Altec Model 19's Aquired Now!!

dc270

dc270

Now Off the Reservation
Well my friend and I made the trek into Dallas, 115 miles round trip, and I bought the Altec Model 19's that I had the thread posted about yesterday. Thanks again for the support and help there.

The cab damage was not quite as bad as I thought, fixable by my standards anyway. One cab is purely cosmetic repair the other will need some upper cab seam work. The grills will need new cloth and one upper frame rebuilt as well as toe boards. All the walnut wood is sandable and finish restorable. The controls were smooth and not scratching, and they sounded very incredible!!! Damn are they big too!!! I forgot how big until we went to move them. Listened to some Cajun Zydeco at respectable volume and was vlown away! While they were not real pretty to gaze at they were great to listen to.

So long story short they are well worth the $600 investment just needing some repair and refinish work done! As time and $$$ allows I will probably invest in updated cab/ vent work as well as biamping up graded Zilch networks to boot. I had a good (original) driver bases to start from and can improved from there.......a long dream finally coming true!!!! Oh what a feeling!!

Quick pix enclosed.....
DC
 

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I am very glad you got your lifetime keepers, DC! I saw those come up on CL and shot the owner a lowball offer, explaining I intended no offense, but it was all I had to spare at the time. He very respectully declined, saying that he thought they were worth more. I heartily agreed, wished him luck, and then followed your story on AK. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
 
He was a very "colorful" gentleman, vintage Cajun sort if I were to guess. 61 years old and stong as an ox too. Him and my buddie loted them out to my truck. He also had a couple Marantz 250 power amps in wooder cases I was drooling over as well!

Thanks for the cudos!
DC
 
Glad to see you got them and they look to be in pretty good condition! Congrats! A little elbow greaes and some time and whala.
 
Some more news now, got the drivers & xovers pulled. The woofers are 416-8B with respective 6.25/6.62 ohms each and the horn drivers are 33952's with 7.24/7.41 ohms each. I am going to re-fiberglas the whole insides, pull the one top off and try to reset the split seams.

Did I understand correctly that there was a foam around the horn lens- as all these have are a black vubyl that is peeling back?
DC
 
Guess while I am asking question here- anybody have success with a particular brand of cap? These look to have fairly old black elec. caps in them, like the kind I have seen in old EV speakers. I have loads of 10% generic polys, did not know if mabe some Dayton 5% polys maybe a better way to go? I have used Solen in an AR9 recap that sounded quite good...but $$$!
DC
 
Somebody's going to have to tell us what 33952s are.

Most importantly, can you see the tangerine phase plugs when you look down the throat? :dunno:
 
To be honest NO I do not see anything orange, maybe off white! Might this be an older model? I have the driver out and can pull the back cap.......
DC
 
Shine a flashlight down the throat. I forget if there's a screen in there, but even if so, you should be able to see the tangerine behind it. The back cap with felt is correct.

I don't believe it's visible from behind the diaphragm; don't mess with that for now. Wait for one of the Altec driver guys to chime in. It looks like 902 series to me.... :dunno:
 
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The compression drivers appear to be 802-Gs. The ones put in Model 19s lacked labels and had a number painted on the back cap.

Yes there was foam around the horn to prevent reflections from the inside edge of the cabinet. There's someone out there that makes replacement foams, try the Altec Users Forum for info. I used my own DIY foam inserts but after awhile removed them, I heard no difference, maybe the foam I used wasn't the right density or absorbtion.

My advice is to get the speakers fixed cosmetially and leave them alone mechanically, at least for awhile. I bought caps to rebuild the crossovers in mine and they sounded so good I figured why fix something that ain't broke. Then there's the possibility of buggering up the voicing rather than improving it with different caps. Or better yet build complete new crossovers and leave the stock ones alone, then you can go back if needed.
 
Tom Brennan said:
My advice is to get the speakers fixed cosmetially and leave them alone mechanically, at least for awhile. I bought caps to rebuild the crossovers in mine and they sounded so good I figured why fix something that ain't broke. Then there's the possibility of buggering up the voicing rather than improving it with different caps. Or better yet build complete new crossovers and leave the stock ones alone, then you can go back if needed.
Click to expand...
I'm still using a pair of originals here for prototyping, and they are working fine. Leave 'em be, like Tom says.

When you build new ones, you'll then be able to compare.... :yes:
 
Here ya go...

AK member sparksaflyin was selling them. Here is what he sent me.

CIMG6897.jpg


I haven't listened to my 19's much since I got the inserts, but the fit and finish is excellent....:thmbsp:
 
Thank you gentlemen once again for your usual valid information and general speaker wisdoms!
So I am to conclude these are not the famed "tangerine" drivers? Did the model 19 come with differant horn drivers?
Thanks again- the Model 19 saga will continue as I become more educated and daring with knowledge!
DC
 
802-8G's are tangerine.

You should be able to see 'em down in there.

Wojo posted a color assembly drawing in one of the threads here. Search "Tangerine...." :yes:
 
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dc270 said:
So I am to conclude these are not the famed "tangerine" drivers? Did the model 19 come with differant horn drivers?
DC
Click to expand...

As Zilch said your 802-Gs have tangerine plugs.

Later 19s used 902 compression drivers rather than 802-Gs, IMO&E the sound of the 802-G and 902 when used in Model 19s is indistinguishable.
 
Looks like a very decent price for a pair in this condition. Your initial number, 33952, is the Altec part number for the 802-8G driver with tangerine phase plug. The diaphragm also looks original. As mentioned by Zilch, if you shine a light down the throat of the driver, the orange phase plug is unmistakable.

On one of my crossovers, I also replaced the inductors with Jensens air core inductors and I am not sure if the change is to the better. Seems like the sound loses a bit of lower mid/upper bass magic of these Altec drivers. Though, I do hear noticeably more clarity and details in this same frequency range. Due to time constraint and the lure of other toys such as the EWave, I haven't updated the other crossover yet.

Here's a pic of my updated crossover. I left the old caps and resistors in place but they disconnected from the circuit. With the other one, I'd just remove all the old parts.

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