Vintage 1967 Built In High End Home Hi Fi
- Thread starter Flashback67
- Start date
Wes_in_VA
Super Member
Harvestor
Addicted Member
I vote he puts up a YouTube video of the main system playing some music!After reading the whole thread, all I can say is-"damn, what a journey "! You've probably got as much time in documenting this trip on AK as the project itself! Huge congrats on your vision, upon realizing what you had & deciding what to do with it. Most people would've likely ripped it all out & covered the holes. Now, for to relax & enjoy. Crank it up!as for cooperative wifey,
Lucky you!
Harvestor
Addicted Member
Awesome work Sir,
You have an awesome home with an awesome history!
From a very neat era in America's history.
If you could please take some video of your main system with the 15 in woofers in action playing music and then upload it to YouTube and post a link here, this would be very good to see for all of us interested and it would be good for posterity sake into the future that people could run across this very post or thread and see the end result of your work documented for all time on video!!
Seconded
Flashback67
Active Member
After reading the whole thread, all I can say is-"damn, what a journey "! You've probably got as much time in documenting this trip on AK as the project itself! Huge congrats on your vision, upon realizing what you had & deciding what to do with it. Most people would've likely ripped it all out & covered the holes. Now, for to relax & enjoy. Crank it up!
I was able to find time to write because I do a lot of traveling. Nothing like sitting in an airport waiting for a flight, while really wanting to be working on my house projects to get the creative writing juices going. And I am really lucky to have a beautiful intelligent and understanding wife. I think she appreciates having an engineer as a husband, who can seemingly can fix anything as a bonus too.
Flashback67
Active Member
Thank you for the kind words sir. Will try and comply when I get a chance.
Flashback67
Active Member
Well it's been almost a month since I posted last. With travel I have not had much time to work on the speaker design. But I am finally back home and had some time last night to revise the Model 19 cabinet design to incorporate some improvements. Thanks especially to GM on the DIY Audio site.comments.
The Rev B changes are as follows;
1) 811B horn has been raised 3.5" to 38.6", Closer to ear height.
2) 416-8B woofer CL distance to horn CL change to match exactly the 17" Model 19 spacing.
3) Horn and woofer now occupy one cabinet volume, which;
a) Simplifies cabinet construction.
b) Reduces cabinet depth to be less square.
c) Provides more than enough volume for bracing and tuning (1.0 cuft).
4) Crossover L-Pad panel rotated 90 deg and moved to below the horn. This will require I fabricate a new panel. But the GPA panel is not as classy as the original Altec panel anyway. I can get some brass or nickel plated panels made at a local trophy shop with the Altec logo silk screened on.
5) Grill support on door now centered across middle of woofer. But doors will be open for serious listening anyway.
6) Tail end support for HF driver now on back of speaker instead of bottom.
Currently playing with the idea of using a Shiit Freya+ preamp and one or two Shiit Aegir amps. Anyone have any experience?
Copy of Rev B drawing attached.
The Rev B changes are as follows;
1) 811B horn has been raised 3.5" to 38.6", Closer to ear height.
2) 416-8B woofer CL distance to horn CL change to match exactly the 17" Model 19 spacing.
3) Horn and woofer now occupy one cabinet volume, which;
a) Simplifies cabinet construction.
b) Reduces cabinet depth to be less square.
c) Provides more than enough volume for bracing and tuning (1.0 cuft).
4) Crossover L-Pad panel rotated 90 deg and moved to below the horn. This will require I fabricate a new panel. But the GPA panel is not as classy as the original Altec panel anyway. I can get some brass or nickel plated panels made at a local trophy shop with the Altec logo silk screened on.
5) Grill support on door now centered across middle of woofer. But doors will be open for serious listening anyway.
6) Tail end support for HF driver now on back of speaker instead of bottom.
Currently playing with the idea of using a Shiit Freya+ preamp and one or two Shiit Aegir amps. Anyone have any experience?
Copy of Rev B drawing attached.
Flashback67
Active Member
Well another month has passed, and by now reading this you may rightly believe that I am all talk but no action. But as the photos below attest, I am now neck deep into this speaker project. Earlier this week I completed Rev D of the cabinet plans and sent them to Bill at Great Plains Audio for comments. Bill gave me a thumbs up on the plans, so this morning I broke to Oklahoma City to pick up all the components to make my Model 19 clones.
Bill, his son Daniel, and Chris are great people and run a fantastic operation. The GPA facility is not big, but it is organized and efficient. Especially for predominantly hand made components. And they are truly MADE IN USA, not just assembled. Mostly from sources in Oklahoma, or Texas (basket castings). Bill even showed me a new line of smaller drives he is working on for lower cost speakers that young audiophiles can afford.
