So...things are moving right along...
Brought the other 872A in from the warehouse, pulled the 420 and it's in as fine condition as the first one. Both showed some dope migration to the bottom of the cone but not much at all, really, no dripover onto the cone itself. I'm going to remove the tweeter from the second one and re-install both 420's in the cabs for some full range listening as has been suggested many times in this ancient thread.
PIcked up a pair of Santana II xovers really cheap on feeBay, this was exciting as I'm trying to stay with Altec components throughout. They cross at 2500Hz, a bit lower than I wanted (3500Hz has been repeatedly suggested as optimal) but easy to re-do while keeping the Altec mounting frame which also has an L pad. Spoke with the fellow who has the Mantaray horns for sale near me, picking those up next week. I've never heard a Model 14, which they were used in, but they seem to pull high praise for their wide dispersion and smoothness, many have commented that they sound great and have less of a "horn sound"...
One issue I'm putting a lot of thought to, and hope to get some input on, is whether the cabinet should be sealed or ported. It is a rather small cabinet for a 15" driver, though I do have a pair of The Fisher XP10, probably similar cabinet volume and I love them (for what they will do). I like deep, rich bass but if I want to shake the house I have other means. Since I will for sure be replacing the baffle, I'm also considering going with a flush mount front load design for the woofs. Have sat through a few cold ones staring at the cabs trying to imagine a complimentary design for the separate horn cabinet if all works out, something reminiscent of the Model 14 / 19 setup. Won't take much work at all to bring the 872 cabinets back to a beautiful state, should be able to find some nice matching wood for the horn cab. Just not sure how to go on the sealed / ported issue; the 870, 872 A & B all had a vent cut in the baffle, the Santana I had the same components and internal volume but were sealed. One might surmise, since the Santana was the later model, that Altec had decided the 420 worked better in a sealed cab, but who knows?
From all I am reading, I find the Bi-Flex design really fascinating for it's oddity and quirkiness, not to mention the aspect of desirability (and NOT) found on this thread. It was obviously something Altec was rather proud of at the time, judging from the spec sheet I read from that era. They were only used in the least expensive, entry level offerings at the time, but they even promoted them as a way to build up to a better system. The last paragraph on that spec sheet was what hooked me...
"ALTEC BIFLEX speakers have a valuable dual purpose feature. In addition to providing outstanding performance as full range units, they may also serve as fine low frequency reproducers. This versatility makes them ideal as the initial speaker in a high quality music system that may be expanded at a later date into a two-way speaker system with the overall response extended to 22,000Hz. The addition of a suitable ALTEC high-frequency driver unit and associated deviding network are all that is required."
So...here I go...75 or so years later, giving their proposition a try. I had fully intended to yank the 420's and resell them, still might...I certainly didn't need another pair of big boxes in the house, but what the Hey? I paid practically nothing for the 872's so even with the additional parts cost I'm still in a very safe zone. If I like the sound I'll crank up the table saw and get to work on the horn cabs. All Good Clean Fun. Stay tuned, start a new thread when I get my hands on the Mantarays.
