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[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[mhardy6647]

View attachment 509514

Altec sound weaponization was a thing (I think).

Those 16 lumps on the right side are Altec 288 1.4-inch shells, umm, I mean, compression drivers.
I think that nuclear fusion could probably be induced at the far end of that tube.
Note the sensitivity spec for one Altec 288C

source: http://alteclansingunofficial.nlenet.net/proloudspeakers/lgdriverslit.html

 

[mhardy6647]

As a postscript -- every time I see that Altec "sound cannon" image, a passing glance at the bespectacled, not to say bemused, fellow in the snazzy sportcoat makes me think of Steve Allen (first host of The Tonight Show for those here young enough not to know of such things).

Ol' Steverino was a pretty hip dude -- quick-witted, and a songwriter of some repute.
He had broad taste in entertainment as evidenced by his hosting a very young Frank Zappa on the program a long, long time ago (1963).

source: https://www.jambase.com/article/flashback-frank-zappa-makes-tv-debut-on-steve-allen-show

This is all to underscore the point that I could totally see Steve Allen embracing an Altec-based weapon... just because.

PS The kinescope recording of the above great moment in American music history is available via YT.

 

[dr0ss]

Allen had lots of early-era rock musicians on his show. His accountant exterior hid a pretty exploratory interior (for example he experimented with LSD in the 1950s).

I remember that Zappa appearance (not from the original appearance, but from a rebroadcast a few years ago).

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[Audionaut]

 

[Audionaut]

 

[Audionaut]

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[mhardy6647]

View attachment 509845

I had two of those for a while, albeit somewhat scroungy examples -- both dump (swap pile) finds. Didn't really have a good use for them, so I eventually gave them away.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[mhardy6647]

Dead Stereo just never caught on, for some reason...

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Dead Stereo just never caught on, for some reason...

Tell that to all the Deadheads.

 

[mhardy6647]

Dang, @Kal Rubinson -- as usual, you're one step ahead of me!
Indeed... maybe with some exceptions.
I went looking for a good example, but life kind of intervened and I got involved with other things* for a bit.

rando internet image; not my copy of the first Dead album, but there is one here.
_______________
* One of those things being trying to help out a hifi fellow-traveler with a Maggotbox Magnavox PP EL84 console amp that has gone silent.
hmmm... dead stereo, come to think of it.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[mhardy6647]

View attachment 510526

I have a pair of the Santiagos on the right. I rather like them.

 

[Audionaut]

rather like them.

You have a high-efficiency speaker with a multi-section horn.
On top of that is a ribbon tweeter that will only emit super-high frequencies—probably with significant distortion at higher volumes.
Have you ever disconnected the tweeter to find out if you can even hear it?

 

[mhardy6647]

You have a high-efficiency speaker with a multi-section horn.
On top of that is a ribbon tweeter that will only emit super-high frequencies—probably with significant distortion at higher volumes.
Have you ever disconnected the tweeter to find out if you can even hear it?

appearances can deceive.
Just because something's sitting someplace doesn't mean it is doing anything.
I am... extremely... familiar with what the Altec 2-way configuration can, and cannot do.

PS It's not a ribbon, it's a planar driver -- Radio Shack's knock-off of a well-known JVC (Victor) tweeter of the 1980s and 90s.