More later........
Bill, his son Daniel, and Chris are great people and run a fantastic operation. The GPA facility is not big, but it is organized and efficient. Especially for predominantly hand made components. And they are truly MADE IN USA, not just assembled. Mostly from sources in Oklahoma, or Texas (basket castings). Bill even showed me a new line of smaller drives he is working on for lower cost speakers that young audiophiles can afford.
More later........
Never doubted you for a moment.
Flashback67
Active Member
Well I never expected the “more later” would be over a year later. But then again, I don’t think most of us predicted the COVID pandemic.
I think for a lot of us 2020 will always be considered a lost year. But now that the light at the end of the tunnel appears in sight (or at least being predicted), work and personal priorities are shifting back to normal.
The biggest delayin my starting this built-in speaker project, is that they are “built-in”. With both my wife and I working from home, the sound of power sawing and drilling with my wife trying to work was not conducive to a happy marriage. Don’t forget, this house is one big open floor plan, so there’s nowhere to really hide from the noise.
To speed the build process once things start back to normal, I purchased everything I would need online. One advantage with us both working from home, there is someone always available to receive packages. In my garage there are now three sheets of 3/4” Baltic Birch plywood, 2” x 2” Oak boards for the corners, three (heavy) boxes of No-Rez batting, and all the possible screws, bolts, etc required.
Since working on my computer at home does not make much noise, I have been continuously revising the plans to make them easier and faster to complete the build. This included making views of all the details I will need to cut. In the process, I also changed to a custom wood flared port in place of the plastic Precision port, and designed a custom panel for the L-pads. The custom wood ports are being manufactured to the identical profile of the Precision port in African mahogany. The custom L-pad panel was made by Penn Elcom. The flared wood ports are being turned by a craftsman that normally makes wood bowls, and should be ready in two weeks.
The L-pad panels arrived this week. Initially I had the L-pad panel at the bottom of the speaker, but couldn’t make the existing dimensions of the Altec panel fit. Comments from others on this site thought I should keep the bottom location for the L pads, but I moved them up to the top near the port, similar to the original Model 19 speakers.
The more I kept staring at the panels that came from GPA, (see photo) the more I wanted to replace them with something closer to the original Altec panels (see photo). The price for original Altec Model 19 crossovers on eBay is ridiculous, and most are in bad shape. Turns out my cheapest option was to design brand new custom panels, and if I have to design a panel from scratch, it might as well be a different size also. So now now the L-pads are back at the bottom, and I do think they will look best there (see photo). Oh, I am now on revision V of the plans (see attachment).
Over Christmas break they were a couple days my wife was away that I could start cutting away the old cabinet speakers. Since our TV in the house audio system are in the same cabinet, prepping to keep all the dust out and reconnecting everything at the end of each day was more time than actually cutting wood (see photo).
With the old speakers and shelves removed, there were a few interesting discoveries. The original coaxial speakers turned out not to be Wolverine LT15s, but EV 15TXRB. (see photo) OK speakers, but not great speakers. Need to decide whether to sell them or make some open baffle speakers for my garage. The other surprise was that the right hand speaker has no back to it. So I needed to buy more Baltic Birch and originally planned.
Like most to you who aren’t retired, I have lots of vacation saved up from not being able to go anywhere. So the first warm week I can takeoff from work I plan to start the speaker construction. With everything in place it should not take more than a week of work. The biggest question now, when will it be warm, and when will have a opportunity for week off from work.
Stay healthy
Last edited:
Flashback67
Active Member
it is wonderful to see you again.
Flashback67
Active Member
Thanks Jay,
Hope you are with power today. The wife, dog, cat, and I are all huddled around the fireplace waiting for the power to come back on. It’s been over 12 hours hours now. But at least we have gas in our fireplace.
struggling with both gas and electricity. Inside down to 41 until the sun came out. Very very good luck.
Flashback67
Active Member
If there is anyone still out there following this thread, sorry for the almost one year lapse in postings. But progress in 2020 was very limited until October, when my life and work finally got settled enough to return to this project. Looking forward to retirement in a few years, and completing project in months, rather than years.
One benefit however of having to stretch out a project schedule, is it provides time to rethink design decisions. That is why the speaker drawings are now on revision “Y”. Time to finish the build before running out of letters ;-).
My vision of how the completed speakers should look, is to make people think they are original to the house construction. This is reflected in the modeling after the Altec Model 19, and the reproduction Altec face plate for the L-pads. One non period correct cue that the speakers were not original however would have been the plastic 6” Precision Port flared horn on the front baffle. I could have just cut a slotted port, like on the original 19, but wanted both a more finished look, and reduced port “chuffing”. The Precision Port design also helps extend bass.
