Aargh somebody help me remember this cabinet

[cdwitmer]

I know I've seen this cabinet in a book of Altec speaker enclosure plans that I foolishly got rid of a few years back. (You never need some stuff until you get rid of it . . . )

Any information that someone might be able to give me about this enclosure would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Chris Witmer

[GM]

Dual woofers makes it the Laguna and was loaded with 803B LF drivers, 511 horn/802D driver, 500D 500cps/2nd order XO.

GM

[cdwitmer]

Dimensionally it seems to be different from the Laguna, and wasn't the Laguna a short horn? I'm groping in the dark here . . . but a link to a speaker that I think is the Laguna is attached. It's a lot different internally, although the face is similar. I'm beginning to wonder if this might not be a non-Altec cabinet that pays homage to the Laguna design . . . although it sure does seem to me that I saw it in that book of Altec designs . . . An expired auction at ebay: Altec Laguna?

[pinkmouse]

Have you tried the Unofficial Altec Website?

They even have a bbs where someone might be able to help

[GM]

Well, I still have my copy of the book with the plans, and that particular cab design was the Laguna if dual 15" LF drivers were installed, which according to your pics appears to be the case, while the Corona made do with a single 15" LF. AFAIK they never offered this style with dual 12", so if that's what it takes then I don't know what it is, but would like to know for my records. Anyway, yours looks like a factory cab to me, though the Altec grill emblem appears to be missing from the lower RH corner. A few listed dims are 42.5" across the widest part of the top, total height is 46.5" , depth of the top down the center is 26.5".

The ebay speaker appears to be a so-so clone of an 820C, the last version marketed, which came with the then just released 811 to replace the H808 multicell that was used up to that time. The cabinetry fit/finish is all wrong to be a factory job. FWIW, the 'B' version of the 811 in this one didn't come out until years after the 820C production ended.

One of my first relativelylarge horns was a pair of clones of this one, but not having the $$ for Altec components, made do with some I found at an Olson's Electronics. Being a teen and never having heard the 'real deal', it sounded like stereo theater horns to me in my apt., and the pounding bass kept the neighbors mad at me.

GM

[cdwitmer]

Thanks for your reply! These take 15 inch woofers. The units with the cabinet aren't Altec, but rather Coral 15s and Technics horn.

If it's the Laguna, is this a back-loaded corner horn? How is the bass being extended?

The height dimension is right on, but the person who measured the other two dimensions must have made a mistake, as he listed them both as 30 inches. That can't be, looking at the photo. I'll try to get a re-measurement.

Does a Laguna cabinet have any market value, I wonder . . .

[GM]

You're welcome! Altec's standard design back then was a reflex and the cutout for the HF horn was somewhat larger to also function as the vent. Due to these being designed to fit in the corners though, the vent area was covered with 1" acoustic fiberglass to convert it to aperiodic loading to reduce any potential 'boominess'.

It's fairly rare, as are all the early VOT loaded cabs, so has some minor collector value, especially if it has period correct components in it, but since it doesn't, most/all of any potential net gain of its worth would be spent buying the components and refurbishing them if needed.

GM