Altec 604b Holloywood's - Altec Rookie

**HBTim** · November 11th, 2019, 05:49 PM

As stated in the subject line I am new to the Altec line with this pair recently purchased. I am not, however, new to vintage audio. I have spent almost 20 years buying all the wrong things to eventually find out what what was the right things.

Lots of research and reading. I also belong to AudioKarma and have found immensely enjoyable and fulfilling to be a part of that forum. I wanted to come here and ask on a specific Altec forum what my next steps would be. I am very afraid of doing the wrong thing. I can't imagine anyone would want to "trail and error" these. They sound astonishing. I will not go into my initial impressions because I believe there are no words to describe the quality of what I have been listening to.

Maybe later...

For now a little background.

Purchased from a friend of mine that was using them in his garage.... yes, garage. I had no idea he even had them. For whatever reason they were hidden away or something before but one day there they were.

He played them and I had never even heard another Altec. I have read about them and the price tag was always so far away i never pursued them. My best acquisition before the Altec's were a pair of very nice original owner ads L1590. I love them. I use a Scott LK-72, Sherwood S5500 - IV, and a Pioneer SX-1010 as my mains and rotate. But I will be honest, the Scott is a hands down winner to me.

I asked him about the Altec's and he proceeded to tell me that I should buy them... I think I was unaware my jaw was on the floor, but he wasn't. He told me what i could buy them for and I thought I did not hear him correctly.

He used a price that I could afford. Well, he let me make payments. What and incredible gesture. To be honest it is more than I have ever spent on speakers but not the staggering amounts I have seen for Altec's.

They are in cheap cabinets, but work well. I will now be considering the next step witch is new cabinets. I have read about Onken, Stonehenge V style cab's, 612, 620's... goes on and on.

As stated, I wanted to come to the place that would know what I am dealing with here. How about some pic's of what I am dealing with...

I will try to update more later. For now, thank you in advance for not allowing me to screw this up.

bvDD2tG.jpg T91NWnh.jpg bMVUVBj.jpg BSeTJPz.jpg

Tim

**RonSSS** · November 11th, 2019, 07:44 PM

Welcome to the forum Tim.

The guys who know cabinets will chime in.

Glad you are enjoying them!

Ron

**HBTim** · November 11th, 2019, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by RonSSS

Welcome to the forum Tim.

The guys who know cabinets will chime in.

Glad you are enjoying them!

Ron

Thanks for the warm welcome RonSSS. Glad to be here. Excited to go on my Altec journey. Slow as I go...

GM · November 12th, 2019, 07:13 AM

Greets!

Looks like you struck gold! WRT cabs, it just depends on how big you can afford in space, whether or not corner cabs are an option, want vintage performance or......, etc..

FWIW, from just reading about the Scott [really need a proper owner's manual with complete specs], it's not a good match to the B compared to the Altec A323B or similar spec amp it was voiced with.

GM

**rogerh113** · November 12th, 2019, 11:39 AM

Congratulations!! I also have 604s, and could not be happier.

No idea how handy you are. One way to start would be to build a pair of Markwart crossovers for your speakers. Use good quality parts, and you can enjoy the crossovers in your current cabinets. They can also travel with your 604s if they move to new cabinets. Fairly easy way to start to experiment optimizing your speakers, and fully reversible.

**Elitopus1** · November 12th, 2019, 08:19 PM

Did they come with original crossovers? Maybe you could rebuild them if so. If not, I would also highly recommend the Markwarts crossovers.

I’m not familiar with the early 604 crossovers, and don’t know how good they are. I know the Markwarts crossovers are better than the stock 604G xovers though

**HBTim** · November 12th, 2019, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by GM

Greets!

Looks like you struck gold! WRT cabs, it just depends on how big you can afford in space, whether or not corner cabs are an option, want vintage performance or......, etc..

FWIW, from just reading about the Scott [really need a proper owner's manual with complete specs], it's not a good match to the B compared to the Altec A323B or similar spec amp it was voiced with.

GM

Interesting... I do not have the “B” LK-72. Does that make a difference? I will find the schem for it.

as far as corner cabs, I do not have the two corners to support that build. I do have good room for them and can build almost anything else I would like to. I seem to be more Inclined for look and function than time correct cabs. The WAF factor is at the core of this decision. So, an older Art Deco or the military cabinet 612 is also not an option. So, this leaves me leaning to the Onken can as a beauty look can or even the higher profile, less foot print Stonehenge V cab look. However open to others as well. I will take my time making the decision. I guess in the end I want performance and appearance. I understand the latter is subjective.

one other thing, as I rotated the L-Pads to work on tuning I have scratchy pots in each. Not much, but I have to play with them both a bit until I get the horn to come back into play. I assume a pot cleaning is in store, of witch I have done on many other speakers with easy and great success, but did not want to assume it would be the same before asking here. Is this the common deoxit and turn pot cleaning?

before I do anything I will wait for the reply and conformation.

thanks again.

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Originally Posted by rogerh113

Congratulations!! I also have 604s, and could not be happier.

No idea how handy you are. One way to start would be to build a pair of Markwart crossovers for your speakers. Use good quality parts, and you can enjoy the crossovers in your current cabinets. They can also travel with your 604s if they move to new cabinets. Fairly easy way to start to experiment optimizing your speakers, and fully reversible.

Hmmm, I will have to research this... Thanks!!

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Elitopus1

Did they come with original crossovers? Maybe you could rebuild them if so. If not, I would also highly recommend the Markwarts crossovers.

I’m not familiar with the early 604 crossovers, and don’t know how good they are. I know the Markwarts crossovers are better than the stock 604G xovers though

Yes, original 1000 crossovers that came with them. From what my friend said they are oil filled caps it would not be necessary to rebuild. He said it they were both within spec.

not sure if that helps answer the question. I will open these up this weekend and get much better pictures of the insides. He also stated that one of the loading caps had to be replaced because it had cracked. Other than that all else was original. He said he had purchased it from Great Plains and was a perfect substitute until I could find an original. I suspect that will be very difficult. He stated that it makes no difference in performance otherwise.