Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 20

Thread: Finished my Altec Corona 832A's!

  1. #1
    Senior Member shaansloan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    ABQ NM
    Posts
    331

    Finished my Altec Corona 832A's!

    Sitting in the sweet spot and diggin the Jazz!

    Scored two orphaned Coronas last year and finally had some time to work on them. I had a cabinet guy refinish the cabs and I did the grills. The drivers were in great shape. I found some surprisingly good matched cloth at Mill Outlet fabrics in Colo Springs. I am just missing (1) Altec Corona/Laguna badge...I have looked for a while and hard to find!

    They have that very nice warm vintage sound. I am running them with my C22 Pre and a 1959 Magnavox 4 watt 6BQ5 SE stereo amp. At 101db 1W/1M sensitivity they really light up the room. They really sound good with some cool jazz, female vocals and also classical chamber music. One more piece of history put back into service!

    Here are some before and after pics. I have a few more pics of various stages of the job if anyone is interested. Happy Hi-Fi to ya!





    Vintage JBL and Altec fan

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    San Jose,Ca.
    Posts
    184
    Gorgeous!

    Great job on the restoration.

    Now you get to enjoy your hard work

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Houston
    Posts
    766
    Very Nice

  4. #4
    Senior Member Lee in Montreal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Montréal
    Posts
    2,487
    Great job. Definitely look like new.

  5. #5
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    NoVA - DC 'burbs
    Posts
    8,547
    Very nice and stylish pair of speakers!
    Great work - and sounds like a fun listen as well!

    Show us what's behind the curtain, please!
    More Pix are always welcome!



    Quote Originally Posted by shaansloan View Post
    Sitting in the sweet spot and diggin the Jazz!

    Scored two orphaned Coronas last year and finally had some time to work on them. I had a cabinet guy refinish the cabs and I did the grills. The drivers were in great shape. I found some surprisingly good matched cloth at Mill Outlet fabrics in Colo Springs. I am just missing (1) Altec Corona/Laguna badge...I have looked for a while and hard to find!

    They have that very nice warm vintage sound. I am running them with my C22 Pre and a 1959 Magnavox 4 watt 6BQ5 SE stereo amp. At 101db 1W/1M sensitivity they really light up the room. They really sound good with some cool jazz, female vocals and also classical chamber music. One more piece of history put back into service!

    Here are some before and after pics. I have a few more pics of various stages of the job if anyone is interested. Happy Hi-Fi to ya!


    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Houston
    Posts
    766
    Quote Originally Posted by hjames View Post
    Very nice and stylish pair of speakers!
    Great work - and sounds like a fun listen as well!

    Show us what's behind the curtain, please!
    More Pix are always welcome!
    I second that notion. All in favor?

    Come on, pop the hood.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    GTA, Ont.
    Posts
    5,109
    Wow !



    You sure brought those back to life .

    Love the white grill cloth !


  8. #8
    Senior Member shaansloan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    ABQ NM
    Posts
    331

    Here's what's under the hood...

    Quote Originally Posted by hjames View Post
    Very nice and stylish pair of speakers!
    Great work - and sounds like a fun listen as well!

    Show us what's behind the curtain, please!
    More Pix are always welcome!
    Gladly.... sorry for the delay.... The one kind of unfortunate thing is that they are not a perfectly matched pair. One has the 803A woofer, 811b/802C horn driver, and N-800-D x-over (soldered tone control) and the other has the later 803B woofer, 811b/804 horn driver and the N-800-E x-over(which has the adjustable controller for tone). I think I actually prefer the older unit for the the overall tone and soundstage.... it just has this fabulous nostalgic feel!

    However I must tell you I have them in my living room which is really large, about 25 X 30 with a vaulted 16' ceiling and this babies will light up the whole room with about 1 watt of power and the sound is clear and present just about wherever you walk around the room. Truly is like theater in the living room! But when you are near field in the sweet spot, they are just fabulous and dreamy! The bass response is better than you would expect... I think it has something to do with the triangular cabinet and the way it projects the sound. They could surely use some internal bracing if you turn them up to about 3-4 watts the cabs buzz a little. I recently restored a pair of MC-30's that I am gonna try with them but I am just really diggin these old Hi-Fi beauties!






    Vintage JBL and Altec fan

  9. #9
    Senior Member shaansloan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    ABQ NM
    Posts
    331

    I looked hard to find this grill cloth....

