I had a lovely pair of Klipschorns build in 1968! All stock except for changing the leaking GE caps. Powered by all Dynaco MK3 and PAS 2 gear FACTORY built in 1964! What a combo that was for 14 years. I down sized, went to ........Martin Logan EStats. However, I went back to Klipsch for the Forte Fours and they sounded harsh in my 18x24 dedicated listening room which is treated but open and a hard floor. Moved them to my livingroom with carpet and a couple of loveseats and they became a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT speaker!! Gone is the brittle sound, and moving them 2.5 feet from the wall they make HUGE low end. It is very surprising to me at just how much a room can alter the character of your speakers, and I found out!!
Good Day. I wish that I could find a good pair and afford to buy a pair of speakers like yours. Love Um. I've loved horn speakers since a friend had a pair of Altec VOTT speakers in his basement back in 1974. I'm not sure which model, but they were the much larger cabinets. Love ALTEC. I'd still love to have, and afford a pare of them. IMO, the old ones are still the best. BIG IS ALWAYS BETTER!! Thank You & Best Regards P.S. I have been subscribed for a while. Great Work
The Altec 515 and 416 woofers show up frequently as the absolute favorite of many horn or diy audiophiles for two way applications. GPA still makes them. Acoustic Elegance also has woofers that compare with the Altec. And, of course there are some jbl’s.
You exaggerate. There are many contemporary, variously-priced, home theatre speakers that sound very much like the classic Westrex stereophonic cinema horn systems. I'm sure you can find some that perfectly meet your specifications for sound reproduction, design and aesthetics from many reliable manufacturers. There is absolutely no shortage of speaker options these days. If you're going to be stubborn, then you can always find some custom voice-of-the-theatre Altec Lansings. Check out Ojas Audio - probably not cheap, but it's right up your alley.
I've cycled through a lot of reference speakers from the big makers and always come back to vintage JBL. My mains have been 4343's for a while now and I can't say anything bad about them. They work for me, are detailed without being fatiguing. As for tubes vs solid state - I agree, partially. I've tried the popular class D option and it was fatiguing, brittle and quite unpleasant. But if you find a good class A/AB amp, it's something different. I have found Parasound Halo solid state amps to work incredibly well. John Curl's goals have always been to have accurate powerful amps that can sound as good as tubes and he nails it. I use a JC5 for mids/highs and an A21 for lows in a biamp setup and I definitely don't exceed the class A threshold in them. I could get away with just the JC5 and be fine without biamping but I'm experimenting with crossovers so I need biamp for now. I simply don't need anything better than this, my dream system is here so I'm just enjoying the music and experimenting with different sources at this stage and love every minute of it. But I have power hungry 250TI's for a backup set of speakers and if I ever need to swap them in, these Parasounds can deliver more than they will ever need as well. Best of both worlds for me.
I have 2 pairs of JBL 4435's stacked, completely ridiculous sight but I can't imagine what it would take to replace them for what I've got in them. I tinker, and tinker, and they just continue to get better with time, and the more I learn. Ojas uses a similar, if not the same horn design as yours, in many of his projects, apparently with incredible results. I'm not sure you need new speakers. If I were you, I may be looking to integrate just a single, small, well designed subwoofer, to better tie up the loose ends you may, or may not have, on the bottom. I'd like to see better titles to your videos. Still enjoy. Btw, watched an older Guttenberg in home interview, in which they were talking about a pair of PBN Audio M2!5 horn speakers. I think they offer a single woofer version as well. The were well regarded in the interview.
I think the Unison Max 1 speakers would be the obvious choice to replace the Altecs, given that you are already using their amp. I've heard them, and they are more than enough speaker for all but the largest rooms.
1950's Porsche wheels look fantastic, would I put them on my new GT3, nope, ols belongs to old, it's called, old stuff, and granny stuff, or vintage stuff, you know what I mean, stuff for the museum.
Tube v SS for horns is simplistic, if not idiotic. In one system I have LaScala II fully horn loaded loudspeakers, sounding wonderful using the Benchmark AHB2 amplifier (and DAC3 preamp). Very clean, no hiss. I also have a small 12 watt/ch tube integrated amp, and 35 watt tube monophonic amps/tube pre; both drive the horns as loud as you'd ever want. But I can't honestly say the sound with tubes is better than the AHB. Possibly different. But not better. In fact, other than looks, I'd rate the Benchmark amplifier sounding best. Of course YMMV. However it is... remember, with anything ear related, it's easy to fool yourself, and take a lot of these 'old audiophile' received wisdom claims with sometimes more than a pinch of salt.
