I Found The WXBU CBS Studio Monitors From The 70s! Altec 604-8G

[@NoristheCat]

Wow this video is so cool! I have a pair of these Altec Lansing speakers in mint condition that I am enjoying with my originally purchased Marantz 2285B receiver from the 1970's. I had a full recap and restore of the Marantz 2285B this year. Thank you for posting and your task to repair the compression horn driver!!! My story...in the 70's Altec Lansing sold the plans along with the 604-8G and crossover unit. Many built what was called the Model 17, as purchasing factory made units thru stereo shops was very very expensive. The model 17 measured 40high x 26wide x 18deep. I however along with my brother built our DIY cabinets 48h x 24w x 16d. With the help of a wood shop, we made four speaker cabinets from 2 sheets of 3/4in real teak veneered plywood and one regular sheet of 3/4 ply for two sets of front and rear panels. The speaker cabinets were glued and screwed like the ones in this video! The beauty though is that our drivers were dropped in from the front face at the very end using a few good screws! So no problem for access to the speaker or interior of the cabinet. Crossovers were installed in the cut out at the rear of the cabinets. I remember the most critical part was the location and size of the port at the front. We also made removable grills with acoustic cloth for a professional finish and look. The speakers were/are amazing and yes my parents did give me heck when I broke the single pane glass in my bedroom window listening to Pink Floyd's - Dark Side of the Moon. The bass and highs coming out of the speakers is incredible. These speakers are also super clean and efficient to even listen to classical at very low volume and amp output. Later on in life around 2000, my kids were playing around with the stereo and blew the coil on one of the horn drivers as I did not have my Audio output Rt channel fused to my speakers. The horn driver sounded the same as you demonstrated on this video! Luckily, I was able to take the speaker out with ease and take to Santon Audio in Toronto. I saw first hand how the fried / broken aluminium voice coil was replaced with a brand new coil! Some say that you can try to repair (solder) a broken voice coil, but to replace is the best way to go. The repair cost me about $200 Can with an Altec Lansing OEM coil. Not sure what the aluminum voice coil cost is today. Great work on your channel! As a senior, I am so proud of the newer age of enthusiasts like you that value the vintage audio equipment era!!!

[@JackT_Music_on_Vinyl]

Fantastic find. I worked at a production company in the mid 80s and we had gigantic JBL monitors built into the wall. Amazing range, driven by Crown amps though. Altec Voice of The Theater speakers were crazy as well. Love the vintage gear. Thanks for sharing!

[@richardbixler]

My grandfather was an electrical engineer and went to school with Lansing. He built a beautiful mahogany cabinet that spanned an entire wall of his living room. It had all of the components and these speakers integrated into the cabinet. It’s still the coolest audio setup I’ve ever seen, and it sounded great!

[@rupe53]

There was a time when my hands were steady enough to do surgery on stuff like this. I found many older drivers were burned right at the end of the winding and I could simply unwrap one turn, resolder, then add a little household glue to keep things tight. The hardest part was carefully removing the suspension so it could be reused. The few times I did them I had great luck getting everything centered, so no rubbing.

[@vortexan9804]

Isnt the solder joint on the cone itself?. Why remove the spider?.

[@rupe53]

@@vortexan9804 ... because the burned section is usually under the spider. The ones I found were toasted right at the 90 degree bend where the wound part ends and it heads up through the spider. IOW, the bend is the weak link. If you can remove a single turn from the coil, you now have enough to reach the connection point up on the cone. Don't get too much solder on the flex wires or that will be the next weak point. I used a light coating of Elmer's glue (no solvents) to secure everything when done. It dries almost clear.

[@NathanielKraft]

Death to flathead screws! I just recently learned about JIS screws and screwdrivers, and I'm on love -- especially when it comes to working on vintage, Japanese manufactured audio gear. These Altecs look amazing! What a great passing of the torch, from father to son to you, the young neighbor.

[@westelaudio943]

Flathead screws are fine, just don't use a power tool. Also you wouldn't want anything else than flathead or Allen where the screw heads are visible, because that just looks a bit janky.

[@peterlarkin762]

I still feel annoyed no one told me about JIS heads years ago. They are essential on some Japanese cars, and hifi of course.

[@Bug3ater2]

You gotta love audio when speakers older and your mom than you are still amazing to this day

[@AgentJayZ]

You can definitely fix these to be as good as new! I've got a series of vids where I rejuvenate a pair of JBL L220s. You are going to love those things.

