What exactly are these and what should I do with them?

Acquired these recently. I think the cabinets are a DIY clone of a C34 cabinet. Or maybe there was an industrial version? Or maybe these were originally nice, pretty C34 cabs that have seen much better days? There are grills as well. The other one has the XO mounted in the back instead of in the mouth of the horn as the one pictured does. They are loaded with D130 / 075 / N2400. They are fun to listen to but don't really dig low enough for my tastes. I don't have corners to put them in (would that make a huge difference?). Heck, I don't really have room for them at all but since when did that matter? I have 4311b sitting on top of them now. These big guys still have a certain fun-ness to them that the monitors don't quite duplicate. There is always the chance that those D130s might just find their way from the music reproduction side of the room to the music production side of the room. Odds are I won't have these long-term...but, if I were going to try and turn these into something that were more likely to be keepers, what might I try? Just curious what others think.
Attachment 83527

Those are classic components in a classic combination which looks back to the fifties, but those particular drivers may date from as late as the seventies. The speakers look like they may have been built for use in a potentially rambunctious location, such as a bar. That midrange sound they make was just the thing for cutting through the noise and sound absorption of a crowd and delivering recognizable tunes in the pre-digital bass era.

Best not to try to get bass out of them. Cranking up the tone control and a big amp would likely wreck the cones. The D130 was an extended range driver for hi fi and distributed sound and was also used for musical instruments, though not bass.

if you use them for music production be careful not to overdrive them. That D130 will not have the power handling of later versions of that same driver. If you are in a large hall mike them and use another amp to fill the space. The D130 and genuine factory cone kits for it are no longer available.

I hope this may help you.

Richard


Attachment 83528Attachment 83529

Remove the baffle and take pictures of back side of drivers.

I picked up a pair of big ol' cabinets tonight that were loaded with Altec 420A. I'm wondering how they would sound in the C34 cabinets? I think I'm going to try that out this weekend. I'm pretty excited to try this out. I'm listening to the 420As right now and they don't suck. Any thoughts on this mishmash madness?

The components in each of the C34s were mismatched. One set of 16Ohm drivers and one set of 8Ohm drivers. One with N2600, the other N2400. The construction on the cabinets is also slightly different. Makes me wonder what happened to the other two :hmm:. I know that, at least for the D130s, they are the same regardless of the impedance labeling. Both woofers appear to have been reconed in 1979 based on marking on each cone. Frames are a bit different b/w the two. Terminals are mounted differently. Both in good shape though and are going to be well loved as music makers for use with low wattage guitar amps.

So much fun!

I gave the cabs away to a happy fellow that drove three hours from Atlanta for them. I hope he does something cool with them.

[QUOTE=mfaughn;421274]

I picked up a pair of big ol' cabinets tonight that were loaded with Altec 420A. I'm wondering how they would sound in the C34 cabinets?


Greetings - The ALTEC 420 makes for a very poor horn driver. The Efficiency Bandwidth Product is a bit over 44. IT is best utilized in a sealed enclosure. The best driver for the C34 is the 130A. Second best is the D130. The E130 is an acceptable choice also should you want to put some power through them.
Good luck,

H.F.

BTW - The tip off that your C34's are DIY, is the glue joints. JBL used a locking miter joint, not butt joints. Plus, the front lip is not wide enough. The front lip on a real C34 is designed to capture the grill fabric. And, JBL used only four 1/4-20 screws to capture the woofer.