Altec Lansing 846b Valencia Questions

[Cadguy]

Greetings from Canada. I'm interested in some Valencias for sale near me. They have the 416-8B 15" woofer, original N-800 8K crossover, 811 B horns, 806 8A compression driver. My listening room is 18 feet wide and 29 feet long so I have a lot of room. What would be the ideal distance between the two speakers and ideal distance to the listener? What would be the optimum distance from the speakers to the wall behind them and to the side walls? Some commenters describe Valencias as having a very noticeable and shouty horn sound and an aggressive upper midrange and lower treble. Does a large room like mine help to mitigate these issues. Do new caps also help? Thanks for any advice.

[RMC]

Hi Cadguy,

Welcome aboard the Lansing Heritage.

With regards to the first few questions i suggest you have a look at the Valencia owner manual where you should probably find the relevant speaker placement info from the manufacturer. That manual might be in the library here or simply Google it.

As for the horn its not evident that a large room would help mitigate those issues. Large rooms with listener at a distance are usually preferrable for horns as per horn guru Bruce Edgar. However, things can turn out to be bad sound wise depending on how live and reflective the room actually is. Hand claps might give you a clue about this.

EQ applied to the horn could be an option to make it sound more acceptable. Or even having to do some acoustic treatment on the room walls at some point. Having carpeted floor, thick drapes/curtains and soft furniture to absorb some of the horn sound could also be a start, though you may still have to add some acoustic panels. Regards,

Richard

[Earl K]

Greetings from Canada. I'm interested in some Valencias for sale near me. They have the 416-8B 15" woofer, original N-800 8K crossover, 811 B horns, 806 8A compression driver. My listening room is 18 feet wide and 29 feet long so I have a lot of room. What would be the ideal distance between the two speakers and ideal distance to the listener? What would be the optimum distance from the speakers to the wall behind them and to the side walls? Some commenters describe Valencias as having a very noticeable and shouty horn sound and an aggressive upper midrange and lower treble. Does a large room like mine help to mitigate these issues. Do new caps also help? Thanks for any advice.

You might want to read all the comments made by LHF member "Chas" about his Valencias.

He changed out the horn drivers ( for a pair of GPA 902-8a's ) and has been very enthusiastic about these speakers ever since.

I can't remember if he did any work to the crossovers.

:)

[bedrock602]

Greetings from Canada. I'm interested in some Valencias for sale near me. They have the 416-8B 15" woofer, original N-800 8K crossover, 811 B horns, 806 8A compression driver. My listening room is 18 feet wide and 29 feet long so I have a lot of room. What would be the ideal distance between the two speakers and ideal distance to the listener? What would be the optimum distance from the speakers to the wall behind them and to the side walls? Some commenters describe Valencias as having a very noticeable and shouty horn sound and an aggressive upper midrange and lower treble. Does a large room like mine help to mitigate these issues. Do new caps also help? Thanks for any advice.

I have a pair of A7's with the same drivers as the Valencias's. I use them in my workshop which is 18' wide by 30 feet deep, similar size as your room. The speakers are 9'-0" apart on the 18'-0" wide wall. They have been that way for over 10 years and I hear no reason to move or "upgrade" them. They sound really, really nice in that space.

BTW, the 416-8B was used in the Model 19, I don't think they will fit in the Valencia cabinets without modifying the baffles.

[Cadguy]

I have a pair of A7's with the same drivers as the Valencias's. I use them in my workshop which is 18' wide by 30 feet deep, similar size as your room. The speakers are 9'-0" apart on the 18'-0" wide wall. They have been that way for over 10 years and I hear no reason to move or "upgrade" them. They sound really, really nice in that space.

BTW, the 416-8B was used in the Model 19, I don't think they will fit in the Valencia cabinets without modifying the baffles.


Thanks for all the great replies! The Valencias that I'm considering already have the Model 19 woofer installed and the seller states they are otherwise all original including the crossover.

[Chas]

Yes Earl, the GPA drivers are quite remarkable. My 846B’s now exhibit wide frequency response and low distortion to my ears. The irritating issues that are usually blamed on the aluminum horn cease to exist now. It’s a pity the GPA prices are so high now. I did change the crossover capacitors as well.

[Earl K]

Yes Earl, the GPA drivers are quite remarkable. My 846B’s now exhibit wide frequency response and low distortion to my ears. The irritating issues that are usually blamed on the aluminum horn cease to exist now. It’s a pity the GPA prices are so high now. I did change the crossover capacitors as well.


