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DIY Altec A7's?

Suicide Bobb said:
Sounds like a plan! He also has a pair of ESS AMT-1's for $350, but as much as I like those, I have always wanted a pair of Klipsch La Scala's/Belle's/K-Horn's :)

The Scala's may be able to calm my anticipation for the A7's down. We will see!
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Or get them and go over to the Econowave thread and see what can be made...

Russellc
 
Horn Head said:
I'm sure you'll hear many opinions about the A-7s....so let me start:

I think they're fantastic. (haven't heard with 802 HF drivers or the older 416 LFs).

Been using them for bands since highschool and at home and they still send shivers down my spine. Not sure why many new speakers don't do that for me - likely because the Altecs have a certain 'sound' to them. Folks will say they're not perfect, but that's up to the listener.

They won't hit those very low notes inside....outdoors they're much better balanced. And they can take as much power as you need to get them to ear-splitting levels (and they play soft nicely too). Very efficient so not much power needed.

Regarding harshness, make sure you dampen the horns. They'll ring like a tuning fork when mounted on top the 828. I have several sets of 511s and either have them in fully enclosed MDF boxes or put cloth or molding clay over the top of the horn to stop resonance.

But....my latest set has the Altec passive crossovers. Don't like them very much - they seem flat and not so punchy using the passive crossover. My best experiences with these have been biamped at about 1200hz (I know, everyone says to crossover at 500hz). I'm about to bypass the Altec crossovers in my current set and go active biamp again. Jam solid state or tubes through them and it's heaven.

Much critisism about HF dropping after 12K hz. Seems like going active at a higher xover point helps that situation.

Haven't done a head-to-head comparison with LaScalas. You may be better served with the Klipsch if you can get them at a good price...given they have the tweeter too. But on any given day, I'd take the A-7s over the Klipsch for the same price.

Yes, seems like a very biased opinion but over the last 30 years, I keep coming back to the Altecs.
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As to taking power, the woofers only take about 75 watts continuous.....but they are so efficient it would be loud as all heck!

Russellc
 
Horn Head said:
Much critisism about HF dropping after 12K hz. Seems like going active at a higher xover point helps that situation.
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The crossover point will have no effect on this. This is simply physics and all compression drivers do this by nature. You must use compensation to lift the high range at the expense of a little efficiency...fortunately there's plenty of that with the Altec drivers, which are over 100 db. The aforementioned Zilch version of the Model 19 crossover works, or I have one borrowed from another member that works well.

Russellc
 
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Suicide Bobb said:
I currently have 3 rooms in my basement that are totally filled with speakers, not sure how I'm gunna fit these beasts in here!

Things are looking good...the guy is a pleasure to deal with, and is similar to me as far as our collection. I listed my Sony STR-6060FW and Yammie DSP-A1000 on craigslist, regretably, in hopes to get them. That means I'll be left with either my Sansui 9900Z with blown right channel outputs, my MCS 3253, or my H/K AVR-55 to power them in the meantime...which means either around 200watts (benched output) mono from the Sansui, or around 60wpc from the others. In other words, not much :/ Luckily, the Scala's are efficient, but I still plan on throwing more at them. In time, in time...
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Slide on over to the F-5 threads (now numbering 6 or so) and build one of those. Cheap, and it would be an Altec dream amp, not to mention the best Amp I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Not difficult or expensive.

Ruissellc
 
In both the A7s and LaScallas, you won't have a stonge bass signal under 50hz. They both need subs. I've seen a number of LaScalls with the horn and tweet removed and the Altec 511 horn in its place. That with subs and you should be good to go. A7 cabs can be found fairly easy as they where the standard for many years. Check your local pro sound shops. Most likely you will find a pair or two in there deep storage.

If you go with the A7s, close off the bottom section right below the midbass horn and put a JBL 2245 18" sub woofer there. Great combo.
 
If you want to get on the Altec thing, it's a pretty good time to do it, IMO. Prices seem to be down and there is pretty good availability for used drivers.
If it was me, I wouldn't build A7's. There always seems to be someone trying to get rid of a pair of cabinets for cheap.
Great Plains Audio in Oklahoma is the place to source new drivers, parts, service, etc..

