Info about Pioneer PAX 381 "604's"?

[dstamand]

These Pioneer PAX-381 speakers just sold on eBay for $200. Can anyone tell us if these are exactly the same as Altec 604's, or is there a difference? Were they made in OKC?


http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...ory=50597&rd=1

[dstamand]

Whoops, correction, they were listed at $200 but there were no bids, so they didn't sell...

[Altec19]

Greetings,

I don't think the Pioneers have anything to do with Altec manufacturing or vice-versa. It appears that Pioneer was trying to cash in on a classic and highly regarded Altec design with a reverse-engineered knock-off. I may be wrong but I don't think those are Altec.

Later . . .

[dstamand]

Thank you...

What other brand names/models really used Altec speakers?

[Don McR]

Altec was never a big OEM supplier to other companies for their home speakers. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple: Crawford Dimensitone from the 1940's and Heathkit in the 60's and 70's. On the pro side, Altec had many more OEM customers such as Westrex, Western Electric, IPC, Seebrug, Audio Techniques (Big Red), UREI, Stannel Sound and many others.

[joyspring]

Hi Don,

FWIW, Stanal Sound manufactured a trapezoidal enclosure housing two 604-168X (high-power ferrite Mantaray-equipped 604s) that didn't run full-range either; the mid-band was handled by a large 1.4" 288 + large-format Mantaray. The 604s only handled LF and HF...

In a large array, however, the compromised imaging from separating the MF from the point-source 604s is relatively inconsequential ;-)

BobR

PS - You're absolutely right re: these Pioneers; they're gawdy! Only the Realistic / Radio Shack Mach One surpasses it on that measure...

[Don McR]

Believe me, there is no relation between the Pioneer PAX 381 and the Altec 604. The adjective I would use to describe them is "Craptacular". Here's the system with the driver installed:



And this is what I had to write about them

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthr...tion#post29488

These drivers are no more than a crude attempt at a visual ripoff of the 604. There is no HF compression driver, only a cheap tweeter glued onto the pole piece. That's why they had to run the tweeter leads through the bass cone. The system was designed so that this driver does not run full range. The big plastic horn above is the midrange. Therefore, I don't see how you could run this driver standalone, or why you would want to.

[Don McR]

Hi Bob

Sorry about my misspelling of Stanal. The spec sheets for the Stanley Screamers that you refer to are on our site here:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/...9-screamer.htm

I always wondered what the objectives were with that approach. I know that the 604 was widely used in the very first tour sound applications in the 1960’s. However, their restricted power handling saw them soon replaced by A7’s, A4’s and finally dedicated tour sound boxes. It was almost retrograde when Stanal brought them back. I know that their use of a separate 288/Mantary mid solves the power handling issue, but I’m not sure why they would use a very expensive coax for the low/hf instead of separate woofer and tweeters.

Regardless, their reputation in tour sound circles was very high. The Screamers formed the core of Pink Floyd’s sound system for “The Wall” tour.

[Todd W. White]

Hi Don,

The large, 15" coaxial bass/HF horn coaxial hybrid system is something that you will be seeing again soon from some familiar folks (not the people with the same name as a previously storied company, but others)....