Any one here using altec ?

[stokessd]

Its just a matter of personal taste and what you enjoy. I used to consider horns like VOT colored also..but I was comparing it to the presentation of " high end" speakers which I have owned/built my share of. The presentation of high end speakers, generically speaking without going in to various brand of the week, is hardly realistic, it is just the accepted fashion.

True true. I used to be a Quad ESL guy before I started building my own ESL's. In fact I have been rebuilding them for clients for nearly a decade now.

Particularly silly is the treble from a dome tweeter. Now I have three sets of speeakers with dome tweeters, so its not like a have it out for them, there is just no way they produce the bloom and energy to even come close to approximating live music.

Yes, dome tweeters are nasty things. But all moving coil speakers are fairly flawed when comapred to an electrostatic speaker. the level of distortion and phase coherancy is way better with an ESL.

Horns on the other hand do. I don't find live music to image nearly as well as my "high end" speakers. I find it to be full of colorations, rim shots blat noises of brass, so on. I have never, never been in one room of a house where a high end system was playing that I was fooled into believeing that those musicans and their instraments were actually in that room.

I'd try a really well done ESL/hybrid system, after hearing a LOT of audio systems and a lot of unamplified music, it's the closest thing in my experience.

Sheldon

 

[67339]

Hello,
It is true that a good horn system will need a very good amplifier but it can be a small one. I have been using a single-ended el-84 amplifier designed with a symmetrical output transformer designed to be used as a line amplifier so a preamplifier to drive a poweramp which did have a transformer at its input for the French broadcasting system in 1961. But most electrostatics will need a lot more power and more power is usually less musical. In France they say you cannot compensate low efficiency by just adding more watts. In the end you have the same sound pressure level but it will sounds most of the times just loud but not alive. Kind regards, Ed

 

[67339]

Hello,
Maybe my story was not 100% clear. So i am using a line-amplifier to drive my Vot's. In the near future i want to add a single-ended vt-25a to drive the Tad-2001. The amplifiers will be used with a passive 12 db crossover at their inputs. Still the best according to my friend in France. However still looking for a schematic for the vt-25a using a choke-load for the input tube and Tamura permalloy for the output. It has to be perfect above a few hundred Hertz Kind regards, Ed
P.s. Jean Hiraga did allready write in 1980 that there were 15000 users of a Vot system in Japan.

 

[Wardsweb]

...How do they compare with the theater model with the horn on top? Is the 825 a ported cab? ...
I don't know if I could bring myself to cover up that battleship grey paint though ...
did you keep the allignment of the VC's the same for the bass and the horn driver or did you have to fudge a little?

Thanks,
Albert

It is my understanding that this is a factory cabinet in it's original factory setup. This was the commercial version of the A7-500W Magnificents. The bass port is where the horn hangs. This version having more of an opening than the actual A7-500W. I veneered them in walnut and added the pedestals to blend with my other living room furniture and deal with the WAF. The drivers are in original mounting positions as designed and delivered by Altec

 

[Russellc]

True true. I used to be a Quad ESL guy before I started building my own ESL's. In fact I have been rebuilding them for clients for nearly a decade now.



Yes, dome tweeters are nasty things. But all moving coil speakers are fairly flawed when comapred to an electrostatic speaker. the level of distortion and phase coherancy is way better with an ESL.




I'd try a really well done ESL/hybrid system, after hearing a LOT of audio systems and a lot of unamplified music, it's the closest thing in my experience.

Sheldon [/B]

Electrostatics definatley have a special magic, and like horns before I was hooked on them, I had a few close calls, but no purchase of an electrostatic, nor have I attempted DIY. They get away from dome problems, but the ones I have heard, even large
(2nd mortage) types, fail to have even a fraction of the dynamic range of the VOTT. Going to the hybrid would definately improve the dynamics, at least to the range covered by that driver, but the treble end, magic though it might be, lacks the bloom anddynamic snap I have become addicted to. NOT that the VOTT is perfect mind you, it is just the current thing that does it for me. It really is about picking your favorite compromise!

Russellc

 

[Russellc]

Eduard and you nice cabs...

Hello again:
You said that the port size was modified to decrease the first peak..I assume you are talking about the famous double hump imp. curve of the typical ported speaker? What sonic benefit does this give? I always thought the port was adjusted until the two peaks were approximately the same...or is the altec's first hump to large? I have heard that while a decrease in port size was advantagous with some of the older A-7 woofs, The 515 -8G was a different animal. [please elaborate...I just know this port of mine looks too large!

Thanks,
Russellc

 

[67339]

Hello Russell,
There was no information why they did do it. Maybe to give an easier load for the amplifier. I did join an attacment in French language. With the 416 it did change from 68 into 47 ohm. I am sure that there are people out here who can predict the sonic benefits. This are and will stay my first diy-speakers. Kind greetings, Ed

 

[Russellc]

Wardsweb's custome crossover

Sure would like to know what your custom crossover consists of,might you elaborate? Beautiful speakers! I am trying to locate another set to give this sort of treatment to.

Cheers,
Russellc