The Altec "4343"

[Don McRitchie]

These Altec 9862 monitors just showed up on "Hi Fi Do" the Japanese vintage audio retailer's website. Their similarity to a JBL 4343 is uncanny. I'm still hoping to find out something about their background.

[Don McRitchie]

2

[Regis]

I must admit, they look pretty stinkin' cool! I like the grill design.

[Robh3606]

What's with the "staircase" horns???

Rob:)

[speakerdave]

Maybe that's a one-size-fits-all telescoping horn.

[Robh3606]

Yeah Kinda like those colapsable travel cups :spin: Or maybe its not a horn at all could be a camera bellows.

Rob:D

[speakerdave]

Originally posted by Robh3606
Or maybe its not a horn at all could be a camera bellows.

Rob:D

Where's that little rolling head guy. I need him right now.

[boputnam]

Neat-o, Uncle Don! Thanks for posting that.

Interesting how similar they are to the real McCoy... :eek:

Regrettably, Altec chose to position their medallion label such that these look remarkably like a REAL fridge... :rotfl:

[Mr. Widget]

Originally posted by boputnam

Regrettably, Altec chose to position their medallion label such that these look remarkably like a REAL fridge... :rotfl:

Just add a handle and you have one stylin walnut fridge.

Widget

[GordonW]

Yo, I'm DIGGIN' the green baffle! :D

Any ideas what's in that thing, anyway? 416? 417? No idea on the horn and tweeter...

Regards,
Gordon.

[Robh3606]

Ohhh I got it now! It's not a horn!! It's the ice maker!:rotfl:

Rob:D

[Figge]

Originally posted by Robh3606
Or maybe its not a horn at all could be a camera bellows.


probably is! and belongs to the same CIA agent as regis bugged sansui reciever! that way they can obtain both audio AND visual bugging

[Don McRitchie]

Originally posted by GordonW
Yo, Any ideas what's in that thing, anyway? 416? 417? No idea on the horn and tweeter...

Regards,
Gordon.

416-8B, 414C, 802-8G, 950-8A

http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~ash-k/ALTEC/model9862.jpg

[Tom Loizeaux]

I suspect this "fridge" from Altec came well after the 4343 from JBL. What is the saying..."Flattery is the highest form of compliment"? Altec must have really liked the 4343!
Anyway, I doubt the Altec version sounds quite as nice, given the drivers Altec used when compared to what JBL used ie: 2231, 2121,2420, and 2405!

I'd be curious to learn about how these Altecs sound though.

Tom

[GordonW]

I dunno. While the JBL probably beats it in the extremes (2231 > 416-8A, and 2405 > 950-8A), the Altec might give it a serious run for the money, through the midbass and mids. Those 414s are FABULOUS midbass drivers, and I've always liked the 802s... to me they're easier to listen to, usually, than the JBL 2420/2421/2440/2441...

Regards,
Gordon.

[Robh3606]

Seriously anything on the horn?? Unique looking! Are those actual steps or stepped foam to help control dispersion and damp the horn??

Rob:)

[speakerdave]

Originally posted by Tom Loizeaux
I suspect this "fridge" from Altec came well after the 4343 from JBL. What is the saying...?

Tom

I think it's this: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

I'd be curious to hear the speakers.

David

[jblgeek]

Thought some of you may be interested.

[jblgeek]

oops

[johnaec]

Originally posted by jblgeek
Thought some of you may be interested. Wow! Are those yours?

John

[jblgeek]

4343's are mine. The Altec and L300 are my fathers.

[Figge]

nice collection!!! so what does those altec sound like?

[Robh3606]

Well???? How do the Altecs sound! Nice grouping

Rob:)

[jblgeek]

The mid horn is a perforated plate lens like the jbl potato mashers.

[jblgeek]

One more with a few others....

[jblgeek]

Woofer is actually a 416-8BD. The 4343's don't run away from them by no means.

[andresohc]

Are those a pair of LE14a low freq boxes? Is so give me the scoop. Sealed, vented, box size etc. I have been toying with a twin LE14a sealed enclosure for a car low bass box.

[jblgeek]

Yes, they are the LE14's. Don't know all the specs due to the fact that my Uncle built them. They are roughly 6.2 cu. ft in a sealed enclosure.

[Mr. Widget]

Originally posted by jblgeek
... due to the fact that my Uncle built them.


Wow a whole family of nuts! :thmbsup:

Thanks for the photos. Very cool. Do you know when your dad picked up the Altecs?

