Very interesting! Did the horn on top cover the MIDS, leaving the coaxial horn to handle the tweeter range?
The very BEST implementation of 604-type speakers I heard was the UREI Time-Align monitors, which added a 15" sub-woofer with a supposedly "time-aligned" crossover. They provided the best sound stage imaging and the most accurate reproduction of any system I've ever heard . As I recall, they were about $4500/pair in the 70's.
I also heard of a guy who found a pair in his employer's (recording studio) basement many decades after their introduction that he was able to take home for ~$1000. I'm jealous!!
I also heard of a guy who found a pair in his employer's (recording studio) basement many decades after their introduction that he was able to take home for ~$1000. I'm jealous!!
No, the GPA 604 should retail for more than inflation adjusted due to higher parts and labor costs due to low volume, more gov't. 'intervention', insurance, medical costs than back then.
FWIW, when I joined the corporate 'world', big business was spending a small fraction of a dollar [never could pin down an accurate number] in benefits per dollar in salary and 27-1/4 yrs later it was 1:1 [confirmed] and TTBOMK it wasn't being 'adjusted' from my pay/benefits, but in much higher prices in certain markets, and of course in an ever increasingly bloated gov't..
Regardless, I've repeatedly recommended folks buy GPA rather than vintage as it's a better overall 'bang-buck' [again, ignoring the AlNiCo variable], but for the most part it's fallen on 'deaf ears' and now folks will have to pay the price to 'play'.
GM
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If there were enough demand I’d expect to see clones available on ePay but I don’t remember seeing any.
I'm one of those who doesn't listen 😉.
Well, it's more about the feeling that it was better in the past for some vintage have a shimmering glory. For my part, it is more economy that makes me buy a pair of 604 (a little more than $ 50 I was lucky) if I had bought a new pair with all the taxes, vat etc. it would have cost much more than a small car.
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I figure that if I buy it and re-sell it and lose on the cost of shipping too, it'll cost me an unreasonable $ to find out if it sounds better than what I already have. It can't be easy trying to make a business out of selling these things, especially outside the US and especially longer term because the young folk have never heard anything like it.
I have been collecting vintage speakers and horns. Many of them are out of spec, a pair with 20 dB difference at a certain frequency is not unusual. Also touching voice coil is a common issue (i.e. German speakers) which can't be realized until you buy it and measure it. Especially, Altec had a serious quality control issue in early 80's, so I would avoid buying 604 in that era.
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I wouldn't have taken my own advice either if I'd ever found a deal like yours. In my locale in the late '60s, a lot of cinema stuff was scrap price cheap, but 755, 515, 604, 288, [non tar filled] multi-cells, certain electronics, not so much; though still relatively cheap until the power 'war' started, then blown low power rated drivers were gutted for their AlNiCo to be used in other products.
Understood! Living in the country of origin does have its financial advantages.
GM
I have been looking for a couple for over 20 years so I went to a yard sale in the middle of winter it was around -10 C 
to check if there was anything nice to buy to sell but I kept what I found. I was very pleased when I discovered which drivers it was, there is a greater chance of finding European-made drivers like Tannoy, Klangfilm etc.
I smile every time I listen to them, the only negative is as you write the accessibility to parts I would love to replace at least one of the mebranes it is damaged but still works but I will surely find new ones in 20 years 😀.
to check if there was anything nice to buy to sell but I kept what I found. I was very pleased when I discovered which drivers it was, there is a greater chance of finding European-made drivers like Tannoy, Klangfilm etc.I smile every time I listen to them, the only negative is as you write the accessibility to parts I would love to replace at least one of the mebranes it is damaged but still works but I will surely find new ones in 20 years 😀.
I still keep a set of 604-8g in 620 diy cabin. as a reserve if I ever need to downsize from my A5s with 1505b horns. 🙂 And yes I do regret not buying GPA 604 alnicos while they where less expensive.
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^ I hear you, I was so close to putting in an order and then thought I'd just wait a bit more.. Big mistake as by then the prices for me went into unobtainable land ..
Measurements on gpa 604 drivers seems rare, does anyone have a in-free-air impedance graph to show for some of gpa 604 drivers?
There is/was several on the net, but Google's recent 'update' has rendered all my links dead and none show up in a search, just unrelated search results and the few of mine I checked recently on the web archive said they're on the net, but are completely blank! 🙁
Closest I can come up with: 604-8K
Closest I can come up with: 604-8K
Since I was thirteen years old ( I am now 53), I have lived with almost every single version of the 604 made going back to 1944. I've had other manufacturers as well including PAS, and Urei. The GPA 604-H-III's pictured here in my room with modified Stonehenge V cabinets are the finest examples of a duplex speaker hands down I personally have ever heard.