[@chefbillybaroo2056]

Those things look like they could tear the house down I’ll be interested to see how they sound when you are finished. Cute cat!

[@lenbeedle]

Don't you love old school shit? I do my best to integrate my modern tech with my vintage. There's always a way or device to make that possible.

[@thomasschafer7268]

Best you can find! Better than the new 6.5" blinky blinky shit. Ibought Martin audio cx2 coax from the 80s.👍👍🍻🇩🇪

[@PyroRob69]

I look forward to watching you re-cone those. I looked up those speakers, and I found them for about $2800/pair in good, working condition.

[@insolentstickleback3266]

This is excellent, cool history for some amazing speakers. Looking forward to the upcoming rebuild!

[@hi-friaudioman]

That compression tweeter is super easy to fix. You probably just need a soldering iron and some Flux. If I were you I wouldn't replace the old compression domes as the replacements won't sound the same. These AL compression drivers are notorious for having their solder joints blow out. Luckily they only take about 5min to fix. There's even enamel coating you can add to them to help protect the joints.

[@marktubeie07]

These will be excellent, fantastic speakers. A rebuild is totally worth it, you won't be disappointed (a powerful amp may be needed to run them to their best potential!)

[@hippydippy]

Sensitivity: 100 dB, so unless you want to have the cops at your home off & on it won't take a really powerful amp to drive them & make them sing.

[@mikemiller659]

In 1974 I worked for Altec in OKC. Altec had taken over University Sound ,It was my first Union job. I worked on a 2 ton power press that stamped 1/4 steel for the speaker magnet assy.

[@yeahnewman]

Coolest neighbor EVER! Only thing my neighbor ever have me was headaches!

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

WOW, very nice, I can imagine how good they will sound with a good tube amp :)

[@CatFoodDraino]

I have dozens of altec 604s in my collection. You have the 604g speakers based on the one you opened. The other speaker looks like it's using the altec 604e crossover. Maybe it's an E or G....G is newer, last generation to use AlNiCo magnets and its phase plug was upgraded to "tangital" phase plug where the E used circumfrential phase plug.... odds are if the tweeter is blown and the woofer is rubbing, someone abused these and smoked the coils. Replacements can be had from Great Plains Audio. Enjoy! Ps, the 604g actually came in the 620 cabinet which was 9 cuft.... big sucker but sound and imagine is to die for. I have some videos on my channel showing these speakers in action.

[@Lavitz112]

Great Plains Audio is The place to go for the parts . Altec Lansing is some the Best vintage speakers made . The 604 series have very live sound. I have been listening to vintage gear for 50 + years . If they are in the right sized cabinet you forget the sound is coming out of a speaker. Tube gear is what these speakers need. Very efficient speakers. Quality.

[@mikedandurand3548]

I look forward to seeing the rebuild.

[@АлександрРезвей]

It will be interesting! Good luck!

[@kd1841]

Ok, I subscribed and I'm now eagerly awaiting the rebuild video! Greetings from Texas 😁

[@bertroost1675]

Your cat looks exactly like my cat. The same chubbiness and the same colors. Amazing.

[@jimcabezola3051]

Mahalo for yet another fascinating project for me to look to! 👍

[@Ampelmannchen42]

I grew up with a set of these as home stereo speakers after the station where my father worked redid their studios. I really wish I had cared more about them in the 80s when he sold them, because I would probably still be using them today.

[@vintageaudio7518]

Hold off the rebuild. Unmount the speaker, then remount it into the cabinet, 180 degree flip, wait a few weeks. The rubbing is due to gravity pulling on the cone for 50 years causing the cone to sag. Let gravity fix that rubbing for you, but you've got to be patient. Enjoy!

[@dougmisner9437]

Do this! I was about to comment that I did the same with my 604-8G that was rubbing. It’s fine now, and when it’s mounted in the cabinet, you can’t tell it’s upside down.

[@Kane26510]

Looking forward to the rebuild series on these. The HF pot on the "good" speaker looks like it was thrashed a bit - I wonder if the new owners still make parts for those. Great Video.

[@Smurf431]

Had a pair of these back in the day in Voice Of The Theater cabs.......huge and a pain to carry around, but man, did they sound GREAT!

[@1967250s]

Love to see a rebuild! Cool speakers.

