Large format stuff available

[Steve Burger]

To our dismay and against our advice a local racetrack decided they needed a new, improved sound system and a local contractor convinced them that for only $20,000 they have just the system to replace the old VERY LARGE format ALTEC system that was in place (some of it since the 1950's). Yeah right! To make a long story short we purchased the lot and are liquidating the large horns, and 290 drivers. Jim D. can fill you in on what the inventory is exactly and what application it should be used for. It will be available in the next few weeks. Trades are possible as well.

[TVH]

A $20,000 downgrade.

[Steve Burger]

That's for sure! Jim D. is just sick about it because his father **** Dickinson first began installing the gear there in 1958. A fool and his money will soon part. Another great system down the tubes.

[Steve Burger]

Really Todd, that is not a swear word in front of Lt. Dickinson's name. It would appear sometimes the censuring software goes a little too far.

[Jim D]

Steve is right, the original system installation started in 1958 and progressed until 1993. Over the years there were continual upgrades with an incremental upgrade path in place up to 1993. Three subsequent operators/ownership changes made no upgrades at all since 1995. The system had 12 290 drivers, only two bass horn woofers unfortunately (needed more), a bunch of MR-42s dual and single driver, 311-60s and about 3K watts of power. A Symetrix 571 sound pressure level computer raised and lowered the system levels with the car noise. It would talk over a race of 24 full tilt 410 cubic inch sprint cars. The bad part was that quite a bit of the sound got out of the track into the surroundings. The system sounded very nice in the main grandstands and was a nice no-bass-voice quality in the extremities. The loudspeakers were clustered in one location on top of the announcing tower. The longest throw was 600 feet which was covered by a custom designed 9' long 40X15 degree Mantaray horn. The area in front of the tower was covered by two variable intensity VIT horns which layed down a uniform sound pressure within two dB in that area. The new owner thought all speedway sound systems ought to be on the fence, like he has seen in most other race tracks. He contracted with another company to install such a system because they were a large outfit with several significant installations and their price was in his sights. Now they have decided to put the speakers behind the stands. The stands are 120 feet deep, the loudspeakers have no variable intensity. If my experience is applicable, this will blast the patrons in the rear, and what ever gets to those in the lower seats will be completely covered by the car noise. It seems some people do not understand inverse square law (sound level decreases on a square of the distance). From my experience a car race track is a totally different animal from any other venue with unique problems not common to other sports facilities. The big whopper is that the cost of the equipment alone over all those years was over 20, 000 dollars. How can anybody in today's business market install a usable system for that amount including labor. The other bad part is the installers, by their own admission are masters of upgrade selling, so before the track is done, they probably will spend may times their initial bid before it will work. No the system wasn't perfect and need upgrading, but, sometimes the future is not always progress. Jim

[TVH]

The thing that mystifies me is the price of the new system. From the Altec system you describe, it seems to me they are going to have to dump much more into their "new" system to come close to the performance they are getting rid of. One need only go to JBL professional site (or others)to see what kind of "ballpark" prices a new "similar" system would probably cost (from your description of what they had). Perhaps once these con-men (I mean sound-men)install this new system, the buyers are really going to find out the hard way. Most likely in the form of even more purchases, quickly making that 20 grand seem cheap. They may also find the "life-span" of their "new" system may be in a different league than the 1958 Altec gear. At least you got a hold of the Altec gear, and not the "upgraders".

[rolandr]

Jim:

Challenging job at best!! Much easier to modify already present system knowing its limitations than to try to start from scratch. Unfortunately see too much of this going on....that is, off with the "old" on with the new......Direct radiators? covering 120' deep stands... good luck. Is this really progress??

[Jim D]

The owners are going to find the hard way alright, those tarheel descendent race fans do not value hype, just performance. When they can't hear who is in the lead, they are not going to be shy about complaining. We tried to get them to go for an upgrade, they wanted something new. Jim

[Mike Edwards]

Yes, think of the marketing "genius's" who really are con men. I wonder how many watts they are selling to drive the undoubtebly inefficient system the racetrack will have installed. A while ago I had a supervisor that wanted to show off his car stereo, 1200 watts of raw power he told me. I tried to explain my two watt home system and he laughed and asked if I had mice over for tea parties!! I tried, about ten years ago to start a mobile recording outfit with an ampex 300 tube deck and Sony C-37A tube mics. The first three calls I got asked if I was digital and as soon as I said "tubes" each potential client, all classical players, said, sorry we don't want any old stuff. I tried to explain the RCA Red Seal Recordings and I got the response, that was all done on vinyl. I gave up and sold the whole kit and kibudle, now I wish I hadn't, but frustration like that was eating me up.
-Mike Edwards

[Murray Keidge]

Hello,
What a familiar story this is. Even over here in Australia this type of situation occurs.

I have found that quality and performance are often not the factors considered when purchasing decisions are made.

From a business perspective, I find that even with very good follow-up and regular contact with the client it only takes a change in management and your years of hard work and proven results can be finished.

However, I find that when people listen to the sonic qualities and performance of the Altec Lansing product, compared with competitors offerings, Altec Lansing still wins. You do have to work hard to bypass the "politics" but it is worth the effort.

On the positive side, we are still installing Altec Lansing systems in venues around our country.

A recent installation at a sporting field consisted of 2 x MR64b and 2 x MR94b horns fitted with 290 drivers. The client had no idea of just how good it could sound outdoors until he heard the system. The second stage of the installation is to add LF horn enclosures to extend the perormance of the system.

Another "win" that we had was, over a two year period of testing, the audio team at a 2500 seat church, compared Altec Lansing loudspeakers with five other brands and decided that the Altec's were the best.

A very highly regarded system was removed and we installed 4 x 817/515-8GHP cabinets, 4 x MR94b/299-8A horns and 2 x MR11594/299-8A horns.

At my own church, I use 2 x 817/515-8GHP cabinets, 2 x MR94b/288-8A, 2 x MR11564/288-8a, 2 x MR11542/288-8a and 4 x 3184's.

In the electronics side I have Altec 1612 compressors & 9860 eq's in the system. The system is a pleasure to use and has been acclaimed to sound much better than local cinemas and many other venues around our country.

Altec Lansing is certainly not "dead" and I am sure that we can ensure it survives. For anyone who is interested you could visit www.cpcaudio.com and have a look at the Altec Lansing section and see how we use the product over here.

Murray.