As for the sound....if you would like it or if it is a good fit for your listening space or music, more info needed. I did hear a pair of 828 cabs with the 420 woofers, recently, and did they ever slam the bass.
 
westend said:
If you want to get on the Altec thing, it's a pretty good time to do it, IMO. Prices seem to be down and there is pretty good availability for used drivers.
If it was me, I wouldn't build A7's. There always seems to be someone trying to get rid of a pair of cabinets for cheap.
Great Plains Audio in Oklahoma is the place to source new drivers, parts, service, etc..

As for the sound....if you would like it or if it is a good fit for your listening space or music, more info needed. I did hear a pair of 828 cabs with the 420 woofers, recently, and did they ever slam the bass.
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How's the Altec build going?

Russellc
 
Hi, I know this is an older thread. Just wanted to give my opinion. I inherited a pair of 1964 Altec Capistrano's with VOTT drivers in them. The Capistrano's sit sideways with a width of about 46in. I didn't have the room, so I built a pair of A7's from a plan book that a friend sent me. They were not easy to build. The cost for the wood wasn't bad at about $300.00. The sound is unbelievable. Although they are only 30watts. They crank. The drivers are the 802B 16ohm woofer, 811 horn with a 804A HF driver. They are very efficient speakers. They don't have booming bass but the clarity is unreal. I'm sure I don't really have the space to really drive these, but they sound so much better than other speakers I've had. I liked them so much that I bought a set of 416A's and 811 horns with a 806A HF driver, and build a pair of 816 bass bins for the garage. I picked these up on EBay for $700.00. I can turn those up in the garage and here them as clear as day on the other side of my house in the back yard. I don't know the responses of these as I am not that technical YET! But I will. IMHO, I would seriously consider taking on the A7 project. As you can see from the pix, they are not perfect, as this was the first attempt. I will eventually build a nicer pair.

David
 

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A7 repros

I don't know if you ever got your A7 repro's built, but I built a pair and I used them for sound reinforcement/DJ gigs. I have the horns in boxes to make them easy to carry.
 
dnpainting said:
Hi, I know this is an older thread. Just wanted to give my opinion. I inherited a pair of 1964 Altec Capistrano's with VOTT drivers in them. The Capistrano's sit sideways with a width of about 46in. I didn't have the room, so I built a pair of A7's from a plan book that a friend sent me. They were not easy to build. The cost for the wood wasn't bad at about $300.00. The sound is unbelievable. Although they are only 30watts. They crank. The drivers are the 802B 16ohm woofer, 811 horn with a 804A HF driver. They are very efficient speakers. They don't have booming bass but the clarity is unreal. I'm sure I don't really have the space to really drive these, but they sound so much better than other speakers I've had. I liked them so much that I bought a set of 416A's and 811 horns with a 806A HF driver, and build a pair of 816 bass bins for the garage. I picked these up on EBay for $700.00. I can turn those up in the garage and here them as clear as day on the other side of my house in the back yard. I don't know the responses of these as I am not that technical YET! But I will. IMHO, I would seriously consider taking on the A7 project. As you can see from the pix, they are not perfect, as this was the first attempt. I will eventually build a nicer pair.

David
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David,

John Tucker's eXemplar speakers are akin to the VOTTs and at the last VSAC he was using them with a pair of Karlson cabinets (with Altecs drivers in them) for subwoofers (20-40 Hz). He said he didn't care for fullrange Karlson's, but when used as just Subs, they were the only ones that he'd found that could keep up with the VOTTs. He felt they integrated easily and very smoothly with the main horns.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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A 12 year old thread but we are still talking about Altec Lansing VOTT speakers and their kin. I had a pair of Seeburg DDS 1 behemoths years ago and they were lovely! Over the past 3 years I have been collecting H811b sectoral horns and drivers with 800hz crossovers that will eventually be made whole again. The crossovers I bought were designed for A7-8 in about 1975 and are NOS. I am drawn to create a mid-century modern cabinet similar to Altec models from the late 1950's.
 
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