[@ohmbug10]

Looking forward to seeing your repairs on these speakers...and anything else.

[@rickg8015]

Good score.. The plywood used on the cabs seems high quality.. You just need to refinish it and change the flat head to Allen type screws and maybe install threaded inserts for them.. You can also add internal bracing to stiffen up the cabs.. If you want it to go lower in frquency you need bigger cabs.. Great Plains could help alot with new Voice Coils and Cones and also the replacement Aluminum Diaphragms for the compression driver..

[@westelaudio943]

Interesting speakers. Who knew studio monitors designed in the coaxial era were still installed in the 70s. Flat head screws work just fine if you don't use a power tool. With a normal screw driver they usually come out better than Philips, especially when they are somewhat corroded or glued, because Philips-heads are torque limiting by design, so they wouldn't get overtightened in mass production. Also, check the crossover circuit if decide you rebuilt those. The tweeter might have blown because of a bad (shorted) cap or just wrong filter design.

[@aciel-tv]

make sure the cat helps out too, the cat looks interested xD

[@cnhhnc]

Altec Lansing from that era are held in very high regard. Some see them as almost end game vintage speakers? I can't say, never heard them in action. But, can't wait to see them in their full glory! Supposedly, they LOVE tubes because they're hella efficient. Look forward to the project!

[@stevencaskey8502]

You may have heard them and not even know it.

[@BreathEmpowerment]

I don't know about "end game" as some people enjoy the chase any trying different sounds. But what I will say is that I've heard systems up to about $100,000 with Kef Blades and McIntosh tube monoblocks that had to be moved on casters. It was an incredible experience. But considering the difference in price I have invested in my system, I'm more than satisfied. I'm still curious about hearing some certain gear, but I'm happy with what I've got which is a restored Scott 222D integrated tube amp with Altec 9849 studio monitors. They just have a quality to them that's "right". The only thing that's lacking is the imaging of true source point speakers like Blades or Diatones. Which is why I want to give these a listen if I ever get a chance...

[@azoique]

Damn. Score! Those need a nice set of new cabinets for sure. Don't cut any corners :)

[@Aswaguespack]

Remember that in the earlier days of Hi-Fi everyone had MONO Hi-Fi Systems and only needed One, usually large, high quality speaker. Look back into real vintage speakers before 1955, the speaker sizes were all fairly large heavy speakers. Although Stereo was experimental in the 1930’s WW2 interrupted its development until the mid to late 1950’s and in the middle 1950’s E. Villchur’s Acoustic Suspension Principle allowed for making speakers smaller in a sealed box and that development helped push the commercialization of Stereo forward at an accelerated rate allowing for two less expensive smaller speakers with “full response” and deep bass in cabinets that could fit on a “bookshelf”. Something that the wives of Hifi enthusiasts found appealing. 😉

[@erikdenhouter]

Still, the larger the box (with limits), the heavier the wood, the better the speakers, the 'softer' the sound....

[@westelaudio943]

@@erikdenhouter The when the AR-1 sealed speaker came out in the mid 50s it blew all of the huge, open cabinet console speakers out of the water when it came to low bass response. Much more controlled, louder and deeper bass at a smaller size. For the mids and treble it had an altec 755a 8" full range. As a concept, it was better than most that came before or after it, in my humble opinion. Even if the implementation did have some problems.

[@davewallace8219]

parts still available....amazing!

[@reinkansman1081]

Looking forward to see how you come out with Great Plains and these booming speakers

[@b.powell3480]

If I can make a suggestion, take a router to the front speaker baffle, after removing the the speaker, and using a 1/2 inch round over bit, route the front edge of the baffle and round it over, this will eliminate the edge resonates of the sound from the coaxial speaker!!, good luck!, also, replace all screws with Phillips head screws!!!

[@mumbles552]

Flathead screws come in all sorts of configurations, slotted, Phillips, Robertson drive. I bet these were the slotted ones, which were pretty standard back in the day. Replacing them with Robertsons will be a major upgrade itself. Am looking forward to a future video when these bad boys are repaired and back in action, breaking windows!

[@peterlarkin762]

Robertson was meant to be the world standard instead of Philips. Apparently Henry Ford got Philips heads on the cheap for Model T production, used them instead and they became standard in the USA thereafter.

[@historymakesmesleep]

Good to see AH-FIXIT back on the tube.

