Altec Lansing

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Geoff H said:
Zen Mod, wasn't Westrex Western Electrics? And Western Electrics a division of the Altec Corporation or LTV?

I don't think your off topic. Talk about University and JBL if you wish, they're all related. Just because Ling and JB drew a line in the sand doesn't mean we have to.
............................

Geoff


:D
yes,I know that ........ Western Electric,Western Electric for export,All Tecnicall Division....... ;)
I have all issues of Sound Practices,if nothing else ;)

btw.
there it is (from my little web place) :



An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

and real picture (taken from one Croatian friend),but pretty "cannibalized" -with something newer horn and newer bass unit ........

Iskra boxes are often delivered with origigi Westrex cinema x-overs
 

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Geoff H said:
Zen Mod, wasn't Westrex Western Electrics? And Western Electrics a division of the Altec Corporation or LTV?

Geoff

Westrex=WE=Altec, indeed. I don't know the ins and outs, though.

The fabled 755A FR driver was introduced by WE in 1940 and later made by Altec. Let the (Japanese) fanatics buy the WE labeled 755A drivers. By any event, the Altec labeled ones will not be inferior.
 
panomaniac, the 411's are a bit down on sensitivity. Some specs quote
91 dB others 93 db at 4 feet. Some quote fs at 15hz, others 18hz.

The sheets that came with mine say 18hz and pencilled in 93db/1w/1m
113db/100w/1m.

In a 5 cub foot cab, they do go down to 20. It must be airtight. With up to 150 cubic inches of cone dissplacement, leaks will hiss. And you do have to pay attention to tone arm / cartridge resonance, and lubricate spindle bearings regularly. And yes, smooth, and retain that lower midrange pressence, without giving the girls that "on steroids" feel. And Altec's power rating is conservative at 60w. Mine never complained with 100+ watts, going to almost clipping. That was on a dance floor. Yes, I know, wrong application, but they did the job, and no wife factor.

The 30904 network had a shelving attenuator to pull the midrange down, effectively extending the upper treble.

They still need a large room, even with a different top end. I'll explain the evolution of my top end later.

Geoff
 
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vuki said:
Here is my 2-way Altec. 416-8c in bass-reflex enclosure and 288k-8 (with Greatplains aluminium dias) with JM LeCleach horn.
Sounds wonderfull ;)
I also have 902-8 with round tractrix and 414z waiting for the box. :(


and tnx to colour this pair of boxes have high WAF........?!?

:clown:


this days I'll try to locate one or few origigi EZ1606 Iskra bass drivers....to mate with one i have
when refurbished ( with appropriate spider and surround , along with phase plug !) they have all Altec qualities ,as speed and enormous freq response; I heard once pair of them ,made like that - they needed just compression driver as helper,crossed just with one VitQ at some 16K

crossing my fingers ........
 
Cal Weldon said:
I am currently upgrading the A7 boxes to a 3 way with the existing 511 horn for the mid and an 811 on top for the highs.

Greets!

FWIW, you may want to try stacked 511s EQ'd flat. I use to do this for band/PA and it worked really well. A511/811 stack won't have as good a pattern over as wide a BW.

GM
 
Altec 1803B

These Altecs were my babies. Had to sell them when I moved to Australia. :bawling:

They make 1505Bs seem positively tiny. These multicells are absolutely the best midrange I've ever heard. Bigger is always better!

I used enormous RCA manufactured bass bins with these and not Altec, so they're off topic.
 

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Re: Altec 1803B

jeff mai said:
These Altecs were my babies.

Ah yes, the 18 cell horns. Marvelous. And Big.

Didn't we exchange emails a year or so ago, Jeff? From over on AA. I don't think I know anyone else who ran 1803s for HiFi. What driver did you use?

Had to sell 'em to moved to Oz??? Why? They have more room than they know what to do with down there.
 
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once I just saw 8-cell (not 18) ..........just one.......they aren't so frequent in my part of Europe (World,whatever)

boy ,what a drool......I feel saliva coming even now,after all this yrs messing with more or less good spks.......
what I can say-Altec......not just a sound - it's passion.........
 
I love Altec too, over the past 15 years I have found myself restoring quite a few A4s and A7s in cinemas around sydney. My favorite find was a former CINERAMA modified multicell horn, lead lined and sand filled, It sounded amazing, if you have a standard one I do suggest you modify yours, you would never regret it!!!

Personally I would be carefull of running Altecs to loud as apparently a few theatres burnt down in america when the original valve amps were replaced with hi power IC ones:bigeyes: . They are plenty loud enough at 60 w:D

Other thing worth trying

open cell foam inside the box instead of fiberglass, pointy style (matress underlay) placed directly behind the woofers helps break up the standing waves that reflect back through the cone.

anyway enjoy

:)

anyone know how much a couple of original A4 crossovers are worth, I have some altec horns and compression drivers lying around ect
 
GM said:
A511/811 stack

Hi Mr M,

I was hoping we might see you here. I agree with your thoughts but...

This is really just something to scratch an itch or repair a wound, I'm not sure. I haven't built anything to speak of recently and have the 811's sitting on the shelf gathering dust. The darn 825 cabinets are in the garage with me while I work so I keep looking at them. Again and again I stare at them. And then it hits me, the horn that is, it falls off the shelf right onto my head.

I had a vision. I knew what I had to do.

One thing led to another and the mids were on their way. What can I say? I don't try and suppress the signs, I simply go with them.

I have lined up the flanges on a double slotted board with about 1/2" between them and supported the backs. Looks pretty good.



My name is Cal and I'm a speakerholic.
 
panomaniac said:
Cool!

Is that gold leaf on the horn?


Sure, that's gold leaf :)

Zen Mod said:



and tnx to colour this pair of boxes have high WAF........?!?


Yes, to my surprise, the WAF is way above average. That's the first speaker I have that gets wows from the female visitors. :D

The version with 902 and tractrix horn wasn't accepted so well :(
 

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"Had to sell 'em to moved to Oz??? Why? They have more room than they know what to do with down there."

I have 95 acres out the back door. And no big Altecs running at the moment. I wonder if I could borrow Cals on New Years Eve.

I mentioned Model Nineteens some time earlier today, when I should have said model 9's. The 19s weren't here then.

You big horn guys have frightened the home models, so I'll break the ice with these Atlantics. I haven't much info on them. They are similar to the Model 1s. These were made April 81. The bass driver is similar to the 755. The magnet is smaller, and the cone slightly different.

I have been looking for the original data sheet, without joy. I got these for nothing, with a NAD Model 120 Tuner amp thrown in. That's good value.
 

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