We had two Voices of the Theater speakers in our rock band - the bass player played through one and our PA ran through the other one, driven by a 20 watt Bogen PA amp. Thunderous sound - nothing could touch them in terms of "presence". They filled an abandoned torpedo warehouse in Montauk New York where we played with majestic sound. Ah, those were the days... :-) Thanks, Steve!
I ran sound for a rock band in the mid 70s and we also had 2 VOTTs driven by 2 Macintosh 2300s through a Sun 16 track board. They sounded so good once the roll offs were set correctly.
I loved the sound at the Rialto Theater in Westfield, NJ when they had a single Voice of the Theater speaker behind the screen. It was probably driven by a triode amplifier. Part of the magic of the movies was how good the sound was. Then one day the town weekly newspaper announced that the Rialto would be closing for a period so they could "upgrade" their sound system. I got excited because it already sounded so fantastically good that I thought the upgrade must be amazing. I showed up soon after they reopened and was completely disappointed and even angry because it sounded maybe an order of magnitude worse (but they had stereo). This turned out to be a big life lesson for me. I was a young guy and passionate about this problem but everyone close to me that I spoke to about it did not understand or really try to understand. I even went to the staff at the Rialto but they couldn't be bothered about what I had to say.
That was in the 60's - 70's and back when I had my virtual "Kid Pass" that would let me sneak around anywhere and I did get behind the screen several times. @@robertfiorellino6070
In 1973, not far away in Huntington, I had my own run in with a Voice of the Theatre. A friend loaned me a rather unusual guitar rig for a rehearsal. It consisted of a Voice of the Theater, a Macintosh tube power amp , and an Echoplex as the preamp. A completely impractical guitar rig, but I have been playing guitar for 47 years now, I will never forget the sheer magestic beauty of that sound. Thank you for sharing your story.
Love your channel Steve! Been reading your articles and watching your videos for a long time. We share of love of horns! Last year I purchased a pair of brand new 70th Anniversary Edition Klipschorns. Besides the new look logo and australian walnut finish, they feature the newly designed sealed bass cabinet, bass hits harder and deeper and isn't as sensitive to corner placement although they still sound their best in corners which is where I have mine. Absolutely love them. Paired with a Mac MA5200 integrated and a PS Audio DS Sr. DAC. The sound is so open, clear and dynamic. I never had horns before and the sound absolutely blows away all the regular dynamic type speakers I've had in the past atleast for me. Big selling point was the efficiency of horns and ability to use SET amps with them. Even when watching TV through khorns the clarity of dialogue, huge soundstage and even the dynamics of background sound effects on TV Shows and Movies is really just amazing. I'm rediscovering my SACD jazz collection and have had many lengthy and enjoyable late night listening sessions since getting them.
My girlfriend at the time father worked in a movie theatre. They were getting rid of the old tube amps. He gave me a pair of Amplifier Company of America mono blocks too me and a huge mono power amplifier to my friend. I had a choice of either. But wanted stereo and there wasn't and second monster. I don't recall the manufacturer. That amp was a couple hundred pounds easy. I had to do some work both mono power amps but nothing major. I think they were 50 watts each or maybe a little less. Now I had a real high fidelity stereo system. That may have been 1980
I owned movie theaters for 44 years and had a four-plex theater in a tourist town that had many A7 VOTT speakers. But the thing that made their outstanding sound were the Altec tar filled horns - the 1005 and the 805. They were very, very heavy and the tar made them dead inert...no ring whatsoever. The 288 driver had a magnet so strong that a wrench tossed near it would cling with a clatter. Altec made them for less than 10 years but they were/are the finest high-frequency reproducing devices ever made. IMHO
I played in bands that used 2 or 4 for a PA, carrying them from club to club. Also had Hammond B3 organ and Fender Rhodes with Leslie cabinets big guitar and bass amps. Heavy gear! My drums were the lightest stuff in the truck. We were loud. What a good time.
Oh gawd,...I remember my band carrying a Hammond up and down a flight of stairs to my studio that we used for rehearsals. Then there were the bass and 2 guitar amps, my drums. Double bass, 3 toms, snare, cymbals and stands, etc. Our poor neighbors.
Peavy made a clone of a Voice of the Theater called an SP-1 and I bruised a few ankles moving those things around. But the speakers got invited to a lot of parties (I think 'keggers' was the term) and with a Rockford-Fosgate Punch could turn a Chevy Suburban into a mobile sound system.
