Hello - New to the forum!

[snafu]

Hello to all. I've been aware of this site for some time but just never signed up for the forums. Anyway, I guess I'm more of an Altec guy, but I've owned some classic JBL gear for sure. This is what I currently run:

Downstairs - I've got a pair of 9846-8A speakers that I bought from a church in about 1993. I gave $200 for the pair and to my ears, they just don't do much wrong. I ran them at first with a McIntosh MC240 and was really taken by their sound. Then, for almost five years, I drove them with a pair of strapped McIntosh MC2300s - yeah, I like it LOUD. Today, they're still powered by a single MC2300, but I don't do the loud bit like I once used to. I've tried a bunch of amps on them and the transformer coupled 2300s are simply the best match I've found. I've read a little bit in regards to the 411-8A woofers on the forum and the overall consensus is that woofer isn't typical Altec in the sound dept. I'd have to agree, but I really like their low frequency extension. Overall, I intend to keep these speakers as long as possible.

Upstairs - a pair of near mint Altec 14s. They're powered by a tiny Denon power amplifier and are in my upstairs office. Every 4th of July, we do a back yard party and they do their part from 80 Hz and up powered by one of my MC2300s. This year, from 80 Hz and down, we used (16) 12 inch woofers powered by a Crown MT2400. People simply can't believe how good the Altecs sound and how loud they get.

I've also got a pair of the high end Altec bi-polar surround speakers (can't remember the model # and they're packed up) that are near mint with the mounts that I've considered selling . . . but, they're still in my possession as I'm kind of a pack-rat. Does anyone have any experience with these?

I've had Model 15s, Model 19s, and plenty of raw Altec goodies. I waited forever for a pair of 19s and found a mint pair as part of a stereo package for $800! I repaired the lead wires to the diaphragms and I was off to the races. Unfortunately, my wife just didn't care for the top end of the 19s and she pleaded with me to sell them and put the "ugly" old speakers back in the system. That was about 1995.

Anyway, I thought I'd have some common ground here and maybe I could learn a thing or two. I would like to find a spare 411-8A woofer if anyone has one they'd be interested in selling or trading me for. I'd also like to get my hands on a pair of the fabled RTR towers . . . any leads?

[louped garouv]

welcome aboard!

:)

[scott fitlin]

Welcome to the forum!

A pair of strapped MC2300,s? LOUD is an understatement! But your in the right place, we can help you. The first step on the road to recovery is to send ALL of your Altec and JBL to me, then I will send you some Bose Lifestyle Cube speakers.

:)

[louped garouv]

i live in CO, shipping would be cheaper

;)

[00Robin]

I'd love a good road trip,but I hate a dry run...

I hauled my Big Daddy's and did a wedding for a best friend in 1995 and fortunately the reception hall was a huge all wood log and redwood panelled dance hall. You are SO right,no one ever believes what power a good pair of Altecs can do without any distortion. Just even louder pure,clean sound and real bass,how it was meant to be. Low and fine,not that distorted buzz thump. We danced all night long...

Good to hear another Altec fan. I must admit though,I need to listen to some JBL's...I never have. Which of them are THE comparison?

[RKLee]

snafu: Welcome.

Myself I have a pair of Altec 12" 414-8C woofers, 806-8B driver, 811 horn, EV T350 super tweeter in a home-made box. Each side is tri-amped with a pair of Crown DC75s, and the highs are a SWTP(Southwest Tech. Prods) 25 watt amp kit that I assembled(soldered together) using a Decorsey electronic cross-over. Crossover is 800Hz & 7KHz at 12db/octave

My friends can't believe what they hear. The sound is so clear and distinct.

My God, those Mac amps weigh a ton. I forget which models had the tubes and the solid state ones, but my friend had a set of Mac tube amps that weighed in at something like 125(56kg) pounds per channel, that is per channel. Most of that was output transformer.

[scott fitlin]

Yes, Altec was some of the most efficient and sweet sounding speakers I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.

I am currently converting back to Altec woofers, 12 horn loaded GPA 416-8C,s and even just two of them for audition was stunning. The low end, the clarity and presence, the smoothness and fatigue free listening, and all with relatively NO POWER according to todays standards.

Two 416,s VOTT loaded on 1 channel of a Crown DC-300A, nominal 125 watts per woofer, put out more bass, and clearer, much clearer low mids, than two TAD 1603,s with 1250 watts, nominal 625 watts per driver, and both the TAD and Altec are rated as 97db sensitivity.

:)

[snafu]

Welcome to the forum!

