Soaking in that Altec rain. (Altec 604-8G Content, enclosures mostly)

ICTWoody

No longer a junior member
Soooooo, hi guys. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years.

Some of you might remember when I purchased a pair of Urei 815's that were pretty raggy last year. After weighing my options I wound up scrapping the cabs and harvesting the woofers and networks out of them. Long story short on those was that the coaxial woofers at some point in their life had been swapped for a pair of Altec 604-8G's... which were the jewell of the deal.

Well those 604's are down at Great Plains Audio fully redone and I'll be picking them up in the next couple weeks when I find time to make the 5hr round trip. I'm very excited to play with my first pair of Altec Coaxials (and my 2nd pair, now restored 601C's also ready for pickup which will go in my 614 cabs).

Well 2 days ago a friend tipped me off to another pair of 604-8G's for sale on Facebook Marketplace with the matching networks a little over an hour away. The photos looked a little rough, but the price was good. I messaged the seller and a few hours later I paypal'd him the money and I'll be picking them up on Saturday AM. The cool part is they are going to need to be fully GPA'd also, but since I'm going down to get my other ones, I'll drop these off at the same time.

So now it's time to turn my attention to cabinets. I've read ALLLLLL the threads... and I've concluded that I'm going to do a 620 cabinet, but styled the way I want for my loft for one pair. BUT, now that I'm going to have two pairs, I think I'd like to try something different for cabinet #2. My question for you guys is how important is the box for 604's beyond volume and tuning? I have considered a pair of 612 cabinets just cause it's classic, and it would be a slightly smaller speaker... but I had this thought. I really would like a set of "lowboy" type cabinets to not be as imposing in my living room. My thought is to do a JBL L300 STYLED cabinet... low and angled up on the front baffle — for one of the pairs. Is there any compelling reason to not try a ~9cu/ft box style after L300's?

Anyway... if YOU were in my shoes with all this Altec richness... what would you do for box #1 and box #2? Likely one pair will get sold down the road. But who knows when. I feel like inevitably I'll be drawn to one pair over the other. But I'm not worried about that for now.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

- Woody
 
Wow.....just wow. Between you and another audio buddy of mine. It’s as if all the audio luck is concentrated in a few of you! Share dammit! Awesome btw. Can’t wait to see the outrageously awesome design.
 
an embarrasment of riches!

I know, right? For 2020 I'm focused on restoring pieces I already own, Altec, McIntosh, Fairchild... and less about purchasing new stuff. Find the best combos.

I came across these Altec 612's with wings on a Yahoo Japan site... interesting. Not 604's... but interesting idea. Would this lower the response of a 612?

- Woody

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I love the idea of the L300 aesthetic. I would probably do something very similar with those goals in mind.

as for box number two, I have an easy solution, send me the drivers and you don't have to worry about a second set of boxes.

See, I AM a big helper.
 
The wings should add a little LF response, not a ton, but should be measurable/audible.

You can test it with foamboard wings, just tape them on, make sure there are no cracks. They'll vibrate obviously, but you can play with them to aid in 'tuning'.
 
I love the idea of the L300 aesthetic. I would probably do something very similar with those goals in mind.

as for box number two, I have an easy solution, send me the drivers and you don't have to worry about a second set of boxes.

See, I AM a big helper.

I'll design them enough different to not try and confuse those in the know... but the general proportion and angled up low design.

- Woody
 
I love the low boy-slanted L300 idea.

Having owned Altec Model 18’s (604-8h in 620 cab), I would look at an enclosure that could use a helper woofer for the lows. Maybe the Eminence Klipsch K33 style woofers in a 6 cu ft vented box like the Cornwall and a 3 cu ft sealed enclosure for 604, integrated in to one (very heavy) enclosure. While I’m not a huge fan of the horns in the Cornwall, I’ve always felt like they get the bass right. The 604 in the 620 can has some bass extension but it isn’t as satisfying to my ears as the Cornwall bass. You could use Hypex plate amps for the lows with their integrated filters.
 
I love the low boy-slanted L300 idea.

Having owned Altec Model 18’s (604-8h in 620 cab), I would look at an enclosure that could use a helper woofer for the lows. Maybe the Eminence Klipsch K33 style woofers in a 6 cu ft vented box like the Cornwall and a 3 cu ft sealed enclosure for 604, integrated in to one (very heavy) enclosure. While I’m not a huge fan of the horns in the Cornwall, I’ve always felt like they get the bass right. The 604 in the 620 can has some bass extension but it isn’t as satisfying to my ears as the Cornwall bass. You could use Hypex plate amps for the lows with their integrated filters.

This is an interesting idea. I'll contemplate it a bit.

- Woody
 
see post 98

"Holy crap- I just came across the perfect cabinet for this.
The JBL 4508 cabinet- which was also sold as the 4648 and 4638 system when loaded with woofers- is made for dual 15" drivers, and has 7.9 cubic feet of internal volume. They come tuned to 40Hz vent frequency- which would work- but could be re-tuned (longer vents) to 36Hz, to even better response. It would be flat response with an f3 of 36Hz, using the same helper woofer and choke as above... "

i've had good luck with this setup. i run the 604s full range and bring the JBL woofers in with a mini-DSP and separate preamp and amp.
pics are here: Grills for my JBL 4658 Cabinets

don't know if this would be cabinet #1 or #2 for you. probably not #2 as it is not a lowboy (guess you could use it on its side...)
 
Woody, I am a fan of Altec duplexes.... I really like the idea of some JBL300/lowboy 9cuft inspired cabs too!

I am a fan of the the larger cabs myself. In my current ( soon to be old) listen room, I found my old, now sold, 604-8K's in 620A cabs to be sufficient enough in the bass region for me for *my* tastes. I listen to a vast array of genres, on all formats.... Unless you're needing the sub 20hz bass, and depending on your listening room, I would try your original cab idea first, then add subs if necessary to your tastes.

have fun!
 
I think the Bozak 302a Urbans are about the sexiest cabinets ever built... I want a pair!

Here's a pic I stole from the internet:

View attachment 19195
Well, Nate, if you can do pickup, there's someone in TX selling a pair of Centurys on eBay for $75 - you could redo the baffle & grille cloth, clean up the veneer, and add a set of feet for chump change...

-D
 
Well, Nate, if you can do pickup, there's someone in TX selling a pair of Centurys on eBay for $75 - you could redo the baffle & grille cloth, clean up the veneer, and add a set of feet for chump change...

-D
It'd be a nice excuse for a roadtrip, and a temporary reprieve from the MN winter!
 
It'd be a nice excuse for a roadtrip, and a temporary reprieve from the MN winter!
I'm becoming enamored of the B-4000 cabinet - should be around 9 cubic feet for internal volume at 42.5 x 28.5 x 16" external dimensions. It would be interesting to try and recreate as a vented cabinet, although I'd have some concerns about diffraction off the decorative pieces in the front baffle:

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Those look awful familiar, I think the idea came up on a boat house. In a pinch you could use the word grills as paddles.;)
I'm becoming enamored of the B-4000 cabinet - should be around 9 cubic feet for internal volume at 42.5 x 28.5 x 16" external dimensions. It would be interesting to try and recreate as a vented cabinet, although I'd have some concerns about diffraction off the decorative pieces in the front baffle:
Those look awful familiar (previously owned a set and regret selling them). Something tells me the design was conceived on a boathouse, the wood grills could double as paddles in a pinch!;)
They are biiig cabinets, I still have the original owners manual, pretty cool stuff. They actually sold them as kits too if one dared putting them together.
 
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