Will today's pro audio end up in future homes?

They have sounded amazing every time I Have heard them at a concert.

 

No.

The demands of pro audio - reliability, flexibility, intelligibility and high SPL - aren't that important in home audio. In home audio, the biggest requirements are simplicity, usability, appearance and lifestyle. Both have to sound good but if you were to produce in a living room the level of bass required to fill a theater, you'd move out of the house.

Surprisingly, I have found pro audio and car audio have much in common.

 

Me too! Different worlds, I guess. He also took a bunch of drivers that didn't meet spec and made the most amazing stereo in his VW van. Ah... the 90's...

 

I was in the front row of the Lexington Opera house and right below the lip of the stage, about five feet from my face was a Meyer speaker that looked a lot like a monitor but it was facing the audience and blasting me right in the face. It was Patterson Hood and Todd Snider playing acoustic guitars, each taking a turn singing a song while the other one watched. The sound coming out of that speaker was amazing, certainly a little too hot sitting that close but I could feel the pick as it struck each string. Just crisp, lush detail and bone rattling power.

 

I don't see why not. But with any hobby with a wide range of people interested in it, some will, some won't. We all have different goals, and aesthetics. I think those speakers are beautiful, and would love to have some. If a venue were unloading these, I'd buy them in a heartbeat if I could afford them. I have a number of folded and straight horns with nearly the same color inside the horn flare. But, I really think you'd need a rather huge environment to use these inside the home. My systems like the one in the photo are all used outdoors. And, in my opinion, they sound purdy durn nice. I've heard smaller versions of Danley's Unity horns (a two-way), and it was some of the best coherence from 300Hz up that I'd ever heard at realistic levels.

 

Pro audio gear works well in the home. Maybe not the stuff listed in the OP but that niche, much like niche hifi. Plenty of other pro gear would work a treat.

 

I want Klipsch Jubliee's, but I don't let have the room. I would otherwise already own a pair. I've heard these in living room situations already and they sound fantastic.

 

My main system is all JBL Mpro / Crown / QSC / Rane Mojo.
It's capable of doing structural damage to my house...

 

If it works.

 

It's all about marketing and is relevant in the present.
I've been a believer for quite a while that a boutique high end home audio system would be shredded handily by an equal investment in commercial sound providing one has the room size to do it justice and picks the right hardware.
There is no comparison in terms of dynamics and scale.
All that said it goes back to what you want out of your system- do you want it to be something that excites / energizes or do you want to relax with it. Very difficult to relax at a live concert.

 

From a feature in The Absolute Sound (1993):

The other night I experienced the finest large-scale High-End audio system I have ever heard. It shattered my preconceived notions of what the state-of-the-art in High End sound reproduction is capable of.

This system was clean from fewer than five Hertz (according to its designer) to beyond the range of human hearing. Never at any time did I hear distortion. The stereo imaging was pinpoint and extremely accurate, with no bunching, "hole-in-the-middle," or problems at the extreme left and right. (This was accomplished with no room treatment whatsoever.) The tonal balance was almost without flaw (though the highs were slightly too prominent at close range), simply that of the instruments it was reproducing, especially drums, cymbals (which were reproduced with a purity which had to be heard to be believed), and gongs. Its reproduction of the lowest bass was unparalleled—the bass from the Infinity IRS woofers is feeble by comparison. The same can be said about this system's dynamic capability: It could reproduce a clean 120 dB at distance of over 50 feet. Soundstaging? The depth was almost perfectly accurate compared to the locations of the instruments on the stage, and the speakers were capable of generating width in excess of 100 feet. There was an excellent balance of direct-to-hall sound.

It was easy to see the instruments on the stage. Not "see" the instruments, see them. Most important, the emotional connection between the listener and the music—the ability to convey the emotion and feeling inherent in a musical performance being the measure of a truly great High End system—in my opinion was absolute, total, complete.

The stereo to which I am referring is the Grateful Dead concert sound reinforcement system.

 

Oh yeah. I've got one in every room! Great speakers and they just look so cozy.

 

There were some earlier things, such as the Lansing Iconic speaker, which pre-dates the Altec A7 by more than a decade.

 

So my McIntosh tube amps came out of an aerospace research facility where they were used for amplification for vibration analysis, back in the day.

Would that be "pro"?

 

I've owned a pair of those now for 9 1/2 years (i.e., the 2-way home version) and it's been amazing listening to them. I have them dialed in using a Xilica XP-8080--along with the balance of my 5.2.

As far as multiple entry horns (like the Danley Synergy series) I have to say that the overall fidelity and speech intelligibility of the DIY K-402-MEH that I use as a center actually exceeds that of the Jubilee (IMO) due to its point source performance and its more consistent polar control. The K-402-MEH performs much like a SH-96 in terms of polar coverage (90 x 60 degrees) and low frequency polars control. You have to hear it to believe it. (The SH-96 is over $8K each, while the K-402-MEH is less than a quarter of that price using new components.)

The idea that the MEH design is "for PA use only" is completely false: it's the best loudspeaker design that I've ever heard for hi-fi use.

Chris

 

Big speakers make a room feel special, they let people know music is an important part of your life.

 

Yes, he is. Tom IS the man. He has audio covered is two different but specific areas. His point source, synergy horns are really something special, and they can be used in the home. But, as Tom comments, they have different characteristics than typical home speakers, which will not be to everyone's taste. His smaller horns are not that big at all. And, the can be covered, with any type of veneer and grill cloths.

Besides, the horns, Tom have the best sub designs to be found anywhere. Some of his sub designs, were designed specifically for home use.

Nothing at all, see above.

