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Seeburg DDS1 can anyone advise??

lakegville

lakegville

Active Member
I currently have the Altec model 14 and 846b's and am very fond of them both. To me there is something special about the real Altec's. I see where there are a pair of these Seeburg SSD1's for sale. They look very much like Altec's and use the Altec horn. They are larger than either of the pair that i have now. Would anyone care to comment as to the quality of these speakers? Were they really used in disco's... recording studios in the 70's? Would they be a "upgrade" from what i have i have now? They look cool with the big horn and two 15's!!!

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
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Actual model # is DDS1. Altec 811 horn with 806 driver. Dual Utah 15" woofers. I believe they were used for discos and clubs. Mine have a wood looking formica finish on the outside of the big heavy cabinets. Crossovers and woofers not up to the same standard as your Altec speakers.
 
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don't know why but i think it is cool if they were used in 70's discos! Maybe i could get a ball spinnin from the ceiling......and crank them up? The seller wants way, way too much so nothing may ever come of it. I bet they would be sorta hard to sell if i wanted to move them.
 
They were not used in clubs in the 70's. The DDS1 was an optional extension speaker system for the 1965 and 1966 Seeburg Discoteque model jukeboxes. Seeburg produced special compact 33 EP's with
dance music versions (usually instrumental) of the popular songs of the early to mid 60's to program into these jukeboxes. So you could say they were used in bars and clubs in the 60's.
 
orthophonic said:
They were not used in clubs in the 70's. The DDS1 was an optional extension speaker system for the 1965 and 1966 Seeburg Discoteque model jukeboxes. Seeburg produced special compact 33 EP's with
dance music versions (usually instrumental) of the popular songs of the early to mid 60's to program into these jukeboxes. So you could say they were used in bars and clubs in the 60's.
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Because everyone replaces their equipment every year. :rolleyes: I'm sure quite a few of these were being used in various bar/club applications for many years. Some years back I had some 1950s Altec drivers that were still in use in a nightclub in the early 2000s.
 
+1 on Orthophonic's post.

They were never used in discos. They're 1960's jukebox extension speakers with which their fidelity and frequency range is right on par.

As vintage speakers go, they are less than mediocre. The Utah woofers are not worth the space they occupy.

If you replace the woofers and the crossover, then you have only the caveats of an 806/811 to work out.
 
lakegville said:
I currently have the Altec model 14 and 846b's and am very fond of them both. To me there is something special about the real Altec's. I see where there are a pair of these Seeburg SSD1's for sale. They look very much like Altec's and use the Altec horn. They are larger than either of the pair that i have now. Would anyone care to comment as to the quality of these speakers? Were they really used in disco's... recording studios in the 70's? Would they be a "upgrade" from what i have i have now? They look cool with the big horn and two 15's!!!

Thanks in advance for any input.
Click to expand...
Was very fortunate about 10+ years ago to find a pair of these on craigslist for $100!!! The cabinets were beat up and the 15" woofers were in sad shape but the altec horns were well preserved! So I hauled them home and decided I would assemble a pair of altec 846a's using the horns - I was able to find a pair of empty altec cabinets and then had to by the altec woofers and crossovers on ebay - whole project cost me $1000 and absolutely love the results - I drive them with a 12 watt per channel sansui receiver and it's magic. Those SSD1 speakers are backbreakers, they weigh over 150 pounds each as I recall. I've seen the pair down in Texas somewhere for sale on ebay with the red painted horns and they look great - I wish I could hear them!
 
They were typically used in bars and diners that had Seeburg juke boxes installed. My wife's father had a jukebox/vending/pinball business and had four of these mounted in their basement.
 
toddalin said:
They were typically used in bars and diners that had Seeburg juke boxes installed. My wife's father had a jukebox/vending/pinball business and had four of these mounted in their basement.
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Haha… My first girlfriend’s father had a jukebox/vending/pinball business and he had a Seeburg jukebox in their living room. Not sure what was in their basement!

This was in MA.
 
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