If you absolutely positively NEED new speakers, the Volti Audio Razz is probly right up your alley, the DW from Zu Audio or maybe the MoFi source point 888 I dont think its new speakers your after, highly admire youve had your Altecs since they were brand new. What I think will float your boat even more would be a thorough crossover upgrade. With the number of years they faithfully served you, the investment is a drop in the bucket! Yes, it may cost into the hundreds, BUT you can rest assured knowing your getting the absolute maximum out of the speakers. Yes, it can be a startling night and day difference in sound. Id minimally give it some thought.
Till today I still couldn't find a modern speaker that could match the altec A7. I heard the focal grand utopia half a million dollar but I still like my altec a7
Im on your horse boss. Older the better! My dream setup would be original Western Electrics followed by yer Altecs there one thing for sure it would not include anything recommended on poo-tube! God Bless Vintage HiFi ;-D
Maybe and probably a factor is that decade after decade you are burned in and used to that pair. That probably means that some other speaker that you will try out is that you need to use them at home for a longer time to get used to them and you will not be able to make a cold turky and just listem to some new speakers for just some hours.. 🎉😅
It's hard to beat your present set.try a three-way like a heresy ,chorus Forte, find some on the used market for best value .do upgrades just like your altec. Three way will add a whole new dimension to your horn experience.
Kevin, you hardly ever respond to comments but despite this I want to ask you something anyway. What do you think of Infinity speakers? What do you think of the Kappa series of Infinity speakers? And which series do you think was Infinity's best. Infinities are not horn speakers of course. I am currently putting a system together. I was dead set on getting a pair of Klipsch, until a week ago when I remembered Infinity. What I know is that they were high end in their day and innovative. But I have to this point never heard what they sound like, I only know they have an impressive reputation.
Take everything, I say as personal opinion because it is. I have been a lifelong fan of Infinity. To me they fit the bill for their clarity, tonality and bass. If someone were to come to me and ask, how do they compare to horn speakers? I would have to say it is a totally different sound. Its a sound I prefer over a horn but that does not make a horn speaker worse than an infinity. Their most famous speaker was the IRS V. But only like 38 pairs were ever made and had I believe a MSRP of about 50K back in the 80's. The IRS Beta Was the younger redheaded stepchild but were much more reasonable in cost although still high for the time. Both are very hard to find in the open market. And both were a 4 separate tower configuration. So definitely room hogs but IMO the most amazing sound for the era. I've seen the Beta's for 7-10k resale in the past couple of years. I missed out on a pair in Missouri for $3500 by ten minutes. I would have never bought another speaker if I got them but 10k was well beyond financial reason for me. the Kappa series (AKA amp killers) had two versions. Both versions had a 6,7,8, and 9 models But the .1 versions had a different cabinet and to my taste, a more defined sound. The longevity of the polydome tweeters has plagued the series with dry rot. (IMO worth the repair expenditure.) As with any line of speakers, I prefer a full range so the Kappa 9.1 would be my preference. From the prices I have seen over the past couple of years the 9 series runs about 2K used in good shape. While rated at 4ohms they will dip to 1ohm. So, if you're going to push them at all a serious amplifier would need to be included for consideration. It's sad to see the Infinity label still being produced but with nowhere near the quality of the old line of speakers. IMO opinion the modern day equivalent of the infinity sound comes at a price and that is made by Legacy Audio. To me Legacy took the best of what Infinity had to offer and made it better. The question I think you would need to answer for yourself is, What kind of sound do I want from the genre of music you listen to? I would not choose the Kappa series if I were listening to classical or jazz only because IMO the Kappas best attribution is clearly defined bass. that fits perfect with the way I prefer classic rock. With classical or jazz I would suggest testing a brighter speaker like a Magnapan, Martin Logan or some iteration of horn I know absolutely nothing about. In any case this hobby can be maddening and fun all at the same time because there is so much to choose from. Cost and value will vary from person to person with individual tastes. Hopefully something I said is useful.
Keep em an send em in to g.r research upgrade the crossover an the voice coils .Danny will know what the hell to do! by the way I own the Klipsch rb-11 very nice for under $1000.00
🖤the biggest contributing factor to all the subjective audiophile parameters is the imagination and ability to immerse oneself in it.. that's where the magic happens..🤔 ♣excuse my dark humour but it's not rocket science..
