Restoration Altec Valencia 846B

[xronx]

Hello,

I bought a Altec Valencia 846B in fairly good conditon. The enclosure is quite dirty and needs care.

How can I professionally clean fresh up the "hand rubbed oiled walnut" without doing any harm.

Another question is, the resin of the bass drivers surroundings (impregnation) seems still a little wet...is this normal? On one driver some of it was flowing to the bottem over time and created a small puddle in front of the driver. I think of getting this, heat it and applie it again on the surrounding of the driver (maybe with a brush)...

Best regards

Ron

[Fangio]

- post some pics of your new acquisition so we can see the grade of care that will be neccessary for the veneer

- do a search for 'goo' or 'goop' on this site and see what comes up.


Yes they remain more or less sticky, it's not an uncommon prob for Altec (and JBL) woofers with accordion surrounds. This has been covered more than once, here is a start

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...ad.php?t=20146

[xronx]

Hi,

I removed all the dust etc...doesnt look too bad. Just a small dings in the veneer here and there. The main thing is, that the veneer looks liked darkened over time. I want to bring out more of it's natural structur.

The sound is very good. Do you think the drivers need service / remagnetising after all the years?

Is there any possibility to tell the manufacturing year by serial number?

Best regards

Ron

[Fangio]

The main thing is, that the veneer looks liked darkened over time. I want to bring out more of it's natural structur.

I don't think that can be achieved without some sanding.

The sound is very good. Do you think the drivers need service / remagnetising after all the years?

Is there any possibility to tell the manufacturing year by serial number?

Which drivers do you have in there? Dependent of usage, diaphragms do wear out with age. About re-mag, read here:

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...75&postcount=2

Basically this is less relevant for drivers with an underhung design and vice versa. Re the manufacturing dates, hopefully Altec connoisseurs will chime in here as I'm not familiar enough with their history.

[diamondsouled]

Howard's Restor-A-Finish will sometimes clean up dirty and or dried out veneer without having to break out the sand paper:

http://www.howardproducts.com/restora.htm

Use the neutral one if you want to maintain the same darkness.

My Valencia's have the same sticky stuff on the speaker edges. It doesn't cause any issues that I'm aware of, unless it drys out for some reason and gets stiff or brittle.

If you want to date the speakers check out the Altec catalogs in the library here for a general age.

Cheers

Lar

[hjames]

I've had good luck with minor cleaning using a bit of very very fine grade steel wool and Howards orange oil.
Sometimes I oil down the veneer first, then gently rub along the grain for embedded paint drops and such

Howard's Restor-A-Finish will sometimes clean up dirty and or dried out veneer without having to break out the sand paper:

http://www.howardproducts.com/restora.htm

Use the neutral one if you want to maintain the same darkness.

My Valencia's have the same sticky stuff on the speaker edges. It doesn't cause any issues that I'm aware of, unless it drys out for some reason and gets stiff or brittle.

If you want to date the speakers check out the Altec catalogs in the library here for a general age.

Cheers

Lar