Altec Lansing Milano...picked up today.

Let me just start by reiterating on what I said on the thread in regards to these speakers. Oh my God. Me writing about what I think about these is going to run into the time I spend mapping out where I want to go tomorrow for garage sales in my area so feel privileged!

Last year, as some of you may recall, I found a pair of Altec Lansing Valencia 846B's fairly local to me. I picked them up, kept them for a little while, and eventually sold them. They just never did it for me. I don't know whether to blame it on the small room they were in, the equipment I ran to them or the music I played. Hell, it could have been all of the above. But it wasn't bad equipment, wasn't bad music and, yeah, the room was kinda small. They never sounded right to me even though all of the drivers worked and I didn't feel like putting money into them not knowing if I'd still be happy or not. So on the way they went to someone that might enjoy them more.

So today when I saw the ad on the DFW Cl about some Altec speakers, I was a little apprehensive, yet curious. But, the price was decent and in my mind, I was thinking...ok, I'll pick these up, use them for awhile and buy some other goodies. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to keep these forever because that is the fun of this hobby for me. I buy things, try them out, keep some, move others on. It's a vicious cycle basically. But, it's fun because it lets me "taste" (if you will) equipment that I couldn't afford when I was a kid. Hell, some of this stuff came out before I came out!

I have spent the last hour and a half or so listening to various tracks from two different types of music...two that I am familiar with and thoroughly enjoy. The CD was Allison Krauss's "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection" (because I really enjoy her voice) and the LP was the MFSL copy of Steely Dan "Aja" because, well, it's Steely Dan! (ok, Black Cow is one of my fave songs). Now, the equipment for this little "swarray" was very basic let me tell you. (This is in a spare bedroom which I'm sure will be dubbed as the "secondary" room for listening) Don't bash me for the equipment just hear me out. I was using a Technics SU-8055 integrated amp (47 X 2...mint BTW), an A/R XB turntable with Ortofon OMF 3E cartridge, and a basic JVC CD player I've had for some time. Nothing major for electronics that's for sure...but OK.

These speakers, untouched, are stunning. Vocals were alive, depth and width of staging was there and all those other little fun words to say about the sound. I played those two selections because I know intimately what they sound like on the usual 2-channel rig I listen to in my office so I had a reference point. There are things the Altecs do great and there are things my (modified) Polks do great. But I just wanted to make an official thread for these great Altec Lansing Milano's and give them major Kudos. I hope I get to spend some more time over the weekend between projects going thru some music. I also look forward, now more than ever, to getting my little Magnavox tube amp up and running. These things were singing and preaching the Gospel and the meters hardly ever went above 2 watts. (Yeah, I know they are highly efficient ) I think a little modified Maggie would fit the bill on them. I had started a thread about that little amp and now I am going to be even more inquisitive on getting that thing done! Help a brotha' out!

Thanks for listening to the rambling. Does anyone else have any experience with or own the Milano speakers in the AK forum?

Oh, and I will get some pictures tomorrow. It's too late and the flash would make them look like @ss tonight.

Glad you ended up with them!

Cool, I'm glad it worked out for you. I look forward to seeing the pictures tomorrow.

Nice score but you better put some pictures in because snade probably won't read this one.

Ummmm....

:worthless

I'll have them tomorrow! I promise! It's just too darn dark for the pictures to come out well. Once I get back from garage sale-ing, I'll snap some and take some of the inside guts, too. I had taken a screw gun with me to take the back panels off to make sure there were original drivers in them. Good to go!

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page14.jpg

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page15.jpg

Props and credit due to LH.

Except for the cosmetics the Milano was the same speaker as the version of the Valencia current at the time.

Are these a sealed cabinet? I haven't gotten far enough into them to tell yet but it doesn't seem like I can "feel" a port or two from the grill cloth.

avguytx said:

Are these a sealed cabinet? I haven't gotten far enough into them to tell yet but it doesn't seem like I can "feel" a port or two from the grill cloth.

Click to expand...

Valencias are ported so yours probably are too. Here's a pic of one. I think most of the big Altec's are ported.

The speakers probably have rectangular vents either side of the high frequency horn; Altec used to use oversized horn openings and the leftover area was the vent area.

You can see the open area to the left of the horn in this photo of one of my old Altecs.

Tom Brennan said:

The speakers probably have rectangular vents either side of the high frequency horn; Altec used to use oversized horn openings and the leftover area was the vent area.