A couple of comments. One, based upon what you're describing that you like, try some Tannoy's. Damn fine speakers. After that? Hysterical... the myth of soundstage. "Pinpoint"? LOL You realize this notion of soundstage is simply engineers inflecting their desires in the studio right? Go to a live performance at a theater and listen to a band. The sound is monaural. It's not stereo. It's just psychoacoustics, your eyes along with your ears are playing tricks on you. Say the lead guitarist is on the right side of the stage, you're going to hear his sound through the mixing board and the PA system. It's just an illusion. Go to the symphony, again, the orchestra is not playing in stereo. There's no amplification at all. What's the "soundstage" as you call it? Well, it's determined by the hall you're sitting in and where in that hall you're sitting. Again, check out a nice pair of Tannoy speakers and enjoy the precision of concentric drivers that bring a clean sound to your ears. I like your videos but, you're the furthest thing from "empirical".
The oldschool horspeakeers with tube amps is not my sound. I have a pair JBL M2 I drive 4 URIE 6260, its could be warm sounding eith a smooth jazz and could be sound like a proper rock band with Stones records realy live sounding. I agree so many crap out there, wih huge pricetag…
60' and 70' was a golden age of sound. After that period the accountants lawyers and marketers come to the business and decided that price segmentation will take place and you have to pay top dollars for top quality... so most circuits were deteriorated for a purpose of selling right made equipment for premium.
Nostalgia at it’s finest.
I'm in love with my Blumenhofer Acoustics FS3. It's a small horn, but it sounds so natural and clean.
I had a lovely pair of Klipschorns build in 1968! All stock except for changing the leaking GE caps. Powered by all Dynaco MK3 and PAS 2 gear FACTORY built in 1964! What a combo that was for 14 years. I down sized, went to ........Martin Logan EStats. However, I went back to Klipsch for the Forte Fours and they sounded harsh in my 18x24 dedicated listening room which is treated but open and a hard floor.
Moved them to my livingroom with carpet and a couple of loveseats and they became a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT speaker!! Gone is the brittle sound, and moving them 2.5 feet from the wall they make HUGE low end. It is very surprising to me at just how much a room can alter the character of your speakers, and I found out!!
Have you auditioned the Klipsch La Scala or Klipschorn? If so, what is your opinion of them?
You can spend MUCH less if you do just a little research, and apply some elbow grease. :)
Good Day. I wish that I could find a good pair and afford to buy a pair of speakers like yours. Love Um. I've loved horn speakers since a friend had a pair of Altec VOTT speakers in his basement back in 1974. I'm not sure which model, but they were the much larger cabinets. Love ALTEC. I'd still love to have, and afford a pare of them. IMO, the old ones are still the best. BIG IS ALWAYS BETTER!!
Thank You & Best Regards P.S. I have been subscribed for a while. Great Work
The Altec 515 and 416 woofers show up frequently as the absolute favorite of many horn or diy audiophiles for two way applications. GPA still makes them. Acoustic Elegance also has woofers that compare with the Altec. And, of course there are some jbl’s.
You exaggerate. There are many contemporary, variously-priced, home theatre speakers that sound very much like the classic Westrex stereophonic cinema horn systems. I'm sure you can find some that perfectly meet your specifications for sound reproduction, design and aesthetics from many reliable manufacturers. There is absolutely no shortage of speaker options these days. If you're going to be stubborn, then you can always find some custom voice-of-the-theatre Altec Lansings. Check out Ojas Audio - probably not cheap, but it's right up your alley.
Name one, and OJAS doesn’t count.
Jbl? Adamsound?
I've cycled through a lot of reference speakers from the big makers and always come back to vintage JBL. My mains have been 4343's for a while now and I can't say anything bad about them. They work for me, are detailed without being fatiguing.
As for tubes vs solid state - I agree, partially. I've tried the popular class D option and it was fatiguing, brittle and quite unpleasant. But if you find a good class A/AB amp, it's something different. I have found Parasound Halo solid state amps to work incredibly well. John Curl's goals have always been to have accurate powerful amps that can sound as good as tubes and he nails it. I use a JC5 for mids/highs and an A21 for lows in a biamp setup and I definitely don't exceed the class A threshold in them. I could get away with just the JC5 and be fine without biamping but I'm experimenting with crossovers so I need biamp for now. I simply don't need anything better than this, my dream system is here so I'm just enjoying the music and experimenting with different sources at this stage and love every minute of it.
