March 8th 05, 02:29 AM
I FEEL AND HEAL YOUR PAIN: THE ALTEC 604
Those of you who had the good sense to read my book will see a picture
of Altec 604 monitors, which were hanging in Phil Ramone's mixing
room when I schelped the Futterman OTL-1s in for his audition. We also
used these speaker for a demonstration at the AES convention. These
speakers, with all their flaws, set me on the path of rock and roll
righteousness, with their alnico magnets and 100db effeciency.
Most Altec 604, like the classic JBL and Tannoy drivers now live in
Japan, but I am sure you can locate them on one of the audio chat
groups, and this may be the best, meaning cheapest, way to get your
triode act together.
The speakers you want to get are the ones made between 1970 and 1980,
and I believe Altec still services these speakers, which means you
can get diagraphms and speaker cones because thousands of these
speaker are still in use at radio stations and recording studios.
Those who need the right speaker for their OTL or single-ended triode
should consider these speakers with the following caveat...
Altec 604 have a major frequency anomoly between 2 and 4KHZ, and the
stock crossover doesn't deal with it. The old Doug Sax Mastering Lab
crossover was the fix, but these are very hard to find.
With computer programs and speaker nerds multiplying it should be a no
brainer to figure out the right notch filters, and there must be some
one out their on the audio web who knows what to do.
The other key to the puzzle is the building the right cabinets. Altec
published cabinet plans for this speaker, but again... find out their
electrical parameters and use one of the new loudspeaker design
program which will give you optimimum box size for the
frequency/alignment you want.
But the really great news for those who are into digital is the use of
the new digital preamps, like the NAD, which will permit you to
mollify the weirdness of the speaker in the digital domain.
I have seen these drivers advertised for as little as $500 per pair,
which is less than the cost of a pair of Western Electric 300Bs, and
the extra effort you put into these speakers still means that you have
saved thousands of dollars and...you finally have healed your
pain....you will be listening with 100db/alnico speakers.
So let me close with a simple real life example: I listened to the new
Cary 2A3 amplifier at my friends house who had moderatly effecient
speakers and this 3 watt amplifier sound very bleak indeed. When I
took it home and listened to it on my Tannoy horns I couldn't turn
the volume put past 9AM...if you want to the mystery of directly
heated triodes you need speakers like the Altect 604.
Those of you who had the good sense to read my book will see a picture
of Altec 604 monitors, which were hanging in Phil Ramone's mixing
room when I schelped the Futterman OTL-1s in for his audition. We also
used these speaker for a demonstration at the AES convention. These
speakers, with all their flaws, set me on the path of rock and roll
righteousness, with their alnico magnets and 100db effeciency.
Most Altec 604, like the classic JBL and Tannoy drivers now live in
Japan, but I am sure you can locate them on one of the audio chat
groups, and this may be the best, meaning cheapest, way to get your
triode act together.
The speakers you want to get are the ones made between 1970 and 1980,
and I believe Altec still services these speakers, which means you
can get diagraphms and speaker cones because thousands of these
speaker are still in use at radio stations and recording studios.
Those who need the right speaker for their OTL or single-ended triode
should consider these speakers with the following caveat...
Altec 604 have a major frequency anomoly between 2 and 4KHZ, and the
stock crossover doesn't deal with it. The old Doug Sax Mastering Lab
crossover was the fix, but these are very hard to find.
With computer programs and speaker nerds multiplying it should be a no
brainer to figure out the right notch filters, and there must be some
one out their on the audio web who knows what to do.
The other key to the puzzle is the building the right cabinets. Altec
published cabinet plans for this speaker, but again... find out their
electrical parameters and use one of the new loudspeaker design
program which will give you optimimum box size for the
frequency/alignment you want.
But the really great news for those who are into digital is the use of
the new digital preamps, like the NAD, which will permit you to
mollify the weirdness of the speaker in the digital domain.
I have seen these drivers advertised for as little as $500 per pair,
which is less than the cost of a pair of Western Electric 300Bs, and
the extra effort you put into these speakers still means that you have
saved thousands of dollars and...you finally have healed your
pain....you will be listening with 100db/alnico speakers.
So let me close with a simple real life example: I listened to the new
Cary 2A3 amplifier at my friends house who had moderatly effecient
speakers and this 3 watt amplifier sound very bleak indeed. When I
took it home and listened to it on my Tannoy horns I couldn't turn
the volume put past 9AM...if you want to the mystery of directly
heated triodes you need speakers like the Altect 604.