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In Reply to: RE: Parked the GPA 604's posted by escape2cfc on February 09, 2015 at 21:13:14
I'm not sure what version I have. They're about 7 years old. They must be ferrite magnets, and they have the stock GPA xo.
I knew all along that the stock xo was something that "probably" could be improved, BUT, I just had to figure the folks at GPA knew something more than nothing. Why they would send out a product with a "known" poor design, I couldn't say, nor necessarily believe, but less than tops parts quality could be expected. I wouldn't immediately assume that parts quality (caps resistors and coils) could solve the problems, but who knows.
I wanted speakers that would go lower FLAT than what a 604 will, in ANY cabinet. I solved that. I also wanted to get away from compression drivers
and their inherent issues/limitations, while maintaining high efficiency
and low if not lowER distortion. This includes amplitude distortion, which I am sensitive to, and with the one exception of WE 555's, compression drivers hurt (my ears).
To be fair, I find a 604 can do well on recordings from the mid 50's to early 60's, usually small ensemble jazz, that were mixed down using 604's as monitors in the first place. They were a popular choice in many studios in that era. This also assumes modest polite sound levels.
Because in these cases there is very little if any deep bass, and the fact that "most" of the peaking non-linear issues were solved in the mix,
I can (who knows who else) listen to this with some satisfaction.
There is no doubt a that a 604 will always be regarded as a "classic", because it IS historically. To regard it as a "standard", today, not yesterday, is IMHO, just no longer valid. There are as many listening preferences as there are forum members here, so I don't expect unanimous
agreement, or any, but in my path of discovery, I have stated my findings sincerely.
Follow Ups:
I sold my 604-8Gs in November for the same musically restrictive reasons. I tried a lot of different amps, xovers etc for the last 12 years with the thought that I could live with the short comings because of the great mids but in the end they had to go. Speakers shouldn't dictate what music you can listen to.
I have no issues with compression drivers though, I kept my model 19s.
19's were like the 604's in that they were also a common choice of studio monitor in their era. Do you find that recordings of that era "work better"
than say a more recent Rick Rubin production for example? He produced the Red Hot Chile Peppers, and many others, and there's a "style" or actually a frequency lean that is his signature so to speak. Those recordings on a compression driver are "different" and are no doubt mixed down on small self powered "modern" monitors, probably near field, which are designed to be very flat, usually Not very efficient. When this kind of recording finds an old Altec design to play through, you can imagine what must happen.
I witnessed what happens. Up to a point, still not very loud, it's ok, then almost like a switch is flicked when turning up more, still not "that" loud,
things change....
I find the 19s are more friendly to modern recordings than the 604s. On the 19s, Blood Sugar Sex Magic sounds great at party volumes and classic jazz from the 60s sounds great at more modest levels as well. The 19s are amazing for blues.
That was always my main complaint with any of the 604s I have owned, they're not great at rock approved volume levels.
Thanks for the reply! I am glad you are pleased with the new setup! I had recently inquired about capacitors and resistor choices/preferences for speaker crossovers on the forum. I got lots of good input. Let us know if you discover something important in your crossover parts journey.
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