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Altec Valencias almost done!

A view of the crossover wiring. The smaller wire is Teflon insulated multi-strand silver litz wire. The larger wire goes, of course, to the woofer. For the life of me, I cannot remember the brand, but it is low capacitance/inductance wire.
 

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I have a good buddy with Valencias. His mother in law trashed the wooden grills and he considered ordering a hit on her.

He is now considering rebuilding the crossovers. His are potted. And I'm positive his are older than yours.

Do you have any advice on the crossovers? I'm sending him a link to this thread tonight.
 
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Hi Grainger. Let me know what crossovers he has and I can offer some advice on rebuilding them. All vintage crossovers need to be updated with fresh and better capacitors. Sometimes the original inductors are nothing to write home about either.

Watch here over the Thanksgiving holiday as I build some new grills. They will not be the lattice type (I think they attenuate high frequencies) but will be of the same type similar to what is used in Klipsch Cornwalls and similar speakers. They'll also be removable.

BTW, my crossovers are not the original Altecs that came with the Valencias, I upgraded them to the N-809-8A crossovers.
 
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ab0ez said:
Hi Grainger. Let me know what crossovers he has and I can offer some advice on rebuilding them. All vintage crossovers need to be updated with fresh and better capacitors. Sometimes the original inductors are nothing to write home about either.

Watch here over the Thanksgiving holiday as I build some new grills. They will not be the lattice type (I think they attenuate high frequencies) but will be of the same type similar to what is used in Klipsch Cornwalls and similar speakers. They'll also be removable.
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Don't yours have the slots on the side that you can "tuck" them into like the original grills? That way you don't have to even nail them down. (well unless they resonate which they should) Check that out. If you make it just the right width, bow them in, pop them in the slots and let them bow out. Done.
 
ab0ez said:
BTW, my crossovers are not the original Altecs that came with the Valencias, I upgraded them to the N-809-8A crossovers.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, 8 ohm crossovers with 16 ohm drivers? :scratch2: Maybe I missed what drivers are actually in the cabinets, nice job on the cabinets, glad you saved them!!
 
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Dgwojo, I just noticed in your signature file that you have a pair of Koss CM1030's. I have a pair of CM1020's and pretty much like them. Built like a tank and pretty good bass for a 10' woofer. They can be a little bit shrill on the top end, but maybe mine just need a crossover rebuild. What are your impressions?
 
ab0ez said:
Dgwojo, I just noticed in your signature file that you have a pair of Koss CM1030's. I have a pair of CM1020's and pretty much like them. Built like a tank and pretty good bass for a 10' woofer. They can be a little bit shrill on the top end, but maybe mine just need a crossover rebuild. What are your impressions?
Click to expand...

I sold those to a cousin in Ohio, these sounded wonderful, I rebuilt the crossovers and they sung when powered by a Marantz 2270, back to the topic here, Dave.
 
I also considered the wire mesh. I even order the black material from Crites(the stuff used on the khorns). But I think I like the grills as tehy are on my speakers now - at least they are done for the moment.

How do your valencies sound with the upgraded/changed crossover??
 
I'll let you all know how they sound on Wednesday when my brother Dave and I meet at our folks house in Idaho for Thanksgiving. Dave has the drivers and we will finish putting them together down in the basement. We will also have a pair of highly modified Bogen DB-130 monoblock power amps (with 6FW5 output tubes and 6CG7 front end) and a modified Magnavox 6BQ5 stereo amp to power them with for checkout. Really looking forward to comparing these to the Model 19's in Dad's basement.
 
ab0ez said:
BTW, my crossovers are not the original Altecs that came with the Valencias, I upgraded them to the N-809-8A crossovers.
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dgwojo said:
Hmmm, 8 ohm crossovers with 16 ohm drivers? :scratch2:
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It's a problem if they're highpassed an octave lower than spec? ;)

They're WRONG, in either case, for the stock Valencia driver complement. :nono:

YO, Ab0ez -- what drivers are going in these? :dunno:
 
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8 ohm 421-A woofers to start with, 811 horns with 807-8A drivers. Should be no problem with the N809-8A crossover.
 
High- and lowpass filters are NOT symmetrical in Vals and similar home implementations of VOTT, reason being that the midrange is WAY excessively forward in the commercial designs. The Val crossovers tame that down some (but not enough, still nowhere near flat,) by moving the highpass higher:

http://www.altecpro.com/pdfs/vintag...works/N809-8A Crossover Network Schematic.pdf

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?24437-WTB-Altec-N-800-K-Crossover-for-846B

807-8A is what? 806-8A with loading cap? No, with Symbiotik diaphragm, looks like:

http://www.altecpro.com/pdfs/vintage/SpeakerAndMics/drivers/807-8A HF Driver.pdf

What diaphragms are in them?
 
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If the midrange is too forward at Dave's house, hooked up to his equipment, position, etc, then we will most likely go to an active crossover and bi-amping for correction.

I'll have to take a look Wednesday to see what diaphragms are in them. Strange choice of woofers and drivers? The reason we're using them is we got them all, including the 811B horns for less than $100.
 
ab0ez said:
If the midrange is too forward at Dave's house, hooked up to his equipment, position, etc, then we will most likely go to an active crossover and bi-amping for correction.
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Equipment and deployment are not significant factors in this.

Active crossover with HF compensation engaged will get it playing flat out to ~13 kHz.

Alternatively, swap an 8.2 uF cap in in lieu of the 18 uF in the N809-8A highpass.

For higher HF extension, you'll need different drivers.... :yes:
 
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And when we find different drivers at the right price....well, you know the deal! Out with the old and in with the new.
 
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