Aztec speaker, not Altec?
- Thread starter blohrd3
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Rereading your question, I realise you are actually asking if the company was named Aztec Lansing -- it was not, and I think if the seller listed it as that, you have a legitimate beef. Sounds like the seller intentionally mislabled the item hoping that people would assume the z was a typo. Obviously the buyer should beware, but why would the seller add 'Lansing' if the intention wasn't to mislead?
griz780
Active Member
Aztec Sound, Denver CO
Stole this from Vintage Asylum. Just last night I was trying to find some info on this speaker manufacturer. Maybe the seller's units have the modified lansing drivers?
Anyway, interesting speaker! Here's the blurbage:
Posted by JRL on October 30, 2001 at 14:12:47
In Reply to: Aztec Gaughin III loudspeakers? posted by myoung on October 22, 2001 at 18:51:02:
As fate would have it, I have a bit of information on Aztec sound. In late 1968 two other guys and I (in our early to mid 20's) started a speaker company in Washington, DC: Loudspeaker Design Corporation. The speakers were a variety of horn-loaded systems named the "Ezekiel"
series after the designer, Harry Ezekiel Harris. By 1969 we were in search of expanded production facilities, and came upon Aztec Sound, located about 15 minutes South and West of downtown Denver. The owner was Jerry Nichols, and the product line consisted of conventional cone speakers in enclosures ranging from small bookshelf to huge floor models. All were named after famous artists. The cabinet work was quite nice, the company had a very well developed production line, a full time in-house designer, and the speakers sounded...well, o.k... decent relative to commercial standards at that time. Later that year Loudspeaker Design, along with our friend Kan Kanzler of Atlantis Sound, did a stock trade and acquired a sustantial percentage of Aztec Sound. Part of the deal included a provision that we would redesign and improve the Aztec products using cone drivers, but would not use any horn drivers or any of our proprietary horn designs. Our speakers used horn midrange and tweeters, and front/back loaded cone drivers as woofers. The Aztec products from late 1969 reflected the Harry Harris design improvements. In late 1970 I left to pursue my real passion, Ferrari automobiles. The relationship between Loudspeaker Design and Aztec soon ended, Harry Harris developed a new range of limited production boutique speakers that did not use horns, and it appears that Aztec "borrowed" some of our secrets and began to use horns in their systems. The horns were manufactured by Herald, located, I think, in Gray's Lake, WI. If you remove one, look at the back of the driver and see if it has a foam cap. The midrange and tweeter horns were very inexpensive, but sounded quite nice. We originally started off modifying the very expensive Altecs and the famous JBL375s. Oddly enough, the Herald horns sounded more musical, and compared to the cost of the 375's were almost free. I still have 2 pairs of Ezekiels using these horns that I've been using to play rock & roll at mind-mumbing levels for over 30 years without problems. I suspect your Aztecs use the same horns. They'll probably sound their very best with low powered tube equiptment, but will also sound quite nice with a NAD 1020 or older Kenwood receiver if you're on a budget. Whenever I hear the song "American Woman" played on a classic rock station, I fondly recall that song blasting from a pair of big Aztecs at our apartment in Denver in 1969. Good luck with your speakers, you'll probably enjoy them, and the price was certainly right!
Stole this from Vintage Asylum. Just last night I was trying to find some info on this speaker manufacturer. Maybe the seller's units have the modified lansing drivers?
Anyway, interesting speaker! Here's the blurbage:
Posted by JRL on October 30, 2001 at 14:12:47
In Reply to: Aztec Gaughin III loudspeakers? posted by myoung on October 22, 2001 at 18:51:02:
As fate would have it, I have a bit of information on Aztec sound. In late 1968 two other guys and I (in our early to mid 20's) started a speaker company in Washington, DC: Loudspeaker Design Corporation. The speakers were a variety of horn-loaded systems named the "Ezekiel"
series after the designer, Harry Ezekiel Harris. By 1969 we were in search of expanded production facilities, and came upon Aztec Sound, located about 15 minutes South and West of downtown Denver. The owner was Jerry Nichols, and the product line consisted of conventional cone speakers in enclosures ranging from small bookshelf to huge floor models. All were named after famous artists. The cabinet work was quite nice, the company had a very well developed production line, a full time in-house designer, and the speakers sounded...well, o.k... decent relative to commercial standards at that time. Later that year Loudspeaker Design, along with our friend Kan Kanzler of Atlantis Sound, did a stock trade and acquired a sustantial percentage of Aztec Sound. Part of the deal included a provision that we would redesign and improve the Aztec products using cone drivers, but would not use any horn drivers or any of our proprietary horn designs. Our speakers used horn midrange and tweeters, and front/back loaded cone drivers as woofers. The Aztec products from late 1969 reflected the Harry Harris design improvements. In late 1970 I left to pursue my real passion, Ferrari automobiles. The relationship between Loudspeaker Design and Aztec soon ended, Harry Harris developed a new range of limited production boutique speakers that did not use horns, and it appears that Aztec "borrowed" some of our secrets and began to use horns in their systems. The horns were manufactured by Herald, located, I think, in Gray's Lake, WI. If you remove one, look at the back of the driver and see if it has a foam cap. The midrange and tweeter horns were very inexpensive, but sounded quite nice. We originally started off modifying the very expensive Altecs and the famous JBL375s. Oddly enough, the Herald horns sounded more musical, and compared to the cost of the 375's were almost free. I still have 2 pairs of Ezekiels using these horns that I've been using to play rock & roll at mind-mumbing levels for over 30 years without problems. I suspect your Aztecs use the same horns. They'll probably sound their very best with low powered tube equiptment, but will also sound quite nice with a NAD 1020 or older Kenwood receiver if you're on a budget. Whenever I hear the song "American Woman" played on a classic rock station, I fondly recall that song blasting from a pair of big Aztecs at our apartment in Denver in 1969. Good luck with your speakers, you'll probably enjoy them, and the price was certainly right!
