Always check the basics, right? The PO had marked the speaker terminals with a +/-, so I went that way. Yep, stuck a battery to them and one was marked backwards! Now, while still no subwoofer, the bass is more in line with what I expected! I'll start over and do some more listening and see where we go from there. Feeling much better now though. What's the easiest way to confirm horn phase? I don't really have any measurement tools.
Excellent! I'm glad to hear you sorted that out… I'm not aware of any ways of checking on the phase of HF drivers without test gear, maybe someone here has a practical trick to share.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Widget
if you can play a tone (source, CD, PC tone generator, whatever) in the crossover region,
the wrong phase often will result in a somewhat quieter tone.
or... FM radio static (noise) and a smartphone FFT or oscilloscope or SPL app
This is what... ~800Hz and 12dB/oct crossover? if so, might cancel pretty well
when connected incorrectly (woofer and horn audio out of phase when they "meet").
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmarkwart/index.html
Contact Jeff Markwart if you want to explore insights on getting the best out of the Altecs.
Looks like he has a lot of experience, moreso on the coaxes. Looking over his site, my guess is that he would advise building 19 cabs and probably a similar xover network. Definitely a possiblility, but the 19 cabs are significantly larger, so I would want to make sure that was the best use of my square footage.
Just been listening to them. There seems to be a little distortion at a certain frequency in one horn. I'll look at connections and the simple stuff. I built some stands to try out. Still deciding on finish.
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