New Altec Valencias with an interesting backstory

BassKulcha

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I've been wanting to upgrade from my Dynacos (A-25XL & A-50) for a while now and looking hard at horn speakers.

These came up for sale for what seemed to be a good price (and in great condition) and I went for it. Not only do they sound FANTASTIC in my system (!!! and especially for Jazz, which is 90% of what I play lately), it turns out that they have a really interesting backstory.

The owner got them a few years ago from a well-known reviewer for a well-known audiophile magazine, and these are the same ones he owned and referenced for the 2013 review of the Altec Valencia. Pretty cool...

Apparently both stems for the N800F crossovers broke off during the move three years ago, however the new owner sourced two NOS N800F crossovers and had them replaced. Everything else appears to be original.

NOTE: This video was recorded from an iPhone so it obviously can't accurately capture the naturalistic tonality, fine detail, separation and expansive soundstage that these have in real life. Clifford Jordan's horn here seems almost live.

Going to fine-tune the placement soon...

Speakers: Altec Valencia
Amp: Dynaco ST-70
Preamp: Marantz 3600
Turntable: Thorens TD-124
Tonearm: Grado Micro-Control
Cartridge: Denon DL 103
SUT: Bob's Devices Sky CineMag 20

 
Congratulations! Good looking speakers, and you can tell that they sound very nice in the room.
 
Very cool. I saw that he had moved on to Flamenco’s I believe it was. Now we know what happened to the Valencia’s. Very cool!
 
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I've often wondered how Art could critically evaluate "electronics" through Altec Flamencos??? Granted they have a nice sound, but there are certainly better (less colored/more extended) speakers for evaluating upstream equipment.
 
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Congratulations. I had wondered when reading the article, which includes a picture of them laying on their backs in his vehicle how the attenuation knobs would have fared. They are regarded by a number of people to have great synergy with Shindo gear, I had speculated if that in part was what led the reviewer to seek them out. I use with mine a Triode Lab EL84 TTS amp and am very pleased. Thanks for sharing the video, great TD124 as well.
 
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