Seeburg Dds-1

Found a set of dds-1's several weeks back. I've been looking for something with a bit more bottom end than my Snell E-III's. Since recapping my HK citation II, the Snells we're not able to do the job. So I stumbled across these. I replaced two woofers with stock utahs, replaced the diaphragms in the 806a's from Great plains and recapped the crossovers. So last night I finally get a test run. Wow, just what I was looking for. Sweet
Mids/highs, and enough bass to balance it out. Home run!
Thank you, Bill at Great Plains audio(the place for altec parts), Jeff at Soniccraft(for recomending caps for crossover), and this forum for more info than I could ever sort through.

Harmon Kardon citation II
Eico HF-85
Thorens TD-125mk2
SME 2009
Grado
 
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update

Here's an update on what I've discovered about these speakers. When listening to most of my favorite recordings the balance between lows and highs is perfect. Some recordings there is to much high/treble. I only listen to vinyl on this system. It must be recording engineer hearing loss, I don't know? On good quality recordings, Wow these are really fun. I'm going to install a l-pad and see how that works. Will it color/effect the sound? Other than horn output.
Thanks Paul
 
Making and installing the equalizer/attenuator Altec 30904 you will extend the highs and tame those 806s to tolerable levels. The schematic should be on this forum if you do a search.
 
Thanks, I find the search feature not very helpful. It usually gives me pages of stuff that doesnt seem related. But I will sift on. In the mean time I've installed l-pads. That helps a lot.
I also removed the plastic screen between the speaker and metal front. These are really fun!
 
I've found the Altec 30904. Now can someone link me to a schematic that incorporates a L-pad with it. Or would that be a no no?
 
I would like to try the 30904. Does anyone know where a lpad should go? Now its after the crossover. If I install the 30904 would it(30904) go before or after lpad?
Thanks
 
I'm not sure if it's the diaphragms breaking in or new caps in the crossovers breaking in or a bit of both. But the dds-1's are sounding better/sweeter all of a sudden. I've noticed a big difference in the last few hours of listening. I'm thinking twice about the attenuator mod. Can anyone tell me how long diaphrams take to break-in? How about caps?
Thanks Paul
 
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=186835&page=2
post 22
Whaleman is quite helpful regarding the mods to the dds 1 crossover. I have not done any crossover mods to mine yet. Mine came single from two different owners. One had an L pad installed and one was stock. I will verify the L pad is quite neccessary. The efffieciency of the altec horn and driver is too much for the utah woofers. Way out of balance. I hope to mod mine this winter and possibly reveneer the cabinets. There is great potential in these to sound really nice. I think of them as a poor mans Altec model 19.
 
Those are some beautiful speakers for sure. I take it they came with Altec woofers. Seems as though their would be better choices for the woofer than Utah. But then again I don't know all the variables and have tried many variations myself. Deep bottom end is hard to come by but they looks as though they could blow your face off. Glad they are working for you and would love to hear a set some day. Nice stuff men!
 
They came with the Utah 15" woofers. And they will play plenty loud. I'm putting the attenuator on hold for the time being. I want things to break-in a bit more. A good recording on vinyl plus a tube preamp and amp these speakers sing. Santa gave me Clapton and Winwood live at Madison square gardens. Three 180g record set. It sounds fantastic!
 
DDS1 Update

Installed the Altec 30904 eq/attenuator yesterday. Listened about 4 hours last night. Should have done it a long time ago. But it takes time to know your speakers, and i wanted to know these before i made changes. The sound is much more balanced. Less in the middle, more bass. Better than just the L-pad. I didn't realize how much horn i was getting until now. It's not gone just balanced. It takes a little more power, not enough to matter though. Before, records with deep bass sounded good but others were missing the bottom end. Now a lot more sound good. I would highly recommend this mod for anyone with these speakers. I would recommend these speakers. A ton of bang for the buck!

Current system:
Thorens td-125 mk II imp.
Shure m97xe
Eico hf85, external power supply
Harmon kardon Cit. II
Seeburg dds1's
 
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If anyone has a set of dds1's and has not installed the Altec 30904 eq/comp filter, do it. It transforms these speakers into something special. Just change the 6uf caps to 3uf. I'm rediscovering my record collection. What fun!
 
If anyone has a set of dds1's and has not installed the Altec 30904 eq/comp filter, do it. It transforms these speakers into something special. Just change the 6uf caps to 3uf. I'm rediscovering my record collection. What fun!

Is this mod outlined in a thread here on AK or somewhere else on the web? Can you provide a link or links?
 
There are several posts about the DDS-1. And even more talking about the altec 30904 circuit. I only replaced the caps in the x-over, didn't change any values. I bought two of the 30904's off ebay and changed the 6uf cap to 3 because the horn is 16ohms not 8ohms. The 30904 has a diagram on it to show how to install it in the speaker/x-over. Here are a couple of posts about the 30904.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=155640

http://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700/142083-attenuator-diagrams-30904-30923-a.html

Here's a picture of one of my DDS-1s
 

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These speakers came with Utah woofers and Altec tweeters. They were used in the Disco jukebox installations. There was also a special line of Seeburg Dance Records and decor as part of the theme. AMI and a few other juke manufacturers also did this theme which was popular during the middle 1960's.
 
Update

Its been well over 6 months since I installed the altec 30904 attenuation unit. It really did the trick. The output is balanced much better. The only other thing I've done is replace the dampening material. The old stuff was shot. Here are a couple pictures of my system and listening space.
 

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I have a set of dds-1 waiting for me to revitalize. One needs a new aluminum diaphragm. I've been thinking about buying a set of those attenuators too. Do they eq the woofer section also? Which caps did u have to change on the aattenuator units exactly, to accommodate the dds-1 drivers? Does the 806a extend high enough? Thank you!
 
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