604e and 855A cabinets

[Ciscokid]

Hi,

This is a first post for me on this board.

I have an opportunity to pickup a pair of Altec 604E speakers with XO and also found a pair of what appears to be furniture grade 855A Altec cabinets. Has anyone tried this combination?

I will be using a pair of 300B set amps to drive these speakers. I am currently using a pair of Klipsch Heresy I?s and though they sound very good, I am missing the bass response that I have gotten out of other speakers.

Any help with this topic is most appreciated.

Best regards,
Danny

[jmarkwart]

Welcome Danny,

According to an old Altec literature sheet, the 855A (Malibu) was recommended for use with the 604E. The sheet also lists the 855A's internal volume at 7.2 ft^3. They should work together nicely.

Unfortunately, deep bass response is not the 604E's strong suit due to its low Qts value of ~.2. I have listened to a number of cabinet volume/tuning combinations between 4 and 9 cubic feet with both 604Bs and 604-8Hs, and eventually settled on less cabinet volume, with an added subwoofer to handle the deep bass.

Jeff

[Ciscokid]

Hi,

That's what I needed to know.

Regards,
Danny

[Ciscokid]

I also have an opportunity to pick up a pair of NOS 515-8G's. Would these drivers work out in these boxes? If so, what kind of horns and XO's would best work with these speakers?

Regards,
Danny

[GM]

These are drivers optimized for a ~73Hz midbass horn, so you won't get much LF out of them without using significant digital EQ shaping, trading efficiency for extended LF BW. In this cab tuned to ~36Hz, expect a peak SPL/rated power of ~110dB/m down to 30Hz with a little bit of room gain.

These are very wide BW so can be used with XOs up to 1kHz, ergo lots of horns will work with them.

GM