Widget

[boputnam]

Originally posted by jblgeek
4343's are mine. The Altec and L300 are my fathers. That is evolution... ;)

Great pics, jblgeek. Thanks for the rear of the 416-8BD. :thmbsup:

[Robh3606]

Can you post a picture of the horn to see how it goes together. Do you have any spec sheets or brochures on that Altec ?? If you do could you scan them??

Rob:)

[jblgeek]

Will post any pictures you want. I will be out of town and unable to post them until Saturday though. Dad is pulling the drivers so we can take shots of them to satisfy any request. Don't have any lit on the speakers themselves but are just as curious to their heritage as the rest of you.

[4345]

Were those the ones that were on E-Bay about a year ago? I think they were located in Oregon.

[jblgeek]

Rob, here are some pic's of the driver, horn, and lens. Never seen this horn or lens before, hope someone can shed some light on it.

[jblgeek]

....

[jblgeek]

...

[jblgeek]

..

[jblgeek]

Here are pic's of tweet. Does anyone have any info on this driver? These were purchased out of curiosity due to their similarity to the 4343's. Yes, these were on ebay 2 years ago and were located in Portland Oregon.

[jblgeek]

...

[jblgeek]

..

[jblgeek]

All drivers

[jblgeek]

Again, the similarity between the Altec and JBL is apparent in the crossover.

[jblgeek]

Hopefully someone can do better than I in gathering information on this speaker. Other than the brochure that Don posted I have been unable to find any reference to this system.

[Figge]

nice pic:s! on a strange hornlens, how does the speakers sound?

very intresting set of speakers btw.

[Robh3606]

Thanks for the pictures!! Neat looking midhorn.

Rob:)

[Don McRitchie]

I have had mixed information on this and the other Altec monitors that were developed at the same time for the Japanese market (9861, 6041, 604 Valencia). Todd White told me that they were designed and produced by Altec in Aneheim from around 1979 until the sale of the home division to Sparkomatic in 1982. However, the former product manager for Altec's home speakers from 1974 to 1981 told me that Altec had nothing to do with the systems other than supplying the drivers and that they were developed by their Japanese distributor Electori. This seems to be supported by pictures of the 6041 that were sent to me by a Japanese owner that I have attached below. It doesn't say "Made in the USA" anywhere, and the serial number and sticker are Electori's. I'm curious if there is a similar Electori sticker on your 9862.

Supposedly, the 950-8A was developed just for the 9862 and was never used in another system or sold separately. There was a later 950-8A in Altec's catalog that was a completely different driver - basically a 902-8A with the small Mantaray horn from the 604-8K.

BTW, if the Ebay auction where you aquired your 9862's is the same one I saw, I remember that the seller noted that one the 416-8BD's had a rubbing coil. He contacted me to find out if recones were still available. I had no idea what the difference was between the 416-8B and the "BD" version, so I couldn't provide any definitive advice. If yours is that system, I'm curious what you did about the woofer.

[boputnam]

Originally posted by Don McRitchie
...the seller noted that one the 416-8BD's had a rubbing coil. He contacted me to find out if recones were still available. Some great posts lately, Don-o. Great to have your time such that you can post more regulary! :coolness:

If there's no kits :( , a not-too-bad last resort would be to try a resurround. Maybe - just maybe - by a careful resurround one could center the voice coil in the gap, and alleviate the rubbing. If there's a problem with the spider, you've no hope with this suggestion. But otherwise maybe Rick Cobb could source the compliance...

[scott fitlin]

Can someone, maybe the person who has these speakers please tell us what they sound like? Especially that JBlish type perforated lens horn!

[Ken Penrod]

I am the actual owner of the Altec 9862's and will try to answer all the questions that I can.
First, there is no reference anywhere on the cabinet, in the cabinet, or on any hardware of Electori. On the baffle mounted face plate for the attenuator controls it identifies this as Made In the USA, I will try to post a picture.
Second, Don mentioned the original seller contacting him about a rubbing voice coil. He told me the same and said he had found an exact replacement woofer that he would include for a nominal fee. I accepted the offer. When the speakers arrived via Yellow Freight I couldn't wait to get home and unpack. The identical woofer was a 416-8C not a 416-8BD. However I don't knock him for that but it didn't sound quite the same when mounted. You could pick out which channel had the 416-8C. I then went onto the forum at Great Plains Audio and asked for help. Don McRichie answered my call quite clearly. He told me of the differences as he understood them and felt the 416-8BD was voiced somehow differently than the 416-8B. He suggested Bill at Great Plains to inspect and advice. I then contacted Bill and he said "no problem" send it down and he would inspect and let me know what he could and couldn't do. I then put in all in writing and sent the document and the woofer to Great Plains Audio. I anxiously waited to hear if the voicing was different because I had decided to then send the second woofer to them and have both converted to 416-8B's if he could not repair as new. I then received a phone call for a credit card number to pay for the repairs to the 416-8BD in the amount of $30 or so. The person on the other end was surprised at my questions about the voicing. I didn't ask if it was Bill I was talking too but was certain it was. He acted confused and bewildered about the whole thing and said he would look into it, that was the last I heard from Great Plains Audio. The woofer actually had a internal connection that was loose, it's now repaired works perfectly and is still original.