[@etm3398]

just subscribed a week ago after finding some of your stereo restoration videos. but altec 604s? those were my dream speakers. definitely can't wait to see more of this series. i ended up with a pair of carmels... but the itch still burns for a 604.

[@quad1000]

Wow super nice, those things do love tube amps. They're the express lame to tinnitus and deafness if they're not respected! 😉

[@dkd1228]

Nice catch. I've had several Altec compression drivers fail when the voice coil ribbon disconnected from the terminal inside the driver. Bill Hanuschak at Great Plains Audio can restore that loudspeaker correctly.

[@stephencroft761]

OMG! I just did a search for those drivers on EBay. Lots of people think they’re expensive.

[@terrym1065]

Awesome! Be careful when done restoring these monsters, your favorite Marantz might not handle them😊 All joking aside, these will be a challenge to restore but once done they will absolutely be worth their weight in gold. Cool there is a company that can supply parts, I'll be waiting to see the progress. Thanks.

[@AllboroLCD]

Oh man thats a lovely score there! Im jealous actually. These are worth going all the way with, fully refinish them cabinets! Most definitely get yourself a HIGH CURRENT power amp for them, juice them puppies properly, and you wont want another set of speakers the rest of your life!

[@westelaudio943]

Those speakers were designed to run on very low power, single ended tube amplification. 10W/pc is probably enough to drive them into distortion.

[@gabrielperez3253]

Fantastic!!! Please the size of the cabinet

[@dhelton40]

If you truely love these, it might be worth the cash to have Great Plains do a full recone. It is not cheap, but you will end up with a great sounding piece of audio history. They can put them back to factory perfect condition.

[@russellhltn1396]

My experience with Altec PA speakers is they can be picky about the amp that drives them. I once tried using a high-end 270W/channel Pioneer receiver on a Altec column, but the 100W Altec PA board drove them better. I suspect the speaker's impedance is highly reactive and some amps just can't deal with it.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

Can you possibly provide a link to the new company which manufactures The replacement drivers? Thanks.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

Never mind, I found them, Great plains audio, correct?

[@ralphups7782]

are those 12's, the boxes were built very well indeed. 👈👴👀

[@stephenbrowne33]

Would love to see these in an updated enclosure.

[@lenbeedle]

Damn flat head screws. Swap them out with #2 Robertson. I'd love to see winding replacements done on both the woofer and tweeter. The cone and surround look perfectly intact.

[@Blowncapacitor84]

Wow man!!! Awesome!!!

[@tommylott8367]

Great Plains Audio bought All of Altecs tooling machines etc...they can rebuild recone etc or sell you the parts for diy...

[@Bangulo]

Damn what a score! Those drivers go for 1k easily a piece.

[@willpipho4558]

Unless the coil is straight up blown, witch by the sound of it I doubt, that speaker probably just developed a rub over time as materials shifted slightly with age. If you can carefully remove the spider from the basket, realign the coil, and reseat the spider you should be able to fix the rub. I've had good luck with this tactic on a handful of old mids and woofers, though your mileage may vary as I know very little about those drivers. For that open tweeter, just cross your fingers and hope the open isn't in the coil itself. If so it shouldn't be too bad to repair.

[@dhelton40]

Great Plains Audio ended up with all of Altecs equipment and can provide replacement parts for these.

[@Linkmohr12]

I would consider updating the wiring on them as well as getting the driver and woofer repaired.

[@phonebackup8132]

Great plains audio. Let them do it.

[@rwidebrook]

Bravo. These gems will better continue training your ears in the fine art of musical reproduction that the lil' KLHs have started (and perhaps, the Sony SS-CS5 might've ended!). Vintage Altecs are laboratory-quality, uber-engineered, and artfully-tuned precision instruments on the order of Guarneri and Stradivarius, Bosendorfer and Steinway, Callas and Pavarotti. But, please, they're not intended for window-cracking (!).

[@rayinpau.s.a.6351]

I like the sound from this type of speaker , But not the smell that comes out of them when you play them loud ! Nice find though.

[@stephencroft761]

I don’t understand why Americans don’t use Robertson head fasteners. I’m currently replacing the floor in an old boat removed a lot of Robertson fasteners with very few broken, none had stripped heads.

[@vortexan9804]

Cabs are clones of Altec 612 cabs, so proper cabs for duplex's. Mine are mdf with 2x4 bracing and are OEM Altec.