A pair of strapped MC2300,s? LOUD is an understatement! But your in the right place, we can help you. The first step on the road to recovery is to send ALL of your Altec and JBL to me, then I will send you some Bose Lifestyle Cube speakers.

:)

Um-k . . . I'll keep your offer in mind . . . :) The MC2300s are by far and away my favorite Mc amps. I've had a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of Mc gear in my time and just not heard anything better. Incidentally, the MC250, MC2100, MC2505, MC2105, MC50, and the really hard to find MC100s all have the same sonic characteristics of the MC2300. I've got a 2505 and 2105 and you can't tell them apart from the 2300s within their rated power. BUT, you can't run either of these amps mono . . . without modding them that is. The 16 ohm taps on the 2300s make 8 ohm strapping possible - where this is not possible with the MC2205s. I did de-laminate one of the inductors (three or for hours with the needles pegged will do that . . . ) in one of the speakers and it took me nearly 5 years to find an Altec replacement. Interesting that someone else noted this in another thread about replacing the "cheesy" inductors in their Altec crossovers with some "better" ones and getting bad sound - I found the same thing.

Nonetheless, I've really enjoyed my Altecs. I've had many years of enjoyable music from both sets that I currently own - kudos to the original designers and engineers. What I like most about my Altec speakers is that I really don't even consider the speakers as providing any type of coloration to the music. If I'm listening to something, I'm confident my Altec / McIntosh combo is delivering what the recording engineers intended - at least to the best ability of HiFi. BEST of all, my wife lets me keep these big boxy speakers around because she loves the sound of them as well.

[snafu]

snafu: Welcome.

My God, those Mac amps weigh a ton. I forget which models had the tubes and the solid state ones, but my friend had a set of Mac tube amps that weighed in at something like 125(56kg) pounds per channel, that is per channel. Most of that was output transformer.

Sounds like he had a pair of either MI-200s, MI-350s, or MC3500s. If they look similar to the MC2300s, then it would been one of the latter and they weigh about the same as the MC2300s - about 130 pounds or so. How did they sound with his set-up?

[00Robin]

Yes, Altec was some of the most efficient and sweet sounding speakers I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.

I am currently converting back to Altec woofers, 12 horn loaded GPA 416-8C,s and even just two of them for audition was stunning. The low end, the clarity and presence, the smoothness and fatigue free listening, and all with relatively NO POWER according to todays standards.

Two 416,s VOTT loaded on 1 channel of a Crown DC-300A, nominal 125 watts per woofer, put out more bass, and clearer, much clearer low mids, than two TAD 1603,s with 1250 watts, nominal 625 watts per driver, and both the TAD and Altec are rated as 97db sensitivity.

:)


EXACTLY! NO power is right. The old Pioneer SX-650 is more than plenty and sounds completely different than others I have used temporarily to find the sound that made them work how I wanted to hear them.

[garyl]

One thing I picked right up on Robin was "The wife didn't like the high end of the 19s"
Second thing was that you repaired the leads!

My guess, The repair may have made the connection and also stymied the wonderful sound from one of Altecs premier HF drivers.

I would be willing to bet your wife would like them just fine if they were working right. Also considering the fact they were both fried, its also possible the heat caused some demag and a recharge was in order.

I would certainly match my 802-8Gs against anything you mentioned above. If the wife likes higher highs then get a set of BMS 4552s and bolt them right up with no other changes necessary.

You are in the right place and welcome aboard. I can't imagine needing or useing all the power you have available but then I've been know to get a little loud at times myself.

JBLs are some mighty fine speakers as well and you won't be unhappy with some of their higher end stuff. You will be a bit more broke with anything to meet or exceed what you have now in Altecs.

I don't know much about these at all but they do look like some rather stout JBLs and right up your alley.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gamalot/Speakers/Speakers-26.jpg

I know there are plenty of others much better suited for home environments and the guys here will be happy to steer you toward whats great.

Enjoy!

Gary

[scott fitlin]

EXACTLY! NO power is right. The old Pioneer SX-650 is more than plenty and sounds completely different than others I have used temporarily to find the sound that made them work how I wanted to hear them.I like old Crowns on my Altec and even my vintage JBL, Power Line 2 amps make my tweeters sound like no others.

My 416,s should be here in about two weeks, and they get installed at that time. The thing that always happens with Altec in here is one of my younger 20 year old employees who is a DJ sort of, with a small system of his own, asked me while we were listening to these is WHAT kind of speakers are those? He said he never heard anything so clear, and how come they make so much bass? Man, they sound so real! And how come I never heard of these Altec speakers? Where do you get them? Im gonna buy some for my system.

