Vintage Altecs

[jasondhenry]

Hello, I'm new to the forum however I have been lurking for a while.

I was wondering if anyone has ever listened to some vintage altec lansings? In particular of the horn loaded nature. I previously owned a pair of monitor 14's, I think they were 1977 models)and am curious to know if there are any current model speakers out there with the same type of sonic signature or sound characteristics of the altecs, as my wife made me sell my vintage speakers when I moved to a surround setup(she said they were ugly and bulky. I purchased 3 Ascend cmt 340se's across the front and 2 170se's for the surround. While I am happy with the sound of movies (bluray Oppo 93) Music is just not what I would like it to be. The price was right on the ascends, and that was a big reason I bought them, but the more time passes the more I miss my other speakers. The wifes not going to like it but another upgrade may be in my future. btw: my projected budget would be $3,000.

My receiver is the Pioneer elite vsx23txh and I also plan on adding the emotiva xpa-5.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello, I'm new to the forum however I have been lurking for a while.

I was wondering if anyone has ever listened to some vintage altec lansings? In particular of the horn loaded nature. I previously owned a pair of monitor 14's, I think they were 1977 models)and am curious to know if there are any current model speakers out there with the same type of sonic signature or sound characteristics of the altecs, as my wife made me sell my vintage speakers when I moved to a surround setup(she said they were ugly and bulky. I purchased 3 Ascend cmt 340se's across the front and 2 170se's for the surround. While I am happy with the sound of movies (bluray Oppo 93) Music is just not what I would like it to be. The price was right on the ascends, and that was a big reason I bought them, but the more time passes the more I miss my other speakers. The wifes not going to like it but another upgrade may be in my future. btw: my projected budget would be $3,000.

My receiver is the Pioneer elite vsx23txh and I also plan on adding the emotiva xpa-5.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

There is nothing available currently that has the sound of those vintage Altecs, and there probably never will be.

Whilst not an accurate speaker they had a distinctive clear tight sound that was beloved by a lot of "Pop" music enthusiasts, especially of 70s rock.

If you can construct speakers, I have a set of Altec 4-11 8A 15" woofers from that era I need to sell. I also have electronic crossovers from Shure that are deigned for Altec 15" to sectoral horn crossover.

The Altecs sound much better with biamping and active crossovers, than the more common passive.

We would need to find suitable compression drivers and horn, but that would not be difficult.

If you are interested let me know.

 

[cpp]

FYI if you want to build vintage Altecs or need to repair here is a great site for actual AL parts and specs.

http://www.altecpro.com/products/vintage/index.htm

 

[jasondhenry]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not to handy with building speakers, although I've never tried. I'm kicking myself after hearing your response. I'll keep a look out for pair for sale strictly for 2 channel listening and hang on to my ascends.

 

[LAB3]

I like "Horns" too, have you listened to any of the older Klipsch Heritage Series speakers? There are several models that sound close to the Altec horns.