Altec Model 19 Questions

**sburke** · January 4th, 2003, 12:59 PM

Hello All:

I'm the proud new owner of a pair of 1978 Altec Model 19's, purchased locally from the original owner. These will be my first horn experience in my own home. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited! They'll be initially driven with an HK Citation II running in triode. About 35-40 wpc. I listen mostly to classic rock on vinyl.

Anyway, my question has to do with the 2 controls in each cabinet. If I understand correctly, these act as somewhat of an equalizer for the mid/hi and can be used to balance the sound to a specific listening area. Does anyone have the documentation that might explain about these controls? Is there a user manual available anywhere? I'd like to know what they are specifically doing as they are turned, if they should be used separately or in conjunction with one another, etc. The PO never used the controls and had no doco.

Any other info pertaining to these speakers would be great as well. I've scoured the web and have found specs and a few bits and pieces here and there but there doesn't seem to be alot about this particular speaker. Hints, tweaks, crossover passive component values would all be nice things to know.

Your help to a newbie horn user is greatly appreciated.

Steve

**DavidH** · January 6th, 2003, 04:30 PM

Hello Steve
I have model 19's also. I run them with a vintage
Sansui AUG-99x integrated amp rated at 160wpc 8ohms and tested to 200wpc continuous. I play cd's
and lp's. Some tweaks given to me from board members that made a difference were: remove horns
and dampen them so as to eliminate the "cowbell"
ringing tendency. I wrapped mine with layers of
acoustic fiberglass and secured it all with tyvec
tape. I also put black silicone in the gaps at the
back of the "fins" behind the weld. Some of my
original fiberglass in the cabinets was loose, I added a bit more and secured it all. I also added some silicone beads to some of the internal cabinet joints. I leave my tone controls at the
12:00 o'clock position or less because I use an
EQ for tweaking the sound. I'm sure some purist
would frown on the EQ but I like it, after all,
everybody has different room acoustics plus a
thousand other variables. If you can snag an Altec catalog off Ebay you might be able to get more info. Also look at the Altec links on Great Plains Audio website, good stuff.
Dave

**sburke** · January 6th, 2003, 05:02 PM

Dave,

Thanks much for the info, especially the tweaks.

Steve

**TonyBlues** · January 9th, 2003, 04:53 PM

About the two controls, from an old review in High Fidelity 2/78:
"Maximum use of the midrange control varies the output level from about 1.6khz to 8khz by 8 to 10dB and from there to 15khz by 3 to 4dB. The high frequency control has a maximum effect of about 5dB from 10khz up. Some overlap between the two controls is thus apparent."
I agree with Dave's ideas on damping the horn. You may also want to check the resistance across the old push to connect connectors on the drivers and on the bottom. They can add a bit of series resistance as they age. They seem to be made of different parts fitted together and after 20 years or so the connection between them can break down.
Also they controls can become a bit intermittent, needing a cleaning.

**sburke** · January 10th, 2003, 03:43 AM

Good stuff! Thanks TonyBlues.

**amylee** · May 11th, 2010, 12:34 PM

I am desperately looking for grills for the model 19 speakers! Does anyone know where I can find these?

GM · May 11th, 2010, 02:01 PM

Unless you get lucky with an on-line or yard sale, you'll have to DIY them and I'm guessing that either the original or 'close enough' fabric can be found here:
Guilford of Maine Color Charts - Acoustics First - Acoustical Materials for Sound Control, Noise Elimination, and Acoustic Enhancement or Suppression

GM

**RonSSS** · May 12th, 2010, 01:20 AM

Originally Posted by sburke

Hello All:

I'm the proud new owner of a pair of 1978 Altec Model 19's, purchased locally from the original owner. These will be my first horn experience in my own home. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited! They'll be initially driven with an HK Citation II running in triode. About 35-40 wpc. I listen mostly to classic rock on vinyl.

Anyway, my question has to do with the 2 controls in each cabinet. If I understand correctly, these act as somewhat of an equalizer for the mid/hi and can be used to balance the sound to a specific listening area. Does anyone have the documentation that might explain about these controls? Is there a user manual available anywhere? I'd like to know what they are specifically doing as they are turned, if they should be used separately or in conjunction with one another, etc. The PO never used the controls and had no doco.

Any other info pertaining to these speakers would be great as well. I've scoured the web and have found specs and a few bits and pieces here and there but there doesn't seem to be alot about this particular speaker. Hints, tweaks, crossover passive component values would all be nice things to know.

Your help to a newbie horn user is greatly appreciated.

Steve

Hi Steve.

I love your choice of amplification. Orig driver circuit? It could use help when driving triodes......the miller C is much much worse in triode mode.

Since yours are 1978 vintage, I suspect 902-8A HF drivers and 416-8C LF drivers. Ferrite.

You don't need an owners manual to fool with the crossover controls. You just need your ears!

I have a pair, stock crossovers. The MF control affects the voice. The HF control affects the sizzle. It's that simple.

Personally, I run the MF control near it's min, and the HF control up all the way. But I'm 54 and the HF hearing is rolled off a bit. Crank em up, and that changes.

I love to sit near field, about 8ft away or closer, in a dead room with the speaks toed in to give that huge headphone sound. I move back and forth a foot or so to get the clear image. It's quite stunning.
I have a very good CD player and listen to classic rock and especially blues. Good recordings are a must! BTW....amps are homeade transformer coupled PP 300B with Citation 2 iron. Awesome!

Since the orig user never tweaked them, run them back and forth a bunch of times to clean the contacts up.

Listen to them stock. For awhile. There are good tweaks, but we here will all disagree to some point.

I braced the cabs, sealed the top to bottom to eliminate air leaks, removed the bug screens from the hf drivers, and removed the sections from the horns.
These get as close to duplexes as I've heard. YMMV.

I also never cared for the bass, it's ok, but I use Altec subs, adds that extra dimension.

So just give em a try, tweak the controls to what you like, and report back.

Ron