But I have power hungry 250TI's for a backup set of speakers and if I ever need to swap them in, these Parasounds can deliver more than they will ever need as well. Best of both worlds for me.
Fully agree as I had A7 with B511 and now Urei 809's due space
I have 2 pairs of JBL 4435's stacked, completely ridiculous sight but I can't imagine what it would take to replace them for what I've got in them. I tinker, and tinker, and they just continue to get better with time, and the more I learn. Ojas uses a similar, if not the same horn design as yours, in many of his projects, apparently with incredible results. I'm not sure you need new speakers. If I were you, I may be looking to integrate just a single, small, well designed subwoofer, to better tie up the loose ends you may, or may not have, on the bottom. I'd like to see better titles to your videos. Still enjoy. Btw, watched an older Guttenberg in home interview, in which they were talking about a pair of PBN Audio M2!5 horn speakers. I think they offer a single woofer version as well. The were well regarded in the interview.
Love your channel and your perspective. You speak from the heart. I’d be interested in your Altec’s if you’d like to correspond.
I have heard some good things about Heretic speakers
Out of business 😮
I think the Unison Max 1 speakers would be the obvious choice to replace the Altecs, given that you are already using their amp. I've heard them, and they are more than enough speaker for all but the largest rooms.
1950's Porsche wheels look fantastic, would I put them on my new GT3, nope, ols belongs to old, it's called, old stuff, and granny stuff, or vintage stuff, you know what I mean, stuff for the museum.
Tube v SS for horns is simplistic, if not idiotic. In one system I have LaScala II fully horn loaded loudspeakers, sounding wonderful using the Benchmark AHB2 amplifier (and DAC3 preamp). Very clean, no hiss. I also have a small 12 watt/ch tube integrated amp, and 35 watt tube monophonic amps/tube pre; both drive the horns as loud as you'd ever want. But I can't honestly say the sound with tubes is better than the AHB. Possibly different. But not better. In fact, other than looks, I'd rate the Benchmark amplifier sounding best. Of course YMMV. However it is... remember, with anything ear related, it's easy to fool yourself, and take a lot of these 'old audiophile' received wisdom claims with sometimes more than a pinch of salt.
If you absolutely positively NEED new speakers, the Volti Audio Razz is probly right up your alley, the DW from Zu Audio or maybe the MoFi source point 888
I dont think its new speakers your after, highly admire youve had your Altecs since they were brand new. What I think will float your boat even more would be a thorough crossover upgrade. With the number of years they faithfully served you, the investment is a drop in the bucket! Yes, it may cost into the hundreds, BUT you can rest assured knowing your getting the absolute maximum out of the speakers. Yes, it can be a startling night and day difference in sound. Id minimally give it some thought.
Today's hifi products have succumbed to noiseflation. 😅
Volti, Avantgarde, Fleetwood Deville?
Till today I still couldn't find a modern speaker that could match the altec A7. I heard the focal grand utopia half a million dollar but I still like my altec a7
Steered away from horns & tubes 😮
Aries Cerat makes some big big horns. not cheap. And OMA. Would be interesting to compare these two side by side
Im on your horse boss. Older the better! My dream setup would be original Western Electrics followed by yer Altecs there one thing for sure it would not include anything recommended on poo-tube! God Bless Vintage HiFi ;-D
Maybe and probably a factor is that decade after decade you are burned in and used to that pair.
That probably means that some other speaker that you will try out is that you need to use them at home for a longer time to get used to them and you will not be able to make a cold turky and just listem to some new speakers for just some hours.. 🎉😅
Maybe should check out the big Klipsch Jubilee . I think they are about $20,000 or so but could be more ?
It's hard to beat
your present set.try a three-way like a heresy ,chorus Forte, find some on the used market for best value .do upgrades just like your altec.
Three way will add a whole new dimension to your horn experience.
Kevin, you hardly ever respond to comments but despite this I want to ask you something anyway. What do you think of Infinity speakers? What do you think of the Kappa series of Infinity speakers? And which series do you think was Infinity's best.
Infinities are not horn speakers of course. I am currently putting a system together. I was dead set on getting a pair of Klipsch, until a week ago when I remembered Infinity. What I know is that they were high end in their day and innovative. But I have to this point never heard what they sound like, I only know they have an impressive reputation.
