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Altec A7's in Nashville

bberkom

bberkom

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
If anyone is looking for some large Altecs, there's a great pair in Nashville right now. I have seen and heard these exact speakers when I bought something else from the seller. They are in amazing condition. He doesn't have a price on his listing but he told me $2500 if I remember correctly. Too big for me, but someone else should have a look.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/ele/5960748042.html
 
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Those do look pretty... But I built an identical pair 4 years ago for $1125. I understand the collectability of consecutive #s... but twice the value of the sum of parts?
 
Yeah the originality and SN are what you're paying for here. Big price to pay when you think about them as the sum of the parts, but they're a great example of this speaker.
 
bberkom said:
Yeah the originality and SN are what you're paying for here. Big price to pay when you think about them as the sum of the parts, but they're a great example of this speaker.
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Mine were built with 3/4 cabinet ply and 2x6 bracing (doug fir). These are prettier, mine were beasts to move.
 
biscuithead said:
Mine were built with 3/4 cabinet ply and 2x6 bracing (doug fir). These are prettier, mine were beasts to move.
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I can imagine. Thats a lot of speaker. What did you do for grills? The huge curved wooden lattice grills on these really get me!
 
The value is in the fact that they are complete and correct A7-500WII's. You will not build them for 1125 when just the 802D horn drivers are selling for 500 and 600 a pair. Ypu'd be doing well to get the veneer and trim work done for 1125. Correct grills are priceless, they cannot be replaced.

Easily worth 2500 to the informed buyer/collector. The quantity of correct examples decreases with time, and as with most true collectibles scarcity drives value exponentially.
 
bowtie427ss said:
The value is in the fact that they are complete and correct A7-500WII's. You will not build them for 1125 when just the 802D horn drivers are selling for 500 and 600 a pair. Ypu'd be doing well to get the veneer and trim work done for 1125. Correct grills are priceless, they cannot be replaced.

Easily worth 2500 to the informed buyer/collector. The quantity of correct examples decreases with time, and as with most true collectibles scarcity drives value exponentially.
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I am not at all surprised by this price. All of these older, larger Altec's have been commanding higher prices for a while now. Try pricing a pair of "Barcelona's".
 
bberkom said:
I can imagine. Thats a lot of speaker. What did you do for grills? The huge curved wooden lattice grills on these really get me!
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Mine were grill-less. This is one reason I sold them. I have a 4 year old and 2 year old that would have loved to play the cone like a drum with their crayons.
 
Close enough for me, used to take guitar lessons in Hendersonville decades ago, but I don't have the space or the coin. They are definitely pretty, tho.

Wonder how they'd sound?
 
bowtie427ss said:
The value is in the fact that they are complete and correct A7-500WII's. You will not build them for 1125 when just the 802D horn drivers are selling for 500 and 600 a pair. Ypu'd be doing well to get the veneer and trim work done for 1125. Correct grills are priceless, they cannot be replaced.

Easily worth 2500 to the informed buyer/collector. The quantity of correct examples decreases with time, and as with most true collectibles scarcity drives value exponentially.
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Ok, I see your point. But I'm glad I tried the cheaper route first. I honestly like my Cornwalls better, or some JBLs-econowaved with the D220Ti that I built. But I do not mean to demean these beautiful Altecs!
 
onwardjames said:
Close enough for me, used to take guitar lessons in Hendersonville decades ago, but I don't have the space or the coin. They are definitely pretty, tho.

Wonder how they'd sound?
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I just heard them in his basement shop, but with a 5 watt little console tube amp they had huge sound. Woulda loved to hear them set up in a big room.
 
Biscuithead, what crossovers did you use? I have a set of HeathKit AS101's (Valencia copy's) that I have been modifying. First I recapped the stock crossovers than I changed out the stock drivers for newer 902's and added the 30904 attenuation board from Altec. Made a HUGE difference. Now I'm finally finishing up my Model 19 crossovers, will have them installed in the next week or so. Of course the attenuator's will come out as that is built into the Model 19 circuitry, being fully adjustable as well.
I would think that your VOTT could be upgraded to the point that they would be your number 1 speaker system. Altec had progressed a lot further than your VOTT before they were sold to Sparkomatic.
A real shame to have them sitting on the sideline.

BillWojo
 
BillWojo said:
I would think that your VOTT could be upgraded to the point that they would be your number 1 speaker system.
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If you have the space, active DSP, at least 6 amplifier channels, tweeters, and a few subwoofers capable of tracking the A7's dynamics they can give an awesome hifi presentation.

The mid bass horn of the A7 sets the standard which the rest of the system must be able to play up to in terms of sensitivity, dynamics, and acoustic output. The output of the reflex portion of an A7 box will always play several db(6+) below the output of the midbass horn. The simple answer is to cut them off at the midbass horn's roll-off and supplement the system with dedicated woofers driven with enough power to match the acoustic output of the midbass. Then you have all that empty reflex portion that serves as nothing more than a stand for the midbass horn.

Depending on the size of your room, the same issues can be present at the other end of the spectrum. If you try to use a small format horn/driver combo with passive equalization it puts a serious clamp on the system's maximum acoustic output as the small format drivers will quickly run into power handling issues trying to keep up. How far you can get with small format HF will be greatly affected by room size and acoustic properties as well as listening preferences.
 
Billwojo, so the Model 19 crossover will be a significant upgrade over the stock one from the original AS101? Are the parts readily available?
 
The exact parts are not available, original 19 networks used laminated core inductors made by Altec's Peerless transformer division, those of course are NLA. Most folks simply substitute with air cores, and many feel they are an improvement.

There are a few options for 19 type networks:

a) original Altec model 19/N1201-8A networks

b) new GPA N1200's @ $175 ea

c) scratch build M19/N1201 copies

d) Z-19 build

Also, don't overlook what the upper half of the 30904 eq can do.
 
I missed a pair not far from here for about half that price, wasn't fast enough, and was pissed at myself for not jumping quickly, but then I came across my Altec Iconic Femenico's at a thrift for 80 dollars so it kind of took the pain off. Those look like a slightly larger cabinet but I think it appears to have the same drivers. Mine are the green old things with 16 ohms and the same dial and looks like the same crossover.
 
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