oldenough Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Hi all, i know some of you Klipschheads are also pretty knowledgable with Altec speakers, i also realise as these are not a horn speaker that they are not of great interest to many of you. However, google yielded nothing, nor a further hour of searching the interweb. They are a three way design, 12" woofer, 5"? mid, 2"? tweeter. I thought they might do duty as a garage system. they are sitting in the thrift store and the price "seems" right at $60 . They're in pretty good shape, in fact they look real nice, new surrounds look to have been done in a professional manner. So what do you think? Thanx in advance, John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 You sould check out the Lansing Heritage website and forums. You can get great help there. Your Model 9 Series II speakers are form 1978 or thereabouts. http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/altec/catalogs/1978-home.htm Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanx Marvel, in fact i did find that site yesterday,but was having problems navigating. Went there again this morning and managed to find specs, i think they might be a worthwhile purchase for the $60 asking price, hey there altecs, how bad can they be for a garage system?? Seems they were Altecs top bookshelf at the time, although you would have needed one hell of a shelf,apparently they weigh in at over fifty pounds!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Navigaton there can be a bit strange. I'm a bit more familiar with the JBL side, but it's a bit goofy too. My 4311s are also considered 'bookshelf' speakers, and they also weigh in at 50lbs each. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Sorry, you couldn't pay me to listen to an Altec Model 9. A Model 19, yes! The JBL 4311/L100 sounded vastly better in the midrange than an Altec Model 9. The Model 9 also has foam edges on the woofer and midrange, and a poor tweeter. Unless the empty box is worth it to you, I would suggest you pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Oh... man.. where were you before i went out and bought them, you might of saved me a lot of ear-ache. As it is, i now have to listen to them whenever i go out to my garage ! Nuh.. I guess i must have something of a tin ear, cos these thing sound pretty good to me, or maybe there suited to their location? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdbaba Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 You mean like these? No Affiliation--yada, yada http://sacramento.craigslist.org/ele/145998793.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 No, they are model 19, i wish i could get a pair of those for $60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 "Oh... man.. where were you before i went out and bought them, you might of saved me a lot of ear-ache. As it is, i now have to listen to them whenever i go out to my garage ! Nuh.. I guess i must have something of a tin ear, cos these thing sound pretty good to me, or maybe there suited to their location? " Hard to say what drivers are actually in them now, the original foam will have rotted many years ago. Whatever is in them now may sound better than the original, wouldn't take much. A friend of mine that owns a pair has re-foamed his woofers, and replaced the midrange with an Eminence Alpha 6. I think he gave them to his son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joew94th Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I found this really outdated post while doing a Google search for this speaker. I felt compelled to join this group for the sole purpose of replying to the thread. I hope some of these members are still around. Here's my, hopefully, short story. In 1978 I was a Soldier stationed in West Germany. With nothing better to do with my money I decided to "get into" stereo equipment. After saving up my dough for a couple of paydays, I decided to take a trek down to the local PX and put a deposit on a brand new pair of Klipsch Heresys. They were, after all, the ultimate in stereo speakers at the time (at least for what a GI could afford). When I got to the PX stereo dept. the tech guys had just finished installing a demo pair of Altec Lansing Model 9 Series II. I listened to one track on them and I was hooked. I bought them on the spot. To this day, I can say that I've never heard a better pair of speakers for their size. They completely blew away the Heresys, in my opinion. The tweeters were crisp, but not as tinny as the Heresys. The midranges were simply the best I'd ever heard. The 12" woofers were warm and seemed to bring everything else together. I found that other speakers in this class would produce a very "thumpy" bass.I loved those speakers. After 7 years, the foam covers were rotten so I tossed them. One day my wife was watching my 4 year old niece. She poked her finger through 3 of the speaker cones. I was sick. Well, you know what they say about opinions and their similarity to a certain portion of the human anatomy. Maybe mine stinks too, but there it is. Were I to have a pair of these speaker in my garage, I'd never leave it. -Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 "Well, you know what they say about opinions and their similarity to a certain portion of the human anatomy. Maybe mine stinks too, but there it is." No one that compared a recorded piano played through an Altec Model 9, JBL 4311/L100, or a Klipsch Heresy, would ever mistake it for a real piano. But of the three, the Altec is the most colored in the midrange, and sounds quite un-natural. The Altec 890 (Bolero) was a much better sounding speaker (than the 9). I might agree that the old K77 was bright sounding (with no real high end), but BEC has the cure for that. Would I buy a set for the garage for $60? A set of Kg2 in nice shape went for $66 on eBay recently, I would rather listen to those. http://cgi.ebay.com/1984-Klipsch-KG2-Speaker-Set-w-Stands-/180534407638?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item2a08b071d6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted August 3, 2010 Author Share Posted August 3, 2010 Well since since this thread of mine has been brought back from the dead I might as well up-date you on the fate of the "Altec Nines". It seems the construction of one of the speaker boxes was..."compromised"...in short one of the sides parted company with the rest of the speaker. A shame really, as they didn't sound too bad as a garage speaker. Every now and again I look at the drivers, cross-overs and pile of screws, and wonder what sort of project I could make of the remnants. Ideas anyone???...[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingman Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Spare parts for sale in Iowa.... (well, the speakers are intact but for the purpose of this thread)... http://desmoines.craigslist.org/ele/2737965519.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.