Right you are. But you don't have to stick to specific Altec VOTT cabinets. There is nothing specific about an Altec VOTT cabinet. The VOTT's concepts have been adapted in homes around the world.

sunrayjack has DIY VOTT cabinets, that lack the curved bass horns, which, from a design perspective, are totally unimportant in the home. sunrayjack uses dual woofers in 7' tall cabinets, with Altec horns = a whole lot of bass. I think this is an improvement over a single A7, with its 828 bass cabinet. A7's don't really have much in the way of bass, below 50-Hz, but, then again, they were not designed for deep bass. I use my main pair with a commercial sub. I also have JBL baby cheeks, as super tweeters.

Two bass speakers, in a larger cabinet, is a better and more powerful solution for the home.

Yes, the Iconic, which is an excellent speaker, does pre-date the A7, which first made it's appearance, in the late 60's. The Iconic, does pre-date the specific A7 design, but not the VOTT's, which are a whole line on theater speakers, which date back to the early 1940's, with the 2,300 lb. A2.

The Iconic like the 604's were designed more for small spaces, like studio monitoring applications. These applications are pro-sound, but not designed for P.A. applications, like the VOTT line.

Yes, they do.

Tom Danley, tells a story, that as a young audio salesman, he went to the home of another salesman, who had A7's in his home and he commented as to how good they sounded, in a small space.

Altec's larger cabinets, like the A4's are designed to throw a lot of sound, into a much larger space, than the A7's and, as such, besides their 7' tall bass cabinets, plus the large multi-cell horn on top, make them kind of a tight fit for a home. Being designed for a longer throw, they would not be the optimum design for most homes.

The A7 was designed for smaller venues, up to about 800-people. It was designed to produce the same quality sound as the larger VOTT's, except in a smaller cabinet.


Photo: Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater Line

Altec sold several models of their commercial line in cabinets specifically designed for the home.



Look similar?

Even the full VOTT's were available in home versions.


When the A7's are used in the home, they are often inverted and the horn is placed inside of the bass cabinet.

Altec's top of their home line is the A7-500W, as shown below, in Walnut Cabinets. On the inside, they look like the above cabinets.



Another custom home variation below, photo is from Jeff's Place. Check out the link for more photos.


Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers custom built for Leopold Stokowski by Altec Lansing.

Yes, there is a Santa Clause and yes, you can use professional sound speakers in the home.

 

Still, the Iconic is from 1937, which pre-dates any of the Altecs.

 

I never realized it went back that far!

 

Pro Audio includes amplifiers. I have a Crown XLS 1502 in my house. 300 wpc @8 ohms, stable to 2 ohms.

 

When Lansing Sound was sold, the new company became Altec Lansing.

A.L.T.E.C was an acronym for All Services Technical Corporation, which was founded by the audio engineers from Western Electric.

So, I thinks that it is a fair bet, that our Altec's will go on to become collector's items as well.

Both Klipsch and Altec, with their legacy speakers, used to measure their efficiency as a distance of 4". I'm wondering if that distance was selected because that is the distance that the bass horns and the HF horns tended to blend together?

Consider that your 604 based Shindo's are pro-sound speakers (speaking about the speaker itself), not usually used in home audio by "audiophiles". Yet, not only are they, in your case, but highly coveted, if their price tags are any indication.

Not being in your living room and listening, I would bet that the Altec engineer's who designed your 604's, never heard a pair like yours!

Likewise, I doubt that any Altec engineer (from back when), has heard any A7's like my main pair, with the custom crossovers, JBL super tweeter and a shared commercial sub woofer. Plus, having the advantage of being driven by tube amplifier's.

Which brings me to a point that I have been pondering, for a bit. My A7's could be the best speakers in the world. Can you use them in a home environment? absolutely. Will people use them in a home environment, NO, they will not. You can dress them up real nice, but in the end, all but the most ardent audiophiles, are not going to have speakers in their living rooms, that are the size of two refrigerators.

The Shindo design 604's have another problem, that being that they cost $25K a pair. Won't be selling many of these either.

So, I have been thinking about the changes, that I made to the A7's. The one primary thing being the custom ALK crossovers and spending weeks to dial them in. The super tweeters, they can always be added to any existing speaker. Same goes with the subwoofer. The super tweeters provide the high frequency extention and the sub, low frequency extension. You could come close, with a larger different cabinet and maybe a dual woofer design.

But, in the case of the Shindo's, let's, for argument's sake, say that they are the perfect home audiophile speaker, accurate, dynamic and can be played at room filling volumes.

What would set the Shindo's apart from, say a pair of 604's that I might buy and place in a similar size and enclosure design? I could build a pair that look almost the same for maybe, $2,500 a pair. Would they sound the same? I doubt it.

What are the differences? I don't think they are in magic boxes (although I don't disregard their enclosure design and elevating them off of the floor).

Do they mess with the original magnets or voice coils? I doubt that also.

I think, like in the case of my A7's, the crossover's are the single, most important element of their design, that differs from the original Altec 604's and original Altec crossovers.

If that is the case, then we should be able to recreate (to a large degree), both a less expensive version of the Shindo 604, and a smaller version of the A7 type speaker, that would be both pre-audio and suitable for home use.

 

All you have to do is tell her that she can either deal with it or move out, and if the latter, she will be quickly replaced with another woman. That's how you get a W.A.F. of 100%

 

Sorry, Western Electric (aka Electrical Research Products Inc) was there first in the 1920's. Long before Altec. Also, don't forget about RCA Broadcast and their Cinema gear from the early 1930's. Altec Lansing came later. And began as All Services Technical Corporation which supported cinema sound equipment and as earlier posted began by ex Western Electric engineers.

 

I've just ordered another piece of pro gear, a (used) Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker. It's stuck in the USPS system right now. Can't wait to hear it in the system!

 

Your DIY K-402-MEH horns are very impressive, I think I could fit them in my house too.