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Got me some Altec 886 A. Now where do I sit!!

kermit z

kermit z

Loud Music saves Lives!!
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For some weird reason today, the Girl Friend wanted to stop at Goodwill. I am always game always hoping to score "something". But, as usual, found nothing impressive. So we head off and I decide to stop at a pawn shop that 7 months ago had some Original Large Advents plus many other interesting speakers. The Advents needed foam badly and at 80.00 at the time I thought i'd pass. By the way they were the bull-nose :(

Anyway, we get there and as usual, lots of interesting speakers. Some CV's some Pioneers, I spot a single Baby Advent III without grill and needing a refoam but too much for those. The same with some bookshelf AR's. But then, behind some CV's I see the unmistakable walnut veneer. "Whats this!!" I ask the GF then I move the CV's out of the way. I see the word "Altec" on the badge. I pry open the grill and see the single tweet, passive Rad and woofer. I turn them around and see that they are 886 A's. They are marked at $19.85. So me and the GF haul them to the counter. One of the push pin connectors is stuck in the "in" position. The cabs are in good shape with some scratches and scuffs. Surrounds look good as well. They do not have the highs of my Smaller Advents but not bad.

Heres some pictures :)
 

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Good catch! You may want to check the crossover cap to see if it's still within tolerance. As they age and move away from their marked value, it changes their intended crossing frequency. Depending on which direction they drift, it can either cause a dip in the overall resonse (cross freq too high) or damage the tweeter because the cross freq has drifted too low, which can be dangerous for tweeters.
 
Thanks Celt, will do. These will be a project with the cabs needing some cleaning up. Tweeters are working so I will take it apart and have a peek inside :D
 
They are 10" and I am planning a quasi-EWG project with mine. They have a 10" active drivers, a 10" PR and a phenolic ring tweeter. I am finally going to use my PE 10" round WGs with selenium D210TIs and place them in where the PR is, then move the PR to the back of the cabinet.

Not spectacular speakers, but competent and sort of more along the lines of an AR/Advent type then typical Altecs.
 
dnewma04 said:
Not spectacular speakers, but competent and sort of more along the lines of an AR/Advent type then typical Altecs.
Click to expand...

I just picked up a pair of 886a speakers last Thursday, and I have mine sitting horizontally atop a pair of Advent Legacy speakers. I think this is the proper orientation.

To me, the Advents seem a bit more extended on the highs and lows, and they seem to be more efficient. That said, the Altecs are more pleasant to listen to on some material. They seem less harsh in the highs, pretty accurate in the mids, and punchy (but a bit less deep) in the bass.

Actually, I wonder if my Altecs need some work on the crossovers. They really do not sound like "Advents on steroids", as I have seen them described.

I would be hesitant to put too much effort into bolstering or denigrating the Altecs before discovering whether their caps and inductors are within spec. As they currently exist, the Altecs remind me more of the JBL L110 than my the Advent Legacy. The bass is a bit smoother and deeper on the Advents, whereas it is a bit punchier and more articulate on the Altecs. I expect that, when re-capped, the Altecs will be excellent speakers for my purposes: second or third set of studio monitors. Although they may ultimately lose out to my L110's, I'll reserve judgment until I've done enough investigating to determine whether I need to rebuild the crossovers.

:)
 
I needed a platform to run with my waveguides and the 10" PR makes a perfect platform to move it and put the 10" waveguide in it's place. Remove the unspectacular tweeters that came in it and let em rip. The woofers aren't particularly efficient, but they seem to have more bass output than my original advents with quite a bit more sensitivity. Been a while since I listened to either, so I could be way off in my memory of them.
 
Zilch.... :tears:

Is there not ANY speaker that isn't safe from you cutting a hole in and sticking an econowave into it?... Some speakers are just too cool to do that to, even if they don't sound as good... Why cut up somre really old and cool box.....
 
Because they just aren't all that great, as is. The strong point is the woofer and it abilities with lower midrange. The tweeter dies by 12khz despite being rated to 18khz and isn't particularly durable. The EWG is just a very easy improvement to this sort of speaker that doesn't have any particular value as a collectible. Now, i wouldn't mod a valencia or A7-500 into an EWG for obvious reasons, or even a nice original AR-3(*) but this suits itself *perfectly* to this sort of project.

I threw in some Dayton 1-1/8" dome tweeters in mine for an obvious improvement when I first got them, but I have no doubt further improvements could be made.

One of the beauties of the EWG project is that with a speaker like this, you could just mount it to the top of the enclosure in it's own subenclosure and run an external crossover, disconnect the original tweeter and not effect the originality to any irreversible degree.
 
I agree, they are definitly not spectacular. Maybe these need to be recapped (probably) but in ABing them with the smaller Advents, they sounded very average.

