Altec Voice of the Theatre

[vego99]

Hello friends, new to the forums. Found this post on craigslist does any one know anything about these speakers??

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ele/2433905051.html

[tube fanatic]

Here's some history: http://www.altecpro.com/about/timeline.htm

The last Voice of the Theater speakers that I heard were the A7-500WII, and they were absolutely phenomenal (the third link below is the version that I auditioned extensively). In fact, it's one of the rare speakers that could stack up against the K-horns.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page16.jpg

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1971-home/page17.jpg

http://dyna-sh.cocolog-nifty.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/09/magnificent.jpg

If they are truly in mint condition, and working properly, I'd definitely consider them (especially if you can get the price down somewhat).

[djk]

" In fact, it's one of the rare speakers that could stack up against the
K-horns. "

They sound nothing like the other.

K-horns have much better bass below 200hz, and better HF above 10Khz, the Altecs have better midrange.

[garyrc]

" In fact, it's one of the rare speakers that could stack up against the
K-horns. "

They sound nothing like the other.

K-horns have much better bass below 200hz, and better HF above 10Khz, the Altecs have better midrange.

I agree with this. I heard Klipschorns in the same room as Altec Voice of the Theatre way back in the '70s. The Klipschorns sounded "warmer" with more detail in the brass and in general had better overtones (triangle & cymbal shimmer, for instance). The midrange in the Altecs was utterly clear and effortless. Overall, I preferred the Klipschorns ... the modern Klipschorns (AK4 & AK5) MAY sound a little better than the older models, now that they have rolled off the midrange driver above 4.5K where the tweeter does the workk, anyway. I don't know what Altec has done to the A7 lately.

For what it's worth (nothing?), in theaters, I did not like the Altec systems (used for multi channel stereo in Cinerama and many theaters equipped for CinemaScope) as much as the JBL systems that Ampex put together for 70mm Todd-AO (some theaters). Once again, the Altecs seemed to lack some warmth and sparkling highs. The "front end" for Cinerama sound may have been a little better than for Todd-AO (since Cinerama used full coat 35 mm magnetic sound in a double system, and Todd-AO usually used 6 narrower magnetic stripes, BUT Todd-AO with its JBLs still sounded better, to my ears.

Which systems seemed to sound the most like the orchestras I've played in or listened to? JBL Todd-AO first, Klipschorns second, JBL S8 and S8Rs in various cabinets, including the Paragon next, the gargantuan 4 woofer per channel Altecs they used in Cinerama (due to lack of shimmer) next, and Altec A7s last. ALL were better than most speakers today, especially dynamically, IMO.

[garyrc]

Actually, the speakers pictured on Craig's List don't look much like the A7 Voice of the Theater to me. They may use the same drivers. The A7 Voice of the Theater I'm familiar with had the woofer in a front loaded wooden bass horn, and had the very large multi-cell midrange/tweeter either mounted on top of the cabinet, or tucked into a port area below the woofer. The ones on Craig's List may have been trademarked "Voice of the Theater," but not really A7.

Even the true A7's were rarely used in theaters --- there were several other, larger, Altec Voice of the Theater models that were used in theaters, with up to 4 woofers, all with front loaded woofer horns (and often with a reflex port as well). I think several varieties of them can be seen on a thread started by Convergence. Back when I was responding to Convergence's thread (2008), I thought that the Todd-AO theaters used Altecs, but I found out later that many or most of the theatres originally set up for Todd-AO used a special JBL system put together by AMPEX. This is from the CONVERGENCE thread RE: JBL, not Altec:

Re: HOLLYWOOD BACK LOT c6000-crop_small.jpg Reply Favorites Contact Hi Garyrc, As for literature very lilte is available. These speakers were Lansing produced. Ampex bought the equipment to manufactured them . Please read the following quote from Steve Schell. Steve Schell 09-18-2005 10:47 AM I can add a little to what Don said. Ampex made a major effort to penetrate the theatre sound business in the 1950s, and chose JBL to provide the speaker systems. Westrex (export arm of Western Electric) was also looking for a supplier of theatre sound gear, since Western Electric had recently ceased making this equipment due to a consent decree with the U.S. Government. They also chose JBL to make much of their equipment. The 375 driver was developed to meet the need for a stout high frequency driver for these systems. We have heard conflicting stories as to who actually initiated the design effort, but it is evident that they were being supplied to the two companies by 1953 if not earlier. Actually AMPEX was ordering more product than JBL, still a small company at te time, could supply. To meet their need, they opened their own factory in North Hollywood and built their own versions of the JBL products, paying JBL a royalty on each unit produced. I think that the Westrex 375s were built by JBL, as they look very similar to the early bubble back units used in the Hartsfield. Note that the 375 had been developed for theatre, not hi fi use. The Ampex products for certain, and likely the Westrex products as well, were in production well before the 375 was applied for hi fi use with the introduction of the Hartsfield in 1954. "Jim Lansing Theatre Sound System" of 1954 (Also Manufactured as Westrex T550 and Ampex 6000C) © Harman International, Courtesy Mark Gander and John Eargle

c6000-crop_small.jpg Reply Favorites Contact

[djk]

"Actually, the speakers pictured on Craig's List don't look much like the A7 Voice of the Theater to me. "

Good catch!

I just assumed they were VOTT, they are not.

They are some home-made Model 19 type speakers, and the woofer has been re-coned with non Altec type parts.

A real Model 19 is a very good sounding speaker, you could find a pair for not much more than what this guy is asking.

[cjgeraci]

Agreed, those are model 19 types and not A7s. Enclosed are my A7s (with JBL E140s). Klipschorn bass bins are also behind the A7s, cut off at 200 hz, to round out my bottom end.

Carl.

[djk]

I owned my first set of A7-500 in 1972, good mids, no bass no high end. I added a pair of horn tweeters, and pretended to hear some bass.

In 1973 I picked up my first Klipschorn, now I had bass and high end.

I liked the mids better on the Altec, why not try the Altec mid driver on the Klipsch? That of course did not help, and neither did PWK with his insisting that time alignment was not needed.

Sold the Altecs, sold the Klipsch, built lots of different designs.

Got tired of hauling around the A7/4560 type boxes for mids. What was the point? They didn't go high enough to take the load off the fragile metal diaphragm compression drivers, and they had no real bass. Neither did the 'small' bass horns (EV TL5050). Fire!

What if you built just the mid horn section of the A7/4560, but designed for a 12? Used it with a pattern matched HF horn, and a new design bass unit that would go below 30hz with virtually no distortion?

If you used this at home with only one mid and one bass unit it would be no larger than an A7.

[garyrc]

Klipschorn bass bins are also behind the A7s, cut off at 200 hz, to round out my bottom end.

What an interesting idea! Did you have to take steps to get the Khorn bass in phase with the A7 bass, or did the two total path lengths just happen to be complementary, or what?

[Guest " "]

I love what comes out of the front of the A7 bass bin cabinet. Nice instrument speaker sound. Don't care much for the highs or the lows.

[NOSValves]

" In fact, it's one of the rare speakers that could stack up against the

K-horns. "

They sound nothing like the other.

K-horns have much better bass below 200hz, and better HF above 10Khz, the Altecs have better midrange.

BINGO!

[djk]

"I love what comes out of the front of the A7 bass bin cabinet."

Which is why I did what I did.

Actually, I made the horn section of an Altec A4/JBL 4550 size first.

It sounded fabulous, but was deemed too big to haul around for PA.