I'm rather north from you (in MI) and the thing is rather in the look department than sound really ( although I have to admit it's a little better than I expected ) I need to damp the cab inside as thin layer of fiberglass doesn't seem to be sufficient ( I thought of 4mm car bitumen pads and some self-adhesive foam or some reports positively about bubble wrap). Good thing about it is you can literally sit 3 ft from the curved pannel and have a nice musical landscape at front of you which isn't something you can do often with compression driver based system. Quite intimate , you know -bottle (or two) of good scotch , cigar and a fresh edition of vintage playboy (before They started to shave everything off and cover with makeup &photoshop the rest
Altec are regarded as some of the best speakers ever made by quite a few people.
If that is the case why are these speakers still not being manufactured or copied by other companies such as Eminence or JBL?
With all the advances in materials, manufacturing, and design software etc surely there must be modern equivalents as good or better than the vintage Altecs.
Can anyone explain this to me?
If that is the case why are these speakers still not being manufactured or copied by other companies such as Eminence or JBL?
With all the advances in materials, manufacturing, and design software etc surely there must be modern equivalents as good or better than the vintage Altecs.
Can anyone explain this to me?
I think (guess) this post reveals some of the insight:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/181942-look-speaker-cones-tutorial.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/181942-look-speaker-cones-tutorial.html
Yes but what happened to Altec?
I agree there is quite a bit of in house knowledge and experience. I have had quite a bit of experience working with cellulose fibres, surface treatments, and resins and it is not that hard through trial and error to come up with something that is good. It just depends on how much money the company is willing to spend on R&D.
Can anyone else add their 2 cents worth.
I agree there is quite a bit of in house knowledge and experience. I have had quite a bit of experience working with cellulose fibres, surface treatments, and resins and it is not that hard through trial and error to come up with something that is good. It just depends on how much money the company is willing to spend on R&D.
Can anyone else add their 2 cents worth.
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In a nutshell,I think it all started with Ling-Altec.Ling's other businesses that incured massive debt was unloaded onto Altec when he spun them off into their own division,company, think this was in the early 70's.Altec Lansing was never able to recover from the debt that was dumped onto their books and then was subsequently sold a couple times then ended up into EV/Telex's hands that was eventually sold off to Sparkomatic that is Now Altec Lansing Technologies ! That's the short version but I hope that shed's a little light on the subject for you.
I'm none Too Happy about this outcome either !!!!!! As they are the Best Sounding speakers I have ever come across to my Ears !! Hands Down !!
James Ling you are a
!!!! Thanks for Destroying a Great American Loudspeaker Co.I can go into more detail if ya like !
But it is well documented you should have no trouble Googling it.Does anyone want to buy me some of that for my birthday
Sure, but my Birthday comes first !!!
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Where to buy cloth surround doping compound
Hi,
This must have been asked multiple times. I have googled and gone thru a lot of answers. Can't get a simple answer.
I have recently reconed (got it done by a pro speaker repair guy) my Altec 515Bs with cones from GPA. Now I do not have the sticky goop that is used to dope the cloth surround of the cones. Last time we tried some other stuff on my Altec 416, turned into a disaster.
Is there is place I can buy this goop. One of the forums pointed out to permatex gasket sealing compound as one of the options.
Any other suggestions? I can ask GPA and I do not know whether they will agree to give me, but would like to explore if there are any other commercial options.
Cheers.
Hi,
This must have been asked multiple times. I have googled and gone thru a lot of answers. Can't get a simple answer.
I have recently reconed (got it done by a pro speaker repair guy) my Altec 515Bs with cones from GPA. Now I do not have the sticky goop that is used to dope the cloth surround of the cones. Last time we tried some other stuff on my Altec 416, turned into a disaster.
Is there is place I can buy this goop. One of the forums pointed out to permatex gasket sealing compound as one of the options.
Any other suggestions? I can ask GPA and I do not know whether they will agree to give me, but would like to explore if there are any other commercial options.
Cheers.
This has been suggested before, but i have never used it.It was posted on AudioKarma, so i have no idea.According to the poster it works great.Dunno personally, click this link.
Best-Test Paper Cement, Paper Cement, Best-Test Rubber Cement Products, Art Material, Bestine Solvent & Thinner, Super Spray Adhesive, KLEAN Artist's Linseed Oil, Adhesive Remover: Best-Test Products - Union Rubber, Inc.
