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Altec A7 VOTT I think I got a pair

Hook up those 421's and listen for a bit, you may like the result. I've heard them in 828 cabs and they really had some punch.
 
I listened to them a bit at the guys house. He had them in the middle of his garage, they sounded pretty good. Yeah, the DEEP bass was a little shy, but I thought that might have also been room acoustics.
 
If you have the boxes with the one large port in them, you can close that down half the size. I think the original size is 400 sq. inches.. my boxes had been modified to 200 sq. inch openings, and the bass was better than the boxes I heard that weren't modified.
 
analog addict said:
Watch out Mark, you're dancing on the edge of the slippery slope now.....
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Oh heck no, I am on a rocket train to haides with this project. See, I now have "Horns". :D

I cannot get as obsessed as you, just not physically possbile. My garage isn't big enough to hold some of your horns.

Mark
 
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pics as promised
 

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Those would make a nice restoration project! I would keep the 421's in them and add the 811 on top. You have the networks? I see a lot of beaty there- a lot of work as well!
DC
 
Mark, can you post an inside pic of one of the cabinets?

Don't go to a lot of trouble to do it, i'm just curious to know if these are genuine Altec built 828 cabs or good facsimiles, definitely 828's with a full size braced back panel. They have far more screws in them than they would have originally came with, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but has me wondering about their origin.

Yeah, the DEEP bass was a little shy
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To parrot Tom Brennan's sentiments, while they don't extend well into that lowest octave, what they do in the bass dept is about as smooth and "real" as it gets. Depending on your preferred genre's of music, they may do everything a listener is looking for in terms of bass.
 
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I'll open them in a bit and post more pics. And yes, I think these will do most of the bass I ever need. I only have a few pieces of music that really dip into the ultra low range anyway.

As to refinish, my plan is to sand the cabinets down to enough bare wood to glue on new 1/4 veneer panels. Then finish those with a nice stain and laquer or urethane. The cabinets are rock solid, but there are a lot of surface scars.

More to come.............
 
dc270 said:
Those would make a nice restoration project! I would keep the 421's in them and add the 811 on top. You have the networks? I see a lot of beaty there- a lot of work as well!
DC
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NO, no xovers at this point. I haven't decided if I should try an ewave on top, a high and mid horn on top(I already have this and the crossover built), an 811 with a ? driver, or what. Until I get to that point it is hard to figure what network to get. I do have 811's, but what driver to put on them .The d220's I have are bolt on, so that would work. Maybe a simple first order butterworth to start. I think I have everything to build those too.

Decisions, decisions,...........
 
As to refinish, my plan is to sand the cabinets down to enough bare wood to glue on new 1/4 veneer panels. Then finish those with a nice stain and laquer or urethane.
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Mr Brennan owned one of the most beautifully finished pair of VOT's i've ever seen. IMO, for anyone who is a devoted fan of the VOT they were better in appearance than magnificents. Where the magnificent tends to hide or disguise it's inner engineering, Tom's expressed it with great contrast and beauty.

Maybe he'd favor us with a pic if he has one handy.
 
bowtie427ss said:
Mr Brennan owned one of the most beautifully finished pair of VOT's i've ever seen. IMO, for anyone who is a devoted fan of the VOT they were better in appearance than magnificents.
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A boilermaker pal of mine who is a hobbyist cabinet maker made these for me from the plans in the old Davis-Badmaieff book "How to Build Speaker Enclosures". The contrasting trim was his idea. They were loaded with 515Bs and thus were A5 bassbins (IMO the 515 is the best load). I used them with a various top ends including JBL 2427 and 2420 drivers, Altec 802, 902 and 288 drivers and Altec, JBL, McCauley and Edgar horns.


1901.jpg

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Jcricket said:
Until I get to that point it is hard to figure what network to get. I do have 811's, but what driver to put on them .The d220's I have are bolt on, so that would work. Maybe a simple first order butterworth to start. I think I have everything to build those too.
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Use what you have, it will probably sound very good. Don't let the theoretical bog you down from the practical. The quest for the perfect is often the enemy of achieving the good.
 
I have always been cornfused about the sonic differences between the A7 and Model 19. I mean, its easy to tell the difference by looking, but other then that.. :scratch2:
 
Nice find J. I had a pair of those with the 1505 sectorial horns. Wicked speakers. If you PM me, I'll send you a copy of a thread I saved long long ago about closing off the front loaded horn from the bottom section of the cab, then putting the JBL 2245 (I think) in the bottom for sub duty. I heard a pair of those once and they really turned the 828 cab into a monster.
 
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