Buidling an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
When we move our dear forum to a new host, we hope to build a vast library of Altec literature and documents that can also be stored there. A great deal of this already exists in electronic format thanks to the hard work of many Altec fans. This gives us a great head start.
I've seen a lot of bad scans over the years, the web is full of them. Fortunately for us, the existing Altec library does not suffer this. The quality is generally pretty good.
Ideally, the newly added documents will be converted into the PDF type, with clear graphics and searchable text. The ability to search the text is a huge benefit to the collection. Most of the documents are short enough that you really don't need help searching within them, but being able to search for something throughout the entire library will be a very handy. It will also allow the major search engines to index our Altec library and help folks find them.
The best approach is to scan the documents, preserve the graphics and images in a "high enough" resolution and convert all the text to ASCII for search before folding it all into the PDF wrapper. That not only makes the text searchable, but can reduce file size as well. Matching the look and layout of the original document depends a lot on the software and the skill of the operator. It can be done very well, with not too much effort.
Adobe Acrobat does this very well and can even overlay an invisible text layer over an image of the text. So you get the original image, plus text. Acrobat is expensive, tho, and I don't own a current copy. There are other software packages around that do very good jobs of scanning, converting and formating. If I end up doing much of the scanning, I'll be using one of those.
Much of the already scanned material can be converted to the same format.
If done well, this is a valuable library that can live on for centuries, long after we and the paper are gone. A gift to the future, but also something we can use.
Re: Building an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
All the scans I have done I did in PDF. :) Acrobat is big $. Ridiculous IMO $450. I bought a software package from AVS.Actually I bought AVS image editor (Unlimited) a one time fee of $59 for as long as I own my computer and I think they have a license from Adobe.As their PDF writer,writes as a Adobe PDF document not just a PDF Doc.:D It isn't as advanced as Acrobat tho.But it does write them very well.
Isn't it nice when a plan comes together ! ;) A collaboration of efforts from our members !
Re: Buidling an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
I was searching for info on an Altec 21545 diaphragm today when I happened upon this website. This link is for a 16 page Altec Catalog from 1973. I've never seen this one before so I thought I'd share it. Will this be useful for our new library or do many of you out there already have it? Is it worthwhile posting links like this here (when I find something I don't recognize), or is this just duplicate stuff many of you already have....
http://www.preservationsound.com/wp-...usical1973.pdf
Looks like they have more cool Altec catalogs here--just noticed this one too:
http://www.preservationsound.com/wp-...llLine1968.pdf I love the "retro" look of some of the stuff in this catalog like the Altecom system and the "Giant Voice High Level Voice Warning System"
Hopefully someone out there will enjoy this stuff.....
I keep finding more great Altec stuff on this website--either I'm very easily amused (probably) or this is some really cool vintage literature http://www.preservationsound.com/wp-...o_Controls.pdf
OK, one last(?) edit/addition....
http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=257
Re: Buidling an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
I think I've seen the 73 before...... or maybe Altec reused some of the pictures. The other catalog has all sorts of stuff I've never seen, like the telecom equipment.
I found the 1595A amp interesting. I had thought that the 1590x was the highest output of that series. I wonder how it sounds.
Here's a past ebay auction for one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=180648339374
Re: Buidling an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Audio_by_Goodwill
Wow-$100 sale price--someone got a deal.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Audio_by_Goodwill
I think I've seen the 73 before...... or maybe Altec reused some of the pictures. The other catalog has all sorts of stuff I've never seen, like the telecom equipment.
Yeah, I really like all of the Altec literature on that websibe--the 1968 catalog in particular is chocked full of cool stuff I've never seen before--a good candidate for our library..... I also got a kick out of the typical installations they list at the very end of the 1968 catalog--some cool places even though it's a drop in a bucket compared to a complete list. How many of those airlines have gone under?
Re: Buidling an Altec Library. Scanning, collecting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
voice of the theater
Wow-$100 sale price--someone got a deal.....
Maybe, maybe not...... That's a solid state amp. The 100w 1594s are pretty good, and I have an idea the 50w 1593s are decent, but the 200w 1590's are reportedly best left for MI use. I think that's what someone here (Bfish?) stated when the more common amps of the series were brought up. I have no idea on the 1595, as it wasn't mentioned that I can recall.
