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Altec 848A Flamenco cabs

RTally

RTally

Speaker addict
I have an opportunity to buy some Altec 848A The Flamenco cabinets for next to nothing. The woofers and compression drivers have been removed from the cabinets. All that is left is the 811 horn in each box and the insulation on the sides.

One cabinet is in great shape, maybe an 8 or 9 out of 10. The other box is in rougher shape, maybe a 5 or 6 out of 10. It is missing the molding on the sides at the top and the bottom molding is cracked.

If I get the cabinets, what can I do with them? I do not have the funds or desire to buy Altec drivers. Is it worth my time to use Parts Express drivers? And would I be happy with the SQ?

The top one is the worst of the two cabs.
LetGo ad - fronts 2.jpg
 
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RTally said:
I do not have the funds or desire to buy Altec drivers.
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With all due respect, why bother?

Sell your cabinets to the guy a few threads down with the AS-101 components and no cabinets. http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/altec-heathkit-as101-in-ev-cabs.825143/

If you use cheap compression drivers like Eminence, Selenium, etc they will require nearly an octave higher crossover frequency. Finding a 15 inch woofer that plays well that high will not be an easy task.

Populating them with new inexpensive components is still going to total up to a significant cost at far less performance than the originals at the end of the day.

If you shop carefully/patiently and don't become obsessed with buying components as pairs, you could over time probably get an all Altec load back in them for not a lot of difference in cost from just shotgunning them full of new cheap dreck. Do this, and they will hold a value that is higher than your cost. Go the other way and the value won't change much from what it is currently.

Your location is conducive to reasonable shipping rates to GPA. Shop for broken 416's or any other speaker that used the same motor. GPA can make them new 416's for about 130 ea +shipping.
 
bowtie427ss said:
With all due respect, why bother?

Sell your cabinets to the guy a few threads down with the AS-101 components and no cabinets. http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/altec-heathkit-as101-in-ev-cabs.825143/
.
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Oh, i'm not looking for new cabinets, I have a nice pair of 846A Valencia's. I want to TRY the 846B components in folded corner cabinets. Since they had 15" EV woofers in them, I thought it would be a neat way to repurpose the Altecs.

Sorry to hijack this thread
 
alteclipsch said:
Oh, i'm not looking for new cabinets, I have a nice pair of 846A Valencia's. I want to TRY the 846B components in folded corner cabinets. Since they had 15" EV woofers in them, I thought it would be a neat way to repurpose the Altecs.

Sorry to hijack this thread
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this has gone from bad to worse.
 
bowtie427ss said:
With all due respect, why bother?
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When I first saw the ad for the "Big speakers," I got excited. The seller said he got them from his grandmother's house and thought they worked. If that was true, $60 would be a score. But one picture showed missing screws on the back, so I was suspicious. I removed the backs when I went to pick them up. The seller had never played them and was surprised that there were no drivers in them. I wasn't.

I have a feeling that they are going to end up as firewood. I posted here only to make sure that there wasn't some value in the bare cabs. Seems like they are not worth much more than firewood.
 
phil-g said:
how bad are the cabinets? the picture doesn't seem to show up in your first post.
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One cabinet is in very good shape. Just the usual deteriorating finish. The other cabinet is missing the trim pieces at the top and has a dark ring on the top surface. The grills are in great shape and the sides and back are in good shape. No signs of water damage.

I uploaded the picture file to the forum. It should be visible to all.
 
Sorry. the original was copied from LetGo and was a jpeg2000 format image. I converted it and you should be able to see it now:

LetGo ad - fronts 2.jpg
 
Here is a pic of the backs. The empty screw holes for the top cab and the protruding screws on the bottom cab clued me. It would have been quite the find if the drivers were still in the cabinets.

LetGo ad - backs 2.jpg
 
They are worth much more than firewood (FCOL*)! Get them - you can sell the horns and grilles and make something just for those or find a buyer for them as is. Such shouldn't end up going to a landfill.


*For crying out LOUD!!
 
I"d put some cheap drivers from Newark(MCM) in them. Bought some $9 compression drivers from them - not too bad to my ears.
 
sonofagun231 said:
They are worth much more than firewood (FCOL*)! Get them - you can sell the horns and grilles and make something just for those or find a buyer for them as is. Such shouldn't end up going to a landfill.

*For crying out LOUD!!
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It pains me to think that these cabs will be scrapped. But I don't build speakers, nor do I flip equipment.

Too bad they are so big and heavy. It is not practical to ship them.
 
RTally said:
It pains me to think that these cabs will be scrapped. But I don't build speakers, nor do I flip equipment.

Too bad they are so big and heavy. It is not practical to ship them.
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There's alway somebody who is on a very limited budget who would love to have those as a starting point for a build. I'd list them on CL and give some beginning builder a start. If you were a little bit closer to me, I'd take the horns off your hands. Oh, well.

GeeDeeEmm
 
I do not have the cabinets. I looked at them on the off-chance that they were not empty boxes. I started this thread to ask if the cabinets had any value by themselves. Based on the responses here, the cabinets only have sentimental value for being relics of an age long gone. That is not enough for me to buy them.

The seller still has them listed on LetGo. I will let him take care of passing them on. I have enough projects without trying to save some wooden boxes.
 
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