I picked this pair of Altec speakers up today and need help identifying them. No numbers or stickers on them. They are very heavy with obviously well built cabinets. They cleaned up very nice with only a very few faint scratches. Drivers and tweeters are perfect. These really sing on my Allied integrated tube amp. Seem very efficient as the amp is only 15 watts per channel. Does anyone have info on these speakers?
Help identifiying Altecs
- Thread starter jaykoly
- Start date
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bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
879A Santana
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page21.jpg
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Look on the bottom.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page21.jpg
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Last edited:
bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
"polarizing" would be the term i'd use, some folks love em, others are less than impressed.
The 420 bi-flex is a "special" driver, replacement cones haven't been made in years, and there's a growing appreciation for them in Europe making them valuable and only likely to increase in value with time.
I bought mine just for the cabinets with a DIY project in mind since they have a removable baffle. The 420A's from mine now reside in Poland, and the cabinets are loaded with a 12 inch woofer and a compression driver/horn combo in my cabin.
The 420 bi-flex is a "special" driver, replacement cones haven't been made in years, and there's a growing appreciation for them in Europe making them valuable and only likely to increase in value with time.
I bought mine just for the cabinets with a DIY project in mind since they have a removable baffle. The 420A's from mine now reside in Poland, and the cabinets are loaded with a 12 inch woofer and a compression driver/horn combo in my cabin.
I guess I'm either in the other camp, or maybe the ones I heard weren't suited to the amp (solid state reciever) used -- I thought they were both dull and harsh. But over the years, I've learned that a lot of what I thought about various components was actually more about bad component matching than about the components themselves. So I wouldn't be surprised if they actually sounded quite good used with a tube amp as you are doing.
I think I would agree with Nat. I have been able to spend some time listening to these now and they are very well suited to this tube combo I am using. I have had both SS and tube systems for a while now and certain speakers I love on one system I hate on the other. I have not tried them with solid state gear but probably will have to at some just out of sheer curiousity, but for now I sure am enjoying their sound this way.
I'm not a huge fan of the bi-flex woofers, but the Europeans do seem to like them.
