ivan100000
Active Member
Hello--
There have been a few posts over the years--albeit many of them put forward by me--soliciting confirmation that the Altec 890b is a significant upgrade over the 890c. I've had a pair of the 890c for 15 years, and though I don't consider myself an audiophile, I've always loved the "3D" sound of the 890c.
It seems that every pair of the 890b that's passed through eBay over last decade or so that I've been monitoring them has managed to mention in one way or another, "don't be confusing these with the later 890c and their (insert negative word here) outsourced japanese horn." I'd just taken it as the gospel that the 890b is the Holy Grail of horn-equipped, bookshelf-sized Altec speakers.
For as much as I love the 890c, I had been so anxious to audition a pair of the 890b that would be even more aurally exciting. After having been outbid a dozen times or so on every original pair of 890b that's presented itself on eBay since @2007, I finally "won" a pair last summer. At long last...a pair of Altec 890b with the vaunted 3000G tweeters that were all manufactured a few miles from my birthplace and a few weeks from my birthdate were finally coming home to papa.
A funny thing happened, however, on the way to aural bliss.
As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, I'm pretty much lo-fi, and I'm not good with adjectives to describe sound colorations. The 890c sound better. They involve me in the music, whereas the 890b do not. Perhaps it's the fact that the Altec engineers got it right with the 406-8Y woofer in the latter model--with its 3" VC, as opposed to the 2" VC in the 890b model's 406z--or perhaps the horn in the 890c isn't so crappy after all. (I tracked down a Heppner employee from the 1960s/70s who confirmed that the "mystery horn" in the 890c is a Heppner, made in Chicago.)
I've tried and tried to justify the 890b over the 890c this past year, but after running them with three different systems, the 890c was the clear winner. Combined with all the warnings about the fragile 3000G and how there's one guy in the whole world who can repair them for $160 per tweeter/1-year wait, I sold the pair of 890b on eBay last month. I will say that the simple grille on the 890b is cooler than the dated-looking plastic grille on the 890c, but with that small caveat, I recommend the 890c to anyone who's in the market for old Altec speakers but doesn't have the space (or the bankroll) for a pair of VOTT.
There have been a few posts over the years--albeit many of them put forward by me--soliciting confirmation that the Altec 890b is a significant upgrade over the 890c. I've had a pair of the 890c for 15 years, and though I don't consider myself an audiophile, I've always loved the "3D" sound of the 890c.
It seems that every pair of the 890b that's passed through eBay over last decade or so that I've been monitoring them has managed to mention in one way or another, "don't be confusing these with the later 890c and their (insert negative word here) outsourced japanese horn." I'd just taken it as the gospel that the 890b is the Holy Grail of horn-equipped, bookshelf-sized Altec speakers.
For as much as I love the 890c, I had been so anxious to audition a pair of the 890b that would be even more aurally exciting. After having been outbid a dozen times or so on every original pair of 890b that's presented itself on eBay since @2007, I finally "won" a pair last summer. At long last...a pair of Altec 890b with the vaunted 3000G tweeters that were all manufactured a few miles from my birthplace and a few weeks from my birthdate were finally coming home to papa.
A funny thing happened, however, on the way to aural bliss.
As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, I'm pretty much lo-fi, and I'm not good with adjectives to describe sound colorations. The 890c sound better. They involve me in the music, whereas the 890b do not. Perhaps it's the fact that the Altec engineers got it right with the 406-8Y woofer in the latter model--with its 3" VC, as opposed to the 2" VC in the 890b model's 406z--or perhaps the horn in the 890c isn't so crappy after all. (I tracked down a Heppner employee from the 1960s/70s who confirmed that the "mystery horn" in the 890c is a Heppner, made in Chicago.)
I've tried and tried to justify the 890b over the 890c this past year, but after running them with three different systems, the 890c was the clear winner. Combined with all the warnings about the fragile 3000G and how there's one guy in the whole world who can repair them for $160 per tweeter/1-year wait, I sold the pair of 890b on eBay last month. I will say that the simple grille on the 890b is cooler than the dated-looking plastic grille on the 890c, but with that small caveat, I recommend the 890c to anyone who's in the market for old Altec speakers but doesn't have the space (or the bankroll) for a pair of VOTT.