Home The Background The Brands Facts Items for sale Links Wanted

Pictures

Click here for: The Flaming Altec A-7 - "Voice of the Theatre"

 

 

 




    
This is the real thing - the altec 604.
    Orginally developed in the mid-forties this speaker is still
    in production, albeit under another modell number. The 604 ended
    up as 604-H.


    
In the 620 cabinet it is called modell
    17. Cross-over frequency is 1600 hz.


    
Special for this type of speaker (dual-concentric)
    is that the total sound picture subjectively originates from
    one single source.


    
Efficiency is better than 100 decibels
    at 1 m at 1 watt input.

    


     Another Altec Classic - the 350 tube
    power amp. Through the years an infinite number of different
    electronics for different purposes was manufactured by Altec.
    





    

    
Late version of the "Super Duplex"
    - modell 604-H - in a 620 cabinet. The "square" Manta
    Ray-horn can clearly be seen on this 604. Which implies that
    it also has the "new" Tangerine phase plug.


    
This combo was called modell 17 in our
    time. Arnfinn made metric drawings
    for this cabinet which we sent along with the units. I still
    have these drawings!




    

    The Altec 1592 - every church or hotell
    in the U.S. must have had one - mixer and amplifier in one -----




    

    

    Every stadium and concert arena should
    have some -- the Altec A-7 with the 500 hz horn. At the Lillehammer
    Winter Olympics '94 most of the PA system was Altec.

 

Above:  A little "green" monster - the Altec 1593B. A straightforward mono 50 watts transistor amplifier which proves that you don't need a lot honky-ponky to sound loud - and good. Just plain, good craftmanship. I know - I have several of them. They came in 50, 100 and 200 watts versions. Of course it wouldn't be Altec if they hadn't put in a lot of adaptability, like transformers for long-distance coupling and the choice of several impedances. Even a high-pass filter. In a two-way setup this one would take care of the top.

Below: The backside! The "green" Altec series is quality throughout and built to purpose. The common denominator on all Altec electronics is the two-way speaker system. In the end bi-amping is the ultimate setup. To the left is the power supply. The trannie in the middle is the 70-volt line transformer with output transistors at each side. The round socket to the right is for preamp for such use.

 

Above: The Altec 9440 - a veritable power-house. Not particularly impressive with 2x200 watts in 8 ohms? Well, it also yielded 2x400 clean watts in 4 ohms! And even more in 2 ohms! Below: Its meters were exceptional - almost at par with those at the McIntosh units. Extremely well protected, too! A professional amp in the true sense.

 

 
 Left: the Altec 755 is one of the real classics - having been in production for many years. Very shallow in depth it is ideal for wall installations and, being an 8 in., has a reasonably wide frequency response. It is a "biflex" construction, meaning that the inner part of the cone can swing independently of the outer part - more or less!

The modell 15, modell 19, Bookshelfs, stage monitor, 604-H A relatively recent line-up of Altec speakers. Designations are different, but these could be, from the left: Modell 15, 19, Bookshelf Series and built-in components - the 604 at the rights. The horns are the Manta Ray constructions that were introduced at end of the seventies.

 

Above and below: The Altec 846 Valencia. After the modell 19, this was our best-selling Altec floor-model, somewhat smaller than the Barcelona - having the 800 hz horn instead of the 500 hz. They came in various wood sorts, which was always a theme of discussion - the sound was not! The Valencia, at some instances, could sound a little boxy, but giving the placement as much thought as with any other speaker the result could be staggering. With it's 15 in. woofer and relatively large cabinet, the efficiency was quite good. 98 db 1 watt input, if I remember correctly. As with any other horn speaker, transients and musical details were very good. "The Gurus", however, had a hard time accepting horn speakers. Too simple for them - not enough tweaking!

 

Valencia pictures courtesy of:: David G Wojnarowski
Please visit his web-site:
Dave
 
 
 
And here they are: The Barcelonas. Width is approx. 36 inches, height: 30 inches. They have the 500 hz midrange/top horn and a 16 in. woofer. If I remember correctly the Barcelona had a marginally lower efficiency than the Valencias. Went deeper, though. We sold only a couple of pairs of these as they became frightfully expensive with freight costs and all the taxes that was levied in that period.
 Barcelona pictures: Courtesy of Gary Vigorito. Thank you, Gary!

Back to top.

 
My e-mail address is:
frleand@online.no