Need Help! Need Information about this Altec Gear I just Got...

[jordanh]

I really didn't want to sell this unless I had to-- it might have an interesting and cool sound that is very usable (i hope). I will attach full body pictures. I do have some electronics and soldering abilities, and I know someone that could help me if doing some cable work was necessary, as long as I know what needed to be changed. Here are more pictures

[bfish]

Those 1578 cans ARE low-Z (non-phantom) mic preamps, you just have to know how to connect them.

If you're looking for a pre to add color, you're headed down the wrong road with Altec. What goes in is what comes out...at a higher level.

[jordanh]

A good transparent pre is good for me too! I have an Apogee Ensemble, and it has 8 channels of ad/da and 4 mic pres...the pres on the ensemble are pretty transparent too, so this might be a good balanced combo... and would allow me to mic up a drum set pretty nicely.

Do you know what I would have to change to make this usable? I figured it wouldn't be phantom but it should be fine for dynamic mics, right? And couldn't I ever use a phantom box to power a mic before going into the pre?

Thanks!

[Oscar A]

There are not 1/4" jacks or XLR connectrors , only a three screw terminal for mike or line imputs on the 14799A modules. They are conected to each other by a three pin plug and socket. The 14800A is a booster and master gain control assembly. The 1581A is a line amplifier and a tone control designed to eequalize the signal from the master. Power connections are made through two pin 3-pin plugs and two cables from the power suppy. Output connections are made from a four-post terminal strip which may be strapped for either 150 or 600 ohms output.
The 1581A has a gain of 47.5 dB from a 600 ohm generator.
The output is +23 dBm at less than 1% thd, 45-20,000 Hz.

[jordanh]

thanks a lot oscar-- after reading that, and re-examining the unit, it makes sense and I see things I didn't see before. I see how all the module sare physically connected to eachother. I also see the 4 post terminal strip outs on the line amplifier...right now these are feeding to a terminal strip on the chassis.

Could I hook up XLR inputs onto the 14799A/1578A preamp modules? Right now two of the three have male RCA styled cables coming from them, one h as nothing-- same thing with the master module.

[LICORNE]

.

Oscar and B Fish are on the right track.I misled you on the bridging part.Bridging line inputs will transform unbalance to balanced.
example :100k unbalanced bridged = 20k balanced.

I'll let those two help you setting it up.

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[bfish]

I don't have any documentation for a 1578, and have never seen it on the web either. Pop one out and check the label, it'll give the pinout and I/O levels and impedances. Other than I/O, all that's required is the power supply.

A far easier and way more versatile Altec solution would be something like a 1692A mixer/pre. Makes a great plug-n-play remote for a drum kit. Not terribly common on ebay, but go dirt cheap when they come through, I bought one for $15, another for $20.

[jordanh]

I appreciate you trying to help either way. Im just trying to figure out what I need to do to get my mic (dynamic or condenser) in and out of this thing

The more I've found out so far has really made this unit make more sense to me and has made me notice things I didn't even see until now...

I think modern products with "this is standard IN" and "this is standard out" has really messed with me-- BUT, this seems to be the same way actually. Might need a few modifications but something I would love to do as I am trying to get more into electronics...I am almost done building my first tube theremin!

So now I wait to see how I go about modifying this to accept my mics and how I get the output inputed into my recording setup...which has both XLR and line options

[LICORNE]

.

What they are saying is this unit has no coloration. The signal path is simple and the shortest.You'll get a perfect mic input.

Just need a coax to a female XLR . Connect the bare wires 1,2,3 to input one. then connect the 600 ohm out to an amplifier and turn it on.

Make sure the volume are turned down first.

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[jordanh]

Convergence-
When you say bare wires 1,2,3, are you talking about from a stripped Coax cable?

And input 1, do you mean preamp 1 on my unit?

If so, that seems like it would work-- would the stripped coax go into the 2 screws on the back of the preamp module? Sort of like replacing the rca wires there right now?