Take everything, I say as personal opinion because it is. I have been a lifelong fan of Infinity. To me they fit the bill for their clarity, tonality and bass. If someone were to come to me and ask, how do they compare to horn speakers? I would have to say it is a totally different sound. Its a sound I prefer over a horn but that does not make a horn speaker worse than an infinity.
Their most famous speaker was the IRS V. But only like 38 pairs were ever made and had I believe a MSRP of about 50K back in the 80's.
The IRS Beta Was the younger redheaded stepchild but were much more reasonable in cost although still high for the time. Both are very hard to find in the open market. And both were a 4 separate tower configuration. So definitely room hogs but IMO the most amazing sound for the era. I've seen the Beta's for 7-10k resale in the past couple of years. I missed out on a pair in Missouri for $3500 by ten minutes. I would have never bought another speaker if I got them but 10k was well beyond financial reason for me.
the Kappa series (AKA amp killers) had two versions. Both versions had a 6,7,8, and 9 models But the .1 versions had a different cabinet and to my taste, a more defined sound. The longevity of the polydome tweeters has plagued the series with dry rot. (IMO worth the repair expenditure.) As with any line of speakers, I prefer a full range so the Kappa 9.1 would be my preference. From the prices I have seen over the past couple of years the 9 series runs about 2K used in good shape. While rated at 4ohms they will dip to 1ohm. So, if you're going to push them at all a serious amplifier would need to be included for consideration.
It's sad to see the Infinity label still being produced but with nowhere near the quality of the old line of speakers. IMO opinion the modern day equivalent of the infinity sound comes at a price and that is made by Legacy Audio. To me Legacy took the best of what Infinity had to offer and made it better.
The question I think you would need to answer for yourself is, What kind of sound do I want from the genre of music you listen to?
I would not choose the Kappa series if I were listening to classical or jazz only because IMO the Kappas best attribution is clearly defined bass. that fits perfect with the way I prefer classic rock. With classical or jazz I would suggest testing a brighter speaker like a Magnapan, Martin Logan or some iteration of horn I know absolutely nothing about.
In any case this hobby can be maddening and fun all at the same time because there is so much to choose from. Cost and value will vary from person to person with individual tastes. Hopefully something I said is useful.
you should check out volti audio-
Keep em an send em in to g.r research upgrade the crossover an the voice coils .Danny will know what the hell to do! by the way I own the Klipsch rb-11 very nice for under $1000.00
"Please NO".
🖤the biggest contributing factor to all the subjective audiophile parameters is the imagination and ability to immerse oneself in it.. that's where the magic happens..🤔
♣excuse my dark humour but it's not rocket science..
A couple of comments. One, based upon what you're describing that you like, try some Tannoy's. Damn fine speakers. After that? Hysterical... the myth of soundstage. "Pinpoint"? LOL You realize this notion of soundstage is simply engineers inflecting their desires in the studio right? Go to a live performance at a theater and listen to a band. The sound is monaural. It's not stereo. It's just psychoacoustics, your eyes along with your ears are playing tricks on you. Say the lead guitarist is on the right side of the stage, you're going to hear his sound through the mixing board and the PA system. It's just an illusion. Go to the symphony, again, the orchestra is not playing in stereo. There's no amplification at all. What's the "soundstage" as you call it? Well, it's determined by the hall you're sitting in and where in that hall you're sitting. Again, check out a nice pair of Tannoy speakers and enjoy the precision of concentric drivers that bring a clean sound to your ears. I like your videos but, you're the furthest thing from "empirical".
Most are made in china now, and tannoy is not answering any questions from the dealerships. Run … run .. run…
@@auggysimcity Yes, my Revolution XT-8F towers were assembled in China. So what? They sound amazing. What’s your point?
@@zizendorf C H I N A …
The oldschool horspeakeers with tube amps is not my sound. I have a pair JBL M2 I drive 4 URIE 6260, its could be warm sounding eith a smooth jazz and could be sound like a proper rock band with Stones records realy live sounding. I agree so many crap out there, wih huge pricetag…
60' and 70' was a golden age of sound. After that period the accountants lawyers and marketers come to the business and decided that price segmentation will take place and you have to pay top dollars for top quality... so most circuits were deteriorated for a purpose of selling right made equipment for premium.