[rescue] was: ham gear, now altec speakers!

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Sridhar Ayengar writes ...
> Ethan O'Toole wrote:
> > A friend referred me to Altec speakers, called Voice of the
> > Theater. Said
> > they would be a good match for me, when I inquired about
> > hifi speakers for home.

If you have a fairly big house, or you used to be in the artillery and like
your musice REAL LOUD.

> > A7-500 and A7 are the models. If anyone comes across any that are
> > for sale, I'm sort of looking :-) There were tons of them
> > made, and I
> > would imagine they may be found around places where
> > computer and radio geeks would look.

Old rockers, too.  I had a pair of A7s for PA speakers for one of my bands
about 35 years ago.  I used 'em for HiFi at home.

> > I'm not exactly in the hotbed of geek activity here in Southeastern
> > Virginia, but I do my part.

Altec quotes $300 shipping, each, so you certainly want local ones.

[Sridhar:]

> Altec-Lansing is located in Milford, PA, about two hours from
> here.  I
> toured their facility with my father once.
>
> Actually, the A7 and -500 are the absolute *latest* VOT's ever made.
> Most of the VOT's made were not A7's.  Almost all of the A7's
> and -500's
> went to actual commercial movie theaters.  Most of them didn't have
> cabinets or baffles, since they would often not be necessary in a
> commercial theater installation.

Well, they had cabinets.  Plywood, spray-painted any color you wanted, as
long as it was black.

> Back when the older models were around (Altec-Lansing stopped selling
> VOT's altogether for a long time), they would sell VOT's in
> custom-built
> cabinets straight from the factory.  My uncle the civil engineer and
> acoustics hobbyist ordered a pair of custom VOT's directly from
> Altec-Lansing in 1964.

Some of those Altec custom cabinets were really, really nice.

> He's still using them, hooked to the same
> McIntosh tube amp they've always been powered by.

It doesn't take much.  I see the spec sheet at
http://www.alteclansing.com/legacy/specs.asp says the new ones are rated for
200W, but I think the ones in the Sixties were for much less.  The new ones
also have a 900Hz crossover, but I'm pretty sure the old ones had 500 or
800, depending on the model.  I'm also sure the new ones are much better
than the old ones, although the new prices are a bit on the stiff side.

On the old ones, 25W was enough to run you out of the house.  Those are
_very_ efficient speakers, especially the bass-reflex-with-horn-on-top
model.  I'd love to have another set.

-Shel