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

[C Fernandez]

Ethan O'Toole wrote:
> Much thanks! That is where I've been reading about them at. There are
> supposed to be a large number of them out there. When I was told the A7 /
> A7-500 can be had for $800 or so a pair, I was content with that... there
> is one ebay'ers with a set but he is asking $1000+ just for the wooden
> boxes. At that price point there is probably other speakers availible that
> would be suitable.
> 
> Home theater / music listening is the intended application.

I think I saw the $1000 cabinets..... that's wishful thinking on his 
part.  $800 for everything seems a bit low to me, but maybe a local 
pickup only auction, especially if your in California, since they seem 
to have much more than the rest of the country.

I bought my empty cabinets in good shape for $250 here in Michigan.  I 
already had high frequency drivers.  I bought a pair of 511B horns 
locally cheap, but I had to wait a year for the right auction.  Plus, 
they'll need some work.  The big expense will be bass drivers if I want 
515's or 416's.  The 515 series easily goes for $600 a pair on up for 
nice ones.  I haven't decided what I'll do for crossovers yet.

If you are handy with woodworking you could always design/build your own 
cabinets.  A lot of the Altec guys build they're own cabinets for the 
Altec drivers.  The original cabinets aren't built as solid as they 
could be.  They can be braced and made better, but a lot of guys start 
from scratch, especially if they're not partial to the horn design.  I 
want the original cabinets because I wanted them since I was 14 years 
old, when I saw them in a book...... a book that currently goes for $75 
on up on Ebay :-)

Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA