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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
isochronism
2,893 posts
 
Tim,
Fully understood. We can't always have it all.
I have a pair of JBL' (4676-A) that are about twice the size of you A7', in storage
as I am looking for a much larger place. I have no Wife, so I can have these.
My best of luck to you.
wolf_garcia
6,727 posts
 
Neil Young recently said he uses A7s with McIntosh amps...also, if you use A7s you likely don't have room for a wife.
timlub OP
2,041 posts
 
You guys have been great, I made another change, so I thought I'd give you an update. 1 of the dust caps was dented. I bought a matched pair. I was lower mass (weight) than the original, with the 416A driver having a QTS of around .27, I really did not want lower mass. The factory cone is not nearly as stiff as I would like, so I made a 50/50 mix of Latex and Wood glue. I put 2 thin coats over the entire cone including the dust cap. I estimate that I lost about .2 db of overall sensitivity from the driver... (decrease from 99.5 to 99.3 and raised QTS to around .3, I still need to re port the cabinet, but again, Improvement, lower midrange detail is as well as the blend of drivers is better. Next I will do some experimenting with changing the vent tuning and try to find some attractive way to dampen the horn. These are actually a surprise to me. These big dogs sound very, very nice.
gvasale's avatar
gvasale
99 posts
 
Go here: http://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700/altec-users-board.html

you will find out how to dampen the horn. The mid bass horn and the HF horn too.
timlub OP
2,041 posts
 
Thanks Gvasale, at least now, that link won't open for me. Don't know about a mid bass horn, there is a 15" woofer and tweeter (horn). I'm thinking about trying cutting to fit some self stick type materials and see how that works. I'll find something that works well. Plenty of ways to dampen the horn, mostly worried about the appearance since the horn is externally mounted. The cone mod mentioned in my last post was stiffening/dampening the woofer cone while replacing the dust caps. I hope to get your link to open later, thanks for all the suggestions.
Tim
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