Thanks! Chas for weighing in.

Did you buy the 8 or 16ohm GPA 902's to replace the stock 806a ?

I know the available depth ( from 811 horn- flange ) to the back wall is limited, I don't suppose you have an exact distance measurement ?

:)

[Chas]

Hi Earl, I used the 902 8 Ohm version since the 806A was that impedance . No, I don’t have that dimension easily at hand, but if you really need it, I don’t mind pulling the cabinet out of my storeroom and removing the 811. Let me know.

[Earl K]

Hi Chas,

Thanks for the offer ( I'd like to take you up on some version of that ).

So, I'm wondering if I might enlist your help as an active listener ( just you listening to your own system using different drivers I send you ).

My thinking is this;

I own a lot of 1" exit compression drivers and I'm wondering if you & I might collaborate to find a suitable ( iow; affordable ) driver to replace the HF anemic 806a.

The way it would work is I would simply send a pair ( or 2 ) to your local drugstore post-office ( for you to pickup at your convenience ) >>> you do a bunch of listening > make notes
> all with the of intent finding something that Cdn Valencia owners can use as an upgrade path.

For Instance, I have a pair of Peerless compression drivers that I think very highly of ( I think they offer over 90% of the sonics of the Altec 802 ) at a fraction of a GPA upgrade.
- They have plastic damped titanium diaphragms that I think sound great. They are shallow and I know they would fit inside the Valencia.

I doubt there are many Canadian Valencia owners that would think the financial outlay that's now easily north of $2,000.00 Cdn was money well spent ( though maybe I'm wrong in my thinking :dont-know: ).

Lets take this to PM to see if we might work something out ( I'm definitely "covid bored" and need a project >> apart from leaf raking ).

:)

[bedrock602]

Yes Earl, the GPA drivers are quite remarkable. My 846B’s now exhibit wide frequency response and low distortion to my ears. The irritating issues that are usually blamed on the aluminum horn cease to exist now. It’s a pity the GPA prices are so high now. I did change the crossover capacitors as well.

My A7's had 811B horns, but I soon swapped them for a 511B simply because they looked better on top of those massive cabinets. I've never experienced any irritating issues with the 511's, could the 811B horns be the culprit?

[bedrock602]

Greetings from Canada. I'm interested in some Valencias for sale near me. They have the 416-8B 15" woofer, original N-800 8K crossover, 811 B horns, 806 8A compression driver. My listening room is 18 feet wide and 29 feet long so I have a lot of room. What would be the ideal distance between the two speakers and ideal distance to the listener? What would be the optimum distance from the speakers to the wall behind them and to the side walls? Some commenters describe Valencias as having a very noticeable and shouty horn sound and an aggressive upper midrange and lower treble. Does a large room like mine help to mitigate these issues. Do new caps also help? Thanks for any advice.

I imagine a horn like the 811B would be "shouty" in a small room. I have a pair of JBL L101 with LE175 horns, they sounded very good in my living room, but when I tried them in a smaller room the horns sounded a bit harsh.

Regarding the crossover capacitors, don't rush to judgement and rip the old ones out. Listen to the speakers as-is before making any changes.

I'm somewhat of a noob when it comes to the technical aspects of audio gear and have read numerous forum posts regarding changing capacitors. After doing so on a few vintage speakers, I could hear no difference between new and old. Testing the old capacitors showed that they were still in spec. I did have a set of Wharfedale W60E 's from the early 1970's, one tweeter wasn't working but it had continuity. I traced the problem to a bad capacitor. I guess the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies to crossovers.

[Chas]

My A7's had 811B horns, but I soon swapped them for a 511B simply because they looked better on top of those massive cabinets. I've never experienced any irritating issues with the 511's, could the 811B horns be the culprit?

Over the years I have used 806A on first, the 811B, then thinking the horn was the issue (as most folks seem to think) - I then moved to the 511B to no avail.

These horns get no respect! With a GPA 902 bolted up they are stunning. And I’m used to 4345’s loaded with TAD TD2002 beryllium CD’s as my daily drivers.

I was very fortunate to get a pair of the GPA’s prior to the massive price increase. Mind you, if my Valencia’s were used as my everyday system, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend the money, even at today’s prices!

Not having ever heard a brand new 806 right out of the box (circa ~1965!), maybe the aluminum diaphragms “work harden” over the years? There’s no way the HF response of these things in today’s world come anywhere close to meeting Altec’s published spec of 20Khz! One is lucky to reach 12Khz...

