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In Reply to: RE: quad esl 63 vs altec model 19 posted by Vinnie on August 28, 2010 at 15:37:46
You know, in all this conversation, I never thought to ask you if you have done anything to your Model 19s, like re-cap the crossovers or dampen the horns or anything? I have not. Mine are all stock. Just curious.
George
Follow Ups:
I have recapped the crossovers with solen fast caps and put in new foam on the upper cabinets. Made a world of difference.
I agree...you need to update the 19's to really hear what they are capable of.
I've just finished doing these upgrades & my 1978 19's sound better than brand new. I'll be surprised if they are not better than the Quads in terms of detail, imaging & transparency. And the bottom end is already so much better. On top of that you have the dynamics & ability to use low powered SET amps (although I prefer good, clean SS).
I dampened the horns with sand & paint (6 layers), fitted new foam around the horns, Replaced the L Pads with fixed resistors. This all made a big difference, however the biggest change came when I replaced the capacitors in the crossover.....these speakers then really came alive. You won't believe the difference. I used Solen Fast Caps, however they say that for the money Sonicaps are better. I'm very happy with the Solens.
I bit of tweaking with interconnects & speaker leads & I've got the perfect speaker. (Van den Hul Orchids & JAS Zion).
Try this....you won't be disappointed.
You're certainly on the right track. All older ALTEC crossovers MUST have new caps-- the same goes for JBL.
But why stop with Solens, etc., when we have Dynamicaps, Rel-Cap foil speaker caps, and Mundorf? GO FURTHER!
The old iron inductors are good. Wiring is trash-- use Siltech LS-38, or the newer equivalents both inside drivers and crossovers, and for wiring to amps and drivers. You can run parallel leads of this wire to input to the crossover, and to the woofer. Use a single wire pair to run the tweeter/midrange unit.
If using fixed resistors, use only MILLS 12-watters, in whatever configs. you need to get values right. If using L-Pads, you must replace the old stock ones with really good new stuff. It is available from Studio suppliers.
Once all of this is done, and cabinetry is stabilized and all air leaks eliminated, you'll realize that the ESLs are nothing but a single-taste reproducer for narrow-minded people who like only certain kinds of music. They do that one tiny thing better than most, but American Theatre components can do IT ALL-- better than ANYTHING else.
If you don't believe this, start playing around with the latest JBL 18" SVC woofer (good up to 1800HZ, and sports a 3" deep basket), and the new 2" throated midrange drivers, and the latest 1" tweeter/midrange units.
And then there's the GPA Duplex Engine 15" unit-- a very close replica of old-time Altec 604 Studio Monitor driver. To my ears, this thing has lower distortion, greater clarity, wider bandwidth, and better dispersion characteristics than ANY other point-source transducer.
Crossovers and wiring are, of course, demanding for this sort of endeavor, and must be of the best possible quality.
Try to compare any type of ESL with THAT? You'd have to be deaf.
Learn to use Altec and JBL technology. There isn't anything even remotely as good unless you want to unload tons of money. Even then, you might not get as good.
---Dennis---
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