Date Codes and Repair, Altec-Lansing 515B

[altecnewbie]

My name says it all. But I do know enough to know this newly found Altec Lansing 515B is a vintage speaker, 35 watts 16ohms, code is 391926.

I just bought an old 70's Century 200 Bass Amp (head), and a Peavey Bass 1x15 Cabinet, and the 515B was in it. The speaker is under powered for this amp. There are two speaker inputs on this 100W bass amp. I believe the inputs are made for either one or two 8 ohm 15" speaker cabinets, or one 4 ohm cabinet.

The 515B actually sounded ok when I powered it up, until the gain / master gain were past 6-7, or the bass was past 7. Then it started to break up and buzz, sounded flabby, etc.

I'll post a picture shortly. There aren't any rips or tears anywhere that I can see, but there's a ton of dirt / lint / dust stuck to the 1" tar rim of the speaker paper. The front of the cone is pushed in, but not torn. The front gasket of the speaker is intact, as it had been mounted incorrectly in the cab (from the back side).

I'd like to repair it and keep it, not for the bass cabinet, but possibly for a smaller guitar amp. Couple of questions:

1.Can anybody tell me the year it was manufatured?

2. Can the dust and dirt be safely cleaned off of the tar somehow, or does it just need to be rebuilt?

3. If so, where the best place to have it done that isn't too expensive?


Thanks in advance for your help!

[stephane RAME]

For information

http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/

Stéphane

[stephane RAME]

Driver Chart

http://www.wmeckle.com/INTRO/LARGE/Altec.htm

Stéphane

[Progneta]

My name says it all. But I do know enough to know this newly found Altec Lansing 515B is a vintage speaker, 35 watts 16ohms, code is 391926.

I just bought an old 70's Century 200 Bass Amp (head), and a Peavey Bass 1x15 Cabinet, and the 515B was in it. The speaker is under powered for this amp. There are two speaker inputs on this 100W bass amp. I believe the inputs are made for either one or two 8 ohm 15" speaker cabinets, or one 4 ohm cabinet.

The 515B actually sounded ok when I powered it up, until the gain / master gain were past 6-7, or the bass was past 7. Then it started to break up and buzz, sounded flabby, etc.

I'll post a picture shortly. There aren't any rips or tears anywhere that I can see, but there's a ton of dirt / lint / dust stuck to the 1" tar rim of the speaker paper. The front of the cone is pushed in, but not torn. The front gasket of the speaker is intact, as it had been mounted incorrectly in the cab (from the back side).

I'd like to repair it and keep it, not for the bass cabinet, but possibly for a smaller guitar amp. Couple of questions:

1.Can anybody tell me the year it was manufatured?

2. Can the dust and dirt be safely cleaned off of the tar somehow, or does it just need to be rebuilt?

3. If so, where the best place to have it done that isn't too expensive?


Thanks in advance for your help!


Hey bud,
I am a great collector of anything Altec. :) This speaker is great! It is regarded as one of altecs best 15 inch woofers. Check out this link, it will give you a nice background on this woofer.

Send me a pic so I can see the tar your talking about. If it is just a bit on the dustcap you are probably ok.

A good friend of mine gets GPA kits and recones speakers or you can send it to GPA

Enjoy that woofer!

http://altecpro.com/pdfs/vintage/SpeakerAndMics/speakers/515B%20LF%20Speaker.pdf

[voice of theatr]

To answer your question about the date code--the last 3 digits of the code signify the manufacture date. Your last three digits are 926. The 9 is the last digit of the year and the 26 is the week of the year so your speaker was manufactured in the 26th week of 1959 or the 26th week of 1969 since all 515B's were manufactured between 1955 and 1978. Can anyone else out there help narrow it down to either 1959 or 1969? Also, I agree with the suggestions to get your woofer reconed at Great Plains Audio if it's distorting ("breaking up, buzzing" as you put it). GPA has mainly former Altec employees working there, and have the original designs for the drivers, cones, etc. for most vintage Altec Lansing speakers--including yours. They reconed a woofer for me last year and it sounds identical to it's mate which still has the original cone--that's the acid test. When they recone a woofer, it comes back sounding just like the original--and is essentially a brand new woofer...... Their prices are very reasonable and their turnover time is great as well.