Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Altec Lansing Model 15 Speakers by kstagger

Model:	Model 15
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$unknown
Description:	Two Way Horn Speaker
Manufacturer URL:	Altec Lansing
Manufacturer URL:	Altec Lansing

Review by kstagger ( A ) on September 07, 2006 at 06:03:23
IP Address: 68.74.143.242

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Description : I bought this pair of Altec Model 15s at a garage sale for $150. These were in the Altec lineup for a short time starting in 1978. Each speakers consists of an Altec 802-8G hi-freq driver attached to a bent horn. 12" foam surround / ceramic magnet woofer sourced by Altec from RCA provides the bass. The crossover for the horn is simple - consisting of adjustable mid and hi-freq knobs, two resistors, two capacitors and two inductors. The bass unit has no apparent crossover, but is allowed to roll off naturally. From research I've done, efficency is only ~92dB. The horn apparently being very padded down to match the bass unit. The Wood cabinets are large and weigh in at ~80pds each.
I struggled with the cabinets and got them down into my basement listening room. All direct comparisons are against my Adire HE10.1s, which are a 10" coaxial unit with a compression tweeter.
Bass : Wow, with these speakers sitting on the floor and still three feet from the backwall - there was an abundance of bass. And by that, I mean too much! It made vocals sound very chesty. I ended up buying some cement blocks to place under the boxes - This brought the drivers up so my ears were between the horn and bass unit. I noticed the bass was more neutral and less overblown. Even with this change, I would guess that bass extension is flat down to 40hz and is very powerful compared to my small monitor speakers. Not surprising considering the 12" woofer and big solidly constructed cabs.
Midrange : The midrange is good, but definitely not as detailed as other speakers. For example, on some Pat Benatar tracks they used multi-tracking on her vocals - this effect is obvious on the Adire speakers, but really not obvious on the Altecs at all. Again, with the Adires on the solo live album John Cale - 'Fragments of a Rainy Season', you can really hear the audience and hall decay. With the Altec, it's a little less obvious. On some AC/DC tracks, the vocals sound a little more recessed and there is less detail with the different sound of the dueling guitars. But the midrange is smooth though, without the peakiness one 'normally' associates with horn speakers.
Treble : The Altecs hi-freq extension is very good, with no grit or glare. Very surprising to say the least. Much cleaner than the Adire speakers, which can be very fatiguing when listening. This is not treble one normally associates with your average horn speakers. Again, it's not hyper-detailed - but with most CDs it can help make them that more listenable.
Dynamics - The Altecs just don't run out of steam. They do not the normal compressed sound I associate with most garden variety speakers. On Frank Sinatra's 'Nice and Easy' title track, the orchestra can really start swinging loud. With this track on most speakers, you can really hear the speaker start to compress the dynamics - but not with the Altecs. Even at rock n' roll listening levels they never 'break-up' or squish the dynamics. The speakers have excellent pace and make me tap my feet. You can really enjoy music - I get lost more into the music than trying to listen to the 'detail'.
Overall : For the garage sale price, I was very happy. But these are speakers produced for the commercial market and it shows in several areas. The woofer quality is lower than the normal Altec 414/416/etc models. Further attention could have been paid to the crossover design. These are perhaps comparable to ~$1000+ Klipsch speakers. My audiophile friend Chris calls them 'Rock n' Roll Party Speakers' - and they do a good job of making you wanna get up and dance.
But if you are looking for audiophile nirvana, these probably will not be your cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, they are not just boom-n-sizzle speakers - they can play other music than rock very well. I've enjoyed folk, classical, jazz, etc on these speakers too. These speakers would definely impress the non-audiophile, but will not provide the type of inner detail most 'philes crave.
I will be experimenting further with these speakers - replacing the crossover capacitors with oil and/or polypropylene films. I would also like to do some research on replacing the 12" unit with another Altec 12"er - but we shall see if that pans out. I also wonder if these would actually voice better with a good solid-state amplifier and maybe I'll try a chip amp out on them.

Product Weakness: Not very detailed. Can't hear 'into' recordings as much.
Product Strengths: Excellent dynamics and bass. Smooth midrange and treble. Can be used with many types of music and brings plenty of listening enjoyment.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Dynaco 70 modified (EF86 board, SDS power supply)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	EF86 triode connected homebrew
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Pioneer DVD with Monica 2 NOS DAC
Speakers:	Adire HE10.1s / Altec Model 15s
Cables/Interconnects:	Canare
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Rock, Jazz, Folk, etc
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	AC Regulator
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Not very detailed. Can't hear 'into' recordings as much.
Product Strengths:	Excellent dynamics and bass. Smooth midrange and treble. Can be used with many types of music and brings plenty of listening enjoyment.