BTW: Best-Test is made not far from me, and it is the best rubber cement that i have used, it remains very soft doesn't harden into a rock.It remains pliable.You can even thin it with Bestine if necessary.But If you got all the parts from GPA they should be able to help you out with the doping or at least point you in the right direction.I would call them first.If not then there is this option.It says white rubber but actually is clear.
Your Welcome !
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Customer Service could be better.But I have always gotten through on the telephone almost always by the 3rd ring in most cases!
You will most likely get Bill Hanushack if he is in the shop then Steve will answer. They were Altec employees and Bill bought all the tooling from Altec when they closed their doors everything should be the same as Altec except for the foilcal/labels !
You will most likely get Bill Hanushack if he is in the shop then Steve will answer. They were Altec employees and Bill bought all the tooling from Altec when they closed their doors everything should be the same as Altec except for the foilcal/labels !
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Well got my 416 back and it was gutless ... Had no bottom end whatso ever had upper bass etc but didn't compare at all to my original one, so i took a ohm reading and they were jumping all over the place? then pulled speaker out and pulled up on cone and u could hear the VC rubbing the side, Talked to bill and it will be back there tomorrow, he isn't sure what could be wrong without looking at it, but i would think it is not suppose to rub! he said with only .007 clearance it is hard to pull or push on the cone straight without that happening? but i pushed on the beyma one all quiet!... Was so excited to get it back and now this crap!.. Hope Bill can find what went wrong with the recone!
... Had no bottom end whatso ever had upper bass etc but didn't compare at all to my original one, so i took a ohm reading and they were jumping all over the place? then pulled speaker out and pulled up on cone and u could hear the VC rubbing the side, Talked to bill and it will be back there tomorrow, he isn't sure what could be wrong without looking at it, but i would think it is not suppose to rub! he said with only .007 clearance it is hard to pull or push on the cone straight without that happening? but i pushed on the beyma one all quiet!... Was so excited to get it back and now this crap!.. Hope Bill can find what went wrong with the recone!
Bummer. No, it's not supposed to rub even if bottomed out against the back plate. Bill is right though about checking for VC rub on vintage drivers in general and even the so called 'full-range' drivers of today; while today's drivers in general and prosound in particular run wider gaps due to higher power handling required and have more powerful magnets to compensate. Factor in stiffer suspensions (lower Vas) to reduce net cab bulk and within reason can push its diaphragm around with relative impunity.
Anyway, the way I test these types of drivers for VC rub is to only push down on the spider on either side of the diaphragm where this vibrating system is stiffest/most linear or use an appropriate diameter cardboard tube to ~fit over the dust cap/diaphragm glue joint to apply ~even pressure on the VC if I can't access the spider with my fingers.
WRT coming back from GPA possibly misaligned, they know how to pack these things and I assume they do so, and one would like to think all drivers are tested before shipment, so unless there's some major physical damage to the box to imply a hard drop, not sure why it was gutless right out of the box. Then again, I guess one could give it a 'VC bouncing off the back plate' hard drop without obvious damage if it lands 'flat'.
This can deform the end of the VC enough to cause it to drag the gap, a very common thing when over-driving inexpensive and/or low peak excursion (Xmech) drivers and the cause of many an Altec or similar driver losing its 'smoke' in the early days of increasingly powerful amps.
GM
Anyway, the way I test these types of drivers for VC rub is to only push down on the spider on either side of the diaphragm where this vibrating system is stiffest/most linear or use an appropriate diameter cardboard tube to ~fit over the dust cap/diaphragm glue joint to apply ~even pressure on the VC if I can't access the spider with my fingers.
WRT coming back from GPA possibly misaligned, they know how to pack these things and I assume they do so, and one would like to think all drivers are tested before shipment, so unless there's some major physical damage to the box to imply a hard drop, not sure why it was gutless right out of the box. Then again, I guess one could give it a 'VC bouncing off the back plate' hard drop without obvious damage if it lands 'flat'.
This can deform the end of the VC enough to cause it to drag the gap, a very common thing when over-driving inexpensive and/or low peak excursion (Xmech) drivers and the cause of many an Altec or similar driver losing its 'smoke' in the early days of increasingly powerful amps.
GM
Yea I don't know either? I packed it myself and it was sent back with my same box as i work in a packaging place so it was good, on a 1/2 plywood board and then 1" of solid stiff foam on magnet cover right tight to top of box when closed . No movement whats so ever! ,and the box was doublewall corrugated. The box looked fine so hopefully he will find something that went wrong. Yea I am sure they do test them , but probably not at any volume, Maybe the glue wasn't totally set up and the VC came loose during shipment?