Altec 846A v. 846B

[closdesducs]

I presently own a very clean, stock 846A and have enjoyed it thoroughly over the past year. Definitely a keeper! A friend recently acquired a pristine 846B but unfortunately, his wife wasn't keen on it as much as he was. He's offered it to me for what he payed to acquire it. All things being equal system-wise, what audio differences, if any, would I experience between the "A" and "B"?

My system consists of Audio Research tubed amps and preamps from the late 80's. Mostly vinyl playback but CDs and the occasional SACD are in the mix too.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts & experiences and Happy Holidays!

Closdesducs

[HeathKit]

One big difference is that the A uses 16 ohm components where the B uses 8 ohm components. Also the cabinets are different sonically. From what I'm told the B cabinet is better while the A components are better. I prefer using the 16 ohm speakers when using tube amps, more windings of the transformer in play with 16ohm. It looks like the B cabinets are ported differently than the A's. Seems Altec might have been trying to fix the shortcomings of the A cabinet when they added tuned port tubes to the B cabinet. The A cabinet does have a little problem reaching way down low, due to the cabinet limitations. I have a pair of A's and after working out some things with the crossovers and with the original 806HF drivers they are wonderful speakers. I think the ported cabinet on the B's will handle a better LF response than the A's cabinet. While each is good in it's own right, there might be a slight difference in sound reproduction given the differences. But then maybe not enough to be worrisome.


Disclaimer... I am nowhere near the expert many posters on this board are.. these are just my opinions for the sake of conversation.