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An Idiot Attempts to Restore Altec Model 19s

This weekend I pulled out the various 19 pieces and took several shots for you to see what I have to work with. Overall I think the cabinets are in good shape, occasional dings/scratches aside.

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Am I seeing things, or are the two speakers' finishes mismatched? Compare the two tops/bottoms that have pink insulation vs the yellow ones.

There looks to be a few places where some sort of filler was attempted:

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These are about the worst of the corner dings:

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The top horn enclosures are detached, which considering the work forthcoming, saved me some effort:

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As you can see, one has two spots of damage to the black frame. I assume the one which still has the piece attached can be glued back, but the other one, are we talking filling it with Bondo?

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On to the horns. @mvandyke yes they are indeed 811's but there's a problem on one's corner:

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I wonder if this one needs to be replaced entirely, or can I just secure it with a washer and hide that behind the horn foam (which I recently purchased)?

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@lucky-pierre I would definitely take your recommendation for a powder coating of these rather than using a rattle can. I work in Waltham: is the place on Fulton St? That's a pretty industrial-looking area of town. I would take them there now, but I'd like to get everyone's advice on the damaged horn.

These must be 808's which I believe would work, but to be authentic, the seller suggested I use the 802's from a pair of 9842-8d projects I have.

The drivers need new diaphragms. I'm told that the 16 ohm Radians are a little tough to find... anyone have a link to a good source? Anyone recommend Parts Express, Simply Speakers or Radian directly for these?

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The woofers looked fine when I pieced them up and were then zip-tied together (I didn't want to detach them for this picture session):

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I have the top/bottom attachment pieces and some bolts (I know I'm missing some hardware):

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Finally, it came with some replacement crossover plates (left), but the OCD in me couldn't stand the creative font choices so I opted for more faithful repros (right):

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On the crossovers: there aren't any. I have a lead on some newly-built Z19 crossovers for these.

@lucky-pierre those are some fine-looking speakers (and you're about 30 mins from me there in Maynard). Question on the amount of sanding: the veneer on these looks pretty thin: how much sanding can be done on these?
 
The 811 should be just fine with what your proposing. It's only 1 of six holes and you'll be hiding it.

What model of 802's do you have? I've always liked the 802-8G's the best.

Good luck!
 
Hi @ionjua you have a lot to work with here. Thank you for the pictures.

If you want a major project, you can re-veneer. Considering these are end game speakers, and if you are handy with veneering, it might be worth it. If these were mine, I would just refinish and learn to love the battle scars, including the damaged corners. It you want to repair and patch the corners, check out @GD70 Glenn's work. He is a wizard at corner repair and veneer patching.

The oak veneer on mine is about 1/64th. It's fairly substantial. If you are deft with an orbital sander, I would do one pass with 180 grit, then reevaluate. It looks to me that yours could stand a bleaching with Bar Keepers Friend after a 180 sand. You should make a paste of BKF, apply heavily, let dry, then vacuum or wipe off and wash with alcohol or mineral spirits. IT was suggested to me to make the slurry with isopropanol rather than water, so you don't swell the particle board. I have not tried that, but when I bleached my JBL 4311B with a water slurry, I did have to do some particle board repair.

You are kinda out of luck with the missing chunk where the horn screws in, but you have 7 other points of contact. I also think you will be ok with the missing corner of the horn using a solid washer then covering with the foam. Where did you buy the foam, btw?

The damaged particle board you can fix. Dilute wood glue until if flows, then soak the damaged area. Clamp some thin wood between the clamps and the particle board. I find paint stirrers work well. Make sure to wrap whatever you use with plastic or foil so it does not adhere to your repair.

I checked out the place you mentioned on Felton St. They are a small motorcycle shop that is only set up to powder coat small parts. Nice, guys, though. I used The Wheel Fix on Pond St. https://www.thewheelfix.com/ They are set up to do pieces up to 8 feet or so. They had not done anything like the Altec horns, but were enthusiastic and did a great job.

For new diaphragms, check out Great Plains Audio.

I am looking forward to watching your progress.

Peter
 

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You could fix that missing chunk. Make a bracket out of thin piece of aluminum. Screw it to the damaged area and fill it in with Duraglass or something fiberglass reinforced. You could cover your bracket with waxed paper and remove it, but I would keep something to support your repair. Regular body putty will crack. Bondo makes a Bondoglass. There are a number of products. Ask a bodyman what he/she would do, if you know one. Maybe a boat repair guy. Attached is a representation of the style of bracket I'm thinking of.
 

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If you use bondo to fill those particle board cracks make sure to remove all of the loose particle stuff before filling with bondo. I did a similar repair to a water damaged particle board box with success. Basic body filler bondo was all I used. I veneered over it too (after extensive sanding to make it perfectly smooth).
 
Great! Big scale but not too difficult a project which will yield a big return.

It looks like most of those chips and ding on the various edges of the veneer should be easy to fix. My tactic is wood bondo and grain paint to match but that is something that can be difficult to do without a few failures first. Really reduces the work. If these are truly an end game speaker for you, you might want to consider doing all the stripping and sanding and then take them to a furniture refinishing shop to see what they might charge you to do the patch work and lacquer them for you.

I have a walnut set here that are fully functional with Z19 crossovers and sound wonderful, but they need the refinish treatment. There are just enough damn edge binding and recessed panels that I have procrastinated on doing it. So many speaker cabinet makers did us no long term favors with how they exposed veneer edge and corners to the world. Really too easy to damage. If you pay attention most good furniture makers used solid woods on the edges and corners of things because they knew they'd need some repairs along the way and that would be a whole lot easier.
 
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You want the 802 8g drivers . Get the Great Plains diaphragms. You can also convert the 808 8b to 802 8g with a new diaphragm and remove the loading cap and add a woolen damper to the back cover. Great plains can help you with the conversion.
 
For repairs to burst particle board clear out the damaged area removing as much of the chips as possible.
Next flood the burst material with THIN CA adhesive. This will solidify the broken material giving a good base for Bondo or whatever 2 part filler you choose.

To repair your horn I wonder if a weld shop would be able to build up the damaged area and then grind to shape and tidy up the hole.
 
I believe the chipped corner of the horn will be covered by the foam . They do sound better with the foam in place.
 
toddalin said:
You could "mold" in the corner of the horn using JB Weld.
Click to expand...

I like this. To go the next level you could weld a piece on the corner and make it good as new. Wouldn't be hard at all. Looks like the weld below it is a gas weld.

Besides that missing chunk, you could also mix sawdust with wood glue and make a nice paste that works well for bonding smaller voids.
 
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I had a 511 horn with a 3/4 x 3/4 chunk broken out of the curved part in the front. My friend is an excellent welder so I asked him if he could add some material back. I wasn't prepared for what he did. Instead of handing it back to me to reshape and blend it in he did it himself. With a coat of fresh paint the spot is not noticeable at all.

BillWojo
 
Most of my recent weekends have been taken up by other tasks (or it's been way too hot/humid), but I just received the horns back from powdercoating (thanks to Lucky Pierre for the suggestion):

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