Picked up a pair of Altec Bolero 809c's this morning!

SpeakerLabFan

SpeakerLabFan

< speakerlab 7's
I ran across these yesterday while record hunting at an estate sale in Seattle but the sale was run by an estate sale outfit they were priced just a bit too high for an impulse buy. I actually conferred with Rick/Klownschool since we were both making the rounds yesterday morning (we met earlier a g-sales in the north end - thanks again Rick for pointing me to the gear and records in Bothell :thmbsp: ), and he'd looked at these also.

So, I was in the area this morning on the way back from picking up a pair of AR ax2's in West Seattle, so I stopped by again. I wasn't surprised to see they were still there. They were glad to get an offer from me and I was happy to pick up these speakers. :banana::music:

I don't have any familiarity with vintage Altec speakers. These look and sound fantastic - I auditioned them in my living room but I've moved them into my listening room on top of the Khorns. :music:

Here's some pictures:

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theophile said:
Tom Brennan has a pair of these and has posted many times about his admiration for them.

That's just a taste.Have a look through this page.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/search.php?searchid=2375987&pp=25
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Thanks for the links, I'll read through these. Yeah I saw Tom's and others comments when I browsed for some info on the model yesterday. I actually did a quick lookup on my mobile phone when I spotted the speakers. We could clearly see that they were interesting speakers when we pulled off the grills. They were sitting in an upstairs bedroom floor by themselves, next to several boxes of records.

This sale was at a huge old house, same neighborhood - not far from where Ann and Nancy Wilson had a huge old house years ago. There was alot of traffic at this sale - I was worried that the speakers had been damaged by various people looking at them, but they were ok. thanks again.
 
The 890's are pretty much "the best" small speaker Altec ever made. The 890A used the Altec made 3000 tweeter and those are the real paydirt where value and collectibility are concerned, but those tweets are very delicate and probably not as good a match to the system as the later CTS 2x6.

IMO, a reasonably inexpensive upgrade for these is to replace the CTS built horns with the older all metal Foster/Radio Shack 40-1298 horn tweets. The horn is dimensionally the same as the CTS so no alterations of any kind are necessary. The Foster/RS tweets are just far superior to the CTS in terms of sound quality.................. my opinion of course.
 
After seeing these Altecs again (and those Klipschorns) I have a question that's been on my mind a while concerning tweeter horns:

is their dispersion angle wider when their longest side is in a vertical position?

Because the Boleros have a grill that's oriented to make you think that, but I've seen another pair with "neutral" grills i.e. no particular orientation (that site has lots of great photos of many brands of gear, including obscure ones. and check out these pretty Altec "Lagunas" - Ive never heard of those).
 
RadShak1251 said:
Nice find! :drool:Probably most people looked at them and thought "Eewww, those are so BIG and they're old - they cannot possibly sound good". :rolleyes:
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yeah that's what you hope for, that and that they'll keep junior from sticking his finger through the dust cap. :nono:

bowtie427ss said:
The 890's are pretty much "the best" small speaker Altec ever made. The 890A used the Altec made 3000 tweeter and those are the real paydirt where value and collectibility are concerned, but those tweets are very delicate and probably not as good a match to the system as the later CTS 2x6.

IMO, a reasonably inexpensive upgrade for these is to replace the CTS built horns with the older all metal Foster/Radio Shack 40-1298 horn tweets. The horn is dimensionally the same as the CTS so no alterations of any kind are necessary. The Foster/RS tweets are just far superior to the CTS in terms of sound quality.................. my opinion of course.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to giving these a serious listen this week. :music:
 
RadShak1251 said:
After seeing these Altecs again (and those Klipschorns) I have a question that's been on my mind a while concerning tweeter horns:

is their dispersion angle wider when their longest side is in a vertical position?

Because the Boleros have a grill that's oriented to make you think that, but I've seen another pair with "neutral" grills i.e. no particular orientation (that site has lots of great photos of many brands of gear, including obscure ones).
Click to expand...

Good question - not just the grill but the connnects in the back are oriented for horizontal placement. Not sure if there's a particular advantage in the orientation but I'm sure someone on AK has an opinion or information...
 
Nice, congrats! :thmbsp: I'm sure you saw the ad for the Speakerlab 7's ? The price is starting to creep down, from $300 to $295. :D
 
spaceman said:
Nice, congrats! :thmbsp: I'm sure you saw the ad for the Speakerlab 7's ? The price is starting to creep down, from $300 to $295. :D
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Thanks, heh yeah of course I think those are great speakers. no doubt will find a buyer if the price keeps creeping down but at that rate it might be a few months. :D
 
The badge on the grille spins freely. I've used the speakers both horizontally and vertically depending on the nature of the situation, can't say it made much difference. I'm using them vertically now but such use is demanded by the situation; they have to fit the cabinet and are mainly used for playback of a digital piano and digital drumkit.
 

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just remember this one --

“are those good speakers?” – quote from estate sale coordinator as I was purchasing these. :smoke:
 
bowtie427ss said:
The 890's are pretty much "the best" small speaker Altec ever made. The 890A used the Altec made 3000 tweeter and those are the real paydirt where value and collectibility are concerned, but those tweets are very delicate and probably not as good a match to the system as the later CTS 2x6.

IMO, a reasonably inexpensive upgrade for these is to replace the CTS built horns with the older all metal Foster/Radio Shack 40-1298 horn tweets. The horn is dimensionally the same as the CTS so no alterations of any kind are necessary. The Foster/RS tweets are just far superior to the CTS in terms of sound quality.................. my opinion of course.
Click to expand...

I've had a chance to do some serious listening to the Boleros this weekend including listening to few titles with other AK'r at the AK mini-fest this afternoon. Wow, I'm impressed - these are really smooth and balanced sounding speakers. I think I made a fan out of Klownschool and others too. :music:

I'm already at critical mass for speakers in the house - I can only A/B so many different sets of killer speakers and I hate to see them sitting around unused but I also hate to say goodbye (unlike other components which I find easy to move out).
 
Just noticed this thread and Im glad you went back for a second look Dick!
I had a chance to listen to these speakers at the
AK gathering and was very impressed.
Easy on the ears and perfect size for a small to medium sized room.
(Say Tom,What ohm impedence are they?)
Great score Dick!
 
SLUGGO said:
Just noticed this thread and Im glad you went back for a second look Dick!
I had a chance to listen to these speakers at the
AK gathering and was very impressed.
Easy on the ears and perfect size for a small to medium sized room.
(Say Tom,What ohm impedence are they?)
Great score Dick!
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark, yeah sweet sounding speakers aren't they? and that smooth bottom end, I was blown away when the drums kicked in on a track when I first listening to them.

Klownschool said:
me want them =b
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hey rick, old buddy! :thmbsp::smoke:

me want that receiver you picked up... it would be fun to see how it matched up with the Phase Linear speakers. It looks like we have a standoff here. :D
 
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