I have also bolted up LE175’s by adding a third mounting hole to the 511B mounting flange. The results, to my ears were quite nice, the sound was big, warm and inviting. To me though, not really as detailed sounding as I prefer.

[bedrock602]

Over the years I have used 806A on first, the 811B, then thinking the horn was the issue - I moved to the 511B to no avail. These horns get non respect! With a GPA bolted up they are stunning. And I’m used to 4345’s loaded with TAD TD2002 beryllium CD’s.

I was very fortunate to get a pair of the GPA’s prior to the massive increase. Mind you, if my Valencia’s were used as my everyday system, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend the money even at today’s prices!

Not having ever heard a brand new 806 right out of the box (circa ~1965!), maybe the aluminum diaphragms “work harden” over the years? There’s no way the HF response of these things in today’s world come anywhere close to meeting Altec’s published spec of 20Khz! One is lucky to reach 12Khz...

I have also bolted up LE175’s by adding a third hole to the 511B mounting flange. The results, to my ears were quite nice, the sound was big, warm and inviting. To me, not really as accurate as I like for my everyday system.

I have a pair of Valencias sitting in storage without horn drivers or crossovers and had considered sourcing them from GPA, do you have an idea of the cost of the drivers? It's not posted on their website.

[Chas]

[QUOTE=bedrock602;432303]I have a pair of Valencias sitting in storage without horn drivers or crossovers and had considered sourcing them from GPA, do you have an idea of the cost of the drivers? It's not posted on their website.[/QUOTE

Here you go:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Altec-Lansing-902-8C-16C-Series/333570778256?hash=item4daa5e2490:g:8DIAAOSwSvNejzm k

[bedrock602]

[QUOTE=bedrock602;432303]I have a pair of Valencias sitting in storage without horn drivers or crossovers and had considered sourcing them from GPA, do you have an idea of the cost of the drivers? It's not posted on their website.[/QUOTE

Here you go:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Altec-Lansing-902-8C-16C-Series/333570778256?hash=item4daa5e2490:g:8DIAAOSwSvNejzm k

Holy-Moly......

[Chas]

Earl, let’s do it, I’m bored outta my skull these days too. Please PM me.

[Chas]

[QUOTE=Chas;432304]

Holy-Moly......

Austin Powers moment: Ya, baby!!

And, we poor sods here in the great white North, have exchange, taxes and duties to deal with too!

[bedrock602]

[QUOTE=bedrock602;432305]

Austin Powers moment: Ya, baby!!

And, we poor sods here in the great white North, have exchange, taxes and duties to deal with too!

Ouch.

GPA makes replacement diaphragms for the 806 drivers, I'm guessing they should be a sonic improvement over the originals for much less money than buying the entire driver

[Earl K]

Earl, let’s do it, I’m bored outta my skull these days too. Please PM me.


Cool, will send a PM within a few minutes!

:)

[Chas]

GPA makes replacement diaphragms for the 806 drivers, I'm guessing they should be a sonic improvement over the originals for much less money than buying the entire driver[/QUOTE]

I have wondered about the same thing, although it would not have the benefit of a more modern phase plug design. Let us know if you try it, please.

Looks like they have a Black Friday sale on, at least for drivers this month only, with 20% off:

https://great-plains-audio.myshopify.com/collections/compression-drivers

[Earl K]

Ouch.

GPA makes replacement diaphragms for the 806 drivers, I'm guessing they should be a sonic improvement over the originals for much less money than buying the entire driver


Personally, I doubt it's worth it ( refitting an 806 driver with a GPA diaphragm ) .

The 806a drivers problem is that it's less efficient than an 802 or 902 ( plus it's more or less a 12 ohm driver working against an 8 ohm woofer which is more efficient .
- Chas did the smart thing in buying a true 8 ohm driver,
- If GPA sold a 4 ohm ( or even 6 ohm ) modern diaphragm to retrofit into the older tired 806's >> that would help .

If a person is going to drive a 97db efficient system these days ( and get satisfying HF + UHF ) one needs to use a driver that's much more efficient than 102db ( which is only that efficient in the midrange ).
- One wants the response over 10K to be at least 95db ( not less than 90 db which is about what one gets with the stock 806 ).

Here's a pretty accurate representation from Zilchs archives ( compare HF at 95db // woofer at 97db to get an idea of just how lacking the original Valencia system was.

