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Altec Bolero 890c SCORE!!!!

dadsaway

dadsaway

Active Member
So our local classified site had a ad that said:
"Old speakers. Still work. Don't go with our decor"

So I call and ask if they know the make or model of them. They say Altec and the model and I am already leaving work to go get them. When I get there I start to feel bad because because it is a young couple who were given these speakers from his Mom and they much preferred the look of the...gasp.... carpeted white van speakers that they proudly displayed beside their TV!!! They did NOT want these thing and told me all they wanted was $25. $25!!!!!! I get them home and and plug in my fave Pink Floyd CD and am totally blown away!!! These have a HUGE soundstage!!! These are very, VERY sweet sounding speakers!!! Time to get out the Howards, make some stands and enjoy!!!:banana:
 

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Dang! Isn't that something? Very nice pick up for $25! I think one of the drivers is a passive radiator IIRC.
 
Those are quite nice. Yes, there's a passive and a really nice woofer in there (and decent horn). One of the more-fun vintage box options in my opinion.
 
IMO&E one of the few old "small" box speakers worth owning, they certainly trounce their contemporaries from AR, KLH, JBL, KLipsch etc. As well as many new box speakers, at least in the vital midrange.

A friend of mine who was a retired WE engineer with friends at Altec said a great deal of effort went into the woofer in order to mimic the midrange characteristics of the large Altec studio monitors and and theater speakers; thus the 3" voice coil, very large motor (taken from the 414) and dual profile cone.
 
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Thank dog that modern young people tend towards idiocy in music with car subs, ipods, and home theater.

Ducks...
 
Tom Brennan said:
IMO&E one of the few old "small" box speakers worth owning, they certainly trounce their contemporaries from AR, KLH, JBL, KLipsch etc. As well as many new box speakers, at least in the vital midrange.

A friend of mine who was a retired WE engineer with friends at Altec said a great deal of effort went into the woofer in order to mimic the midrange characteristics of the large Altec studio monitors and and theater speakers; thus the 3" voice coil, very large motor (taken from the 414) and dual profile cone.
Click to expand...

I just might have to agree with you....so far...lol... I did a quick A/B comparison with these and my stacked Advents and these sounded bigger. A few times I had to see if the Advents were still on when I switched to the Altecs because they filled the room with an almost 3D effect...if that makes sense.
 
Efficiency/Sensitivity?

Now I don't want to get into the whole debate about "efficiency is different then sensitivity" that was in a different thread....but I have been looking around the net for specs and I have only found one page that mentions the "db per wat at 1 meter" rating and they said it was 98db 1W/1M. Is this correct? Just curious.

Thanks
 
dadsaway said:
but I have been looking around the net for specs and I have only found one page that mentions the "db per wat at 1 meter" rating and they said it was 98db 1W/1M. Is this correct? Just curious.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It's reasonable given the woofer's descent from the 414. However given it's robust bass in a small cabinet I'd guess the sensitivity is a little lower, I'd guess 94-96db or so. Just guessing you understand.
 
Tom Brennan said:
It's reasonable given the woofer's descent from the 414. However given it's robust bass in a small cabinet I'd guess the sensitivity is a little lower, I'd guess 94-96db or so. Just guessing you understand.
Click to expand...

Thats a little more realistic....I will hopefully be doing an A/B comparison with my JBL4311b's this weekend. I am very happy with my JBL's and VERY curious how these will compare. The JBL's are in my main set up and so far from what I have heard....these may replace them. :scratch2:
 
Thank goodness you "saved" them from their decorating dilemma. :D

Good score, a model I hope to find at some point myself.
 
Remove the drivers from one cabinet and mirror image them with the other cabinet horizontally. You will be even more amazed by this little tweak. Those speakers really need to be horizontal with the horn at ear level.
 
We all have our own personal visual taste, and I'm sure they are happy having those "eyesores" gone from their house.
 
bdblkta said:
Remove the drivers from one cabinet and mirror image them with the other cabinet horizontally. You will be even more amazed by this little tweak. Those speakers really need to be horizontal with the horn at ear level.
Click to expand...

I may mirror them to get the PR's and woofers in the same position...but having them horizontal won't work in my set up unfortunatly. So if vertical....tweeter in the inside or the outside of the cabinet?
 
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