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View Full Version : Help with Altec duplex crossover identification



brabus420
10-15-2017, 11:04 AM
I recently picked up a pair of Altec 605a in Barzilay cabinets. I bought it to keep the beautiful cabinets and replace the 605a with my 604e and newly built crossovers. When I took out the 605a, I noticed the crossovers were definitely not original although they seemed to work fine. Any one have an idea on which crossovers these are? In case you are wondering, I am going to be selling the 605a with these crossovers soon along with some open baffles.

Also, I've read a ton about how the 605a are far less superior than the 604e. However, from my listening to both speakers, I was quite impressed with how the 605's sounded. Very relaxed and natural and pretty darn good in my opinion. But I do have to say my 604es with custom Jeff Markwart crossovers are definitely a real step up. Vocals and instruments are oh so smooth and I can listen to them all day long.

gdmoore28
10-16-2017, 01:25 PM
Also, I've read a ton about how the 605a are far less superior than the 604e. However, from my listening to both speakers, I was quite impressed with how the 605's sounded. Very relaxed and natural and pretty darn good in my opinion. But I do have to say my 604es with custom Jeff Markwart crossovers are definitely a real step up. Vocals and instruments are oh so smooth and I can listen to them all day long.

Your statement brings into stark focus something I've never understood about different series of (in this case) Altec 604s. It's never made any sense to me that as Altec enjoyed the increasing popularity of the 604s as studio monitors and home hifi speakers, they would have striven to make the speakers sound worse as their technical research allowed further refinement (read: improvement). Was this really the case?

I can certainly understand that certain listeners claim to be able to tell the difference between Alnico and ceramic magnet drivers. But, surely, Altec felt - and their testing and analysis showed - that their progressive changes to the 604/5 line were improvements, and not detriments.

I've no horse in this race, as I've neither owned nor even heard any of the 604/5 speakers. But your testimony, which seems completely unbiased, would indicate that, at the very least, Altec's changes to the line over time did not make the speakers worse. And I wonder, if the 605s were the beneficiaries of the Markwart crossovers, would they not sound just as good as the 604s?

Sorry that I cannot help you in identifying the crossover. We have members here that bleed Altec, and one of them should be able to tell you what you have.

GeeDeeEmm