I was lucky enough to own a pair of Altec-Lansing Voice of The Theater with the 801 horns. The definition, the low bass and the efficiency were all astonishing. To prove how efficient they were, I only drove them with just my preamp, no amp connected. That mV level was able to drive them. Amazing. The directionality of horns can be disconcerting for some, but the definition can't be beaten.
When I was 19 -20 (1970) I bought my first "stereo" the speakers I chose we Altec-Lansing Voice Of The Theater A-7 500-8 component system and my dad and I built the cabinets to spec. Horns mounted in cabinet. They were powered by a Kenwood integrated amp KA-7002 which I believe was rated at 50wpc. this sounded amazing especially when I'd take them to a outdoor party where they could flex their muscles, playing Led Zeppelin for instance around 3-4 on the volume and standing 50ft or more away sounded like a live band playing. I had those speakers for about 12rys and sold them for what I paid for the components which was $600 if I remember correctly.
Hi 👋, it is a pity that the person recording this was being picked up by the microphones, I am listening to this music 🎶 which was very good, on my recently rebuilt transmission line, loudspeaker cabinets, SEAS DRIVERS, 150w NAD Amp, Thank you for sharing, Phil from the moulin France.
I heard WE system when I was in Korea.. I had coffee in someone’s listening room. I didn’t know anything about audio system, I still remember that sound was amazing.. thank you!
Oh those western electric TV-2 tubes are great. Yikes, I have a TV-2 from 1918. I've been crazy and have tested it on my TV-7A/U, the damn thing still works and is strong to this day....
If I knew where these horns lived, I'd buy the house next door. I'd continue to drop in and listen until served with a restraining order. On an unrelated note, I was looking forward to seeing Silbatone in Munich 2024 but it was a tiny booth and some other vendor took their place.
Wow, just found this. Amazing. High school friend had a pair of VOTT speakers. My late, and great "Uncle" had an amazing late 50's audio system (mono). I think it was a JBL speaker looking much like my mother's Telefunken console, to this day haven't heard its equal (and I'm not even sure what I'd be looking for). Obviously a labor of love here. Thank you!!!
@@thehighend4545 Remember they brought down the walls of Jericho with horns - ok, maybe the had little help from God, but just saying horns are efficient. You don't want too much power, you don't want your walls to fall down.
Man this is great. Fill your your room with insanely big speakers. Why not? When someone questions your sanity you can always claim you feel nostalgic. Happy days
If Mr.Itoh Kitao, Legend man about Mr.Western Electric in Japan, would be quite surely glad to see this scene, who has been dead ten or twenty years. He was just the man of Western Electric Heart. He devoted all himself to the sounds of Western Electric. Never been married, he died in solitude.
I don't think it's possible to get a realistic impression of sound quality via RU-vid. Looks like a spectacular (but not wife friendly!) system. One of my all time favourite records btw!
I remember similar in an old Mono cinema I worked in as a youth. Mains energized coils. Silly efficiency, fed by a double push pull pair KT66 30 watt amplifier. Years later I measured the frequency range. Nothing at all below 100Hz or above 8kHZ. Fine for old optical mono sound. Did sound better than it measured, but a little boxy and quite colored sound. Typical for big old cinemas of its day. Not HiFi by any stretch of the imagination.
I helped pull some from skips/dumpsters many years ago and gave them a 2nd life..... that was ~ 20 years ago... some of this gear was shipped to Japan at the time.
There is an easy purity to the sound that I find engaging. More so than with today's box speakers, no matter how much money you throw at them. Sure, I'd prefer a modern Aries Cerat horn, but these are pretty nice.
WTF? Aries Cerat? Why? Are you just throwing random names around? These are nothing compared to the WE. Somehow they made a visually interesting horn and it takes so very little to impress a bunch of suckers.
Looks like we got audio right the first time as a species. What is this? 110 year old speaker system for a movie theater? I've messed with Jensen speakers from the 30s and yes they also required about 400V on the coil to engage the magnet. I have a Magnovox from 1923 that requires a 6v battery to be connected to the coils.
i will love to have them, they are beautifull and special as hell, sounds amazing and natural..., i will love to play toccata and fugue of bach, some paganini, tarkus, echoes of floyd and some genesis from seconds out there...., so amazing!
Hi hi, I am sure the WAF is close to zero for this interesting system. 😂 I appreciate the amplification, my guess is single ended something. SE sonically marks the pinnacle imho.
As a teen I was one of the first to bridge amps, and later I used to add about 4 tweeters per side. Great fir movies. Till I read the high frequency do the, down the road ? WHAT YOU SAID ? SPEAK LOUDER. LOL
@@westernelectricchannel I have some friends that told me amazing stories about the incredible desirability of these horns. I do have a question though, did you time align the drivers? Either by physical placement or processor to align time? They sound amazing through youtube for sure. :) Enjoy your music.
@@gavincurtis I chose the physical distance 12a horn 3.5m 13a is 4.4m, so 13a should be ahead of 12a, and the subwoofer is 1m back and spread out on both sides. It is placed at a similar distance from the auditory position.
A rare and terrific turntable but these speakers are really colored by the entire horn/wooden parts. Yes they are efficient but mostly made for stadium use not for reproducing piano. Which is really hard for ANY speaker to get right. This recording seems to have artificial reverb. It could also be the effects of the horns I mentioned above. Looks cool but not accurate.
If you enjoy it fine. But distortion should be something you strive to eliminate not encourage. Getting closer to the source material or original sessions is what being an audiophile and a music lover should be. Why spend thousands and thousands of dollars on gear if not to get that much closer to the artist? I get the fun factor but none of this meets the above requirements.
Well it seems people hear and experience sound differently. If someone gets goosebumps and begins to shed tears when hearing such a WE (horn) system it’s for sure involving in a remarkable way, no matter if somebody else criticizes perceived distortions. 😊
a very complex and sophisticated audio system: for sure *just for listen a few songs, just a few melodies* whatta waste, while world of music is full of thousands of sounds and musicals, waste all this just for a few tones. it reminds me the PC Overclocking and GPU neon/water cooling/hybrid bla bla
@@thehighend4545why do you get offended and what's the reason why you defend this? I will repeat, even if you get angry can't front annother (and real) situation: this is a very complex and sophisticated audio system: just for listen *a few songs, just a few melodies, a very limited genres* _and you can't prove it is not_
They should shatter windows with 1WPC! LoL. For anyone to even think of actually listening to this setup requires a large theater, open arena, or a band shell.
All that sweet tube goodness and vintage speakers and runs through the yucky Behringer processor... lol I had several of those and replaced them all with dbx. Night and day difference in sound stage. A+ for everything else. Somebody has expensive taste.
@@westernelectricchannel just show us how youe system sound with japanese drum fire sound, that showing the limits of every system and not your slow soft shit
@@thrvrflws I don't know either. I recorded it on my iPhone a long time ago and uploaded it, but I'm setting up a new audio room now. I'll set it up well and record it with a good microphone and upload it
