Model 19 clones

[bigjunglejim]

Hi. I have an oportunity to get some model 19 cabs built by a shop that builds furnature for fast food restaurants. I'm wondering if there would be a market for them and if it would be worth doing. It's easy to say, yeah, go ahead but in truth, how many would step up with the $$$$$? Comments?

[gamalot]

Interesting question but there needs to be alot more info for reliable answers.
I have othen thought such a cabinet shop could easily copy and produce the cabinets at fair prices.
The big question is how closely they will copy the original design as well as what materials they plan to use.
Jury is still out regarding the use of MDF or Baltic birch for the cabinets. Some have their own opinions on this while others would surely say use the original Particle board.

Secondly, Shipping these beasts is always the biggest hurdle and the single most common reason the guts get sold and the cabinets get trashed or sold locally at a severe discount.

I will be the first to say the cost to buy new cabinets, purchase all the right components in good working order or have all refurbished and then put this all together would be way more then simply buying a nice set needing a little TLC.
Certainly one of my Pet Peeves in this game is that you can buy a complete working speaker for less then you can buy all the parts and fill your own boxes.
Going by recent price trends you will likely spend close to $2000 to buy all the components, new cabinets, update or refurbish what you buy and have a working pair.
How many fairly decent pairs of original 19s have we seen sell for aroud $1000-$1200?

This is the precise reason I have all of the components to build two complete pairs yet very little desire to build the cabinets.

Gary

[RonSSS]

The 19 is a pleasing looking speaker, and sounds good too.
I don't however think it's the end all in Altec cabinets.

With all of the components, I think one could build a better Altec system.

The 19 is nothing more than 2 simple boxes loosely bolted together with a base on the bottom.

Ron

[bigjunglejim]

Hi all

I figured to duplicate the boxes in MDF or HDF with walnut and oak veneers. I would also offer a utility and road version made of plywood. Baltic birch and other materials by special order only due to price of these materials.I have five model 19's. I've taken apart two a number of years ago. I'm very familiar with these boxes. These wouldn't be cheap, that's the problem. I figured to get the components from Bill at GPA.

Another thought that's been bouncing around in the ol' grey matter.... Reproduce the 1505 tar filled horns using fiberglass for the horn throats and exterior and fill them with tar, concrete or ?????. The 1505's are so expensive there are few who can afford the real deal. This would probably be a better project than making model 19 clones.

Comments?

[valhallax]

from what i understand, and thats not much.. micheal christ builds 1505's with wood. pics at his website http://www.michealchrist.com/fabrication.html beautiful, i wonder how they sound? the last pair i saw on epay went for 3150.00, too much for my wallet, doesnt mean i dont want some. clarification..altec horns not micheals went for 3150

[LICORNE]

I think most Speaker manufacturer rely on OEM to
built and test their speaker systems. I knew of one around here
that manufactured BOSE PRO cabinets for BOSE.
There was one in midle New York state for Klispch.

The price varies with the quantity ordered.



Convergence

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[bigjunglejim]

When I went to Altec for new grills and bases for my Model 19's (back in the 80's) they sent me to Web Massey in Orange California. Web Massey had a 100,000 square foot cabinet shop and was building all the Altec cabinets at the time. Web Massey was building boxes for almost every manufacturer both big and small and everywhere in between. I saw a whole line up of A-7 cabs and other Altec boxes, Infinity (even though JBL owned Infinity and had their own cabinet shop) and a whole bunch of others speaker brands including instrument amp makers including Fender and other BIGGIES.

Altec would design a box, a prototype would be built and tested. When they got the box the way they wanted it, Web Massey would produce them in bulk. Web Massey would also build prototypes.

I don't know how it is today but back then, Altec and JBL would give away the plans for there cabinets. They were more interested in selling raw speakers than boxes or even systems. I have a lot of plans I got for free from both Altec and JBL. Later on JBL started charging $5 for a box full of plans. I paid the $5 and that was the last time I got plans from JBL. I was never charged for Altec plans from Altec.

By the way, when I was having the grills and bases made for the Model 19's is when I was able to have the walnut veneered 8184's built with grills and bases to match the Model 19's. This was done with special permission from both the owner of the cabinet shop and A VP at Altec. The VP at Web Massey got into the idea of custom 8184's as subs for the model 19's and acted as an ambassador between the owner of his shop and Altec on my behalf. Web Massey was building all the Altec cabinets at that time including the Model 19 cabinets. Altec didn't want to deal with the paper work so, they never made a dime on the custom built 8184 bins. They told the folks at Web Massey to build them as prototypes and sell them to me outright. I bought the 3184's and a UREI 525 crossover through Stanal Sound.

[LICORNE]

From what I've gather in information.JBL pro is made in CHINA. Their Home stuff is made in California. As for other companies it's hard to know for sure were they are manufactured.

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[gamalot]

Back in the mid 80s a company in Rochester, NY, Werner Industries was making boxes for either KLH or maybe Advent, not sure which.

What an amazing sight to see how easy they made it look with all the tooling and clamping and veneering stations set up.

I am quite sure one of these types of shops could easily reproduce 19 cabinets and do it at a reasonable cost but you would need to order many of them to make it worth their while to get it set up.
It would take me two solid weeks in my garage shop to make a nice set and it would be some back breaking work to do it.
Would I pay say $500 for a great set of cabinets?
You bet I would but then it would cost another $500 to get them shipped to me here in NY and therein lies the killer of the deal.

I also agree better cabinets could be designed and made but then you will still just have some speakers that no one would be willing to pay half the cost of.
Look at it this way, building a set of exact copy 19s will cost you close to $2000 so who would pay that much?

Gary

[bigjunglejim]

Hi Gary

Shipping. It's gotten to be a real deal killer. I don't think there's much of a market for clone model 19's. A lot of tire kicks may say DO IT but, when it comes to putting up the money, that's a whole other story.