Click to expand...

Yep. That's what it is. I didn't notice the openings earlier when I picked them up as I was just looking inside to make sure the drivers were original. So I got the screw gun out again and took the back panels off. Interesting that they could come up with a tuning frequency based on such odd openings. But, it works.

I like 'em. There is going to be some other speakers (plus some other idle electronics) here that are going to go away now to make more room for these. Plus, it's going to fund a real tube amp of some sort sometime soon. Thanks for the info guys.

Tom Brennan said:

You can see the open area to the left of the horn in this photo of one of my old Altecs.

Click to expand...

That's what it looked like except with the addition of the insulation and the foam piece behind the woofer.

I own the Valencias which are contemporary to the Milanos(the 846A Valencia).
I've had them for nearly five years.
I love 'em.
I was originally using a Technics Integrated amp with them(SUA 900).
I rethought my entire system based around the Valencias,and I'll say that they have the potential to take advantage of some very sophisticated equipment.
So if you have ambitions of eventually acquiring a very high quality system,don't think that the Altecs will be the limiting factor,because the reverse is more likely to be the case.
You'll find the Altecs getting better and better as you bring higher quality components into the system.
You'll also find it absurdly easy to sort the wheat from the chaff,because of the way that the Altecs tell the truth about what is feeding them.
Enjoy your new purchase. :thmbsp:

Not all Valencias were ported. Thanks to Gary Kaufman, I now have an early (16 ohm) pair, and I see no ports per se... unless the space around the 811B horn is a big ol' vent. I haven't looked too hard.

Sorry for the crappy photo.

mhardy6647 said:

Not all Valencias were ported. Thanks to Gary Kaufman, I now have an early (16 ohm) pair, and I see no ports per se... unless the space around the 811B horn is a big ol' vent. I haven't looked too hard.

Click to expand...

It's a port, see post 11. Ports don't have to be round. My 1950's Altec cabinets that house my 604B's have a rectangle port as do the Model Nineteen's in Tom's avatar.

Pics finally...

As promised, here are some pictures of the Altec Milano's. The left door is removed for the time being as I need to repair the top portion and then decide if I want the doors on or off. If they end up in the living room at a later point, I think they would look good with doors on.

There must be numerous variations of the 416-8Z woofer as the Valencias I had used cast frames whereas these have a stamped steel frame. Both use the same 806-8A horns, though. The Val's also had the N800-8K crossover and the Milano's have the N800K. Is the difference in that the Val's were newer and they incorporated it into all one piece and made it non-sealed? There are 2 resistors as you can see in the pics that are "strapped" above the horn. IIRC, one was a 3ohm and the other a 15ohm (?) maybe. I know for sure the lower one is a 3ohm. Is that to tame the horn down some?

I have them playing in the other room with some Diana Krall and they are still great...even on that basic Technics S/S integrated amp. The electronics in there (for the moment) are very basic like I said. I have numerous other things (S/S stuff) and a Maggie console tube amp I need to get done for these speakers, now. Please excuse the setup in this spare bedroom. It's just a work in progress for a 2nd, 3rd and 4th listening area. I'm also redoing my living room setup so I can eventually get more things in there. The living room is 24 X 20 or so and would really let most any speaker "open up" and say, ahhhh.

But that leads me to my next question for you guys. I am going to be selling a pair of my Polk SDA speakers (1C's) to potentially buy a "real" tube amp be it integrated or power amp with a separate pre. Would that be the recommendation of you pros? Give me some ideas of either new or old tube amps in the $500 range. I'd rather get an amp that I don't have to replace lots of things in. Maybe one that's already been refurbed or, again, one that's new. I've been perusing the "Tube" forum and although those Ming DA amps look nice, it appears that they are either a love/hate thing for most.

What should I do to the speakers themselves internally? Are there any basic "upgrades" they benefit from i.e. replacing caps or resistors, deadening the horns, replacing the wiring, etc? I am game for ideas on these as I like to tinker with speakers. Tube amps? Well, that's another story. I'd rather stay on the "easy" side there.

Thanks for any and all input or criticisms.

That looks like a cast frame on the woofer to me...

Congrats, those are some fine speakers.
Fed them some EL-84 power; if you like what you hear now, just wait until what you hear then.

SWEEEEEEEEEEET!:yes: Brad