    Quote Originally Posted by Earl K View Post
    Wow ! You sure brought those back to life . Love the white grill cloth !
    It is impossible to find that old Corona/Laguna cloth.... it is a very special color and pattern. However the one I found closely matched the pattern and the weave is perfect as far as sight and sound transparency(you can't see through it). I used the normal technic on contact cement aound the edge of the grill frame and then a hot iron to adhere it... it just works great and I have done this with many grills...it always works and they never come lose at all. Here are a few pics....





    Vintage JBL and Altec fan

  10. #10
    Senior Member audiomagnate's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Colorado and Georgia
    Posts
    1,022
    Quote Originally Posted by shaansloan View Post
    It is impossible to find that old Corona/Laguna cloth.... it is a very special color and pattern. However the one I found closely matched the pattern and the weave is perfect as far as sight and sound transparency(you can't see through it). I used the normal technic on contact cement aound the edge of the grill frame and then a hot iron to adhere it... it just works great and I have done this with many grills...it always works and they never come lose at all. Here are a few pics....





    Where did you get that cloth? I need to redo my Montereys with that stuff.

  11. #11
    Senior Member shaansloan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    ABQ NM
    Posts
    331

    Mill Outlet Fabrics

    Quote Originally Posted by audiomagnate View Post
    Where did you get that cloth? I need to redo my Montereys with that stuff.
    Here is where I got it ..... Mill Outlet Fabrics
    2906 North Prospect Street
    Colorado Springs, CO 80907
    (719) 632-6296
    [email protected]

    I did it all through email and phones calls. I sent them pics and they sent some samples I I ordered the one I thought was best...
    Vintage JBL and Altec fan

  12. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Boulder Creek, CA
    Posts
    403
    Quote Originally Posted by shaansloan View Post
    Here is where I got it ..... Mill Outlet Fabrics
    2906 North Prospect Street
    Colorado Springs, CO 80907
    (719) 632-6296
    [email protected]

    I did it all through email and phones calls. I sent them pics and they sent some samples I I ordered the one I thought was best...
    I'm re-posting an edited comment from another thread I left for a chap with an 832 Corona question;

    "The fabric on the Danish boxes cannot be found anywhere at any price, save for someone who may be sitting on a bolt of NOS. You will also be hard pressed to find a weaver who can duplicate it, if so, the bill would be at least $1000, probably more after a short prototype run to dial in the loom. The fabric has silk threads woven amongst polyester threads, and you would be lucky to find someone who will dye that material. Believe me, I have tried in vane for the last 5 years to have it duplicated, even to the point of having a weaver make inquiries in the U.K."

    H.F.

  13. #13
    Senior Member Audiobeer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    St. Peters, Mo just west of St. Louis.
    Posts
    2,407
    Outstanding job and great craftsmanship. Just beautiful! Now send me your L-65s. Nobody puts baby in the corner!

  14. #14
    Senior Member audiomagnate's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Colorado and Georgia
    Posts
    1,022
    Quote Originally Posted by Horn Fanatic View Post
    I'm re-posting an edited comment from another thread I left for a chap with an 832 Corona question;

    "The fabric on the Danish boxes cannot be found anywhere at any price, save for someone who may be sitting on a bolt of NOS. You will also be hard pressed to find a weaver who can duplicate it, if so, the bill would be at least $1000, probably more after a short prototype run to dial in the loom. The fabric has silk threads woven amongst polyester threads, and you would be lucky to find someone who will dye that material. Believe me, I have tried in vane for the last 5 years to have it duplicated, even to the point of having a weaver make inquiries in the U.K."

    H.F.
    The cloth on my Monterey's has gold running through it but looks like the cloth in this thread otherwise.

  15. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    TN
    Posts
    416
    Nice resto on corona!! How did you remove wood grille frame?

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Altec Corona woofer crackling
    By MyLittleViking in forum Lansing Product Technical Help
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 02-04-2011, 11:26 PM
  2. L55s Finished - Wow!
    By Wagner in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 10-07-2009, 01:03 PM
  3. centuries finished
    By greyhound in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 07-29-2008, 12:56 AM
  4. My finished project.
    By merlin in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 09-20-2003, 03:49 PM
  5. LE 15a Recone finished!
    By Dave G in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-20-2003, 01:39 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •