Altec Laguna speaker score

[johnny_fever]

I'm excited to have found a Altec Laguna speaker. Now I need a second one. Besides some grill cloth imperfections it's in stunning condition. I'm familiar with Altec 391 date codes but I don't recognize 610820#s. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the phone pics

 

[johnny_fever]

Couple more pics

 

[Nyjblbob]

She's a Beauty!
Good Luck finding another one .
bobhorn

 

[Dr. Beaker]

Great looking speaker, nice find! Enjoy it in mono until you find a mate.

I can't help with the serial number.

 

[johnny_fever]

Thanks guys. I have a mono plan until I find a mate. Here is a beautiful 1947 Altec amp

 

[fxer1982]

I'm excited to have found a Altec Laguna speaker. Now I need a walnut mate. Besides some grill cloth imperfections it's in stunning condition. I'm familiar with Altec 391 date codes but I don't recognize 610820#s. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the phone pics

the 610820 might be the speaker encloser number the woofer number is easy i see that 803B 16 ohm . i have the info for the rest of the laguna system speakers . do you have the driver number off the horns ? the Altec Lansing cataloges are on another computer i drop you a line tomorrow after i have another hospital appointment in the morning. so i should be back home by 12:00pm or noon maybe a bit later. i will start up my other computer windows and I use this one to get on line with. its non windows computers its secure ... I'll leave ya the info the year the woofers the hz, watts dbls if that is on the cataloge. i can get the horn numbers off of the cataloge and leave ya that info too.

 

[toddalin]

Not just one, but your center channel also:

Altec speaker vintage laguna 100% original pair no traded - electronics - by owner - sale - craigslist

Beautiful pair original component !!no repair no modifications!! One speaker have darker finish than others !! Also one speaker have speaker grills fabric replace!! Will let new owner match them !!...

www.craigslist.org

 

[fxer1982]

Johnny_Fever:
Catalog 1954 HOME catalog- 803B woofer 30hz -800hz 16 ohm...802 high freq driver with 811-H horn 800hz- 22khz all though your horn look like its painted 511H unless im not seeing enough of your horn. Crossover Network =N-800D , price in 1954 catalog= 555.00 I dont know if that is each or pair. the 802 high freq driver is a very looked for driver. you should be kind to them they will be expensive today.... if you want you can make up a crossover to go lower to 20hz - 800hz will give you much lower bass.
Do you have a pair or a single Encloser ? Anyways Congraulations on your new speaker. im always on ebay if i see anyother i give you a heads up...

 

[fxer1982]

Not just one, but your center channel also:

Altec speaker vintage laguna 100% original pair no traded - electronics - by owner - sale - craigslist

Beautiful pair original component !!no repair no modifications!! One speaker have darker finish than others !! Also one speaker have speaker grills fabric replace!! Will let new owner match them !!...

www.craigslist.org

that price is way to high. 8450.00 is way out of line if they matched color and had original face cloth 2500.00 for both.

 

[loudnoises]

Johnny_Fever:
Catalog 1954 HOME catalog- 803B woofer 30hz -800hz 16 ohm...802 high freq driver with 811-H horn 800hz- 22khz all though your horn look like its painted 511H unless im not seeing enough of your horn. Crossover Network =N-800D , price in 1954 catalog= 555.00 I dont know if that is each or pair. the 802 high freq driver is a very looked for driver. you should be kind to them they will be expensive today.... if you want you can make up a crossover to go lower to 20hz - 800hz will give you much lower bass.
Do you have a pair or a single Encloser ? Anyways Congraulations on your new speaker. im always on ebay if i see anyother i give you a heads up...

Most speakers were sold as mono units in 1954, wasn't until a couple years later stereo started widely being adopted.

 

[johnny_fever]

@fxer1982 Thanks for all your info. I'm very familiar with Altec equipment. My question was about the 610820#s on the Drivers and 610920 on the label. Altec used actual date or 391 codes on other 803B drivers. The 391code is followed by 3 digits showing year and week of manufacture. The 391 code was used before and after the Laguna's. The components here are 803B LF drivers (red surround), 802D HF driver, 511C horn, N500D crossover. At this point I have a single. I'm looking for another Laguna now.

@toddalin thanks. I did see that listing. His CL ad is hysterical. https://shorturl.at/fkVCf

 

[johnny_fever]

@loudnoises. Right. The cost to convert your system from mono to stereo was insane.

 

[loudnoises]

@loudnoises. Right. The cost to convert your system from mono to stereo was insane.

Double, plus there was a very short conversion period where Scott and others offered oddball units allowing you to control two mono systems with one knob. A box with a couple rheostats really, sold one for about $400 a few years back. Very rare. Anyone putting a two channel system together in 1954 wasn't doing it off the shelf.

And at first your stereo playback options were quite limited, even if you had the capability. Few tables in the 50s did stereo. Definitely wasn't stereo broadcast.

 

[johnny_fever]

Right. Audio growing pains of the late 50's. Imagine what it was like to hear giant mono systems for the first time. Then stereo must have been insane compared to most peoples systems.

 

[bowtie427ss]

Definitely wasn't stereo broadcast.

Well actually...

Stereo broadcast preceded dedicated equipment to play it. But, that would change.

I think one of the first ones was in 1945.

This thread has a couple great posts about AM/FM simulcast broadcasts: History about broadcast AM/FM stereo in the USA? |Radiomuseum.org

There were even a few tuners produced to accommodate this, having completely separate AM and FM sections. Scott 330, and McIntosh MR66 are good examples.

Apologies for the sidetrack, we now return to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[fxer1982]

@fxer1982 Thanks for all your info. I'm very familiar with Altec equipment. My question was about the 610820#s on the Drivers and 610920 on the label. Altec used actual date or 391 codes on other 803B drivers. The 391code is followed by 3 digits showing year and week of manufacture. The 391 code was used before and after the Laguna's. The components here are 803B LF drivers (red surround), 802D HF driver, 511C horn, N500D crossover. At this point I have a single. I'm looking for another Laguna now.

@toddalin thanks. I did see that listing. His CL ad is hysterical. https://shorturl.at/fkVCf

I'm always looking on ebay if I see one ill let you Know...as far as the number on the 610820 for the label I would guess thats a serial number, on your other 610820 you say is on the speaker itself is that on the metal or the cone paper of the speaker ? if it is on the cone that would be the exact replaceable cone part #

these are my Altec Lansing cabinet 820 or model 17, mostly used as studio monitors for recording studios. I purchased them empty and loaded with 422 8Z 15" woofer, cheap horn mids, cheap horns high freq. using Stromberg Carlson 3 way crossovers. I have two more sets of the crossovers here are two photos of the crossovers. they sound great.

 

[Watthour]

... Sorry for the phone pics

More phone pics - Proving that every iPhone is foldable. However, the displays and batteries really don't like it much.




As for the Altec-Lansing factory coding and markings, it seems that somewhere, someone would have a reference to the stamps and stencils used in manufacture of these, although it's not easy to find as one might imagine.

Some of the on-line references also seem to be fading away, and several sites have "useful links" which are now broken, not hosted, lost, corrupted, and otherwise no longer valid. Anyone with factory literature and/or references would be of great help here.

 

[johnny_fever]

@fxer1982 The 610820 code is the same on both drivers baskets. The cabinet code is 610920 on the label. No codes on the 802D or 511C horn

 

[loudnoises]

Code on the horn is under that rear cover I bet...

 

[johnny_fever]

Anyone familiar with the red surrounds on the 803A drivers? Thanks. Rick