How rare are my speakers?

[cradeldorf]

I think they're Flamencos but they have a double bass reflex design and are loaded with the 604 duplex speakers in the cabinets...I haven't seen anything similar to them anywhere on the net except in some barzilay designs.

[speakerdave]

Not "double reflex." The likely purpose of the semi-divider shelf is to increase the path length from the back of the cone to the port.

The driver and coaxial are Altec 604E, not rare but good and there's a market for them. You'll probably pull them out and sell them separately on ebay and, not well-informed on the requirements for packing such things, you and the buyer, and anyone truly interested in the Lansing heritage, will be lucky if they get to him without being damaged.

Those cabinets may be Barzilay, or another third party. You'll be lucky to find someone who wants them before you get tired of shifting them around the garage and take them to the landfill (try a thrift store first).


I think they're Flamencos but they have a double bass reflex design and are loaded with the 604 duplex speakers in the cabinets...I haven't seen anything similar to them anywhere on the net except in some barzilay designs.

[Altec Best]

You'll be lucky to find someone who wants them before you get tired of shifting them around the garage and take them to the landfill (try a thrift store first).

Dave,I don't think they are that bad ! One thing the poster left out was that he found these in a thrift store for $20 for the pair.The (604's) worth 50 times that on eBay!!! :eek:

I personally would put them in 620's or Stonehenge III/V's to squeeze all the bass extension possible out of them.

[cradeldorf]

C'mon Dave, they aren't that bad ! One thing the poster left out was that he found these in a thrift store for $20 for the pair.The (604's) worth 50 times that on eBay!!! :eek:

I personally would put them in 620's or Stonehenge III/V's to squeeze all the bass extension possible out of them.

Actually I bought them from work (local community college) for $10 bucks a piece. They were gonna auction them. And I'm gonna send them out for a complete overhaul and new crossovers, I'll never part with them they sound crazy awesome even in their less than pristine condition. : ) I'm an Altec Fan now!!!!! ;)

[cradeldorf]

Not "double reflex." The likely purpose of the semi-divider shelf is to increase the path length from the back of the cone to the port.

The driver and coaxial are Altec 604E, not rare but good and there's a market for them. You'll probably pull them out and sell them separately on ebay and, not well-informed on the requirements for packing such things, you and the buyer, and anyone truly interested in the Lansing heritage, will be lucky if they get to him without being damaged.

Those cabinets may be Barzilay, or another third party. You'll be lucky to find someone who wants them before you get tired of shifting them around the garage and take them to the landfill (try a thrift store first).

Negativity........I like that in a person. :cheers:

[speakerdave]

I didn't say the cabinets were bad; I said no one would want them. It's probably pretty good material, but they are a kind of turn of the century German Greek bathhouse revival style, and they play to the knees. Try to find someone who can use the wood for something

As for the new Altec fan; why is his only question how rare they are?

Unless they're dolphins I hate flippers, especially gloating flippers, and even more gloating flippers who let on how much they dig the Lansing heritage. I very much prefer upfront crassness, myself, even in a bumptious junior exec personality.

And as for negativity, how's this--$#%&^ PRETENSE.

