Altec Segovia 874A worth saving?

njcanuck

aka: MacGyver
A friend donated to me a pair of Altec Segovia 874A (wife wanted them outta the basement!) this weekend. A little research says they were produced in the early 70s as an oversized bookshelf speaker and Altec’s competitor to the JBL L100 and the AR3a.

These look like they’ve had a bit of a hard life and one has some hacked repair attempted. They are not consecutive serial numbers (33xx and 39xx) and are clearly slightly different construction. Does anyone have these? Are they worth spending any time on?

They are not functional at present. On one, I got sound out of the tweet and mid but no woof. On the other, woof only. The foams are rotted out on the woofs but the VCs on all the drivers measure close to 4 ohms. One woof has fried tinsel wires but the VC still measures 3.7 ohms. The crossovers likely need recapping as a minimum. The cabs are scratched up but only lightly on very good veneer.

I was thinking of attempting a restore if only for the practice. However, if they were originally dogs and always will be, I’ll pass and look for a different project. What would you do with them?
 

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I would definitely restore them. They're a less common Altec and were fairly expensive when new. That dynamic force woofer is supposed to make fantastic bass.
 
umm... that tweeter looks like a Philips AD0160 family polycarbonate dome... I don't think that's what Altec put in these originally... is it?

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EDIT: D'oh, OK... maybe Altec did indeed use the Philips dome... who knew!? ;-)

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source for above:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1974-home/page3.jpg
 
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i remember a version of this speaker (shown full color in the warehouse sound catalog circa 1975) that had a cone tweeter and small midrange/tweeter with round frames....maybe a different model from that same era?
 
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I don't think that's what Altec put in these originally... is it?
Original, i promise.

Segovia is a unique creature in terms of vintage Altecs.

As I said, the woofer in this speaker was only used in this model. It is a monster, underhung,
Altec affectionately named these woofers "Dynamic Force" because of the huge dynamic force capabilities of their motors.

These smaller versions in the 874 and 891, as well as the larger 413 woofer are based on the 411-8A, the only Altec woofer to use a 4 inch voice coil.

FWIW, there's a duplex with a 4 inch VC. However, that LF section is actually a JBL LE-15.
 
I'm pretty certain that the tweeters are original. I got the speakers directly from the original owner and he's not the type to mod stuff. Here's a pic of the part #s:

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They are - Altec used OEM 4 ohm Philips AD0160 polycarbonate domes in these - I did not know Altec ever used those tweeters (which are very nice sounding drivers, AVID in Rhode Island, e.g., used them in their 1970s loudspeakers) until today.

I really should stop pretending I know anything about Altec products :p
 
I really should stop pretending I know anything about Altec products :p
Heck no!

Don't let the Segovia's throw ya, they're a far departure from the Altec norm, unique in every way to their predecessors.
 
I passed over a pair of those at a flea market several years ago. I thought they were some lower line junk that Altec made. Only if I'd had a smart phone then! lol
 
Sounds more like the later (ca. 1975) Altec model 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 series to me than the Segovia-era (ca. 1971) speakers:

http://www.lansingheritage.org//html/altec/catalogs/1975-home.htm

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that's the one! the model 5. thanks for the pics! (and excellent woofer build for those days)

EDIT: reading the product brochure, i find it interesting that altec was researching psycho-acoustics but failed to build their speakers in mirror imaged pairs! (but few companies, except for say, ESS were doing that back then).
 
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I got a chance to test all the drivers tonight. Good news - they all work, even the woofer with the fried wires! The crossover transformers seem to be good as well. Don't know about the caps but I figure on replacing them all.

Since the key parts seem viable, I guess I'll order some foams and tinsel leads and start restoring. Anyone have a good source for the caps - 6uF, 30uF, 100uF all 50V ?
 
The Dayton loudspeaker crossover caps (Bennic OEM, if memory serves) from Parts Express are inexpensive and are also quite respectable.
 
Madisound is where I get all of my capacitors, etc, from as I use Solen for most everything. Some like Parts Express but their shipping charges turn me away. You can go higher on voltage than 50v and you'll be fine. The Solen caps are 400v and I've used those in old Altecs, Klipsch, AR's, Dynaco's, Polk, etc, etc. But I'd go with an electrolytic cap for that 100uf cap as it would be way pricey in a Poly. Even the 30uf will be rather pricey in the grand scheme of things.

6uf Solen

30uf Solen

100uf Solen

100uf electrolytic Bennic (I've used these...work well)
 
Thanks guys. Those caps are in the right price range. I used Sonicaps in my Klipsch but these Altecs are not going to be a high-buck restore. The Solens are available in all the correct sizes so I'll probably go with them.
 
Thanks guys. Those caps are in the right price range. I used Sonicaps in my Klipsch but these Altecs are not going to be a high-buck restore. The Solens are available in all the correct sizes so I'll probably go with them.

You can also order direct from Solen in Canada. They have great pricing and a nice selections of inductors and speakers as well. If you order lots of stuff they can even be talked into giving dealer pricing.

http://www.solen.ca/pub/index.php?s1=1&a=2
 
Altec knew a thing or two about designing loudspeaker drivers ;-)

Oh yes they did indeed! Listening to a 40-50 year old Altec coaxial I wonder just how much progress has really been made. They still hold up with the best, at least with anything I could possibly afford.
 
Oh yes they did indeed! Listening to a 40-50 year old Altec coaxial I wonder just how much progress has really been made. They still hold up with the best, at least with anything I could possibly afford.

You'll get no argument from me...

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