• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

$6 Altec score...

Sam Cogley

Sam Cogley

Last of the Time Lords
Subscriber
...sort of. Found a pair of University Sound Ultra D speakers at a thrift today, marked down to $2.98 each. Altec and University were separate divisions of LTV at that point, but according to the label these were designed by Altec for University. I bought them just for the L-pads, and I've only tested one so far, but they sound nice enough it's going to be a bit hard to part them out. The brutal coat of white enamel paint on top of the wood veneer might help a bit...
 
Register to hide this ad
Any Pics? what drivers?
I'm always interested in University speakers. I have a pair of RR-12's 12" 3way.
University speakers are very efficient and work well with lower powered amps both solid state and tube. Altec and University were combined at one point and University later was absorbed.
Where were they made? New York or?
 
Here ya go. I'd love to figure out the value of that choke to see if it would be of any help in my JBL Altecwave project. They were made at the Altec plant in OKC.
 

Attachments

  • ultrad_1.jpg
    ultrad_1.jpg
    60.2 KB · Views: 282
  • ultrad_2.jpg
    ultrad_2.jpg
    109.6 KB · Views: 393
Last edited:
Sam Cogley said:
Here ya go. I'd love to figure out the value of that choke to see if it would be of any help in my JBL Altecwave project. They were made at the Altec plant in OKC.
Click to expand...


The baskets on those woofers look most certainly like 60's magnavox console speakers, OEM'd by CTS, which Altec also used at some time or another. They look sort of like a combination of the earlier AlNiCo woofer's baskets with the later CTS squre ceramic magnet
 
They don't look like anything from CTS Paducah. University made a lot of their own drivers, but I don't know how late. Looks like Altec sourced University drivers for this build.
 
I stripped them last night...the more I looked, the worse the cabinets were, and I needed the parts for another project. Some have to die so others can live...
 
Thespeakerdude8 said:
The baskets on those woofers look most certainly like 60's magnavox console speakers, OEM'd by CTS, which Altec also used at some time or another. They look sort of like a combination of the earlier AlNiCo woofer's baskets with the later CTS squre ceramic magnet
Click to expand...

The Magnavox console woofers I've seen with that basket have all had EIA code 232... which was Magnavox themselves, before they stopped making drivers completely.

Without an EIA code on the driver itself, it's going to be hard to know who actually built those woofers, alas... and I can't quite make out the number on the back of that woofer. Sam, do you have a closer-up picture of the woofer, or can you just read off the number written in green on the back of that woofer magnet?

Regards,
Gordon.
 
80C208 is stamped on the back of both woofers - and yes, it's a "C" not a badly printed "0."

The Alnico mids are marked 6029 on the magnet and 536 on the basket, and the tweets are marked 4133 on the magnet and 543 on the basket.
 
Update on University Sound Ultra D

I know this thread is nearly 2 years old. So in the realm of providing information on vintage/classic speakers.... The University Sound Ultra D I have used the 6814 80C208 for a woofer, the Mid was a 4133 6840, and the tweeter was 6816 80C228. All numbers are ink printed on the magnets, nothing on the baskets. Rather slapped together cabinets, dampening material, coil, variable resister, a suspended single capacitor and a 1/2" piece of composite type motor board for the drivers. So for those searching the Ultra D.The label plates on the rear say University Sound a division of LTV Ling Altec, Oklahoma City OK. 3-way Ducted Speaker system. (ducted?)

Did not Ling move University Sound from White Plaines and consolidate Altec and University in Oklahoma City?

My opinion is 30 watt rating means very low power amp so beware, there's plenty of room to play around with these though. The motor board is loose fitting, it attaches in place to 3/4 square molding/braces mounted to the main cabinets ...except around the bottom sides to allow for the woofer to fit ...because the woofer requires virtually the entire width of the motor board when mounted. The subjective part of my opinion is that these seem like low cost quickly slapped together models and not well designed, planned, or engineered (although the planning is not optimum the craftsmanship is better then imports from the far east). I would assume it was to compete with Kubuki industry on price points and not set any listening standards or gain audio awards.

How they sound? I don't care to embark on that mission because we all have different ear shapes and limited threshold levels of ability to hear based on life our experiences and what the creator intended for us through his design. My wife hears high frequencies constantly that are a complete mystery to me so I test my upper ability frequently and it's quite scarey to learn just how inaudible my high range has become. I doubt I hear 9k or above in truth if even that. So what good would my opinion be?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom