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Seeking Speaker Recommendations

Greetings,

I've been away from the hobby for quite a while, but am now ready to slowly edge my way back in.  Many moons ago I sold my Altec Model 19's, and have never been able to find a replacement for them.  Their dynamics, their liveliness, their punch, the way they recreated the music on a grand scale.  Even at lower volumes their dynamic swings were amazing.  They sounded so lifelike.  I'm sure their measured performance was likely abysmal, but the sound they generated, to my ears, was like sitting at a performance.

Having been to the CES/Comdex show many, many times years ago, I had seen and listened to hundreds of speakers by hundreds of manufacturers.  What I liked was significantly out of my price range.  I've personally owned systems by Thiel, Von Schweikert, Martin Logan, Magnepan, Legacy, Focal, and the list goes on.  I even went to great expense and custom built a pair of Altec 604 based speakers.  All have left me wanting my old Altec 19's back.

I know they can be had today, and you can even build a "new" pair with the cabinets and drivers available, but I can no longer house a pair of speakers larger than a washer/dryer!  What I'm looking for is a small to medium sized floor-standing speaker, preferably under $3,000/pair, that will recreate that Altec Model 19 magic.  I assume it would have to be high efficiency and horn based.

Can anyone kindly recommend a system that might come close to what I'm seeking?

Thanks!!
seadweller
dorkwad
548 posts
 
spenceroo,

I have been to Bob Smith's house a couple times in the past few months.  Each time I heard one of his former speakers in a just average system and I was very impressed.  Bob and I have become good friends since he did the Level 3 mod of my Nuforce Ref 9 SE V3 mono amps which are now stellar in all ways.   Bob is getting back into the speaker business with a lower priced great speaker in the Aether Spirit I and he is going to come out with a couple of more higher priced and even higher performance speakers soon.  He has a new backer that is very impressed with his speakers.  This will allow Bob to crank out his speakers at a better clip.  His son is now working for him full time and is quite excellent in his abilities also.  His speakers have no discernible driver anomalies meaning it's like listening to one sensational driver.  They also have a serious jump factor in lifelike dynamics.  This is in a less than 2 cubic ft. enclosure.  The stuff he's talking about coming soon is outrageous!

Keep in mind that he and I are becoming good friends--BUT...I'd call a dog a dog if it barks.  His speakers have little to no irritation factor.  I'd say none, but there was one cut out of at least 25 that I heard that did bother me some.  The other 24 were stunning with bass to die for in that size enclosure.  They DO NOT break up at any SPL level either.

Bob
auxinput
2,921 posts
 

Too all who have suggested many different conventional speakers - the OP has clearly stated that he likes the character of horn-based speakers.  There are many conventional speakers that I think sound absolutely amazing, but I do not think any of them will reproduce the type of "horn" signature that the OP's Altec 19 will do.  Horn speakers just have a different way of broadcasting the midrange and highs that no standard speaker can do.

I think it's going to be very difficult to get the same sound as the Altec 19, because that type of midrange sound really requires such a large horn.  If you wanted smaller speakers, you could look into Klipsch RF7, which is just under 14" wide.  It has a horn that is crossed over very low (at 1300hz).  The Altec horn is crossed over at 1200hz, which is very close.  The Klipsch won't exactly reproduce the type of midrange of the Altec, but I think it's probably going to be the closest you can get and still have a very small footprint.

The Klipsch Cornwall has a much better midrange horn, but the speaker cabinet is 25" wide, maybe not as big as your Altec, but approaching.  Unfortunately, it takes a larger horn to get that big "throaty" sounding midrange.

The Klipsch speakers will have more high frequency response than the Altec.  The Klipsch Chorus could be a compromise.

I think you'll just have to determine how much of a compromise you want with regards to horn speaker size.  Smaller horns will not have as "throaty" midrange presentation.

auxinput
2,921 posts
 
I should say that you need a long throw horn.  That's why the Klipsch Cornwall is nice and throaty.  The horn itself is not extremely large/wide, but it is definitely a longer throw than the RF7 (and probably even longer throw than the Chorus).
spenceroo
183 posts
 
Thanks dorkwad - that's great news to future speaker owners if it works out for Bob. He certainly deserves another go with his speakers. Since getting my Timepieces, I haven't had the slightest desire to search for new speakers. Any word from him about a new website any time soon?
dorkwad
548 posts
 
I'd look to late April or May for active news on Aether Audio.

Bob
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