Older Altec horn speakers

No upgrades imminent as my audio budget is now much smaller than before. And I'm discovering the trade-offs need be few.

I believe the 19s are generally considered superior to the Valencias.

Paulfolbrecht stated:

"I believe the 19s are generally considered superior to the Valencias."

I have heard and compared these two side by side years (decades, actually) ago, and again much more recently. I would agree that the 19s are the better choice for some large-scale types of music, but my take on the Valencias is that they do a far better job in terms of sonic finesse and soundstaging, and as such, I definitely prefer them over the 19s for small ensemble, solo instrumental, and most vocal music. The Valencias can provide a very intimate musical experience for the aforementioned types of music that is quite intoxicating.

Bottom line, both are superb speakers!

You gonna love this one!....

Met a guy at a local A/V retail store looking to buy a small LCD tv. His salesman didn't know squat and tried to pawn off on him a "20-something" inch "monitor-looking" tv that was 720P/60hz refresh rate/no name/etc... instead of a 32" 1080P/120hz refresh rate/brand name tv (not 10ft. away from them)for only $75-$100 more. I (as a good citizen and audiophile)rescued the newbie from the ignorant salesman and showed him what would be best for the money in that size. Remember, I don't work there! Just helping out a fellow man. Turns out the guy was actually appreciative for my effort in saving him from a poor purchasing decision. He said he worked at a semi-local storage facility and gave me his card. He then asked for my card. In conversation, we talked about home theater and speakers, etc... and I told him that I collect/use old school stereo equipment/speakers. Then, about 2 weeks later, and this is where it gets good, I get a phone call from the guy. He says that one of his clients left some "big ole' church speakers" and a 27" RCA rounded tube tv (480i, if that! LOL!!) in his unit and told this guy that his grandfather had built the speaker cabinets by hand and played classical music at lower volumes with a low powered amp (I'm assuming a tube amp). The guy asked me if I wanted them(free!)because he knew that I liked old school speakers and these fit the bill. He said that he needed the unit emptied and had a bad back, thus wasn't able to lift these 3'x 3'x 3' monsters and throw them in the dumpster... plus, he said that they were too nice to throw out anyways. Thinking they could be Klipschorns or similar, I agreed just on the basis of curiousity and drove down there at 90+ mph! When I arrived, I saw these beautiful cabinets, with lattice grilles, in near mint condition. I took them off and saw a huge 15" woofer with some kind of horn sticking out of it's middle area, where the dust cover on a 15" woofer should be. I had no idea what they were... no name or markings were easily visible, but they looked impressive because they had an aluminum frame. I loaded one up, drove it home 20 miles, came back immediately and loaded the other along with the tv in the front seat and left for home. Each speaker barely (and I mean BARELY!) fit in the back of the '96 Geo Tracker 2 door convertible I was using. After I got them both inside the house, I was so tired, that I just put them in the storage room with some other speakers and left them there for about 9 months! I then pulled them out to see what they were all about and I found an Altec N-1600A dividing network under one speaker and a wooden board with a bunch on crap strapped to it under the other (I guess I need another N-1600A!). There are about 50 screws holding the back panel on and I wasn't about to go through all that to see it, so I decided to Google Altec N-1600A to see what speaker it belonged to and find out finally what they were. There was a picture of a speaker on the dividing network that looked just like the speakers in the cabinet, but no model numbers were on it.) I scrolled through 5-10 pages of images before I finally found something that looked like these speakers. So I held my camera phone and a Streamlight LED flashlight in each hand and put them in the slot port below the speaker itself. Low and behold, I replay the short video of whatever my camera saw and BAM!! Altec Lansing 604C Duplex speakers in mint condition!!! Now that's what I call getting rewarded for doing a good deed!!! Now I need to find another N-1600A dividing network or at least get a new, supposedly highly-upgraded set from GPA (Great Plains Audio), but I don't know which would be better for original sound quality? Maybe it would be an improvement over the old style/old technology capacitors/resistors in the original crossover? What do you veteran 604C owners think? Plus, I now need a push-pull tube amplifier to run them properly, according to everyone on the net. Any suggestions? Anyone have some old tube gear for sale that might want to make this longshot story a true legend? I have a lot of old school equipment that I might actually part with or trade for a good push-pull tube amp & maybe tube preamp, if you have one? I have 2 old tube consoles I picked up recently, thinking they might work, but the one is a "The Fisher Philharmonic" with something like 37 watts per channel or so, but it only says 8 ohms on the speaker output, so I don't know about that... and the other is a beast! A Motorola SK116MZ Golden Voice with a ton of tubes all over in it! There is nothing saying that 16 ohm speakers will work fine on it either. I know that I could probably use them on either, but I want something that is designed "specifically" for 16 ohm speakers, so I know it will work and sound great, not just hope it does and pray it doesn't hurt them.

I'm exhausted just typing all of that! LOL!! I still get excited just thinking about how I obtained them and even more excited about how they will sound hooked up to a proper tube amp setup.

Thanks for taking the time to read this reponse. I hope I didn't go off the thread topic too much... this is my first post after all. Thanks for your future input, guys!! I hope someone here can help me see(or rather, hear) my now dream speakers properly come to life.

I owned a pair of Altec A7s for many years...used 'em for my band's live PA mostly, but for stereo playback they had a certain sound that was so "organic"....perhaps not accurate compared to things now but really sweet and effortless...due mostly I suppose to that horn, but the big wooden boxes also sounded "woody" or something...very cool.

I realize that this is an older thread, but I feel compelled to add my two cents.

The Valencia, the 19, et al, are the great Altec speakers. The only problem is that we don't all have the space (and/or the approving spouse) to plant a pair of junior refrigerators in our living rooms. The beauty of the Bolero--and particularly the 890c culmination, where they perfected the driver--is that it very closely approximates the trademark 3D technicolor Altec VOTT sound in a manageable @25" x 15" package that doesn't require a forklift to move around.

Sound quality, of course, is highly subjective; there are so many factors that will influence one's decision as to which speaker sounds better than another on any given day. I have auditioned the Segovia quite a few times over the years through different systems with varying degrees of satisfaction. The Segovia is a fine speaker, but to me it doesn't sound like an "Altec" in the way that the horn-equipped Bolero does.

To delve into geeky minutiae for a moment, the 890a & 890b have the amazing 3000g horn tweeter, but the high crossover asks too much from the driver in those model variations. The 406-8Y in the 890c has a larger VC than its predecessors, and while the outsourced Heppner horn in the 890c (made in Chicago; not in Japan as is commonly cited) may not by just a shade be quite as sensitive as the earlier 3000g, the glorious midrange of the 406-8Y trounces the earlier 406a/406z and makes for a better listening experience with the 890c by comparison.

I have owned all variety of hi-fi gear and nearly all of the high-end Altec speaker models at one point or another, and at this stage of my life with a moderately-sized house and a wife & two young daughters (read: no more man cave lifestyle), the Altec 890c is perfect.