Altec has the MAGIC!

:)

[00Robin]

I like old Crowns on my Altec and even my vintage JBL, Power Line 2 amps make my tweeters sound like no others.

My 416,s should be here in about two weeks, and they get installed at that time. The thing that always happens with Altec in here is one of my younger 20 year old employees who is a DJ sort of, with a small system of his own, asked me while we were listening to these is WHAT kind of speakers are those? He said he never heard anything so clear, and how come they make so much bass? Man, they sound so real! And how come I never heard of these Altec speakers? Where do you get them? Im gonna buy some for my system.

Altec has the MAGIC!

:)

yup,there was a herd of 18 and 20 year old young guys at college that just went bananas over my Altecs exlaiming the same things! The couldn't believe I actually lugged around them in those giant original walnut cabs either and how much they weigh. But turn them on,and I turned THEM on! It was so much fun to have the best speakers of all at that school!

[Michael Smith]

I was wondering if yiu are related to my cousin fubar?
Regards
Michael

[RKLee]

Sounds like he had a pair of either MI-200s, MI-350s, or MC3500s. If they look similar to the MC2300s, then it would been one of the latter and they weigh about the same as the MC2300s - about 130 pounds or so. How did they sound with his set-up?Magnificant. The guy had a set of factory JBL cabinets with a D130 and a 075 ring radiator. This was 30 years ago. My friend had worked for an exporter whose sole purpose was to export used JBL speakers to Japan, and his boss had let him take it home to try it out.:)

[John]

Altec has the MAGIC!:)


Altec got the Magic and then "POOF" They Vanished:p

[snafu]

I was wondering if yiu are related to my cousin fubar?
Regards
Michael

No sir . . . lol!

[snafu]

One thing I picked right up on Robin was "The wife didn't like the high end of the 19s"
Second thing was that you repaired the leads!

My guess, The repair may have made the connection and also stymied the wonderful sound from one of Altecs premier HF drivers.

I would be willing to bet your wife would like them just fine if they were working right. Also considering the fact they were both fried, its also possible the heat caused some demag and a recharge was in order.

I would certainly match my 802-8Gs against anything you mentioned above. If the wife likes higher highs then get a set of BMS 4552s and bolt them right up with no other changes necessary.

You are in the right place and welcome aboard. I can't imagine needing or useing all the power you have available but then I've been know to get a little loud at times myself.

JBLs are some mighty fine speakers as well and you won't be unhappy with some of their higher end stuff. You will be a bit more broke with anything to meet or exceed what you have now in Altecs.

Gary

Gary, thanks for the input. Those JBLs look quite interesting - I've never seen them either. As for the 19s, they're long gone. I did not mention though that the original foam around the horns was long gone by the time I'd gotten them. I'm not sure what kind of impact that would have on the overall sound . . . This is the only experience I've had with the 811 horns and honestly, I just didn't like the fact that the crossover point was so high. I guess I'd just gotten spoiled by the 511s in my others. Interestingly enough, I kind of expected that I'd feel similar about the 14s as the Mantaray horns in them are crossed over even higher. Much to my surprise, I simply love the way the 14s sound.

The repair on the lead wires to the diaphragms was easy - no chance that could have damaged the coils as I was super careful with the heat. I also did the repairs with the diaphragm out of the motor. I will tell you this, I would definitely give a second pair of 19s a chance though! What I find most interesting is how much I like the bass of the 14s, given the woofers in them are such a radically different design than 411-8As and along the lines of the "typical" Altec sound.

My experience with the vintage JBL stuff has been quite limited. I've only ever owned a pair of speakers someone built from JBL plans. They had a pair of LE15s, PR15s, LE85s, and a two way crossover that I can't remember the model number of. I pulled the components and sold them to David Yo (anyone remember him?) and raised enough cash to buy a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 5s, which I still own to this day. These speakers came with a McIntosh MX110 and MC240 that my dad bought as a "stereo set" at an auction for the lump sum of $70.00. That's what got me started. The Polks were a MUCH better match for the MC240, but I often wonder how much better the JBL stuff could have sounded in a different enclosure than they came to me in.

Of all the JBL stuff, what seems to catch my eye the most is the L300s. I've come close a couple times to buying a pair, but just couldn't make it happen. Maybe one of these days . . .

[Zilch]

It's a two-hour drive, but you might want to at least chat with member Jackgiff in Prescott.... :yes:

[Storm]

I live on the border of Phoenix and Tempe.

I would be honored if a forum member wanted to come take a listen to my JBL 250TIs.

