Help! What Have I Got Here

ZeroJunk

ZeroJunk

Super Member
They were in the foyer of a little church to put the hymnals on. Wonder what they sound like. I had to unload them with a frontend loader. The horn is stamped H 811 B in the metal. I haven't taken the back off but assume the woofers are some Altec Lansing model. Anybody ever heard of them.
 
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Altec-Lansing

811 was an Altec-Lansing horn tweeter. I'm curious to know what kind of woofer is buried in the cabinet and how it's ported?
 
I did some research and if they are stock the woofers are Utah. Some who are familiar have said that the crossover is not good. Is there any reason why a two way from Parts Express wouldn't work and if so what should the crossover frequency be? And if the Utahs are not good would the Dayton classic 15 woofer be better? The top is bad but I have the capability to replace it with a solid piece of walnut if they are worth messing with. Or, would I be better off to sell the drivers and forget about it? All advice appreciated. Randy
 
Let's see a pic of the crossover, those appear to be late models.

The biggest shortfalls of the factory crossovers are the cheap electrolytic caps they used and absence of an L-pad to knock down the horn a little as they're quite mismatched to the woofers in terms of sensitivity without them.

Your's appear to have an L-pad, hard to say from the single pic if the pad is stock or an add-on.
 
Urizen said:
Ayep.:thmbsp: I heard Gordon's modified pair at the Southern Fest. Killer dynamics.
Click to expand...

I got the plan to make those real giant killers, if you want to. It's about $700 of parts and labor for a pair... JBL M115 or EV 15B woofers with custom recone kits, replacement horns and drivers, custom crossovers... but be prepared to lay waste to many-thousand dollar speakers afterwards!! :D

Regards,
Gordon.
 
great score.
You got a good eye.

if the cabs arent too good, the xover needs replaced and the woofers arent anything to write home about, you would almost be better off taking the horns from the cabs and building a great set of speakers with them.
or did you already have something in mind?

GordonW, tell me more?
 
Oops! The 811 was the horn itself. There is one complete "tweeter" for sale on eBay with a buyitnow price of 249.99. I don't know if that's a fair price or not. I recall hearing A-L units like this back in the 60s.
 
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Hard to say from the pic if the l-pads were added or not.

I'd have to agree whole heartedly with the sentiments expressed about the woofers. They do have good extension, but their sensitivity is way too low, and they're too easily power compressed to use with Altec horn drivers and horns.

HF drivers are Altec 806A 16ohm BTW.
 
I may replace the caps and listen to them for while. I never was a big fan of thumping bass anyway. Can't see it in the photo but there is an SX 1010 on the shelf above and to the left. I need to go to Rat Shack and get enough wire to reach.
 
I may replace the caps and listen to them for while.
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That'd be my suggestion.

Depending on your listening space, musical and listening preferences, they might be very adequate.

To be honest, i never listened to my DDS1's in a "typical" room. I had them in a relatively large 25x50x10 foot space, above 100-105db the woofers lose linearity in their response and can't dynamically track with the horns. With the ability to turn the horns down and a more easily excited room they might work very well.
 
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