Back in the early 70's.....I purchased a Pioneer SX828 and some Aztec speakers............I killed the tweeters......took them back to the dealer in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla (Bell's Hi-Fi) gave me new Bose 901's..........impossible to kill for a college student.....I never forgot those Aztec's though!
And by God it's great that they do!
I found this thread when researching those Aztec speakers I had as a college freshman......I actually was able to shoe-horn two of them in the back seat of my Avanti........and if you know Avantis you know there isn't a hell of alot of room back there...........as for the speakers glad the info was here within the AK universe!
I'll join in the revival of the thread. I have a pair of Aztecs. The "Dulane" model. They are not great at everything, but for some reason when it's just one person and a guitar playing, these are THE speakers. Sounds like they are right in the room...but on most other things, they are just so-so. The cabinets are nice and heavy, well finished, and have a nice "I made these in my garage" look. Well worth the $20 I paid for them at a thrift store, but they don't get played often around my place.
-j
-j
Frankly, I wish more members would "grow" older threads on the same subject instead of starting new ones, thereby consolidating the info in fewer places.
It's Hell tracking the subject when members start multiple threads on their own speakers and projects, for example.
There's no credit for number of threads gratuitously started, is there? I'm dubbiing it an irritatingly bad habit.... :grumpy:
/endrant
I'll make a mental note to snap a couple pictures of these when I get back from my pending business trip. (Need to dig them out). They look like a home-made pair of JBL L77 Lancers, with a similar driver layout (two woofers of equal size, one on top of the other, with a tweeter offset between them) but I think both woofers are active in the Aztecs. The tweeter is a paper-cone type, maybe a phillips?
I had a pair of Aztec speakers some time around 1970 when I lived in Denver. Mine were 2-way with cone speakers and a 10" acoustic suspension woofer. I kept blowing the tweeters by playing my Kenwood KA-6000 too loud with the treble turned up. (I was a teenager then.)
I also remember that a pizza restaurant called Straight Johnson at Pearl and Exposition had a giant pair of Aztec speakers driven by McIntosh tubes. Great pizza and tunes. You can go to that same building today and see and hear McIntosh tube gear as the audio dealer Listen Up is in the building where Straight Johnson Pizza used to be.
I also remember that a pizza restaurant called Straight Johnson at Pearl and Exposition had a giant pair of Aztec speakers driven by McIntosh tubes. Great pizza and tunes. You can go to that same building today and see and hear McIntosh tube gear as the audio dealer Listen Up is in the building where Straight Johnson Pizza used to be.
I owned a pair of Ezekial speakers, bought them at the factory if you could call it that. They had a 10" woofer, 4 aluminum tweeters in a large cabinet (34X16 ?) I sold them to a friend who is still using them to the best of my knowledge. Interesting to see the name pop up
Regards,
Jim
straud7
New Member
Aztecs
i have a pair of athenas2 they sound like no other speaker i ever heard u hear stuff from them that i never heard in some of my wax i play they r awesome speakershttp://www.audiokarma.org/forums/album.php?albumid=1160
i have a pair of athenas2 they sound like no other speaker i ever heard u hear stuff from them that i never heard in some of my wax i play they r awesome speakershttp://www.audiokarma.org/forums/album.php?albumid=1160
bliss53
Active Member
I have a pair of Aztec Renior II Speakers with custom cabinets. They are mid size and very heavy with glass cut for the tops. They are hanging out in the basement and I ashamed to say I have not tried them out yet. But now that I have come across this thread I will have to plug them in.
straud7
New Member
have u tried them yet if u did ill bet u r in love with them
