looking see if anyone can help me figure out the origin of these cabinets? I think their JBL vintage cabinets from the 70's for concerts, but I can't quite figure it out. It's the black ones with green horns.
Thanks
[This message has been edited by NickD3.4 (edited 07-20-2014).]
Those horns in the middle don't seem to fit the opening properly. I'd wonder if those components really belong in those cabinets. The woofers (?) seem like they belong there, so I'm not certain what goes where.
Those with the horns appear to be portable variants of the old Altec (a.k.a. Altec-Lansing) "Voice of the Theater" series, which dates back to the 1940s.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-20-2014).]
you called it Melvin, after some searching that's exactly what they are. Their altec "voice of the theater" cabinets.
apparently those horns are correct, mine are seem to be missing A protector or some sort of molding piece that would have gone around the edges. I found h in these cabinets with those exact horns. Thanks for the help.
I can tell you one thing, these things are extremely loud and it put out amazing sound.
I can tell you one thing, these things are extremely loud and it put out amazing sound.
Yes, the sound was remarkably good, even by modern standards. The problem always was finding a room large enough for them to really shine. They didn't work especially well in a small room or even in a recording studio.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-21-2014).]
Yes, the sound was remarkably good, even by modern standards. The problem always was finding a room large enough for them to really shine. They didn't work especially well in a small room.
I used to play in a rock band, & I used them for outdoor concerts when I needed extra bang for the sound. They did very well for live music.
Yes, the sound was remarkably good, even by modern standards. The problem always was finding a room large enough for them to really shine. They didn't work especially well in a small room or even in a recording studio.
I thought I recognized them. I haven't listened to any in decades but I agree, they are great for sound reinforcement but not hi-fi. For high volume and large venues they sound pretty good for what they need to do.
Altec Voice of the Theater speakers were actually made for theaters, the old theaters with lots of seats. They were installed way up high, in the wall, and usually somewhat concealed by grill cloth, sometimes matched perfectly to the walls so the audience didn't even know where they were. They were accessed from behind, via catwalk, scaffold, ladder, or whatever.
When I was about 20, a friend had a pair in his house, and to demonstrate them to me, he turned them up for the entire neighborhood to hear. It hurt.
Altec Voice of the Theater speakers were actually made for theaters, the old theaters with lots of seats.
Yep. Hence the "Voice of the Theater" name. Altec was created when AT&T spun off their professional audio business from the Western Electric division in the 1930s.
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They were installed way up high, in the wall, and usually somewhat concealed by grill cloth, sometimes matched perfectly to the walls so the audience didn't even know where they were. They were accessed from behind, via catwalk, scaffold, ladder, or whatever.
Not always. Many large movie theaters ... including the one where I worked one summer in high school ... simply placed one to three VOT cabinets on the stage behind the screen. Large movie screens back then were usually just thin, seamless, bleached white cloth, stretched tight to provide a visually flat surface. Somewhat surprisingly, they were semi-transparent to light (a result of their thinness to minimize weight) and almost 100% transparent to sound. The acoustics of such theaters were often dismal, so speaker placement usually didn't make much difference until the advent of stereo and (much later) multi-channel sound.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-22-2014).]
