Please help identify these Altec Lansings

[jks_pdx]

I bought these speakers about 10 years ago from a friend who was moving out of town. He got them at a garage sale from a kid who said his uncle had gotten them out of an old movie theater.

I'm moving now and need to pass them on. I'm looking for some identifcation and an estimate of a fair price to ask. The enclosures are in OK condition, with a few scratches and some missing trim at the bottom. The screens are in not so hot shape, though they actually look better than these photos make them look.

The cabinets are 25 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 32 inches high. The speaker is about 13 inches diameter.

The sound is absolutely beautiful. You can crank the volume up so loud that the ground is shaking and you will not hear one bit of distortion, but they play equally beautifully at whisper soft volumes (my normal mode).

Thanks for any help and advice you can give.

[moldyoldy]

Browse through the older catalogs in the LH Altec library (link below), you may find cabs of similar appearance and dimensions for a clue.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/.../altec-cat.htm

The cabs may be DIY too, many were. Most buyers will want the component numbers and pictures, I'd guess a 601-something duplex and an N3000 network. Price depends on your skill to advertise to the most potential buyers, I wouldn't want to guess.

[Steve Schell]

Jks_pdx, judging from the size of the tweeter horn in relation to the woofer cone, these look like they might be some version of the Altec 602 driver. The 602 was similar to the 601, but used a 15" woofer. 602s are seldom seen, and I don't have much of an idea of what they might sell for.
I'll bet they do sound good; those look like fairly large volume cabinets, probably aftermarket.

You would likely get the most money by selling them on ebay. Pull the drivers out of the cabinets and take lots of pictures of both drivers from front and rear, and don't forget the decals. If the tweeters both work well it is important to state this, as they have the reputation for being delicate. Their diaphragms were originally a Western Electric microphone design.

[jks_pdx]

Thanks for the help moldyoldy and Steve. I'll post an update here to let you know what else I learn and how it all turns out.

[jks_pdx]

OK, I finally had time to open up one of the cabinets (these things are build like a vault) and you were both very close with the identification. These are 15 inch 602D Duplex speakers with N-3000-E network. I did some googling and found sales ranging from 255 for a pair with a broken tweeter, 300 for a single speaker, and 565 and 700 for a pair of speakers. But looking on eBay it seems like there is a lot of AltecLAnsing gear that's not drawing much bidding.

I'm thinking about trying to sell these locally on Craigs list first, and then if there's no interest here in Portland, but them up on eBay.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Here are the new pictures.

[intotubes]

The sound is absolutely beautiful. You can crank the volume up so loud that the ground is shaking and you will not hear one bit of distortion, but they play equally beautifully at whisper soft volumes (my normal mode).

Why not keep 'em? Sound like a couple of winners.

[macaroonie]

Why dont you get some JBL blue grille cloth from Zilch on this site and re cover the fronts ---- easy job. Then either send the boxes to a furniture re finisher or if you have a roam around the forum you will find several threads and a wealth of expertise about cabinet restoration.
To buy those drivers new would cost you in the region of $1000
End result for a few bucks and a little effort a pair of real classic top quality speakers that will last you a lifetime.
Or----------------- you could flog em and buy some Bose plastic thingies.