87560

:)

[bedrock602]

Personally, I doubt it's worth it ( refitting an 806 driver with a GPA diaphragm ) .

The 806a drivers problem is that it's less efficient than an 802 or 902 ( plus it's more or less a 12 ohm driver working against an 8 ohm woofer which is more efficient .


I have a pair of 802-8D drivers, would they be preferable to 806-8A for use in my Valencia 846B ? They currently have no horn drivers or crossovers.

[Earl K]

I have a pair of 802-8D drivers, would they be preferable to 806-8A for use in my Valencia 846B ? They currently have no horn drivers or crossovers.

Yes the larger drivers are preferable / unfortunately, they physically don't fit in the allotted space.

The pancake type 902's from Altec or GPA are the best upgrade.

Routing out the back panel might fix the depth issue for an 802 ( if not and more depth is needed then do what Altec did with the Barcelona > cut a hole for the driver to poke through and then seal it all with a "top-hat device" of some sort ) .

87561



:)

[Cadguy]

Is the Altec 30923 attenuator circuit a useful upgrade for the 846b? Any downsides to adding this?

[RMC]

Hi Earl,

RE " all with the of intent finding something that Cdn Valencia owners can use as an upgrade path. For Instance, I have a pair of Peerless compression drivers that I think very highly of" (Post # 9)

This idea is an interesting one and i'm in favor of looking at other alternatives when prices are sky high. I also looked at some prices on the GPA web site a few days ago and these gave me vertigo, and then some when all costs are in.

I don't intend to rain on your project, nor to send you back to leaf raking (have that too), however not sure the Peerless would be a viable replacement for many or for the longer run in view of availability issues. Did a search on these Peerless at some well-known places to Canadians and the results aren't great, seems more like a discontinued product.

On Tymphany.com (maker of Peerless) i haven't found a single current compression driver! For Solen which distributes Peerless in Canada zero Peerless comp driver seen (though Solen has many from Precision Devices, Fane and Dayton at more affordable prices than GPA). Digikey.ca is listed for a few Peerless comp drivers but has none in stock (see pic). On Madisound in the US which also sells Peerless no comp driver seen.

In fact the only one i saw which had some Peerless comp driver in stock is Parts Express, where user comments were generally good. How many of these units they have and/or for how long remains to be seen. Could be left over or remaining stock only?

As always good things seem to get discontinued over and over again... Regards,

Richard

8757287573

[Earl K]

Yes Richard,

As far as I know, only Parts Express stocks the Peerless driver that I'm referring to. In fact there are times I think it was a prodcut made just for them ( though I don't know that to be true ).

The thing is, these Peerless drivers are so affordable that even a Canadian can afford to import it ( though it may not stack up as well as some of the other more available choices that I intend to send to Chas > ie; some Celestion drivers ).

What I like about the Peerless diaphragm is that it's plastic damped metal ( titanium ) which is very much a JBL thing ( for their SOTA HiFi compression drivers ).

:)

[bedrock602]

Yes the larger drivers are preferable / unfortunately, they physically don't fit in the allotted space.

:)

That's good to know, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the 802-8D's, I got them as a trade for a ratty old Fisher receiver. Allowing the driver to poke out the rear of the cabinet is a good option.

[RMC]

Earl,

Yeah Celestion too, i keep forgetting about them. They have many as seen on Qcomponents.ca, going from say $50. up to $500+.CA, with a good number of them quite affordable.

The British (Celestion, Fane, Precision Devices) are competitive in the comp driver market. With the Brexit drama going on for a while now the pound's value went down which meant and still means some more interesting buys from overseas. Regards,

Richard

[Earl K]

Is the Altec 30923 attenuator circuit a useful upgrade for the 846b? Any downsides to adding this?


The 30923 attenuator circuit is a very useful way to reduce the midrange based "horn-shout".

Unfortunately, it can't address the HF deficiencies of the 806 driver.

Worth noting here GDM ( from your AK thread on the same subject ) uses the better 802 driver as well as a tweeter on top of that.

OPINION :

Those $3600.00 Valencias from out west are priced at least 50% over market value.

3 years ago those Valencias would have had to wait awhile to sell for $1500.00 Cdn // last year even longer ( if at all ) for $2400.00 // and this year they won't sell for $3600.00 ( it's all a "Hail-Mary play" based on some Forum monitoring ) .

One can do much better than that for what is essentially a project speaker ( needs a new pair of HF drivers > upgraded crossover > should really have a bigger box though that's dépendant on how much bass you need.
:)

PS : Your thread at AK should have been started in the Lansing Forum.

