Altec Stonehenge II

[Sargeth]

I'm trying to restore these speakers. There is a set of woofers on that auction site. It appears i need to recone one mid-woofer and one tweeter and do a new surround and dust cap on my current woofer. I am looking for places that do it nearby or possibly doing it myself, but I am unsure of where I could find parts for these (seemingly?) less common drivers? NE Indiana if any shops do this kind of stuff around me.

 

[bowtie427ss]

The midrange is an iteration of the 405 full range speaker. I don't know what differences there are between a say 405-8G, it seems that like the woofers, the factory OG drivers are proprietary to the SH II.

If you want to retain the aluminum dust domes, re-coning is probably out of the question, and you'd likely have to re-cone both to maintain a matched sonic signature.

SH II midrange drivers are on ebay quite frequently. They don't sell cheap, as with anything from the 405 family. That said, some proper working and cosmetically very nice examples can probably be sourced for less than the cost of re-coning a pair.

 

[Sargeth]

well, in that case I'll probably just purchase a new mid-range driver. Is the woofer something that I can refoam with a surround common to another Altec model surround kit?

 

[bowtie427ss]

Simply speakers offers 2 different surrounds for Altec in 12 inch, i'd wager that one of those will be a pretty close fit.

They give dimensions for both, you'll need to take some measurements to verify the correct kit.

 

[rcs16]

It is possible to use new drivers but you really should simulate/reverse engineer by measuring the enclosures/vents. I recently did this for a pair of A/L model 3-ii. Used Vituix s/w, learning curve envolved, but it's fun, a good workout for the old brain and work out the cobwebs
It can get expensive esp if you use high end drivers and a new crossover. Have also refoamed using a kit from simply-speakers.

 

[mrk229]

I'm trying to restore these speakers. There is a set of woofers on that auction site. It appears i need to recone one mid-woofer and one tweeter and do a new surround and dust cap on my current woofer. I am looking for places that do it nearby or possibly doing it myself, but I am unsure of where I could find parts for these (seemingly?) less common drivers? NE Indiana if any shops do this kind of stuff around me.
View attachment 3610920

NE Indiana. Me too.

You should check out the The Speaker Workshop and Speaker World both in Ft. Wayne

Take your pictures with you and see what they have to say.

 

[rcs16]

It took a quick look at speaker world web site, looks as if they only sell new or used speakers, nothing said about parts and service? Although it does not hurt to ask
Speaker workshop looks more promising
Recone.com
Interesting an association as well
Professional Loudspeaker Reconer Association

 

[Sargeth]

yeah, I plan to go down to The Speaker Workshop when I have some time, unfortunately it looks like my next project is not in FW so I'll have to convince my wife to let me go over there on a Saturday. I'll probably try to go to speaker world at the same time.

 

[twiiii]

Those are part of the last attempt by Altec to sell to the consumer market. None of the drivers were made by professional Altec from the Oklahoma City factory after they left Anaheim, California. Maybe some of the old timers on the JBL/ALTEC site or some one at The Oklahoma Great Plains Acoustics office might be able to answer your questions. I would use Vifa drivers myself.

 

[Sargeth]

Those are part of the last attempt by Altec to sell to the consumer market. None of the drivers were made by professional Altec from the Oklahoma City factory after they left Anaheim, California. Maybe some of the old timers on the JBL/ALTEC site or some one at The Oklahoma Great Plains Acoustics office might be able to answer your questions. I would use Vifa drivers myself.

I feel like I've heard a lot of negative connotations from people about the Stonehenge series, (not people saying they are bad outright, but people saying things that would reflect a lesser quality product) but they look nice when well kept and seem rare. Do they sound so bad that people are put off of them?

 

[bowtie427ss]

Do they sound so bad that people are put off of them?

Hifi dealers sold many of them, the available parts in the used market are testament. The weakest link in the SH II IMO, is the tweeter. The cabinet offers big displacement for solid LF in a smaller footprint, and is quite aesthetically pleasing to most folks.

Also, consider that the majority of models offered by Altec were like most every other company, there were a handful of excellent speakers by any measure, and many more also rans.

 

[Sargeth]

Hifi dealers sold many of them, the available parts in the used market are testament. The weakest link in the SH II IMO, is the tweeter. The cabinet offers big displacement for solid LF in a smaller footprint, and is quite aesthetically pleasing to most folks.

Also, consider that the majority of models offered by Altec were like most every other company, there were a handful of excellent speakers by any measure, and many more also rans.

yeah, I suppose the cabinets seem so well built I just took it as a forgone conclusion that they were going to be high-performers.

 

[Nat]

There is a distinct tendency by classic Altec lovers to disdain later models, those that used drivers from other manufacturers, and especially those made after Sparkomatic bought them. I understand their feelings, but speakers are commercial products, not religious totems, and the question is: will people buy them? And the answer with the Stonehenges was yes. You can sell speakers on reputation, but back then, most people went down to the stereo store and listened to speakers before deciding what to buy. So that suggests they liked them.
Altec made smaller low end and mid level speakers all along, and condemning them for not being 604s in full size horns seems ridiculous to me. Most of the Altecs I've had were not of the exalted sort - while a single 604B in a corner horn is among the best speakers I have heard, the smaller box speakers are fun to listen to, flaws and all.
I can't help with the mid, but if the tweeter is the standard cone with aluminum dome underneath the plastic bezel, contact me since I can help.

 

[Sargeth]

There is a distinct tendency by classic Altec lovers to disdain later models, those that used drivers from other manufacturers, and especially those made after Sparkomatic bought them. I understand their feelings, but speakers are commercial products, not religious totems, and the question is: will people buy them? And the answer with the Stonehenges was yes. You can sell speakers on reputation, but back then, most people went down to the stereo store and listened to speakers before deciding what to buy. So that suggests they liked them.
Altec made smaller low end and mid level speakers all along, and condemning them for not being 604s in full size horns seems ridiculous to me. Most of the Altecs I've had were not of the exalted sort - while a single 604B in a corner horn is among the best speakers I have heard, the smaller box speakers are fun to listen to, flaws and all.
I can't help with the mid, but if the tweeter is the standard cone with aluminum dome underneath the plastic bezel, contact me since I can help.

They appear to be… aluminum? Bezels.

 

[twiiii]

Now as to sound quality when new they did sound great, The only issue was they were 8 db less efficient which meant you needed more power. But they could not handle that amount of power to compete with a Model 14 for instance. Another issue was they were a point source speakers which gave a wider sweet spot but meant you had to sit closer to get similar definition of the horn loaded Altecs. I though the bass was better but that there wasn't enough dynamics for me at the time. I have forgotten the model of the largest model with the twin woofers. But it could out perform all of theKLH, B&O, and all but one of the AR speakers at the time. Rectilinear did come close. RTR and EPI and Boston fell way short of that Altec. You needed 100 watts a channel or more to get some great sound. I also preferred the large model to a Cornwall of that period by Klipsch.

 

[Sargeth]

It’s likely because I haven’t had horn speakers before, but 86db seems reasonable enough if you have a modern amp. My Polk model 10s are plenty loud with 89db.

 

[Nat]

That is a more ambitious tweeter than the ones I have. Mine were scrounged from the cheap and cheerful Model Five (I think). Stamped metal basket with a paper cone and aluminum dust cap. Yours appear to have cast baskets and a much larger magnet. So I'm sorry that I can't be of help.