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

....soooooo, where you gonna put them?

[@rareform6747]

Altec easy on the ears ..JBL hard !

[@rugrataudio]

Just like the control room monitors from the power station

[@ivansbacon]

Well getting those apart was not a "walk through the park" Thanks.

[@mikepxg6406]

Hope you get these repaired and make some better cabinets with some good vaneer.

[@rupe53]

if those cabinets were professionally made then they are proper and sturdy. You can always add veneer or other finish on the outside.

[@K-Effect]

Back in the day those speakers would’ve been breaking single pane plate glass windows, sounds dangerous

[@AN-ce1nd]

You may be able to remove the motor and center it. Maybe it was dropped and the alignment is not correct

[@m0wao690]

I would install these speakers on the front of the baffel

[@samuelsalins8309]

No crossover network 🤔?

[@stuadams968]

The design was for a one point sound source for a more coherent sound stage.

[@diymaster1121]

Looks like someone cranked the amp into the clipping and it blew the horn and overheated the coil in the woofer.

[@CrisisActorJonsiri]

It was your cat Purring not mine at 5:07

[@kajem575]

Horn thingies? That would be Drivers.

[@thanhphamAltec]

Altec great

[@PlaybackMansion]

Three words: Ess Eee Tee Don't recone it! just replace the coil on the woofer but first see if it can be recentered since the original coil was edge wound. IDK if the replacement coils are

[@RFTsanchez]

them. I personally don't like, the projects that are usually used, the look doesn't suit me. And then you came up with this design that I really liked. So being direct, could you give me the dimensions of these speakers? Thank you

[@vdovoodoo8201]

When they broke the window, they may have cooked the speaker.

[@keithadams812]

I clicked on the video for the cat

[@koprcord5338]

I have a pair of pioneer cs 901 a, that have a 15 coax like that.

[@jdmccorful]

Nothing venture, nothing gained. Go for it and enjoy the experiences ! Enjoyed watching, thanks.

[@lingcod91]

I was expecting to see the cat hook it's claws into them in an attempt to get up.

[@russellhltn1396]

Odd that one speaker is a different color. I wonder if one is original and the other was a reproduction to fix a broken cabinet.

[@lucasschommer5703]

I need to get a pare of thoes when i can get a new stereo right now i have a uesd book self stereo that somthen in the tuner is bad and its frome a goodwill in steven point wis

[@webberfan1234]

Can you sell these to me?

[@mguess]

Great find. I picked up a pair of these a few years ago at an estate sale and they sound great. Mine are older Altec 605-A speakers in custom Altec cabinets. Here is a link to my video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJvTpoyMorOUnJI Good luck with the restoration.

[@zeekmx1970]

They're technically worthless except to a museum and that's what KZbin is.

[@westelaudio943]

Many people pay big money for 604s.

[@waynepollard6879]

I'd get rid of that fiberglass first thing !!

[@frankcastle2814]

That fiberglass... not good.

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Call Madisound speakers in Madison Wisconsin. They should be able to direct you to someone that can and will recone the bass drivers and replace the diagrams on the horn drivers . You will be pleased with the money you invest doing so .

[@thomasschafer7268]

Best stuff. I have 4 Martin audio cx2 + Controller. Same Type like your coax. Change the damping Material. !!!! 👍👍👍🍻🇩🇪

[@Poppinwheeeeellllllieeeeez]

Your videos lately are weak. Just teasers. You will lose subs unless you make content worth watching.

[@janicehopkins4432]

Mr greenjeans, go back to captain kangaroo! I self-identify as AH's mother and will not tolerate any trash talk about him!✌

[@trumps-not-rightfor-us5603]

THE 1975 I WAS PRIVILEGED TO BUY TWO PAIR FOR ALTEC LANSING MODEL 19S THEY ARE MASSIVE CONCRETE CRACKERS WE HAD THEM AT THE LAKE HOUSE.. 16 FT AWAY FROM A PLATE GLASS WINDOW WHICH WAS 5 FT WIDE 6 FT TALL TWO PANES EACH PAIN 1/4 IN THICK AND THEY CRACKED THE INSIDE WINDOW PANE FROM 16 FT AWAY THE AIR PRESSURE WAS AWESOME IF EVER YOU FIND A PAIR OF I'LL TAKE LANSING MODEL 19 IN NEAR MINT CONDITION BUY THEM