@@garyhope2 we also had leslie cabinets (2) and a Fender Rhodes with the stereo speaker cabinet. And guitar and bass amps and drums and lights. Seems crazy today. We sounded good though and I am proud to have worked to make that happen. We played Yes covers first set (our serious music) and Stevie Wonder Steely Dan AWB and Bowie dance tunes second. I drank herb tea on breaks and practiced in backstage area as the romantic hardcore drummer that I was (am) - I thought everyone wanted to be great and so I emulated Coltrane's habit of work.
I built 2 replica voice of the theater speakers in 1973 speakers and still use them for home theater mains. I still love the sound. Wish my ears held up so well! The moves were the worst part of owning them. Never lusted for better. Appreciate your video.
There’s actually a lot of these A7’s out there, still to this day. Still in use. There’s theaters back home in Charleston WV, (stadium cinemas) uses them today. The theaters here in Thomasville Georgia still uses them.
A-7 are good but better yet are the A5A/1005/B. The use the multi-cellular horns instead of the sectoral horns. Were trying to sell a set, a tough proposition since they suffer a low "wife approval factor". They were my first real exposure to true horn speakers. I still remember the sound of Miles Davis and how good they were and still are.
I had a pair of Altec Barcelonas that had plenty of balls. They had a 15" woofer that crossed over into a horn loaded driver which took care of the midrange and hi-end. the crossover freq was 500 Hz and they sounded great. look up Altec model 873a.
I went to a little Asian guys house in Atlanta to buy some model 15's, I had never heard any altecs I was going on reviews I had read. I get there and it's Altec everywhere, he didn't speak much English but he showed me all around his house and his Altec speakers. I now do the same thing as he did. He kept repeating Altec Altec everything Altec in a very excited way, well the rest is history,now my house is wall to wall Altec. When I left with my model 15's he sent me out the door with a Nora Jones CD, apparently he was as excited about her as the Altecs.
My dad gave me his huge 1936 RCA speakers from a local theater. Cones were ate up by rats for their nest. Most beautiful midrange ever. Violin sounded like violin.
Great nostalgic tale Steve! A home theatre was in my blood since 1978! Bell & Howell 16mm projectors, Kenwood KR 8050 receiver (125 w/ch) which I still have and maintain , and a massive pair of Verit three way towers! Oh the memories!
Fun video. I've worked in NYC and had stuff go wrong when I was working alone. I once was cutting wood on a table saw and suddenly I found myself on the floor, a piece of wood kickback and hit me in the stomach. No damage other than to my pride.
The Altec-Lansing A7 low frequency driver was the 416-8b ( 16in ): greatplainsaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/416-8B_LF_Speaker.pdf As you said 10's of thousands were manufactured and I bet 10's of thousands are still in service today. The 416-8b can be re-coned and rebuilt back to manufacturers specs by many speaker repair houses. They can be found on eBay all the time. There's a re-coning service advertising on ebay right now that will make it new for $140. The 416-8b was used ( sometimes clandestinely ) in multiple loudspeaker offerings. I am the proud owner of a Janis subwoofer. A multi-chambered slot load behemoth that I bought in the late 70's and still works as well today as it did when it was brand new. Guess what's inside? Yup, a good ole 416-8b. :-)
67yo here. Great reminiscence. Jolted my memory back to ca. 1960, my Grandmother's sister's house. The son had a Hi-Fi, as known then. All I remember is what must have been horn speakers, maybe 6 feet tall. Had no idea at that age what it was all about. Unfortunately was never treated to hear them. Haven't thought about it from then to this day. WRT cinema sound, what springs to mind is seeing "55 Days At Peking" with awesome surround sound. You could hear shells being fired from behind you, hear the shell whine overhead, and then the explosion on-screen. Just looked it up, it was six-track.
Altec Barcelona still large but with those 1950 - 1960 tube amps voices just sound magic -never owned a VOTT much rarer in Australia and import costs ,shipping without damage make them less common here .The guy who demoed me a pair was keen to blow my eardrums out in a small room so never got to appreciate the finer qualities - I am sure though 20 feet back and they would have been brilliant -the Barcelona sound good even 8 feet away -great comments Steve
Thanks Steve,I really enjoy your videos....I would love to learn more about horn speakers. I currently own Legacies and Magnaplaners,both older models...love them both,they are different, now I'm curious about horn speakers since you seem to have a high regard for them. Hope you talk more about those soon. Thanks again Steve,I'll stay tuned!
back in the 70's a buddy had the consumer altec voice of the theater's in a beautiful walnut cabinet. led me to get jbl horn speakers, still using them.
