|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
73.200.18.130
In Reply to: RE: Altec 1505B horns? posted by Kloss on September 21, 2015 at 08:44:34
>Very much up on my WE history but I do thx you for the comments.
The 12 and 13 shipped with an old version of the 555 driver called a "Mesh 555" by Japanese WE guys.
This one had an open back, unlike later 555W and 555s.
Power handling is lower but they will go a bit lower in frequency too.
Don't know anything about LMs and Gotos. I only know original WE and GIP 555s.
See one of the few blog posts I ever posted:
http://junkyardjukebox.blogspot.com/2012/10/western-electric-12a13a-adam-and-eve-of.html
I have not measured the 12 vs the 13. I think more HF gets around the simpler curve of the 12 though, probably more LF out of the longer, bigger mouth 13A. 7K is good ballpark figure.
Impossible to determine what they were thinking and doing in any detail. There is no publicly available documentation. They did rush that system out the door to meet Vitaphone's deadline. A friend of mine doing PhD research got into the AT&T archive and that is the gist of a lot of the internal correspondence.
I get to hear this system often. It is really amazing what they threw together on deadline in 1926!
13A should be a killer midrange horn.
Do you live in an airplane hangar, Kloss, you lucky devil?
------------------------------
Free your mind and your ass will follow -- Parliament/Funkadelic
Follow Ups:
I keep waiting for blog post updates.....
High sensitivity, wide dynamic range, low distortion, and smooth frequency response. Pwk
http://www.itishifi.com
Yeah, I know Iain...seems my main hobbies of drinking beer and listening to music have overtaken my drive to read and write! At least I have my priorities straight.
Anyway here's a pic of my new "miniature" 802g/32B/728B speaker. I still have to paint the baffle and install cabinet parts and grill cloth but couldn't resist hooking the pair up raw for a listen.
Sounds very promising so far. I have two sets of terminals on the back so I can experiment with xovers (and other HF horns/tweeters) externally but I'm starting out with a first order on the 802 and letting the 728B run full range.
728Bs cost 20x as much as 414s and they are fabulous units but not 20X as good as the 12" Altecs. I wish I still had those Petite Onkens too.
If one doesn't have the space that our comrade Kloss has for balls-to-the-wall theater installations with wings, the classic 12" + small horn configuration allows one to "keep the faith" in a lifestyle friendly package.
------------------------------
Free your mind and your ass will follow -- Parliament/Funkadelic
Joe,
Stumbled across this from the other thread. Could you let me know the volume and port size of this speaker? It's pretty much exactly what I would like to do with a 414 and 32a.
Thanks,
Randy
My Frankenspeaker: with 1957 Altec 803A & 802D, crossing over around 1200hz.
Jensen Triplex cabinet. Love the 803A but my being petering out to soon. Will try the 414A.
Cool setup!
Seems to me that the 803A might squeak up to 1200hz but I'm wondering if that little horn can play comfortably down that low. I haven't tried it yet myself.
Altec LF specs on some horns are a bit ambitious, or perhaps tuned for presumed lo-fi applications. I have scavenged 32b horns with cheap 720 PA drivers attached as used for full-range paging/announcement service.
The 414A/Z can play full range without sounding scratchy and garbled, so you can get the crossover out of the vocal range and to a point where the horn is cruising easy.
As reported above, I was digging the sound with 414A full range and the 32B horn floating in at 6k or so, first order, but the setup could easily handle a 3k xover and all of the drivers would be happy. The 414 and the 32/802 were extremely well matched in "flavor" and a natural pair.
------------------------------
Free your mind and your ass will follow -- Parliament/Funkadelic
Thanks Joe. The horn will eventually end up in the cabinet with the driver facing up. My set-up sounds much better in the 828 horn cabinet, blends nicely. I've gone mono for a few years now, really don't miss the stereo effect and much easier to integrate into my home.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: