New Poll At My Altec User's Board, And I'd Like YOUR Opinions!

[boputnam]

Hey, Tom...

VERY succinct.

Much as we love "benefitting" from the cast-off of large format monitors, we would prefer to not lose the wellspring...

I like to think of us here as "leading-edge old school". Sure, it's not the "latest and greatest" now, but when "they" finally come around to really listening, IMO they will be stunned that all the HT gear and digital processing only masks the depth and clarity provided by old school large format JBL.

"Welcome home, boys - now where you gonna get this gear?"

[GordonW]

Originally posted by Mr. Widget

Back once again to Altec, do you think your store could or would sell an 8 to 12 cubic foot Altec type system. There is a store near my home that had a heck of a time getting rid of the demo pair of Tannoy Churchills they had. They were trying to demo them in their hall because all of the demo rooms were full of @#$%.

Dunno, really, about something quite THAT big (that's big even by historical comparison! )... but I can say, we've sold some pretty large stuff, such as Vandersteen 5s (not that physically large volume, but do weigh 300 lbs EACH), and Martin-Logan Odysseys (6.5 foot tall electrostatics)... and we regularly get people in, that are willing to spend considerable hundreds of dollars restoring old big-iron speakers of many kinds (anything from McIntosh ML2Cs to Pioneer HPM200s to Altec A7s to Empire Royal Grenadier 9000s... I figure that anything with either a 15 inch woofer or more than 1 10-12" woofer should be "politically incorrect" enough to include ) because they can't find anything they like in affordable big speakers to replace them... tha is, if they actually can FIND a new anything big, beefy, remotely competant and affordable in the first place...

Funny you should mention Churchills... we actually had a pair of those on display at our store, on loan from the regional rep, for a while. We still get people in, that ask when we might get another pair. If you want just sheer entertainment value in a speaker (as in a speaker that leaves pretty much everybody with a big $#!!-eating grin on their faces ), that's definitely the real deal...

Regards,
Gordon.
would be quite happy living with a pair of Churchill Widebands... yesiree!!

[scott fitlin]

If GPA and Iconic can come to market with product thats so good, there will be people willing to pay for it, as well as make space for the big speakers.

Like I said before, they may not sell in the tens of thousands, but they will find their place!

Quality will dictate sales! If its GREAT, itll sell, if it aint it wont! Period!

[4345]

Mr. Widget,

Revel speakers are not bad. They are just too similar to all the other cone & dome type speakers out there. It would be nice to be able to buy new JBL HORN type speakers at a somewhat reasonable price.

I don't think Revel is what the JBL fan is looking for. It would be as if Harley only sold mopeds.

Rather than waste a lot of effort on copying what is already on the market, JBL could have created a line that capitalized on their heritage. I think large format horn speakers are what made JBL great in the past and are what seperated them from the competition. I think this is still true today.

[mikebake]

"It is beholden on everyone with large format monitors to record what they can about the species - but that's only if we think someone later will care..."

Some will.....................my sons are likely candidates.............daddy has shown them the magic.............
MBB

[Ian Mackenzie]

Guys,

You raise some interesting perspectives.

I have been just looking at the Synthesis JBL Home theatre range which appears to fill the void of large format speaker and contemporary consumer requirements for loud/ high performance in the latest format 5.1 (or 7.1 as JBL market with Harman)

An interesting point is JBL use many of the time honoured technologies, 2 inch compression drivers, titanium tweeter and 18 inch subs, its just been juggled for moden times.

Perhaps us old timers need a wake up call, or think laterally and start thinking about B460 style subs, and a mix a cone/ horn loaded front/rears mains in moderate dimensioned boxes.

Now wouldn't this make a cute diy JBL project, couple of 2118/2108, 2105's, 2307 horn/2426 driver and 035Ti tweeter!

Just an idea to help stimulate the debate along

Ian

[Tom Loizeaux]

I want to add a "maybe" for Altec to re-issue.
I put on a Michael Hedges "Beyond Boundries" CD today and sat in front of my old pair of Altec Valencias.
Wow! I was stunned with the clearity, smoothness, and dynamics of these old standbys.
And when you realize that these were inexpensive and sold at discount stores in the '60s and that they were very basic and simple speakers, it makes me wonder if maybe these should be re-issued!

I said in this thread earlier that two-way systems had a lot of challanges; well I think the Altec Valencias met those challanges very well. The 416A and 806A were great componants. If re-issues had that kind of quality, I can't see how these would not get a serious following. (They are digital ready!)

Tom

[boputnam]

Hey, Tom...

two-way systems had a lot of challanges

I recall a post here - some time ago - by one of the "esteemed" who attributed to Greg Timbers (I think...) a comment - that Timbers felt a properly designed two-way system was near perfection. I have searched the Forum for that quote, alas, to no avail. People come and go so quickly here... (thanks, Dorothy!).

Listening more-and-more to the venerable 4301B's while in the shop, I get a sense of what Timbers might have been thinking of... "Wow" simply isn't enough...

[scott fitlin]

Properly designed two way systems can in fact sound extremely good! Very seamless and coherent!