My first real audio speaker was the Altec A-7. they were built in my apartment so I took the drivers and crossovers and left the Cabs when I moved. They wouldn't fit through the door to get them out!!! I miss them!!!
LOL 'ing. I know the feeling or situation with some of my paintings. Had to take the canvas off of the stretchers and disassemble them to get them in and out of the door. I've got other stories about too large for the stairwells paintings. "Mothers, don't let your children become artists or musicians."
@@garyhope2 Charles Russell added logs to the walls of his studio to raise the ceiling for a large painting. It kind of ruined the ambiance of the room.
We just made a copy of an A7 for our little volunteer run cinema … it’s running the centre channel and sounds so much better than what we had … Lucem House Community Cinema England
OMG, what an experience! I'm unsure if in the theaters here in Germany I've heard this sound system, especially in Berlin, as there were many many cinemas closed down, and the newer ones perhaps don't have them. Thanks for the lesson, take care!
I built a set of Voice of the Theaters back in 1974 for a friends band. My friend supplied me with the speakers and horns and Altec actually supplied me with the plans. Tricky to build. I tried them out and needless to say, I was reluctant to let them go.
I have a pair of Altec model 19's which are Voice of the Theatre speakers put in a residential cabinets. I heard a funny story from an audio tech who worked at a large auditorium the original speakers put into the auditorium were VOTT's. Including one placed above the audiences heads closer to the front of the audience. The VOTT's had long been replaced by modern line arrays, (they use a Meyer sound line array now.) He was doing some maintenance on some other gear in the ceiling and was just curious so he went to pull off the fabric grill that was Velcroed onto to cover the speaker as he pulled it off the 30lbs horn just fell out of the speaker into his manlift. Since it likely would have killed someone if it fell during a performance they now have a policy of removing old redundant gear from their ceilings. This was at the Banff Centre in Alberta Canada.
Glad you did not get hurt Steve and that you are here to tell the tale as well as other tales of your audio expeditions - behind screens and so many other places. I have enjoyed the recording engineer stuff too. I once dreamed of doing that kind of work when I was a kid - being an Eddie Kramer and so forth.. Can I encourage you to do more reviews of recordings? I have purchased a few chesky recordings and they are fab! I also love Blue Note recordings. Chesky has been a revelation. Thanks and peace to all..
Yes, A4s, A7, A5, the high frequency diaphragms always broke on the pig tails connecting the coil to the terminals and I used to fix them easily - 288, 291, 802, 511 horns, Mantaray horns, Altec "Stanley Screamers", 817 boxes with 2x 604's, 9440 amplifier, 2280 incremental amplifier, low frequency drivers 421, 515, and coax 604, etc... I remember them and worked on them during my young years setting them up and all those Altec technical manuals for setting up speaker central clusters - good old days - and we had a sound level meter connected to an Altec RTA already high tech at that time and a good old oscilloscope - to align Dolby optical stereo cells for surround channels for the first showing of Star Wars - I wish I could have saved an Altec A19
VOTs were often used for playback to musicians in the live room of studios. Altec produced a number if monitor speakers for recording studio control rooms but the industry standard was the Altec 604.
We have a pair of altec mangnificants - A7s for the home. They are wonderful with low-level tube amps with presence and midrange to die for. I will never sell them.
Plug Seven Record store in Melbourne has a pair when I last visited 2 years ago. Amazed how they maneuvered it into to the store and of course the signature lively horn accoustic.
This is for those who say that A7’s are “horrible” Here’s the thing, if you find a set that seems to lack upper highs, and lower bass, you’ve got a set that needs help. I’ve had several A7’s, A4’s, and A8’s as well as other Altec speakers and some of those speakers sounded pretty strange at first, but once you put time and effort into the repair of the crossovers, horn-driver diaphragms and ROOM TREATMENT, (and a good subwoofer) I truly feel that there’s a lot to be loved about the A7’s. I have a pair that I truly love. They do have a few peaks that you can pull out with a DSP or 31 band, and they do need a subwoofer, but once you actually give them a shot, they’re fantastic boxes.
I'm sure it is strange to say but my feeling is if I need a subwoofer for such a large speaker then I don't want the speaker to begin with. I only have a sub on my TV blu-ray system.
