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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
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
In case there is any question, the speakers were designed when tubes were king. They tend to sound a bit shrill with solid state.
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
I had a pair of A7s for years (in the 70s) and they sounded great and not so shrill really...we bi-amped them with crossovers in front of the amps, and they had this "wooden" sound that was really pleasing. Later we stuck heavy duty JBL bass guitar speakers in them for more serious "kick" miking and they still sounded great for simple home stereo use, although to make room for them you had to get rid of the furniture and drag the drunk groupies out onto the lawn. Worth it.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
I had bi-amps Altecs for a long time too. I ran transistors on the bass and an Ampex tube amp on top. When I went to tubes on the bass it got better; when I got rid of the electronic crossover and ran the tube amps full-range it got even better (although I had less power).

When I ran the bi-amps setup I was in my 20s- just a dumb kid in school. I would put on Yessongs and play it a lifelike levels, by leaving the house and going to a friend's house three doors down and listening to it there... It was like being at an outdoor concert! My neighbors hated me.
rzemkoski
87 posts
 
Absolutely Atmasphere. And I always use my trusty Moscode 401HR to drive the horns. The latest version of the A7 allows for bi-amplification which I do with a pair of Pass Labs on the woofers. Talk about a live sound!
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.
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