Funny, I did not notice the fingerprints before. But better fingerprints than pushed in dust cover :)

They will be modded. Tweeters seem very average for sure so I will be looking around AK and getting ideas to turn them into something much better.
 
similost said:
Zilch.... :tears:

Is there not ANY speaker that isn't safe from you cutting a hole in and sticking an econowave into it?... Some speakers are just too cool to do that to, even if they don't sound as good... Why cut up somre really old and cool box.....
Click to expand...
There are VERY few speakers which warrant preservation. SixCat's Trusonic would be one of those. Also, I would not tear into a Paragon, no matter how bad it sounds. I might do some non-invasive "upgrades" to either of those to render them listenable while under my stewardship, but they are enjoyable on another level, without ever even playing them. They are "important."

Most AK thrift-store fare is another story, however. We find stuff for $10 and pretend it's "worthy," invest time, effort, and more money in restoring them to their original mass-produced "glory" as mediocre performers. Yes, it's a hobby, yes, it's fun, and yes, we have cause to be proud of these accomplishments, BUT, if, as I am so often reminded here, "It's the MUSIC, stupid," it's also a wank. Bottom line, from that perspective, there are far better results to be achieved. The rest is in our heads.... :yes:
 
well.. I guess I just feel a little different about some of the old Altec and JBL speakers. Yes, these sure aren't some of Altec's finest, but they aren't something you see real often either.

Now I could see maybe mounting a waveguide to them, but not cutting a hole in them for it.

ANd like my C36's... I know they aren't a perfect speaker, but man oh man would I be killing the value of them if I put a waveguide into them...

I can agree there are a lot of old speakers out there worth cutting up.. like Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood and similar, but there are a couple names and speakers I just can't see it... these being one of them..

Like I said, I know these aren't some of Altec's better speakers, but they aren't something you see every day either..
 
No, Boleros have a 3000G horn tweeter and a 406z or 406-8(*) woofer. Totally different beast outside of driver layout.

Bolero component selection was decent, but the tweeter is very taxed wtih the stock crossover point. The 3000G when freed up to do what it's supposed to do is very nice. In the Bolero, volume level needs to stay somewhat low to keep them from breaking up.
 
similost said:
well.. I guess I just feel a little different about some of the old Altec and JBL speakers. Yes, these sure aren't some of Altec's finest, but they aren't something you see real often either.
Click to expand...
I have plenty of crappy-sounding JBLs. Many vintage Altecs can be "fixed," if owners would only get past their belief that they are "precious."

similost said:
Now I could see maybe mounting a waveguide to them, but not cutting a hole in them for it.
Click to expand...
I don't believe I suggested that.

similost said:
And like my C36's... I know they aren't a perfect speaker, but man oh man would I be killing the value of them if I put a waveguide into them...
Click to expand...
So, it's NOT about the music, rather, the MONEY? You paid $75 for them, as I recall. The rest is imaginary.

similost said:
I can agree there are a lot of old speakers out there worth cutting up.. like Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood and similar, but there are a couple names and speakers I just can't see it... these being one of them..
Click to expand...
And AR, Advent, and KLH? How about Klipsch?

similost said:
Like I said, I know these aren't some of Altec's better speakers, but they aren't something you see every day either..
Click to expand...
Perhaps for good reason: They are NOT Boleros....
 
Zilch,

Like it or not, many of those old JBLs and Altecs would be seriously adversely affected value-wise by changing out the components (Of course, it's about the money!). For you and I, I suspect the primary goal wouldn't be value retention. For others, it might be the most significant goal. Others yet, grew up with the sound, love the sound, and wouldn't be the least bit inclined to move to another sound. Even after hearing the differences, because those "more accurate" sounds just might not appeal to them.

That said, 886s are not particularly uncommon, and not particularly great. I doubt too many people have been seeking the 886 for the last couple of decades. They were a lowish end entry that performs decently in it's class and would be almost the perfect donor cabinet for the EWG.

I can tell you if i got my hands on a nice set of A7-500s, I wouldn't be doing much permanent modifying. :) A7s....different story. :)
 
LOL.. Love ya too Zilch :D

Ok.. um.. I thought when you started talking about waveguide here, you were saying that a hole needs to be cut to fit them in, where the tweeter is...

I can agree, finding a better tweeter would be good to do, but myself, I would find something that fit in the hole that was already there.

I know there are better Altecs, and that some are much nicer and harder to find than these, but still, these just seem to classic to me to make many serious changes to.

As far as mine, yes, I did only pay $75 for them, but you know as well as I do, they are worth much more than that. BUT, you don't see me selling them either to gain that money. It's worth the music to me. Granted, they aren't perfect sounding, but they sound DAMN good, and a lot better than many other speakers out there I could have paid 4 times as much for.

But why make them sound even better, at the cost of trashing the value? THey have a nice sound, and a nice value.. can't there be a happy medium of both?

Yes, there are Klipsch speakers I would keep, and others I would make into something else.. the same with Advent, KLH, and many others... I'm thinking maybe even thrusters would make a nice waveguide if you could brace the box enough...

I would rather build a scratch box to build a nice pair of waveguides than change out a speaker like this is all... but I guess we all have different tastes, and that's what makes this a great hobby..
 
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