If you can get them out of the cabinet without pushing some fingers through the cone, fasten some LIGHT plywood across the face; you don't need to use bolts; I've seen them come loose, and because they're so strong dumb guys try to get away with two; you are not fastening the speaker to the ply but rather the ply to the speaker; heavy cable ties will do; put one in every hole. Put each coaxial in a separate box. The box should be HEAVY cardboard, the equivalent of a dish pack or better. You might be able to make both boxes out of a mover's wardrobe. Make sure the plywood is a little larger than the woofer frame and enough smaller than the box inside dimensions so that you can fit solid 1-1/2 or 2 inch styrofoam padding between it and the side of the box. If you have more thick styrofoam lay a piece in the bottom of the box, snugly fitted, before you place the speaker in, face down. You can use about three inches of styrofoam peanuts in that location if you need to, but you need to make it so the peanuts will not leak out of that space; they will cushion the speakers well, but they do not support the edges and corners of the box very well. That's the only place you can use peanuts. Take a HEAVY piece of cardboard and cut it larger than the inside dimensions of the box by four inches in the two horizontal directions. Cut a two-inch square out of each corner. Fold up each edge of the cardboard; do this over a sharp edge, so you get a nice crisp fold and a two-inch flap. Find the center of this cardboard and draw a circle approximately the size of the woofer magnet housing. Draw eight diameters evenly spaced like cutting a pie. Cut the slices of pie from the center out to the circle, but do not separate them from the surrounding cardboard. Fold them up. This will look a little crappy at this point, but it does not matter. Push this down into the box, over the woofer magnet until it's down tight against the basket. The side flaps will now be bent up; tape them to the inside of the box. You can also take some tape and wrap the pointy pieces of cardboard tight against the magnet housing. It's also good to have support between it and the ply at the corners to reinforce the box, and to support the foam liners you will place in the upper box but not totally necessary. This piece holds the speaker in place and supports the shape of the box and absorbs lateral shocks. Don't use plywood for this. It will simply transmit shocks to the speaker, and it can weaken or break through the box. Cut a piece of the thick rigid styrofoam for each side of the box reaching up to the top all but the thickness of the material and another to fit inside the box at the top; use suitable spacers taped to the top of the magnet housing to hold the foam and speaker in place. Tape the box up snug, and it's good to go. Obviously what I have described here is not the same as packing a speaker with whatever shit can be found around the house. To do this right you may need to spend $20-25 on materials, but you owe the Lansing Heritage that for coming here and getting clued in, so do right by us. Don't let another irreplaceable audio artifact get wrecked. You would not believe what I've seen sent by ebay sellers. By far the worst examples usually place something heavy in a weak box and counterfill with peanuts, a completely ineffective arrangement. The box will arrive looking like a meatball, and the heavy object will have migrated to the inside surface of the box where it will have pounded the box every way from Sunday and receive severe shocks in the process. UPS guys will throw boxes and drop them onto concrete floors from the back of trucks. I've seen this. Never mind who is to blame or who is at fault. When shipping irreplaceable audio artifacts the shipper must take responsibility to avoid damage.

[cradeldorf]

I was thinking I'd just wrap them in some butcher paper and send them through the postal service? LOL :D

Thanks Buddy I'll make sure their in bulletproof containers before I hand them off.....Might be my Christmas present to myself.

[HCSGuy]

cradeldorf,
First of all, I am a JBL guy, so excuse my lack of expertise on Altec.

Congratulations on your find - $20 is definitely the steal of the day. As speakerdave mentioned, the enclosures aren't desirable, but they work fine and fit the vintage - put the speakers up on cinderblocks and the sound quality should get much better. As he also mentioned, the 604 drivers are really desirable - I don't know what they're worth, but there are many collectors that would love to have a really clean pair. However, they are well known for their particular colorations, so keep this in mind - if you plan on rebuilding them to something more modern, you may find these limitations challenging. Do a google search on this site on the 604 and you'll find plenty on them. Definitely raise them up and enjoy the music, though.

If you are bored or are an insomniac, spend time going through the JBL library on this site - the Altec 604 based monitors of the 60's dominated the field, and JBL's success in the 1970's is largely due to their ability to create a smaller monitor speaker (4310) that had the Altec's colorations, which sound engineers of the day had become accustomed to. This allowed them to dominate the small format monitor market with the 4310, 4311, and the consumer L100.

Anyway, enjoy the speakers - maybe they'll continue to grow on you. If you decide your ears deserve something better :p, upgrade to something that strives for flat frequency and time response - sell the drivers and get some 70's JBL monitors (4313, 4315, 4333, 4343)

[Tom Brennan]

If you decide your ears deserve something better :p, upgrade to something that strives for flat frequency and time response - sell the drivers and get some 70's JBL monitors (4313, 4315, 4333, 4343)


Even if they don't sound as good.

[Audiobeer]

:eek: :D :applaud:

Right or wrong funny response Tom!

[MickeyFinn]

To do this right you may need to spend $20-25 on materials, but you owe the Lansing Heritage that for coming here and getting clued in, so do right by us.

:D

Too funny speakerdave.

[louped garouv]

if you can get them out of the cabinet without pushing some fingers through the cone, fasten some light plywood across the face.

....


When shipping irreplaceable audio artifacts
the shipper must take responsibility to avoid damage.


excellent post!