604 choices

[airboss]

Greetings:
Having lusted for a pair of Altec speakers since I was a wee lad, I have recently begun to wonder why I don't have any....hmmm. With the bewildering array of model numbers, from 605's to 04's to 9XXX etc it's no wonder that I'm confused. Bearing in mind,(what's left of it) that I don't buy into most of the notions of the magnet clamped around the power cord set(golden ears?),would it be safe to say that any of the 604 series will make a representative system or are there clunkers in the group? Can a guy get a set of drivers and crossovers for less than a kilobuck? E-bay prices frighten me.
Second question: is anyone in the group using Fisher tube gear in their system? Work good?

[Steve Burger]

The Fisher tube gear should be good assuming it has been serviced. As far as the 604's and prices, it seems to me there are some pretty good prices on ebay. Keep in mind that in 1997 the list price for a pair of 604k's was about $2800 a pair! When you look at what it would cost to buy a separate 515 woofer, 802 or 902 driver and a horn the prices are pretty comparable. For me it is not the prices on ebay that are scary it is dealing with an unknown quantity. Sometimes folks get burned, bottom line. Some time the stuff does not arive, period! I have a friend who purchased an underwater camera for $1500 and the guy who he bought it from in Canada finally sent him a package. When he opened it up it was literally a rock. The guy did get prosecuted and convicted. In other cases the products do not arrive in the proper working order with problems such as cones rubbbing, non-original and inferior parts, etc. There are also sometimes hidden costs of overly inflated handling and packaging costs as well as inflated shipping charges. Feedback can help but many people are afraid to leave negative feedback after they may have done so and the person in turn leaves revenge negative feedback. For all these reasons I tend to either try to know who I am dealing with or buy stuff that I know is blown. I figure if someone is out to burn someone they are not going to do it with something they advertise as defective. In regards to what which full range 604 is the best, I think there would be some speculation. I like the sound of all of them but some a little better than others. A while back on this forum there was a lot of discussion. Between myself, Jim D and our little circle we own between us the B, D (same as C I believe but different xover), E, G and K. Our consensus is the later version of the K is the best sounding of all of them. I think also by the time it came out the crossover design had improved significantly. It can sometimes be had at a relatively inexpensive price but again you have to know who you are dealing with. We do know where there are a few NOS ones, they are reasonable but not cheap. I say go ahead and take the plunge but get a little advice on who to deal with. A while back there were a lot of horror stories shared about one particular dealer of vintage Altec drivers and parts. Some of the people that gave feedback were very knowledgeable and are upstanding people. Good luck and I hope you don't wait around too much longer.

[gearjammer]

Steve you Hit the nail on the head about e-bay,half the sellers on there do not know what they are talking about,just in it for the quick flip to make a buck.Most do not know the history of the drivers or how to test them but yet claim to be the sweetest speakers on earth. I totally agree with you,know who you are dealing with and do your research. Also it,s better to buy blown drivers and get them reconed at G.P.A. by Bill H. and then you know your drivers are the way they were intended to be. And i bet it will not cost you anymore then a pair of drivers from ebay.

[airboss]

Thanks Steve:
First off, I had no idea that the dupex speakers were still in production as late as '97. I do recall that they always seemed out of reach in the 60's at something like $400 each? I think I remember it that way. Anyway your comments are encouraging. As far as the Fisher goes; fortunately I can do all of the service work myself, including alignment. My last major project was the complete rebuild of a Gates BC1-J 1K watt AM broadcast transmitter. This used a pair of 833A's modulating a pair of 833A's. For you tube enthusiasts, think Colman lantern here. With regard to E-bay, I have been fortunate in that with more than 100 transactions I have yet to be outright ripped off, but I generally follow the "broke is better" philosophy that you outlined. I will keep my eyes open and bid accordingly. Dan

[fuster]

Wow. $2800 for a pair of 604's in 1997. I bought mine in the mid to late 70's (new). I wonder if I still have the paper work on them (I might, I have an Altec file). I think I paid a bit under $400 each for them.

Whatever they sell for, they are worth every penny. I have looked at just about everything that has been made since I bought mine and installed them in Altec spec cabinets. I just don't feel there is anything out there, regardless of cost, that would even come close to the sound quality of the 604 Super duplex. Seems like all the competitors charge more for less speaker.

I agree that if you buy on E Bay it could be a **** shoot, and you must be willing to gamble on loss of money and a hassle recovering it if you get screwed. But you may be able to check out the seller enough by e-mailing back and forth and getting answers to questions (maybe). I think if you spend over $500 for an item you should be pretty sure the seller is legitmate. Maybe contact one of their previous buyers.

[AL-TEC]

Hi airboss and all: I will tell you a quick story It is true!
A couple of years ago I pulled eight "pristine" Altec green 605A coaxials out of a nice church here in Oklahoma. I replaced these Altecs with new EV products. The church...... as many churches do when they have the money to spend, wanted to update ALL their sound system. I was almost sure of what might be in this cieling installation. It was eight Altec 605B coaxes! I did not know for sure until we got up into the cieling, and attic, and opened up the 3/4 inch box baffles there....... I told my installer helper to be real carefull, because what we found was "like gold" When we got all the eight Altec 605's out, I of course dealed with the church. They could not care less whether these were Altec "whatever's" or not, so I made an offer to precure these eight 605's that were "like new", and smelled "like new", and the sticky surrounds were "like new", and really just like OFF the assembly line!!! Not a scratch! I was actually at times "shaking" a little to find "pristine" Altecs as I have off and on since I am a sound contractor/installer myself. I got these eight 605's for $400.00.
I put a first pair on a ten day E-bay auction at a $700.00 reserve. Nice pics of them, with great descriptions of how "pristine" they were. They sold for $1500.00 for the pair...raw speakers....no cabinets to a person in NYC!!!. It was amazing! The buyer sent the cashier checks no problem!

Then a month later I put on E-bay the second pair of "pristine" Altec 605A's, another ten day auction.........Wow !! I could not believe that this second pair sold for $1800.00!!! I recieved three big cashier's checks from this buyer totaling this amount!

The end of this true story is that I am keeping the last four of my "like new" Altec 605A's for myself! .....I will never sell them! I am at this time listening to a pair as I write this . They are GREAT! They are like listening to a pair of NEW speakers. No speakers are made like these Altec 605's, or 604's anymore! (Duplexes).

It was a great couple of sales on E-bay, and I really almost couldn't believe these two pairs of Altec green 605's sold for this much, but they did, and that was without any cabinets....RAW.

AL-TEC

[RClark]

airboss--------in the late 70's i bought a couple dozen 604's to use for a project------they are still new in the original boxes-------i would entertain selling a couple for a "fair" price-------i bought them without crossovers but that was the weakest part of any of the 604's anyway-------i have the schematics of the UREI 800 T/A series crossovers------thats what i was going to use with them-------the urei crossover smokes the original altec units and is easy to build-----it incorporated time alignment and EQ compensation for both drivers-------let me know if you are interested...........RC

[David Yost]

Hi Richard,

Could you please send me a copy of the Urei crossover schematic? I have a pair of nice 604-Es that need crossovers.

Thanks,
David

[RClark]

david------i'll dig them up this weekend.......RC

[joyspring]

To David:

Beware; the 604E (provided it has the original cone/diaphragm or has been serviced to spec) is a 16ohm driver.

The UREI 800-series (811/813/815) used 8 ohm Altec 604-8G and an entirely different horn.

However, if you are willing to recone/rediaphragm your 604E using 8-ohm 604-8G components, the UREI TA network will work properly.

BobR