The Ten State Tour!

[freemone233]

Yep, a three-day excursion through ten of our eastern states (from Virginia to New Hampshire and back) yielded acquisition of a pair of vintage Altec Lansing A7 speakers. They supposedly came out of a casino theater in New Hampshire, date from 1969, are covered with unknown musical history and accompanying dust, and are awaiting some resurrection for use in my home. The existing Xovers are N809-8a but with the deal, I received (2) N801-8a, serial numbers 1056 and 1079, and I'm contemplating switching the Xovers. The HF drivers are 807-8a, serials 1008 and 1013. The LF drivers are mixed, one 416-8c, the other 416-16B. I haven't pulled the backs for serial numbers on those.

What I'm looking for is probable dates of manufacture of the noted components and advice on the Xover question as well as matching up the LF drivers, if needed. I'm adding pictures for your viewing pleasure. Thanks for your time and assistance with my project. Also, a HUGE Thank You to "The Man" in NH for a wonderful trip! You know who you are!

Curtis

[mikebake]

Fun adventure, very cool score!

[SMKSoundPro]

New Hampshire has/had casinos?

Okay, now the work begins...WAF!

[John]

New Hampshire has/had casinos?

Not in the 70,s perhaps now?

[badfish]

I did a ten state tour from NH to Georgia (snowbound in Lexington VA for 36 hours) to pick up a pair of pristine 4333A monitors the week before Christmas! We may have passed eachother on the interstate!! Cheers, Mark

[hjames]

I did a ten state tour from NH to Georgia (snowbound in Lexington VA for 36 hours) to pick up a pair of pristine 4333A monitors the week before Christmas! We may have passed each other on the interstate!! Cheers, Mark

Pictures, pictures!
Remember to always share these road trips with your online fiends!

[badfish]

Sorry, pictures were not a safe option on a solo 2300 mile weekend trip.. Mark

[freemone233]

A little more of the story... I scored these babies for $300. Add another $300 for food, gas, and lodging and I think I made out quite well.

These will go in my living room with Synergistics S-73 (bottom speaker in third pic) stacked on top. In the back corners, we'll have RTR 280-DR/ESR-15 (on right in first pic) with Synergistics S-62 (top speaker in third pic) stacked on top. There will be about 1" of clearance between floor and ceiling. Yes, I'm crazy and love sonic overkill! The whole thing will be powered by Onkyo M-508/P-308 200 WPC @ 8 ohms and is stable to close to 2 ohms (second pic).

Thanks for looking.

Curtis

[badfish]

Curtis, I think your tour rates a better "bang for the buck" than mine. $300 fuel, $245 lodging $1950 speakers, overall experience still "priceless".. Regards, Mark

[freemone233]

To Badfish,

Yes, I might have made out better from the "wallet" standpoint but you're quite right that the experience is priceless. There's no way to put a dollar amount on a cool, personal excursion. RAWK ON, Brother!

To All,

I've never refurbished a set of speakers before BUT I am quite good at following directions. Since I actually purchased these about a month ago, I researched and downloaded every AL A7 manual/schematic/instruction sheet that I could find, read them voraciously, and set to work this morning.

Without a whole basket of boring details, I disassembled the cabinets to expose the LF drivers and found that they are 416-8A (serial 1707) and 416-8C (couldn't find the serial). Then, it was removing the existing Xovers (N809-8A) and inserting the N801-8A Xovers that came with the deal. Next, inverting the cabinets and installing the HF horns inside the boxes. Tomorrow, I'll reattach the existing grill cloth over the horn and the larger front board so all will be concealed yet yield effectiveness. Here are two pics of what's transpired. Note the Altec Guard Cat on duty in picture one!

Curtis

[freemone233]

Small bummer in that the horns don't work. It looks like the diaphragms in the HF drivers are blown. I'm examining that in another thread on this forum. In the meantime, we've re-arranged the entire living room (my wife's idea and I'm lovin' it) to accommodate these huge boxes. Once the HF drivers are fixed, I'll mount the horns in the bottoms of the boxes as shown, invert them, cover the horns with the original grill cloth and re-insert one of the front boards below that for a complete enclosure. It's gonna be sweet!

Check out these pics of the completed living room set-up. The second pic is the Grateful Dead "Wall of Sound" about six feet behind our recliners. Oh yeah...damn right!

Curtis

[kenratboy]

I don't think your cat likes them, but I think they are cool!

[voice of theatr]

Nice score Curtis! If the diaphragms are blown--you can get a great deal on authentic replacements from Great Plains Audio and they'll install the phragms for free and also recharge the magnets in your drivers for free if you decide to send the drivers in, rather than installing the diaphragms yourself.

To answer your question about dates of manufacture, there should be date codes stamped on each of the drivers. The date codes are six digits and Altec date codes always start with 391. The fourth digit is the last digit of the year the driver was manufactured (in other words if the driver was manufactured in 1969 the fourth digit would be 9). The fifth and six digits are the week of manufacture--for example if the last two digits are 12, then the driver was manufactured in the 12th week of that year. Hope this helps...

[freemone233]

Thanks to all who posted. I found a used set of 902-8A drivers to replace these blown 802-8A's. I'm waiting for delivery and after assemblage, I'll post pics and results of the entire rig.

Curtis

[Tim Rinkerman]

You might want to take a quick look at the video tapes you had the drivers in front of......how close did they get?