

In a " man cave ", AKA dedicated stereo / music room, one could mount the high frequency horn on top of the ( inverted ) enclosure, and in close proximity to the woofer and it's bass horn. This would serve to clean up the bass / mid bass I would THINK. Others, with more direct ALTEC experience, may want to comment on that. One person here has already suggested this, Don. I concur. Others???

Jeff Medwin .........Low Ohms

[orangedude71]

Is this room a main family type room, where others are making use of it continuously, or, is it a spare room, where you may have control of the space, without WAF ( wife acceptance factor )??

Jeff Medwin .........Low Ohms

Yeah.. i probably reached wifes limit in moving the furniture around to make this happen. and the cabinets have furniture finish on the top sides which means inverting them won't look so hot.

[orangedude71]

just a couple more.


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[mah]

OD71, Altec designed the Magnificent system to be used with the large horn on the bottom and used the N-500-D crossover, with Zobel network for the LF and a specific HF compensation network - both of which the A7-500 did not have.

Having the LF horn positioned in a corner will provide some extra LF response, via horn 'extension', in addition to some corner gain i.e. more bass which will reduce(to a degree) the inherent LF shelving of the LF horn. With some considered positioning and aiming wrt listening position you should be very satisfied with the Magnificents.

See post 9 here: Altec 511B horn compared to the GPA MR931

Some other inputs:

positioning of a horn speaker | Audiogon Discussion Forum

Red Spade Audio: Speaker placement guide

[orangedude71]

OD71, Altec designed the Magnificent system to be used with the large horn on the bottom and used the N-500-D crossover, with Zobel network for the LF and a specific HF compensation network - both of which the A7-500 did not have.

Having the LF horn positioned in a corner will provide some extra LF response, via horn 'extension', in addition to some corner gain i.e. more bass which will reduce(to a degree) the inherent LF shelving of the LF horn. With some considered positioning and aiming wrt listening position you should be very satisfied with the Magnificents.

See post 9 here: Altec 511B horn compared to the GPA MR931

Some other inputs:

positioning of a horn speaker | Audiogon Discussion Forum

Red Spade Audio: Speaker placement guide

awesome.. great info and good reads. In my listening today, i found angling them in to have the most benefit.. Listened to them that way most of the day right until my 110-220v converter crapped out.. So will need to re-convene the listening exercises to next week when the new converter shows up. Today's listening of Steely Dan Aja, Dire Straits brothers in arms, Joe Walsh but seriously folks, and Herbie Hancock headhunters, were all sublime. Led Zep 2 on the other hand sounded horrible.. Mids were all a mess. Ive got some work to do

[mah]

Your speakers will reveal poor definition recordings. I have many led Zeppelin recordings, vinyl and CD, and find that generally they have a trademark sound that lacks clarity, though you will find some tracks that sound 'HiFi-ish'. LZ II is not so good in this regard, generally. That said I love the music so it doesn't matter. Similar to varying degrees with Black Sabbath, Cream, Johnny Winter, Taste(Rory Gallagher), Neil Young with Crazy Horse, ACDC and many more.

Machine Head by Deep Purple works well.

And, dare I say it, the original Tubular Bells.

[norelco]

Congrats on your nice and shiny Altec[emoji106]


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