Altec Valencia 846u Restore

Great job, rshep!!!! Normally, I don't like the industrial gray look, but you've knocked it out of the park with these. They look clean, purposeful, and downright attractive. 'Gotta pat you on the back for this job. Very impressive.

In my case, the 30923 network simply transformed the sound of my 802Ds to something quite magical. What are your thoughts now that you've had a chance to hear them with and without the eq network?

Would also like to hear your thoughts on the bass response. Is it good in the 846 cabs? I have 416-8Zs in my cabs (6.5 cu ft) and the bass response is fantastic for typical pop, jazz, and rock. Much better than I had anticipated. Probably not low enough for lovers of organ, but perfect for my fare.

GeeDeeEmm

Thanks so much for the props, I'm really happy with how they turned out.

I agree with the magical sound. Very handy having the midrange adjustment, great for fine-tuning the speakers with different amps ie tube vs. solid state.

Overall, I just love the dynamic sound. Vocals pop out and are the best that I have heard in any speakers I've owned. I prefer listening to the the Altecs over my Magnepans, at least for right now. That's a high compliment because the Magnepan's with the ribbon tweeters are very nice.

I was warned that the bass might be lacking in the Valencia's. I read that the 416-8Z woofer can do better in a more optimized cabinet. However, I'm happy with the bass. I have a couple of subwoofers that I could use but don't feel the need. I think the bass response is just about right. I listen to classic rock, prog rock, new prog and jazz. Some recordings could use more bass, while others are a little bass heavy. Most of the music I listen to has the right bass mix.

The only criticism that I have is that the speakers sound so good at 90 db peaks that I've been listening a little louder with them. They're very satisfying cranked up, I just worry about my hearing which isn't great. I'm usually very careful with loud sounds, wearing hearing protection with power tools and at concerts.
 
Very handy having the midrange adjustment, great for fine-tuning the speakers with different amps ie tube vs. solid state.

I have my crossover wired for the midrange control, too, but I've unhooked it. For some reason I like the quality of the response that's built into the 30923 alone. I may do a little experimenting with resistor values and see if I can tune the adjustment to my taste. I hate to have a knob on the back that is doing nothing! ;)

GeeDeeEmm
 
Do you happen to have a link for your capacitance tester?
I bought mine from Banggood back in 2014. They no longer carry the exact model, but they do have others. I did find what looks exactly like mine on eBay from a US seller. Search for 182743434000 and it will come up as "M328 DIY Kit Capacitance ESR Inductance Resistor LCR Meter Component Tester US". You'll have to find a case and buy that separately. It was a good investment, I use it to compare old/new capacitors and used the beta measurement to match driver transistor pairs for my Hafler Power Amp.
 
Thanks so much for this thread - pretty sure I documented some of my rebuild of a pair of Altec 9844 monitors (same components as the Malibu). I've spent the better part of this year trying various crossover topologies, but keep coming back to the (rebuilt) N-800F with the 30923 added afterward.

I'm running dual 16 ohm 414z for a nominal 8 ohm woofer load and 16 ohm GPA 802-16g (sold the 806a's that were originally installed).

I'm happy to share what I've learned with others trying to incorporate 16 ohm Altec compression drivers into this kind of setup....I struggled with the impedance mismatch a bit initially.

FWIW, for the R2 value of my 16 ohm 30923, I tend to like something in the neighborhood of between 12 ohms (which is stock for 16 ohms) and 20 ohms. 30923 is fantastic, as others have stated, particularly for higher volume listening.

Only other change I plan to make is to grab a pair of 23744 diaphragms for the 802-gs if I can ever find a pair (8 or 16 ohm - I don't care).

At the risk of making that difficult task even harder, a story: one of the original 806a drivers that were installed on my 9844s sounded so much clearer and more refined than the other... just, all around better. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why. I figured the difference was due to age and the drivers needed a remag/refurb. So I sent them off to GPA for a full refresh. Bill advised I didn't need new phragms as the originals both tested great. Got them back from GPA, reinstalled them, and the difference was EVEN GREATER. I'm pulling my hair out at this point...thinking I'm imagining it. Many convos with Bill, who was great and patient, ensued. He knew the model numbers of my phragms were different from one another, but also knew they tested the same and, I think, is dubious of the rantings of audiophiles. Weeks pass... the disparity between the two drivers was too much for me - I ordered a new pair of GPA diaphragms. Install them and, finally! they both sound the same....as the "not as good" driver. That's when I started looking into it...the good sounding one had an original 23744 in it all along. The other had the standard replacement (not Symbiotics or anything) So if there's any question about those 23744s sounding better than the standard Altec phragms of the era, that experience settles it (for me anyway).

Now I KNOW I'll never find a pair of 23744s, but I had to get that off my chest.

Regardless, they're still the best sounding speakers I've ever owned, and beat the pants off other, much more spendy 'hi-fi' speakers I've had.

Thanks again for posting this! Hope I didn't go too far OT with my rant. Great resource for future Altec owners.
 
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