Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site
In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: The Opera Room
Post Subject: Operatic DoldrumsPosted by Paul S on: 3/20/2012
fiogf49gjkf0d
Serge, it is a common misconception that the old Altec cinema/PA systems were lovingly built and installed with tubes or high-fidelity "music playback" in mind. In fact, they were meant to be LOUD and durable sound reinforcement tools, while maintaining an "acceptable" level of fidelity to the source. As part of Altec's goals for as little maintenance as possible (and louder sound...), early tube-driven speaker systems were mostly retro-fitted with SS amps as soon as they became available, and/or the oldest drivers/speakers that could not take the extra power were re-built or replaced. You may regard it as ironic, but the early Altec SS "theater" amps were always among the most powerful available at any given point in time.
Of course, there are plenty of real Altec historians out there to tell us the way things were. I am just saying that these speakers do, in fact, require a serious kick in the pants to make them attempt "FR". Altec themselves well knew it, and if they ever worried about it or looked back to tubes, I never saw any signs of it.
Best regards,
Paul SRerurn to Romy the Cat's Site