That way it wouldn't sink out of sight so quickly ( currently page 3 & approaching crush-depth ).

You can always ask Heather ( HJames ) to move it for you.

[Cadguy]

The 30923 attenuator circuit is a very useful way to reduce the midrange based "horn-shout".

Unfortunately, it can't address the HF deficiencies of the 806 driver.

Worth noting here GDM ( from your AK thread on the same subject ) uses the better 802 driver as well as a tweeter on top of that.

OPINION :

Those $3600.00 Valencias from out west are priced at least 50% over market value.

3 years ago those Valencias would have had to wait awhile to sell for $1500.00 Cdn // last year even longer ( if at all ) for $2400.00 // and this year they won't sell for $3600.00 ( it's all a "Hail-Mary play" based on some Forum monitoring ) .

One can do much better than that for what is essentially a project speaker ( needs a new pair of HF drivers > upgraded crossover > should really have a bigger box though that's dépendant on how much bass you need.
:)

PS : Your thread at AK should have been started in the Lansing Forum.

That way it wouldn't sink out of sight so quickly ( currently page 3 & approaching crush-depth ).

You can always ask Heather ( HJames ) to move it for you.

Thanks so much for this advice Earl. I will pass on the Valencias at $3600 but I may go listen to them. Just for comparison there was a nice looking pair of Model 19s refinished in black, new grills and foam around the horns for $5000 CDN here that sold recently and there were some A7s that sold in one day.

[Cadguy]

I finally had a chance to listen to a pair of Valencia 846b driven by a Sansui 8080 receiver and came away very disappointed. This combo sounded harsh, strained. and distorted, like a much smaller speaker with the volume cranked up. . There was none of the live in the room presence, the sense of ease and midrange magic that I was hoping for. From what people here say it appears tube amplification is a must for the Valencias to sound good. Then there is the well trodden road of cap replacements, crossover changes, damping and horn driver replacements after which it seems that many just move on to other speakers. I would hate to make the commitment of time and money and end up disappointed in the end.

[grumpy]

Worth making sure the 50+ year old drivers are still functioning properly.
It would not be surprising if the HF drivers (diaphragms in particular) were not.
Connections to, and inside the individual drivers can also become... less than optimal.

The system has potential for some improvement, but should also -not- sound like doo doo if working properly.
Whether a tube amp will magically/drastically improve the sound? One person's "I think I can hear a difference" is another person's "Night/day improvement" ... Meh.

[Mr. Widget]

I finally had a chance to listen to a pair of Valencia 846b driven by a Sansui 8080 receiver and came away very disappointed. This combo sounded harsh, strained. and distorted, like a much smaller speaker with the volume cranked up.Harsh doesn't surprise me, but distorted sounds like a speaker or even an amp issue.


Worth making sure the 50+ year old drivers are still functioning properly. +1

Around 1980 I was studying audio engineering (studio recording). We had a couple of pairs of A7s with 511s on top in the studio for playback and we had 2 pairs of soffit mounted Altec 9846 monitors in the control room. The 9846s use the 511 horn with I don't know which driver and a lower efficiency 15" woofer for better low end extension.

No one at the studio was a fan of either Altec, but they were what we had. About the same time the Model 19 was available in high-fi shops... it was hands down better sounding than either of the Altec systems we had at the studio.

Zoom forward to today and there are lots of Altecs running sub-optimally out there and lots of people who have discovered the joy of horn loaded speakers and their effortless dynamics. I have to say the same is true of the larger vintage Klipsch speakers. I have had K-horns and La Scalas. There is much to love about all of these speakers, but they must be brought back to spec and then you have to realize you will be listening to a system that has gross frequency response irregularities compared to a modern system.

Will a tube amp fix the issues? Almost never.
Will a fully restored tube amp sound good on a fully restored vintage horn system? Quite possibly. Some of the vintage tube amps like a MAC240 or a Dynaco have a soft and fat bottom end that gives the illusion of more bass which can be pleasing with the high sensitivity systems with their inherently rolled off bottom ends.


Widget

[srm51555]

I also struggled with the midrange bump with all of the early crossover design Altecs until I built this:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/using-altec-30904-atteuator-with-511-416.155640/

Really worth the money. I have built for both the 846a (16 ohms) and 846b (8 ohms). The z-19 crossover could also work but I have no experience with it.

