Modern 15inch drivers vs Altecs & Tannoys

Oh, clever thinking! A real thing, but not a real speaker. I think you are right.

I had realised that it might have been done before the days of photoshop, but even then, some very clever faking was possible in the dark room.
 
Hi,

I was seeing a long wall of enormous loudspeakers, the largest of which was a pair of exceedingly rare Western Electric 13A horns made for Warner Brothers in 1926, not long before Al Jolson's first talkie. I was listening to the world's first hi-fi system, and I would argue with no man who says it's the best.

Munich High End 2014: Day 1 Continued | Stereophile.com

Regards
Rajiv
 
wonder if this is real

7518_speaker_1.jpg

Fake for sure, simple physics, magnet that size would have pulled cars, aircraft from the skies, space shuttles from space not to mention other surrounding metallic objects ;).
 
And the most basic one - No two people will be able to move such a driver, without any sliders/dolley underneath. And even if they can, none will cause it will damage the driver. A person owning such a big driver will obviously care about it more than anything else. ;-)
 
I've been reading this thread with both interest and amusement, on and off because I've been travelling. I've also decided to jump on the vintage bandwagon and hopefully will have something constructive to contribute here once I am able to get something off the ground. I have to agree with Viren and Manoj-the proof of the pudding is only in the eating, till then it's mostly speculative.
 
The philips AD12100 are very good drivers and have a sound of their own, but they are no where in the same league as the Altecs. I kindly suggest you make a trip to someone near you who has an Altec setup to decide.

I too believe the same. I've got a pair of Vintage Philips AD12100 M8 12 inch full range drivers for some experiments, to get the feel of vintage sound before investing heavily down Altec Boulevard.
 
The philips AD12100 are very good drivers and have a sound of their own, but they are no where in the same league as the Altecs. I kindly suggest you make a trip to someone near you who has an Altec setup to decide.

Thanks Rajagopal, that's a good suggestion. I have been to Santhosh's and have heard his Voice of Theatre 7s. Would like to spend some time with you after I try this out and if I am comfortable with loudspeaker DIY. This is brand new territory for me. I have all confusing throught running through the grey cells with regard to all kinds of speaker rig plans (have written about a few as well) but after a very educative visit to Mr. Kuruvila's and his subsequent visit down to my place, I have started to understand the value that manufactured units bring to the table as well, together with the ease factor (for busy guys like me, that's a key factor). Will post all the details of my experiments.
 
I've been lucky to come across 2 vintage RCA MI 9449 15 inch speakers, salvaged from 8ft high horn loaded baffles used in a Cinema Theatre. I was on the look out for vintage Altecs when I got these. One speaker's cone is intact and fine while the other's cone looks in ok shape but is completely detatched from the rim. Not sure vintage RCA re-cone kits are available and I am also not a great fan of reconing as the originality of the speaker will be lost I suppose. Can this speaker be fixed? Can I just patch the existing cone and use it. These are 16 ohms low frequency drivers, made in the US of A.
 
Hi,

Re: Modern 15inch drivers vs Altecs & Tannoys
I've been lucky to come across 2 vintage RCA MI 9449 15 inch speakers, salvaged from 8ft high horn loaded baffles used in a Cinema Theatre. I was on the look out for vintage Altecs when I got these. One speaker's cone is intact and fine while the other's cone looks in ok shape but is completely detatched from the rim. Not sure vintage RCA re-cone kits are available and I am also not a great fan of reconing as the originality of the speaker will be lost I suppose. Can this speaker be fixed? Can I just patch the existing cone and use it. These are 16 ohms low frequency drivers, made in the US of A.


Very good woofers. Comparable to the Altec 515. Unfortunately no original recone kits available. You can contact Don Davis in the USA( Dr. Fieldcoil) and he will supply you with a cone kit that is as close to the original.



Regards
Rajiv
 
Reuben

Reconing is not rocket science and with original cones you do not lose any of the originality. If you can get near original you will be fine.
 
Did you get the horns too?

Err... What does you wife think?


:lol: :lol: :lol:

She may not know it yet.. it is the Shock and Awe strategy. suddenly she will enter the room and there will be these 2 large boxes that will freak her out completely then they are unpacked to 75% of their size and look relatively better.

Works most time
 
If she is still mad, you can use that 8 ft horn on full blast and leave her speechless for an hour. ;)
 
... Cue for a technical question :lol:

Given the same driver, with the same input, does a bigger horn output more volume than a smaller one?
 
Even with eight-foot horns? :eek:

yes, that's what the seller told me :D

I asked him whether there were any high frequency horns in the cabinet to which he replied in the negative. What he said was that he was called into the backstage area of the cinema hall to check these out and found only these 2 huge horns and nothing else. As the cinema was closing down, it is possible that the high frequency horns were already sold. He and his guys apparently could not life these huge cabinets, hence they un-screwed the drivers and bought them.
 
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