Original 604-8K or GPA 604-8H-III

[stevenarrow]

Hello,

I am enjoying a new to me pair of 604-8k with a stock crossover in 620 enclosure. I am interested in possible upgrade. I was hoping someone with direct experience can relate the differences between the 8K and the current GPA 8H-III with GPA crossover. Is it worth the expense? I can always re-sell the vintage units to re-coup costs...

This is for home audio, music only.

Thanks,
Steve

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Any additional comments or opinions on these specific drivers / crossovers is welcome.

[Old Guy]

Later 604's used the EV magnet, which results in lighter bass. My understanding is the GPA reverts to the original magnet.

OTOH if you add a sub to the 604K you likely will have a better system than the GPA alone.

You should get better performance going either direction. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

RMH

[GM]

For sure some improvement from an upgraded 8k XO, but the III has a bigger horn with better acoustics to offset some of the 8k's phasing issues, so the III is at least theoretically worth the cost and just a couple of reasons why I only recommend it over all but the early 1 kHz XO'd duplexes, plus may want to remove the loading caps with either one: EarthLink(R) - Page Not Found............WTF ?! Posted three valid links viewed/copied from Jeff's site........Altec Lansing 604-8K................... Phase Correction for Altec Ferrite Duplexes.................. Altec Compression Driver Rear Loading Caps................Grrr........not showing paragraph separations or ability to modify text due to 'HTML' being 'off'?............ HB's way of saying 'donate'?

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For sure some improvement from an upgraded 8k XO, but the III has a bigger horn with better acoustics to offset some of the 8k's phasing issues, so the III is at least theoretically worth the cost and just a couple of reasons why I only recommend it over all but the early 1 kHz XO'd duplexes, plus may want to remove the loading caps with either one:

Altec Lansing 604-8K

http://home.earthlink.net/~jmarkwart/id16.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~jmarkwart/id21.html

GM

[stevenarrow]

Thanks for the info. I have pulled the trigger on a XO from GPA. I figure I will do this step by step to gauge the changes.

[GM]

You're welcome! Looking forward to your comparison.

GM

[stevenarrow]

New GPA networks installed. They dropped right in. The hardest part was actually getting the drivers out of the box; they were installed 35 years ago...

The sound opened up in a subtle way. It is not game changing but certainly an improvement. A little added separation between instruments, the sound stage got even bigger, and there is a sense of added smoothies (less grainy?).

Any ways, I'll be keeping the GPA XO in for a while.

Up next: a pair of Bison MLTL cabinets!