Altec A7 500-8 and Altec 1224A electronic crossovers

[Lycoming680]

Thanks for the reply, old guy- it's much appreciated. I've been going over and over this trying to calculate a bang for the buck move. I've seen where DSP's are pretty affordable and almost infinitely tweakable. But I don't have the gear or know how to go along with it. It seems the 1224A gets me a ways down the road on bi-amping and at the maximum- 3 choices in crossover points for around $400. I'm on a tight budget and got a pair of A7-500-8's minus horns, and horn drivers and one N-501-8A crossover for $100. The 825 cabinets and the 416-8A drivers along with the one crossover are in fine shape considering they were built in 1974... I've a possible deal on horns and drivers - hopefully know more about that soon. A sort of blank sheet to start with, so I'm trying to sort it all out. I've read much on builds and some of them read like a descent into madness for the builder! I'm new to all of this, I've now bought 3 pairs of speakers in my lifetime and the first two pair all I did was plug them in. What have I gotten myself into?
Thanks again!

[Old Guy]

Thanks for the reply, old guy- it's much appreciated. I've been going over and over this trying to calculate a bang for the buck move. I've seen where DSP's are pretty affordable and almost infinitely tweakable. But I don't have the gear or know how to go along with it. It seems the 1224A gets me a ways down the road on bi-amping and at the maximum- 3 choices in crossover points for around $400. I'm on a tight budget and got a pair of A7-500-8's minus horns, and horn drivers and one N-501-8A crossover for $100. The 825 cabinets and the 416-8A drivers along with the one crossover are in fine shape considering they were built in 1974... I've a possible deal on horns and drivers - hopefully know more about that soon. A sort of blank sheet to start with, so I'm trying to sort it all out. I've read much on builds and some of them read like a descent into madness for the builder! I'm new to all of this, I've now bought 3 pairs of speakers in my lifetime and the first two pair all I did was plug them in. What have I gotten myself into?
Thanks again!

If the 1224a you are looking at is $400 it will cost you $800 for stereo. Medium quality stereo. You can do a lot better.
A crossover and amps isn't much more complicated. Folks here could walk you through hooking it up.

For instance I have a couple of Crown D75 amps, one would power those adequately for a living room. You don't need gobs of power. You would need horns. The crossover you have won't work unless you get 500 Hz (Altec 511) horns, with 803 or 808 drivers. Altec doesn't recommend the 806/807 at 500 Hz.

What's your budget for horns drivers and electronics?
A couple of good small amps and an electronic crossover may cost you less than a pair of the better passive crossovers.

[Lycoming680]

If the 1224a you are looking at is $400 it will cost you $800 for stereo. Medium quality stereo. You can do a lot better.
A crossover and amps isn't much more complicated. Folks here could walk you through hooking it up.

For instance I have a couple of Crown D75 amps, one would power those adequately for a living room. You don't need gobs of power. You would need horns. The crossover you have won't work unless you get 500 Hz (Altec 511) horns, with 803 or 808 drivers. Altec doesn't recommend the 806/807 at 500 Hz.

What's your budget for horns drivers and electronics?
A couple of good small amps and an electronic crossover may cost you less than a pair of the better passive crossovers.

Yeah, I've been examining that thru the day since reading your earlier comment. I'd say - I'd like to stay under $1000 for the deal, in increments preferably. I figured that I can get out of them for about that if I need to without getting upside down...

[Old Guy]

There are decent amps available sub-$100.
A decent used electronic crossover about the same. So $300 or so there.
You should be able to get horns and drivers for $500-ish.

Don't get caught up in inflated eBay prices. Watch for deals.

A handy tool is searchtempest.com
You can search within a chosen radius for your area.
I found these in Norfolk Virginia: Horn speakers Altec Lansing H 811b with drivers - electronics - by...

Not Altec drivers. Caveat emptor. But that's not totally outrageous for a good pair of horns. ebay the Peaveys. You can see though, that is about half what ebay denizens want for horns.

[Lycoming680]

Thanks again for all the pointers, old guy. Search Tempest is how I found the 511's. $180 no drivers, and the seller's friend is coming to OKC in early May and bringing them to me, so no shipping. The Crown D75 amps you mentioned; is that enough for the LF drivers? Is it too much for the HF drivers? Saw a nice used Behringer digital crossover for a decent price, are you familiar with that brand or have any guidance with regard to shopping for a digital crossover?

[Old Guy]

It's 35 per channel at 8 ohms. You could use bigger. But it will play loud enough in your living room. I wasn't so much trying to make a sale as giving examples. There literally are thousands of options.

[Old Guy]

So you have horns? Good.

I might know of a pair of 808A drivers that need diaphragms. I'll check. The 808 is the same body as an 802. Great Plains Audio can put in new diaphragms.

Amp wise I have a bunch of stuff, I'm sure so do others here. We can keep exploring options.

I tend to have multiples of the same amps. Ill try and look thru what I have. There is a marketplace here where you can post your wants also.
Here's an example of a used electronic crossover.

dbx 223XL Stereo 2-Way / Mono 3-Way Crossover | Reverb

This is the one I would buy if I were looking.
Ashly XR22/12 Electronic Crossover | eBay

Basically inputs, outputs to the amps, and set the knobs. You can adjust the crossover frequency and horn level. Not hard, may look overwhelming but pretty easy really.