multicell horn throat and collector

[Steve Schell]

Valhallax, you may be referring to one of my old posts on the construction of the early Lansing horns. The Lansing multicellulars built in the first year or two (c. 1935, 1936) had features similar to the Ed Wente-designed horns as used in the Bell Labs Fletcher System. In these horns the cells are curved in the throat section (never heard it called the collector) to allow them to be almost parallel where they begin. The individual cells were carefully fitted together and the junctions filed to knife-like sharp edges.

I would not advocate trying to disassemble an Altec multicellular. They are soldered together, and taking one apart and putting it back together would be very difficult. Sometimes the cell junctions in the throat were a bit sloppy with excess solder blobs; a bit of careful filing might improve things a bit. Also, gaps between the cells at the throat junctions could be filled with bondo. Other than that I would leave things alone.

[valhallax]

just some off-hand questions.. is there a chart that tells the throat numbers for specific horns? also, in the collector area of the horn, where the cells come together. ive read here that the altecs were superior in design , in that the collectors were chisel edged to 'knife' the sound to the various cells. upon exploration of the various multicells i own, ive noticed some better fitted than others. for example, i won a set of 1003's, mentioned in a post here, titled 'somebody get these quick!'...and the fit on the cells at the collectors were terrible! my first impression was that these were vitavox or some other, but they are in fact altec. there are gaps in between the cells in what i would call a loose fit. in area where it would appear the aquaplas was used to fill the voids and others where there is just nothing at all. my question is.. does one go to the trouble of removing the collector and re-fitting the cells, by welding and the filing the edges to a sharp point? will this make any differences in the quality of sound? the first step would be to sand blast the area completely void od paint and aquaplas and then begin to re-fit the individual horn segments. if im whipping a dead horse, stop me now

[LICORNE]

valhallax
Quote
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just some off-hand questions.. is there a chart that tells the throat numbers for specific horns?
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The last page on the following PDF site there's a chart with most Altec horns and fittings.

If you follow that chart; the adpters have a number
that matches the Horn.

http://www.altecpro.com/pdfs/vintage...ar%20Horns.pdf

............

[valhallax]

thanks for the advice here steve. i was just using 'collector' as a term, my lack of knowledge shows my ignorance, but w/o asking..one remains ignorant, and we cant have that! anyone have an idea of the resonance factor and bondo disentergrating? especially at a knifed edge? these horns will probably stay on the shelf for awhile, as ive a very limited supply of lrg format drivers...ill keep working on that