Rex Aeterna
Gigolo of Gigolos
i was gonna keep my impressions to myself due to fear of skyrocking prices once again and was gonna keep all the excitement to myself but, i might as well share my impressions with all the good people of ak that i been around for years on this site that helped me greatly with everything in the past with the endless pit of raw knowledge the very kind folk of ak people has shared over the past years i visited this site on and off.. also i will apologize if my spelling and paragrah structures are off due to me being mobile a lot and using my phone a lot....these tiny phones are not made for guys with larger than normal hands...
i had the model 14's plan on buy for over month bout now from my friend who kindly put them on hold for me. the only problem with them was one original woofers were discolored from sun expeosure from a previous owners fault but, other than that the cabs and everything were in really great condition. they were refoamed and i had them recapped before i finally brought them home.
i had them home for good couple weeks now and usually takes only less than 20 minutes to evaluate a speakers/headphones performance on my part but, i always give bit extra time since my music selection is very vast and considered collective since i just love music. i dont consider myself an audiophile really and never gave myself a lable of any sort since im always open minded and never had judgement on anything or anyone in my life so, never cared for giving lables personally and always remained free spirit, stedfest and, optimistic till i felt what was right on my decision(s)...
anyhoo, on the model 14's.....i absoutely was impressed by first listen and that is usually rare on my part. these had tons of air response easily and was insanely smooth and extended. the mantaray horns seem to do very good and amazing job at dispersing the highs very evenly with no self coloration added by the horn itself.
the little 12" woofers are very good as well and lot better than you expect. very clean impact and impressive extension for their given size. it reaches up to the given midrange too actually very well..
the midrange capability is there and very resolving and super clean and smooth with the model 14's. thing is the smoothness is lot better than some best domes i ever heard before and has type of electrostatic smoothness to it cause i hear no resonance peaks from upper mids to the very high air response on them and its just very quick and clean with very low distortion. the model 14's are very source/upstream sensitive as well and will sound best with a decent audio interface/dac if going the digital route and needs good clean power behind them.
i have heard these on good rebuilt tubes before and they will perform just as wonderful but, always found them having a bit extra grunt behind them will bring out the extra bit of extension the woofers are capable of and to allow more extra clean headroom. the horns and drivers are so smooth on their own that they do not require any special amp coloration selection to smooth out their response of any sort since the 902-8's are very good and ultra smooth on their part.
i love these little guys and probably one of the most under rated of the altecs i read and seen so far. i do have larger altec horns and drivers as well but, do find these little guys in special place in my heart. probably favorite small speaker so far. i know some people dont find them exactly small but, me being large guy and always was around 170lb+ speakers and subs the model 14's just tiny adorable little buggers as my g/f puts them lol.
these are very good speakers and can be very revealing so some recordings can be bit annoying due to its flat air response and how some modern stuff is eq'ed like crazy in top end to air cause seems modern generations seem to have really bad hf hearing loss of some sort. i have posted old pic of them in system members forums but, might post same older photo of crappy phone pic setup here as well i guess... again sorry for the lack of grammer mastery and awesomness but, typing on a phone all the time can suck comeplete monkey dunk lol. have laptop too but, that's always stationary for home setup....
dont mind mess and stuffed animals. even though its private listening area my g/f loves decroating area with stuffed animals. i dont mind at all usually since im easy going and understanding guy. i have larger altecs and more bass bins but, temporary stored away till i set them up in main living room area...cant see it but, my private ghetto room is treated with compressed super chunck bass traps geom floor to ceiling and all reflection points and standing waves are taken care of compressed 9" thick fiberglass panels i did myself....doesn't look like much but, love the sound.
have the jbl's running on single crown xti 4002 for sub duty...
jbl 4648 pair - ch1- 8th order linkwitz lp filter @40hz, 8th order linkwitz hp filter @30Hz
jbl 4645(original with 3 ports, loaded jbl 2245h) - ch2 - 8th order linkwitz lp filter @30Hz, peq set at 6db+@20hz with low shelf eq filter....