Third, how do they sound? I have compared them to the L300's and the 4343's in my home. They outperformed the L300's hands down. more kick and punch. I love the high's from this tweeter the 950-8A which is quite large if you note the picture above comparing it with the 802 driver. When comparing the sound to the 4343 it is clear that the 4343 is top dog! This Altec copy is good but doesn't sit on top of the porch with the 4343. Maybe first step but the 4343 just outperforms this copy.

[Ken Penrod]

I could use some help from the forum. These speaker cabinets have lived a rough life. Water damage, to the veneer, is fairly bad on one of the boxes and both have multiple chips in the veneer. I have been unsuccessful at getting a price to have the boxes reveneered. Anyone have an idea what this is going to cost me?

[Earl K]

This came to light ( via eBay ) some years back .

It's time to get this info into here for posterity.

This is most of the ( revealing ) text from the original eBay offering ( reformatted and emphasized by me ) .


The 9862 studio monitor speaker system was produced in the early eighties for sale exclusively to the Japanese market.

It was a four way system using the 950-8A ring radiator tweeter, a 902 type driver on a special horn for the upper midrange, a 414 twelve inch driver for the lower midrange, and a subwoofer using a specially designed 416.

The number of units built was very limited.

The 416 woofer used all standard parts except for the cone, which was about 25 grams heavier than the stock cone.

This allowed the driver to have the same low frequency performance as a standard 416, but in a much smaller enclosure with a sacrifice of about 3 dB in efficiency.

A standard 416-8B/C in a nine cubic foot vented enclosure tuned around 40 Hertz has an F3 of about 40 Hertz with minimal ripple.
A 416 built with the "heavy" 35239 cone has the same 40 Hertz F3 in a five cubic foot vented enclosure tuned to 30 Hertz.

For those wanting to retain the excellent mid and upper range behavior of the standard 416, but with 40 Hertz performance in a much smaller enclosure, a 416 built with the 35239 cone is the answer. These cones are original factory parts and are over thirty years old.

I was the Senior Design Engineer of Acoustics for Altec Lansing in the 1980's at the Oklahoma City facility and these cones are from my personal collection. This auction is for one pair of cones.

779077790877909

:)

PS: I'm sorry KenP that no one ever answered your request for help ( also, I have no clue about such costs ) .

[Earl K]

91022
91023
91024

:)

[tomt]

The 4-way speaker system was made using the technology cultivated in the Western system and the duplex system.

It is equipped with 38cm cone type woofer 416-8BSW or 416-8CSW in the low range.
The unit mounted in this part is described in the 1981 and 82 year catalog of 416-8BSW and 416-8CSW are mixed, and I do not know exactly.

In the middle and low range from 350Hz, it is equipped with 30cm cone type midbus 414-8E.

In the mid-high range of 1.5kHz and above, it is equipped with an 802-8G driver and ALTEC's first straight horn as a horn-type tweeter.
The horn part is equipped with a newly developed acoustic lens, and the directional characteristics realize an ideal fan-shaped pattern.

The newly developed ring-type tweeter 950 is installed for ultra-high range use.
This unit is an improvement on the shortcomings of traditional ring tweeters with the use of an angerin phase plug, providing excellent performance with high efficiency, wide bandwidth, and low distortion.It has the characteristics of directional orientation.

The enclosure adopts the baslef method.

This is translated via

the Russian browser, Yandex.

From the 'Other' Audio Heritage


https://audio-heritage.jp/ALTEC/speaker/9862monitor.html

[tomt]

http://www.thevintageknob.org/altec-Model_9862.html

[short_circutz2]

Where's that little rolling head guy. I need him right now.

:rotfl:

Here he is, lol