New to the Forum (Altec Model 19 Fan)

[John Y.]

Speakers that are meant to be positioned away from a wall benefit from connectors at the bottom at the expense of a little more trouble connecting. My Theils have dual bananas on the bottom and are very easy to tip and connect. Not so with very weighty units. For my AQ-4's under restoration, I plan to add a banana plug on the bottom, paralleling the normal connection on the back so that I don't really change the configuration of the unit.

John Y.

[frouwest]

Hi Guys!
I also have 19's that I bought new in the late 70's. over the years these speakers have been placed in quite a few spots and rooms around the house. I try to have the wires as hidden as possible so I run them under the floor and drill a small hole and come up through the carpet, Having the connections on the bottom works great. It makes for a clean installation.

[Todd W. White]

I agree - it's a GREAT idea, but Altec hosed it with the SIZE of the connectors...on the Iconic clone of the Model 19's (and everything else we make), we use MUCH larger input connectors, and put them where the customer asks...

[thevott]

Those little spring loaded connectors were common on several makes (including JBL) during that golden period. One must twist the wire as small as possible---and don't forget to keep your reading glasses on hand so you can find the darn holes!

MP

[BRBiggs]

Thanks for the info. Why in the world did they put the Terminals on the bottom of the speakers for? Date code is 03-01-77 what horn driver might I have? Thanks, Rich

I owned a pair of model 19's that I bought new in or around 1978 and they had the Terminals on the back.However these speakers came with large lag screws
as they were actually meant to hang upside down from the ceiling which would have been way cool but I never did it.That is the reason for the terminals on the bottom