Looking for some one in Baltimore MD to upgrade my pair of Altec Lansing 1966 AOTT A7 speakers.

[Owencat]

Looking for someone in the Baltimore MD area to upgrade my pair of Altec Lansing 1966 A7 VOTT speakers.

 

[fpitas]

I'm not sure, but you may have to bite the bullet and send the drivers to Great Plains Audio.

https://greatplainsaudio.com/services/

Jim

That's exactly what I'd do.

 

[mhardy6647]

Depends upon what the OP wants to upgrade. If the drivers themselves need attention (which they might), yeah, GPA is probably the way to go.
Not inexpensive, and there's been some "churn" at GPA in the past few years, so I am not 100% sure how they're doing vis-a-vis their longstanding core business of Altec driver refurbishment.

Great Plains Audio – The home of vintage Altec Lansing loudspeakers

There certainly were Altec gurus in B-more back in the day (Custom Music being one that I remember), but I don't know about nowadays.

Finally... this suggestion won't pass ASR muster , but there's a pretty active "high sensitivity loudspeaker" group (and a fairly Altec-intensive one at that) to be found at https://hifihaven.org/index.php?forums/high-efficiency.21/ You might want to register and ask there, too.

Best to you, @Owencat, from a born & bred Baltimoron (and dedicated Altec fanboy) -- ultimately transplanted to northern New England.

 

[fpitas]

Yes, there are upgrades, and then there are upgrades. Don't ask what I've done to hapless 511s

 

[mhardy6647]

Didja ever devane an unsuspecting 811B or 511B, @fpitas ? You're among friends here.

 

[fpitas]

Didja ever devane an unsuspecting 811B or 511B, @fpitas ? You're among friends here.

Nope. Tom Brennan tried it. Made no difference. The vanes, as far as I can tell, mainly served to brace the horn bells. Take a look at modern JBL horns, or the TAD TH4003 that inspired them and you'll see the bells are nice and solid for minimal vibration. Altec later went to screwed-in struts on the 329 horn to brace the bells. I did cut the vanes and put caulking between them, though. Then I filled the bells with polyurethane and coated the entire horn body to reduce vibration and radiation. Lastly, they are firmly mounted in a box, with a gasket behind the flange to damp that. Then for the coup de grace, I put those TAD TD2002 drivers on them. If there's an Altec hell, I'm going there!

 

[fpitas]

I'd feel heretical about the active crossovers, but Altec beat me to it on the 9846Bs.

 

[mhardy6647]

I have been tempted by active XOs for -- a long time. Haven't invested the effort yet, though.
I'd feel guilty about off-topic posts, but since we don't (yet?) know what sort of upgrades @Owencat's got in mind, I/we might not be off-topic at all!

 

[Owencat]

Thank you all for your suggestions. As to what I plan for the A7's. When arrived the shipment consisted of the cabinets, speakers and Horns. No crossovers, no directions that I remember. Unlike you folks I am not a Hi Fi, Audio engineer, etc. I screwed around with the speakers till I got something that sounded OK but was always sure that what I did was not correct. I have read some articles that said that AL did a crossover design after I bought my speakers and later did a redesign. I am now a retired Structural Engineer and would like to have someone (pro or armature) to just add the corrected crossover, and any drivers required. The legacy models that AL is out of my price range at $4,000 per speaker.

 

[mhardy6647]

So, which drivers and horn(s) do you have? If it's an A7, I am guessing the horn is an 811B, but it could be a 511B or something else. The 811B and 511B look similar, but the latter is noticeably larger.
You could always source a pair of vintage Altec crossovers from eBAY or otherwise, or build (or commission the build of) any of a number of "improved" XO designs. One doesn't even really know how to solder* to cobble up a crossover -- one may use terminal strips or even wire nuts.

^^^ Here's a not quite cogent (but very close) Altec two-way XO example from hifi fellow traveler Joseph Esmilla
source: https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/altec-2-way-build-ala-jelabs-802-32-414.3452/page-23

_____________
* not a difficult skill to develop -- heck, I can do it!

 

[Owencat]

For some time I had my speakers in the living Room so I mounted the horn in the cabinet. To take a look I would have to undo all of the screws on 3 inch centers. Does the horn have a number on it to tell which horn I have?

 

[fpitas]

You can just measure the front flange width. A 511 is about 24" across, an 811 more like 19".

 

[Apesbrain]

You might reach out to Just Audio up in White Marsh. Their website shows a specialty in vintage and repairs.

 

[fpitas]

You might reach out to Just Audio up in White Marsh. Their website shows a specialty in vintage and repairs.

The reviews are...mixed:

Just Audio - Middle River, MD

Specialties: Professional and Consumer Electronic Repair Authorized Warranty Repair Center Representing 68 Manufacturers Professional - Guitar Amps, Power Amps Mixing Consoles and More! Consumer - Amps, Receivers, Cassette, Reel-Reel CD and More! If you do not see it listed, give us a call...

www.yelp.com

Not many people actually know anything about Altecs, although they will tell you differently. So, caveat emptor!

 

[fpitas]

So, which drivers and horn(s) do you have? If it's an A7, I am guessing the horn is an 811B, but it could be a 511B or something else. The 811B and 511B look similar, but the latter is noticeably larger.
You could always source a pair of vintage Altec crossovers from eBAY or otherwise, or build (or commission the build of) any of a number of "improved" XO designs. One doesn't even really know how to solder* to cobble up a crossover -- one may use terminal strips or even wire nuts.

^^^ Here's a not quite cogent (but very close) Altec two-way XO example from hifi fellow traveler Joseph Esmilla
source: https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/altec-2-way-build-ala-jelabs-802-32-414.3452/page-23

_____________
* not a difficult skill to develop -- heck, I can do it!

One thing to watch out for, is not many people design the 511 crossover for 500Hz anymore. There are solid technical reasons for that, but for a restoration you probably want the original crossover point.

 

[fpitas]

Altec Lansing VOTT A7 Vintage Horn Speaker Review.

Review of the Altec Lansing VOTT A7 horn speakers, our listening impressions and notes as we begin some restoration on these Voice Of The Theatre speakers

www.audioresurgence.com

He talks about a few essentials, like the correct Altec crossover.

 

[mhardy6647]

One thing to watch out for, is not many people design the 511 crossover for 500Hz anymore. There are solid technical reasons for that, but for a restoration you probably want the original crossover point.

Also true of the 800 Hz point for the 811B (i.e., for best results).
It is funny (not the ha-ha kind of funny... the other kind) that Altec's weakness seemed to be in their own crossover networks. Seems to be too easy to make Altec drivers sound better than they do using Altec's purpose-built XOs.

 

[fpitas]

Also true of the 800 Hz point for the 811B (i.e., for best results).
It is funny (not the ha-ha kind of funny... the other kind) that Altec's weakness seemed to be in their own crossover networks. Seems to be too easy to make Altec drivers sound better than they do using Altec's purpose-built XOs.

Yes, I got that idea from things Greg Timbers said, too. He was asked about old Altecs and very tactfully said the main issues were the crossovers.

 

[fpitas]

Frankly too, horns generally need higher order crossovers. Altec started down that road with the Model 19, but that was getting pretty late in the game.

 

[Owencat]

Thank you all again. I have put in a request for Just Audio to let me know if they would take on my speakers= oh cross over 500Hz for the smaller horn 800 for the larger?