which multicell Altec horn???

[Earl K]

This seller really went to town taking a lot of pics / we are all indebted to him .

One can nicely see the one-piece entry area in these photos .


<> EarlK

[vernb]

wauw, that really made it all very clear. Great pics that guy made.
and thanks again
I still like my horns very much though, even if they are not Altec.
best regards
Vernb

[Earl K]

How about some more photos of yours ? ( Use what I just posted as a guide for the profiling )

My guess ( after seeing your adapter for a 1" bolt-on driver using the Altec bolt-pattern ) is that your 2 horns were originally marketed by Westrex of England , sometime in the early 50s ( & cast by whomever did the actual foundry work ) .

- I'm suspecting that Westrex licensed a bunch of Altecs technology ( after "cherry-picking" through Altecs inventory for what they think they needed for off-shore markets ) .
- A product like a "variable entry H808" would fit nicely into this product lineup ( for the smaller cinemas found in England at the time ) .
- This "conjecture" fits nicely with the known facts of the late 1940s dispersal of Western Electrics US cinema-sound operations ( as ordered by the US government ) .
- Additionally, at the time , to do business within ( impoverished ) Post-War England ( which was governed by a protectionist Labour government ) companies were forced to manufacture ( a certain percentage of their gross sales within the U.K. ) to be able to market their wares in the country . And with England still being the head of the British commonwealth, it was the natural country to set -up as a branch-plant manufacturing centre for export around the world .
- Historically ( at @ the same time ), Altec did start manufacturing W.E.s' legacy products with ; Rear-vented magnetic assemblies, Sectoral horn technology ( ie; the radial horn ) & the speakers with a 4" voice-coil ( 728b , for a while ) . The "rights" were likely given in return for W.E.s usage of Altec technologies such as the 515 woofer, the 288 driver ( & the H808 ) among others . This "horse-trading" of product licensing ( unofficial as it might of been between Westrex & Altec ), would have nicely circumvented the US governments intentions and benefited both Altec & W.E. .
- A global ( "omnibus" ) trade deal like this, would of ( no doubt ) dismayed James Lansing and his own ambitions .

You can see ( from my ramblings ) that I think your horn has some great pedigree ( and untold stories ) behind it .

Here's a nice photo ( of the Toronto horn ) showing the metal flashing still in place ( after the 2 pieces were cast ) .



<> EarlK

[vernb]

I will definately post more pictures of my horns for you. And I will try to borrow the 2x3cell horns aswell, to make pictures. I only saw them shortly, but apart from being out of sheet metal like many Altecs, they looked like they had the same throat adaptor as mine

[Altec Best]

The differences in those horns is indeed just the mounting of the actual driver (Bolt-on & Screw-on)and throats(1" & 1.4") .Pretty close facsimiles though.

[vernb]

I am just back from holidays and will provide you all with better pictures of both my 2x4cell horns and my friends 2x3cell horns that appears to have the above mentioned 2.5" threaded throats. But not with the same threading as mine.

[vernb]

I am just back from holidays and will provide you all with better pictures of both my 2x4cell horns and my friends 2x3cell horns that appears to have the above mentioned 2.5" threaded throats. But not with the same threading as mine.

Well my new camera is out of juice, and I think I've lost the charger on holidays. That is why you haven't seen more pictures. I will keep looking or buy a new charger next week. I really hope it shows up. I'll be back

[vernb]

Well finally I found an exact match to my horns, that to me looked so much like Altec H808 horns. Well as you told me, they are not. But they are Italian Cinemeccanica horns. A very friendly French guy on the Lencoheaven forum told me. And in this ebay auction you can see more picture of the horns (the auction is not mine, as I have not put mine up for sale).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-CINEMEC...:B:SHOP:US:101

I also finally got a new battery charger for my Ricoh camera, so that I can start shooting horn pictures for you again. As I told you, I also bought a pair of 6 cell horns. But these are not cast, but "tin plate" or what it is, like the "newer" altec cell horns.