Thanks,
Scott

[Cadguy]

Thankyou for all the encouraging advise, I don't want to give up on my quest for vintage Altecs. I hadn't been to a high end audio store in almost 20 years and recently out of curiosity, I went to listen to some new Bowers & Wilkins 802s with a Simaudio Moon CD player, preamp and monoblocks. Yes, they sounded very neutral, precise and transparent but also very sterile. Then I came across Art Dudley's review of the Klipschorn AK6 where he mentions that modern speakers lack the natural dynamics, impact and body of his Flamencos and Valencias and that's what brought me here. I'll continue in my search for for Altecs that are in better condition or affordable enough to bring up to snuff.

[Mr. Widget]

Then I came across Art Dudley's review of the Klipschorn AK6 where he mentions that modern speakers lack the natural dynamics, impact and body of his Flamencos and Valencias and that's what brought me here.I already miss Art Dudley's reviews and columns describing his trips into vintage audio. I was impressed that Stereophile would let him spend so much time talking about products that could never advertise in the magazine... truly a service and a hoot. RIP Art.


I'll continue in my search for for Altecs that are in better condition or affordable enough to bring up to snuff.I think you are on the right track. I have had more experience with JBL, Klipsch, and even EV than I have had with Altec, but I think if handled correctly and following a similar path to Scott's you may find what you are looking for. GPA is a wonderful resource. There are still beater Altecs out there to be found at bargain prices and with a bit of care and creativity you will be able to assemble an affordable and wonderful system. Or, who knows, you may stumble into a real bargain. But I would expect new HF diaphragms and a new network will be required to reach your goal.


Widget

[Earl K]

So, Chas and I concluded the initiative that I had outlined above.

To Paraphrase our communications ( hopefully accurately ) ;

He didn't like the Celestion drivers that I sent ( CDX1-1747 ) but did like the little Peerless drivers ( peerless dfm-2535r00-08 ) once a significant HF contour circuit was put in place ( 6.8uF cap strapped across the variable LPad ) .

The GPA 902-8a is still the king of the mountain ( though oddly enough , it hardly needs any HF contouring to satisfy Chas's listening requirements for HF or UHF sparkle ).

- Worth pointing out once again is that Chas's main speakers are JBL 4345's that are retrofitted with TAD 2002 drivers ( + of course the 4345 has a dedicated UHF tweeter in the form of the 2405 ).

With all that JBL/TAD backgrounding, it really puts the GPA 902 into rarefied company ( & by some measure , also pulls along the little Peerless into worthy contention ).

I'm pretty sure that our dearly departed Great Altec Sceptic ( aka; Zilch ) would be quite bemused by these turn of events.

:)

[Mr. Widget]

So, Chas and I concluded...

The GPA 902-8a is still the king of the mountain ( though oddly enough , it hardly needs any HF contouring to satisfy Chas's listening requirements for HF or UHF sparkle ).


I'm pretty sure that our dearly departed Great Altec Sceptic ( aka; Zilch ) would be quite bemused by these turn of events.Gosh darn Zilch!

Thanks for posting the update. I just read through this thread again, and while the GPA 902s are not inexpensive, considering they are handmade in low volumes here in the USA, I think they are still a bargain. Of course almost 20 years ago now; when Bill was first starting out, I asked for his help with a blown Altec small format driver and he shipped me a free diaphragm at no cost including shipping. A hell of a guy. I am thrilled they are still making improvements and are still with us!


Widget

[Chas]

So, Chas and I concluded the initiative that I had outlined above.

To Paraphrase our communications ( hopefully accurately ) ;

He didn't like the Celestion drivers that I sent ( CDX1-1747 ) but did like the little Peerless drivers ( peerless dfm-2535r00-08 ) once a significant HF contour circuit was put in place ( 6.8uF cap strapped across the variable LPad ) .

The GPA 902-8a is still the king of the mountain ( though oddly enough , it hardly needs any HF contouring to satisfy Chas's listening requirements for HF or UHF sparkle ).

- Worth pointing out once again is that Chas's main speakers are JBL 4345's that are retrofitted with TAD 2002 drivers ( + of course the 4345 has a dedicated UHF tweeter in the form of the 2405 ).

With all that JBL/TAD backgrounding, it really puts the GPA 902 into rarefied company ( & by some measure , also pulls along the little Peerless into worthy contention ).

I'm pretty sure that our dearly departed Great Altec Sceptic ( aka; Zilch ) would be quite bemused by these turn of events.

:)

Yes, the Peerless was/is remarkable. At the price, it’s a great value.