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Altec A7 What to do

Hello all, a Friend of mine has had Altec Lansing A7's sitting in his basement for several years, just couldn't put them in his current room setting. Many may know that I've been building for about 35 years. I built him a set of MTM's and delivered them for Christmas. He was thrilled. Well, today, he dropped off a pair of A7's and said they're yours. I sat them up and listened, thoroughly looked them over, looked up crossover design (500hz model) and now need to decide what to do with them. I have a decent size living room, but these are still huge. They do a lot of things right, but just aren't as refined as my current speakers. So, I've decided to sell them. I'm in no hurry to do so, but I know that I won't keep these forever. So, are these more desirable to sell as is... stock, upgrade parts in the crossover and sell them, redesign and trick out the crossover, cleanup, sand, minor fill and painting cabinets or some combination of the above. I have no doubt that a complete crossover redo, a bit of cabinet bracing and a good refinish and these babies would be incredible. The problem is... will people that don't know me accept or trust just how good they are? That being the case I'm looking for some advice. Please tell me how you would handle it in my shoes. Tim
timlub
johng99
5 posts
 
Just my two cents, but I think you would be better off to sell them as is vs. spending money on mods. The mods can be fun to do, but most people that are in to speakers like the A-7's will be DIY'ers anyway and will want to take on the project, not have it already done.
For what it is worth, they were never my favorite loudspeaker. I used them for PA duty with various bands in the late 60's and early 70's, and they were decent, but not stellar. Most of us gave them up when better stuff from JBL came out.
I worked in a stereo shop in the early 70's and sold one pair through that store. We set them up in our listening room and tried them with all sorts of amp/preamp combos. They sounded good with strong dynamics, but there was no getting over the "shouty" sound of the horn and the bass was a bit limited. Again, not the best sounding speaker in the store in my (and the other listeners) opinion, but they are a legend - for live sound, the first full range easy-to-drive PA speaker that could be moved relatively easily.
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
My band opened for Loggins and Messina in Honolulu in 1974 and they forgot to bring over their "side fill" monitors...so they borrowed our A7s (otherwise they used the huge Clair Bros. boxes). The first band to bring a serious PA on the road (to Hawaii anyway...on their way to Australia) with them was Bob Dylan and the Hawks (the Band without Levon for that tour) in '67 (other, earlier bands like the Stones in 1966 used the shitty "house" arena PA). A pile of A7s...Bob et al kicked ass, and it was the first sort of loud show I'd seen...life altering!
timlub OP
1,649 posts
 
Hi Guys, thank you for all your responses. Since I won't be keeping these, I've decided to only upgrade the parts in the crossover and keep its stock design. Not sure that I could even recoup doing a cabinet refinish, so I will most likely end up selling them as is... They do sing quite well...
isochronism
1,447 posts
 
Tim,
I would like you to keep these, as you have the knowledge and capability to vastly improve their performance. They need a large room......
timlub OP
1,649 posts
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence Isochronism. To really improve these, it would take a crossover re design, I haven't run curves, but my instincts are that crossover point would move up to 600 or so and slopes would change from 12/12 to 12/18 to improve phasing. Then if I'm going to do that, might as well brace these cabinets. They really could use some re finishing.. easy enough. I could get lost in these and yes, they would be excellent. The bottom line is WAF won't go. Yes, I believe that I could over rule her and keep these, But my old body still functions and I'd like to keep an active (night)life. My current MTM's are very good and overall, I prefer them to the Altec's in their current form. These are very large and really could use a listening area larger than I have them in. I realize that some day, I'll kick myself for letting them go, but overall it my best call today.
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