Differences Between the Original 1980s Altec Lansing 508 Speakers and the Remade Altec Lansing 508

[Ben Rothman]

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some information on the differences between the original Altec Lansing 508 speakers and the remade Altec Lansing 508 Speakers. I've looked online and I can't seem to find much information about either. I have an original pair of altec lansing 508 speakers from the mid 1980s. they are 4ohm speakers. From what I can find the remade version of these speakers are 6ohm speakers and have rubber surrounds on the woofers. Whereas the original speakers are 4ohm and have foam surrounds. Some other threads i've read on audiokarma say that these speakers are really bad. I think they're refering to the new speakers as in that forum someone said when you pop the drivers out they say "made in china" on the back. my drivers don't say that, they just say altec lansing on them. Any information about these two speakers would great!

Thanks in advanced!
Ben

 

[avguytx]

Only Altec 508's I know of are the ones in the Sparkomatic owned era in the 90's that used "carbon fiber" woofer cones. There's a pair fairly close to me for reasonable that I've thought about picking up a few times...but it's a 3 hour round trip and I don't really need them. I usually talk myself out of them. Most people don't like them because they aren't "true Altec, which is true. I always thought they sounded rather decent. But I'm one that has owned 2 different pairs of Altec Valencia's and didn't care for either pair. A stacked pair of Dynaco A25's sounded better than the Valencia's, to me, anyway.

Bottom line, the cabinets are decently constructed and have some weight to them. They got favorable reviews here and there, too. But the Altec "fan boys" dont think much of them. Take those opinions with a grain of salt and try them out if you can get them reasonable enough where you can sell them if they aren't your cup of tea. I've got a pair of Cerwin Vega VS-150's that sound great and I'd take them any day of the week over Vals. But, again...that's just me.

What does an 80's Altec 580 look like? Only ones I see are of the 90's version. I'd take a pair of the 510's, 511's or 512's, too, if they ever popped up for the heck of it.

 

[Ben Rothman]

Only Altec 508's I know of are the ones in the Sparkomatic owned era in the 90's that used "carbon fiber" woofer cones. There's a pair fairly close to me for reasonable that I've thought about picking up a few times...but it's a 3 hour round trip and I don't really need them. I usually talk myself out of them. Most people don't like them because they aren't "true Altec, which is true. I always thought they sounded rather decent. But I'm one that has owned 2 different pairs of Altec Valencia's and didn't care for either pair. A stacked pair of Dynaco A25's sounded better than the Valencia's, to me, anyway.

Bottom line, the cabinets are decently constructed and have some weight to them. They got favorable reviews here and there, too. But the Altec "fan boys" dont think much of them. Take those opinions with a grain of salt and try them out if you can get them reasonable enough where you can sell them if they aren't your cup of tea. I've got a pair of Cerwin Vega VS-150's that sound great and I'd take them any day of the week over Vals. But, again...that's just me.

What does an 80's Altec 580 look like? Only ones I see are of the 90's version. I'd take a pair of the 510's, 511's or 512's, too, if they ever popped up for the heck of it.

Thanks for the reply! I don’t think I’ve heard true altecs. But to me these speakers sound incredible! I still don’t understand why some models are 4ohm and some are 6ohm. Did altec change it mid way during production? I’m also confused about why some 508s came with rubber surrounds and others came with foam surrounds.

Best,
Ben

 

[avguytx]

There are always running production changes depending on suppliers, contracts, model changes, etc. Most likely, they went to the 6-ohm rating as it was a safe thing for AV surround receivers since most mainstream aren't as thrilled with a 4-ohm load as they are 8-ohm. It's just a nominal rating, anyway.