for now using my model 14's on my xls 2502 with 4th order linkwitz hp filter @40hz since i run dedicated subs...have other amps but, the xls 2502 has proved itself to be very good clean amp.
i had the model 14's plan on buy for over month bout now from my friend who kindly put them on hold for me. the only problem with them was one original woofers were discolored from sun expeosure from a previous owners fault but, other than that the cabs and everything were in really great condition. they were refoamed and i had them recapped before i finally brought them home.
i had them home for good couple weeks now and usually takes only less than 20 minutes to evaluate a speakers/headphones performance on my part but, i always give bit extra time since my music selection is very vast and considered collective since i just love music. i dont consider myself an audiophile really and never gave myself a lable of any sort since im always open minded and never had judgement on anything or anyone in my life so, never cared for giving lables personally and always remained free spirit, stedfest and, optimistic till i felt what was right on my decision(s)...
anyhoo, on the model 14's.....i absoutely was impressed by first listen and that is usually rare on my part. these had tons of air response easily and was insanely smooth and extended. the mantaray horns seem to do very good and amazing job at dispersing the highs very evenly with no self coloration added by the horn itself.
the little 12" woofers are very good as well and lot better than you expect. very clean impact and impressive extension for their given size. it reaches up to the given midrange too actually very well..
the midrange capability is there and very resolving and super clean and smooth with the model 14's. thing is the smoothness is lot better than some best domes i ever heard before and has type of electrostatic smoothness to it cause i hear no resonance peaks from upper mids to the very high air response on them and its just very quick and clean with very low distortion. the model 14's are very source/upstream sensitive as well and will sound best with a decent audio interface/dac if going the digital route and needs good clean power behind them.
i have heard these on good rebuilt tubes before and they will perform just as wonderful but, always found them having a bit extra grunt behind them will bring out the extra bit of extension the woofers are capable of and to allow more extra clean headroom. the horns and drivers are so smooth on their own that they do not require any special amp coloration selection to smooth out their response of any sort since the 902-8's are very good and ultra smooth on their part.
i love these little guys and probably one of the most under rated of the altecs i read and seen so far. i do have larger altec horns and drivers as well but, do find these little guys in special place in my heart. probably favorite small speaker so far. i know some people dont find them exactly small but, me being large guy and always was around 170lb+ speakers and subs the model 14's just tiny adorable little buggers as my g/f puts them lol.
these are very good speakers and can be very revealing so some recordings can be bit annoying due to its flat air response and how some modern stuff is eq'ed like crazy in top end to air cause seems modern generations seem to have really bad hf hearing loss of some sort. i have posted old pic of them in system members forums but, might post same older photo of crappy phone pic setup here as well i guess... again sorry for the lack of grammer mastery and awesomness but, typing on a phone all the time can suck comeplete monkey dunk lol. have laptop too but, that's always stationary for home setup....
dont mind mess and stuffed animals. even though its private listening area my g/f loves decroating area with stuffed animals. i dont mind at all usually since im easy going and understanding guy. i have larger altecs and more bass bins but, temporary stored away till i set them up in main living room area...cant see it but, my private ghetto room is treated with compressed super chunck bass traps geom floor to ceiling and all reflection points and standing waves are taken care of compressed 9" thick fiberglass panels i did myself....doesn't look like much but, love the sound.
have the jbl's running on single crown xti 4002 for sub duty...
jbl 4648 pair - ch1- 8th order linkwitz lp filter @40hz, 8th order linkwitz hp filter @30Hz
jbl 4645(original with 3 ports, loaded jbl 2245h) - ch2 - 8th order linkwitz lp filter @30Hz, peq set at 6db+@20hz with low shelf eq filter....
for now using my model 14's on my xls 2502 with 4th order linkwitz hp filter @40hz since i run dedicated subs...have other amps but, the xls 2502 has proved itself to be very good clean amp.
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