Zero Distortion: Altec Assault and the Magic of Misho (Audio Antiquary)

the concept was first applied on my sub horns, then we discussed a little about testing it on the FLH midbasshorns
the idea is to balance the pressure in the horn and the rear"chamber, to avoid air being pressed through the membrane of the woofers and lower distortion
also the impedance peak is severely lowered and the whole thing represent a much easier load on the amp
in the pre ventilated version of the FLH, they had a horn reflection at 130Hz, which dropped to 30.
......-in other words out of the working range
both sub and mid sounds much more easy flowing and differentiates harmonics and dynamics much better when ventilated.
 
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Lee Henley said:
The preamp is a very very good preamp, I cant recall if it had remote control or not, if it did we didnt use it on the day. Since Ked last visited me I have managed to have a play with a Dave Slagle Autoformer which I believe is the basis for the Emia, have to say the Slagle is an awesome pre for not much money but did not have a remote control which at the moment is an issue for myself when I am streaming from the Lampi. When I move the system around and have access to the pre from my seating position then I will revisit preamps that don't require a remote.

Perhaps an option would be to try a Slagle Autoformer, the one I had is only the basic model with dual volume control and 23 steps IIRC.

Audiophile Bill reccomended to me the Emia which if I could get a loan model to try out I would be tempted, from what I can gather the Emia is mail order from America only with no UK dealers so I would not be able to try before I buy.

Lee
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No remote I’m afraid.
 
Gary Fisher, who used to restore altecs for many in the US (never heard one myself), said on Facebook that he is using my other favorite, Radian 950 beryllium instead now because he cannot be dependent on sourcing good quality Altec drivers as they are getting rarer. He has put up a video of an Altec horn with the Radian in an Altec A5 with Markus klug's wooden multi cells.
 
bonzo75 said:
Gary Fisher, who used to restore altecs for many in the US (never heard one myself), said on Facebook that he is using my other favorite, Radian 950 beryllium instead now because he cannot be dependent on sourcing good quality Altec drivers as they are getting rarer. He has put up a video of an Altec horn with the Radian in an Altec A5 with Markus klug's wooden multi cells.
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Hi Kedar, actually it’s moved on a bit I think. He posted a couple of days ago on fb saying that he had had a long conversation with someone at gpa (not bill, I can’t remember the name), and that they were coming back on song soon and would be ok for parts etc. He posted on multiple forums.
 
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bonzo75 said:
Gary Fisher, who used to restore altecs for many in the US (never heard one myself), said on Facebook that he is using my other favorite, Radian 950 beryllium instead now because he cannot be dependent on sourcing good quality Altec drivers as they are getting rarer. He has put up a video of an Altec horn with the Radian in an Altec A5 with Markus klug's wooden multi cells.
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Can you share the link to this Bonzo?
 
jw67 said:
Hi Kedar, actually it’s moved on a bit I think. He posted a couple of days ago on fb saying that he had had a long conversation with someone at gpa (not bill, I can’t remember the name), and that they were coming back on song soon and would be ok for parts etc. He posted on multiple forums.
Click to expand...

GPA was bought by a private equity firm so must be one of them.
 
bonzo75 said:
GPA was bought by a private equity firm so must be one of them.
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I’ve just gone on fb and it appears the post has been removed. He posted in at least 3 groups. Make of that what you will...the name was something like Santiago ... something like that.
 
Dual woofer FLH, WAF edition. Video posted on the female videos thread.

altec.jpg
 
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Is this diy or created by a commercial supplier? Is it known which drivers are installed?
 
spiritofmusic said:
WAF? Your tongue firmly in cheek, yes?
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I really like the looks.

That said my gf once told me all these speakers are ugly and we say WAF to show like we care
 
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And this is news to you?
 
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Ked- You have heard a lot of bass horns at this point. What is it about the altec flh ( which is flh and bass reflex ) do you reckon? (not the altec driver...the cabinet)

If you read in diy ( somewhat pa oriented I admit ) horn forums etc. everyone is pretty hard on them for being 'compromised' and suggest that lots of newer designs are much better. Yet here we are with really smart builders still using them.
 
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It is just not Altec FLH, it is various FLH. Leif has one, silvercore had an 18 inch dual woofer of custom drivers that was bliss but too big and ugly, another German guy did too with Jbl that were great. I documented why dual woofer FLH in my write up on Leif's.

I don't agree with your DIY forum assessment. There is both for and against like with any component. There is a huge Lansing heritage forum (dedicated to Altec, jbl, tad) the French Melaudia forum, both of which have a high pro Altec junta, and DIY audio has some Altec threads. Old audio asylum and there is an Altec forum too.

The Altec woofers have always been legendary, JC Morrison, John Roberts etc who are close to WE recommend it for those who cannot afford WE.

The bass cabinet is reflex below 100, Leif's is back wave through a diaphragm, and GIP and silvercore were open at the back. Maybe open ones sound better. But you can only implement what you have plans for
 
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Good points and sure many people love them, my post was a bit overly simplisitic, yet many who are actually desiging horns do not.

The variation I was targeting was if they are bass reflex and front horn loaded versus designs with a larger front horn load and some version of open rear wave. As far as I can tell several of your examples are the latter and hence are typically bigger- a big reason the VOTT cab has seen so much home use is its reasonable size with some LF extension. So when i asked I was referring specifically the Altec style flh+reflex not all flh. In some ways I answered my own question ( vott type is pretty small given efficiency and LF cutoff ) although you have prolific designers like Fitmaurice and others claiming to do everything a VOTT can do with smaller cabs. Just got me thinking.

Can you tell I'm planning a project :)
 
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