So without time to make real progress on the actual speaker build, I tracked down a craftsman who turns wood to duplicate the Precision Port front flared horn. Because the inside contour of the horn is critical, I made casting of the plastic horn inside surface for a tool. The craftsman, Mr. Horn (talk about coincidence), turned the wood horns out of Brazilian mahogany.
More later….
One benefit however of having to stretch out a project schedule, is it provides time to rethink design decisions. That is why the speaker drawings are now on revision “Y”. Time to finish the build before running out of letters ;-).
My vision of how the completed speakers should look, is to make people think they are original to the house construction. This is reflected in the modeling after the Altec Model 19, and the reproduction Altec face plate for the L-pads. One non period correct cue that the speakers were not original however would have been the plastic 6” Precision Port flared horn on the front baffle. I could have just cut a slotted port, like on the original 19, but wanted both a more finished look, and reduced port “chuffing”. The Precision Port design also helps extend bass.
So without time to make real progress on the actual speaker build, I tracked down a craftsman who turns wood to duplicate the Precision Port front flared horn. Because the inside contour of the horn is critical, I made casting of the plastic horn inside surface for a tool. The craftsman, Mr. Horn (talk about coincidence), turned the wood horns out of Brazilian mahogany.
More later….
I am and I’m loving it. How in the world did you find Mr Horn? I’m more convinced than ever that the perfect couple bought the perfect house.
Flashback67
Active Member
I originally thought about trying to make the wood horns myself. The plan was to take a wood turning class at Rockler. But in looking for a class on the bulletin board at Rockler, I found a pamphlet for a wood turning club. In the end I decided to hire John instead of making the horns myself. He had the right tools and skills. I just needed to provide drawings, a contour check tool, and wood blanks.
In case there any doubt, John Horn plays Santa Claus at Christmas
.
In case there any doubt, John Horn plays Santa Claus at Christmas
.
Flashback67
Active Member
In October, I finally found time to get my garage cleaned out to give me room to set up my table saw. My wife gave me the table saw for my birthday last year, and this was the first time it was ever used.
Like the ceiling speakers rebuilds, I have zero access to the back and sides of the media cabinet. So all work must be performed from the front. The upside is , I only have the front of the speaker to make look pretty. The down sides are, the volume I have to work with is fixed. So in case I had any unexpected problems, I designed the cabinets with an extra one cubic foot of volume to provide margin for changes.
From the outside cabinet dimensions, it had appeared that the cabinet sides were 1.5” thick except for the back. However once I had access, from the right side speaker that does not have a back installed, I could feel that most of the sides were only 0.75”. This meant I would need to add an additional 0.75” boards to the sides and tops of the cabinets. With my volume margin decreased significantly, I now need to watch every cubic inch. I lowered the cabinet bottom by 0.75”, and added lightening holes to cross braces.
In purchasing more Baltic Birch one year later to replace the panels I needed to scrap, I learned that the price has increased by over 100%. Luckily I didn’t need to scrap too much. But I am being much more careful about my cutting now.
FYI, Each speaker is composed of over 40 individually cut pieces, and because the left and the right speakers are just slightly different in dimensions, there is no duplication of parts to save time.
One of the hardest steps in the build so far has been installing a back on the right speaker. The large heavy panel needs to be slightly bigger than the opening to attach to the back. But at the same time it needs to be smaller than the opening to install.
Like the ceiling speakers rebuilds, I have zero access to the back and sides of the media cabinet. So all work must be performed from the front. The upside is , I only have the front of the speaker to make look pretty. The down sides are, the volume I have to work with is fixed. So in case I had any unexpected problems, I designed the cabinets with an extra one cubic foot of volume to provide margin for changes.
From the outside cabinet dimensions, it had appeared that the cabinet sides were 1.5” thick except for the back. However once I had access, from the right side speaker that does not have a back installed, I could feel that most of the sides were only 0.75”. This meant I would need to add an additional 0.75” boards to the sides and tops of the cabinets. With my volume margin decreased significantly, I now need to watch every cubic inch. I lowered the cabinet bottom by 0.75”, and added lightening holes to cross braces.
In purchasing more Baltic Birch one year later to replace the panels I needed to scrap, I learned that the price has increased by over 100%. Luckily I didn’t need to scrap too much. But I am being much more careful about my cutting now.
FYI, Each speaker is composed of over 40 individually cut pieces, and because the left and the right speakers are just slightly different in dimensions, there is no duplication of parts to save time.
One of the hardest steps in the build so far has been installing a back on the right speaker. The large heavy panel needs to be slightly bigger than the opening to attach to the back. But at the same time it needs to be smaller than the opening to install.