ocupatto's Santana's live again.

I had a comparison of Altec Valencia's at my home a couple months ago, and ocupatto was kind enough to drag up a pair of Altec Santana cabinets which were destined for the trash. Here they are at the beginning of their new life as my computer speakers. They will replace two pairs of Stephens Trusonic speakers, one a factory version of their two way 12" system, and the other a two way consisting of 150FR's and 5KT tweeters in 1.5 size Electro Voice Baronets made by me. When ocupatto offered the cabinets, my thoughts were to populate them with Trusonic stuff, which I had on hand. Zilch said "Try the LE14's." I did, and was sold. That is a great speaker.

The speaker complement is a JBL LE14A woofer, a JBL wave guide horn, BMS HF driver, and home made crossover built by yours truly. The cabinet tuning is accomplished by two 3" ports on the back of the cabinet. It is tuned for 29Hz but that is a little low for my tastes. The BMS driver is so much more efficient that an attenuation network will be required, but the measurements will be made in the next day or so. At that time, the ports will be shortened to raise the tuning frequency.

A few pix are included to show some of the steps along the way. And the last photo is a pair of L55 cabinets laying on the floor awaiting their turn. They will become a pair of "4414's". All three of my latest projects will be veneered in South American Rosewood, when construcion is completed.

Any other Altec Santana or JBL L55 cabinets which are homeless, will find a good home with me. I will pay freight. PM me if you want to unload a pair.

And thanks again, ocupatto. They sound pretty good. Maybe as nice as your L250's.

Very Pretty!

Looks like they overpower that workspace a little though...

Very nice. I have a set of Santana 2's I reworked with some Dayton drivers and piezo horns and cutom XO's. I have always loved the look of the cabinet and it seems to be a good platform for these type projects.

Any way you slice it, those are recycled Altecs!:thmbsp::yes:

Those are some pretty serious computer speakers. That Windows login sound is rarely heard with such fidelity.

Nice, Jack! Did you use the BMS 4550's, or something different this time?

Show us your crossovers too, would you?

Fedallah said:

Those are some pretty serious computer speakers. That Windows login sound is rarely heard with such fidelity.

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Brian Eno created many of the sounds in the modern Windows systems as a consultant to MS. If ever there was a computer sound that deserved Altecs, it's an Eno sound.

Whoooaaa doggies, they sound nice!

Myrna and I have been listening to them in my workshop. Playing Spyro Gyra and the Mark O'Conner Trio. Whewww! They are GOOOOOD!!!

My shop is 10 feet by 12 feet, with a 10 foot ceiling. Everything in the room is hard acoustically, except the two secretaries chairs. Can't wait to measure them, and see how much attenuation is needed for the HF. The Lpad is set at almost bottom to balance the HF/LF. And the ports will be shortened to lower the tuning to about 30-32 Hz. Hopefully that will satisfy my bass desires. I like the woofer to give me everything it has, and when it gets too low, it is OK to drop. Trying to extend the bass response causes it to fall before it gets to maximum. Maximum flatness is what I am striving for.

When the measurements are made, I will take pix of the crossovers.

jackgiff said:

Myrna and I have been listening to them in my workshop. Playing Spyro Gyra and the Mark O'Conner Trio. Whewww! They are GOOOOOD!!!

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...[Guessin' there'll be a Santana/Valencia shootout in Prescott upcoming soon.... :yes: ]