FWIW, Zilch - Jack is only about an hour and a half...but whos counting? :p

-Storm


It's a two-hour drive, but you might want to at least chat with member Jackgiff in Prescott.... :yes:

[RKLee]

.
.
BEST of all, my wife lets me keep these big boxy speakers around because she loves the sound of them as well.You don't have to have golden ears to hear pleasing sounds out of Altecs. Many of my non-audio friends were really impressed and surprised the first time they heard my home-built box with Altec/EV drivers. They all thought I was a speaker engineer/designer, but I had to correct them that I only built the box, the rest of the components came from a factory.

[scott fitlin]

Altec got the Magic and then "POOF" They Vanished:pYeah, but it wasnt by Altecs choice! Telex, The Evil Warlock, acquired Altec in the 90,s, and Telex ( EV,s parent company ) made Altec disappear!

But Bill H, The Good Speaker Prince, began Great Plains Audio to keep alive the tradition of well made American High Efficiency Magic Speakers, and I have found favor with their 416-8C Magic Woofers!

May The Voice Of The Theater Be With You!

:)

[snafu]

I live on the border of Phoenix and Tempe.

I would be honored if a forum member wanted to come take a listen to my JBL 250TIs.

FWIW, Zilch - Jack is only about an hour and a half...but whos counting? :p

-Storm

I'm in Chandler, but work at Rockford in Tempe - might have to take you up on that . . .

[JBLRaiser]

Yeah, but it wasnt by Altecs choice! Telex, The Evil Warlock, acquired Altec in the 90,s, and Telex ( EV,s parent company ) made Altec disappear!

But Bill H, The Good Speaker Prince, began Great Plains Audio to keep alive the tradition of well made American High Efficiency Magic Speakers, and I have found favor with their 416-8C Magic Woofers!

May The Voice Of The Theater Be With You!

:)
That's priceless.:applaud:

[00Robin]

Yeah, but it wasnt by Altecs choice! Telex, The Evil Warlock, acquired Altec in the 90,s, and Telex ( EV,s parent company ) made Altec disappear!

But Bill H, The Good Speaker Prince, began Great Plains Audio to keep alive the tradition of well made American High Efficiency Magic Speakers, and I have found favor with their 416-8C Magic Woofers!

May The Voice Of The Theater Be With You!

:)

please forgive me if I am really that stupid but....are these new that you are talking about,and if so where are they available? Remember I'm just the nice lady that loves perfect sound.

[JBLRaiser]

please forgive me if I am really that stupid but....are these new that you are talking about,and if so where are they available? Remember I'm just the nice lady that loves perfect sound.


Yes, they are new. Here's the address:http://greatplainsaudio.com/ Call Bill if you have questions, he rarely answers emails.

[scott fitlin]

Yes, they are new. Here's the address:http://greatplainsaudio.com/ Call Bill if you have questions, he rarely answers emails.Yes, thats true, and call Bill around 4 to 5 his time, Oklahoma City is an hour behind NY time. he answers the phone. He will tell you what you want to know, make recommendations, etc!

And Bill is a really nice guy, and his products are superb!

[scott fitlin]

please forgive me if I am really that stupid but....are these new that you are talking about,and if so where are they available? Remember I'm just the nice lady that loves perfect sound.They are available on ebay, but you call Bill and do buisiness direct with him. Great Plains Audio 1-405-789-0221

The 416-8C,s are made brand new, and sound great. A forum member, Allen Mueller just got two and installed them in his A7,s in his home, PM and ask him for his opinion!

[John]

Yeah, but it wasnt by Altecs choice! Telex, The Evil Warlock, acquired Altec in the 90,s, and Telex ( EV,s parent company ) made Altec disappear!

But Bill H, The Good Speaker Prince, began Great Plains Audio to keep alive the tradition of well made American High Efficiency Magic Speakers, and I have found favor with their 416-8C Magic Woofers!

May The Voice Of The Theater Be With You!

:)

Well that's a nice fable but when I sat in Bill's office and had a chat with him over a cup of coffee the story was not so suger coated;)

Althought the part about Bill being a Good guy is spot on!!!:applaud:

[scott fitlin]

Well that's a nice fable but when I sat in Bill's office and had a chat with him over a cup of coffee the story was not so suger coated;)

Althought the part about Bill being a Good guy is spot on!!!:applaud:Yeah, Im sure about that. But, I made this up to be humorous. The part about keeping alive the tradition of well made American speakers is true as well.

Bill is a nice guy, and I am glad he is making speakers too. They sound good, they really do.

:)