I was 20 years old in 1971 and had a relatively steady job good enough to purchase my first home stereo system. I went BIG for my speaker choice I bought Altec Lansing A7-500 drivers and crossovers and my dad and I built the cabinets per spec. I loved them for 12 years. They sounded fantastic at outdoor parties, listening to Led Zeppelin II from about 100 feet away sounded like it was live...no kidding, very memorable. I powered them with a Kenwood integrated KA7002 which was rated at 50wpc...perfect match IMO. I miss them from time to time.
In the very early '80s, I was researching speakers to build. I had it narrowed down to Klipshorns and Voice of the Theater, then heard some JBL 4343s and built them instead.
It lives on through Great Plains Audio.. Bill H., a former Altec guy runs it using original tooling, afaik.. Altec fans who are also DIY’rs buy from GPA for their resto-mods and/or modern horn designs.
Audio guys love the big,powerful sound of the VOTTS!Yes,they do live on!!!The elements in them can be rebuilt.Theaters and audio users have done that-rebuild kits are avalaible.These are CLASSICS-Its said that Asian listeners love VOTT and snatch them up anytime they can.One friend of mine spotted a pair at a thrift shop and paid their 25 buck apiece price-then he backed up his van and hauled them home!!!Another guy found a JBL Paragon and same story.Buy it as you find them!!!And those systems have been used as monitors on gov't flight control centers.Its said that you can power a VOTT with the headphone jack of a transistor radio-Have you tried this?Been behind a theater screen a couple times and would love to explore the mass of stuff there.Thats just like the radio stuff left at radio station transmitter sites!!Find nice transmitter tubes!!!Old WE,RCA broadcast gear!!!
Oopsie! Steve, the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences," mentioned at 0:55, is not "the Grammy People." I can't believe that there isn't, yet, a comment telling you that they are, rather, "The Oscar People!" ;)
I still have 2 of them. They're stored in my warehouse for now with other speakers and audio equipment that I foolishly bought on eBay. Should I sell them? Anybody want them? They're loud,.....VERY VERY LOUD!! Can't turn them up past 3 unless you want hearing damage and want to go deaf or have the local police call on you. Damn neighbors! I think they need a sub woofer with them even though they have the 416 (?) woofers in them. I think the horn drivers are 905 or 907's in them instead of the 805's. Big as refrigerators and heavy. Very practical. Excellent in small houses or apartments,...LOL Good for driving rodents and small animals out of your house and neighborhood.
Wasent altec was the Shearer horn project that won because It was considered such a significant advance that it received a technical achievement award at the 1936 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ceremony
Vots are better than class d powered Chinese made junk we have in Australian theaters now. I think we never really heard what the vot and jbl and ev could do with the awful source quality of the time. Cool job you had Steve.
Steve - I love your channel but I (with reservation) hate horn speakers. Upon recommendation from a friend whose opinion I trusted, I tried Klipsch's Chorus I, and then Chorus II (w/"improved" tractrix horn), and still no dice. Then it happened. The guy I sold the II's to tipped me off to the Altec Model 19s, and that's when it all came together for me. I wish you would review the Altec Model 19s (allegedly the VOTT in a home/studio-friendly cabinet). I have been using these in my system for the past several years, and although no speaker (I can afford) does everything right, I just can't seem to find the fatal flaw that would cause me to part with these Altecs.
One of my close friends was at Altec when the plant closed in Oklahoma City about 1998 - he is getting me the correct count of VOTT cabinets made/sold - first estimate is in the 150K range - I’ll get a better number for you soon
I have a pair of Altec Lansing 16 Ohm Horn speakers and a pair of 16 Ohm 16" Bass with crossovers. I need to build a case for them and I need a tube amp, any recommendations?
For all us folks that can't afford those you can buy Audiovox horns for 80 bucks (100 W/8oms-freq. 200 to 15,000 work great and sit nicely on top of my main speakers , and if you don't like the white plastic look you can cover with speaker cloth and a hot glue gun.
Where can you find these horns? I couldn't find them listed anywhere. They make a lot of other stuff now, but I couldn't find any horns listed. Thanks.
Voice of the Theater Altecs are a truly horrible speaker. Yes I owned a pair. No top, no bottom no balls. But, they are meant to reproduce vocals in a large hall. Never heard of one in a recording studio as they open up optimally around 50' throw and easily maintain their definition a good 150' away. Back in that era the venerable Altec 604 was the de-facto standard in the studio and Voice of the Theater the equivalent for large halls.
