Voice Of The Theatre

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jchaz -> Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 2:00:53 PM)
Anyone remember (or still use... or have) the HUGE speaker cabinets called the "Voice of The Theatre" that were made by the Altec-Lansing company? I have a set of them. One of them sounds great, but the other has a bad horn, so there's no 'highs'. Any ideas on where to get these repaired in Atlanta? Are there any groups out there that are still using these? I know technology has advanced, and the huge sound/small, powered speaker cabinet is the 'in' thing right now. Would've LOVEd to have heard The Crabbs play on a set of these things! Wouldn't it be cool to see someone today, say, The Perrys, for instance, haul in a set of these big old bad boys into an auditorium, and 'tear it up' on a set of VOTTs? I know Lib, randy & Deb sang on a smaller set of Altecs similar to these back in the 70s & 80s. It was always a sight to see Li'l Randy hoist them up on those flimsy tripods they had. Bet he STILL has back problems, from lifting those big ole suckers. They sang on black & white Peavey mikes, and used a 5 channel powered Peavy 'PA head", then, too. They had a tremendous sound!! Anyone else wanna discuss retro PA eqpt used in SGM?

88keysinnc -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 2:56:47 PM)
I'll discuss retro PA with you, jchaz. Regarding the Altec A-7's, you can go to Altec's website and find a driver for the horn. Altec is making the Voice of Theatre speakers again and at a hefty price I might add. You have a gold mine on your hands dude. At one ofthe Goodman Family concerts in the 80's, they brought out these small, Bose-size Shure speakers (black grill with a yellow vertical stripe) and they were awesome. Teddy Huffam was on the show and had previously set up his Altec 1204-B's. When the Goodmans brought in these pint-sized speakers, at first you thought it was a joke. Needless to say they were INCREDIBLE! Don't remember what they used to mix or power their system but they had switched from Neumann KM81 mics to Shure SM58's. Segue way to a Sego Brothers and Naomi concert a few years later. They used 4 Bose as their house system and a pair af baby A-7's as monitors. This was my first time to hear/see a Bose product. The band members used the same Shure speakers I had seen the Goodman Family use a few years prior. I beleive the vocals used KM81's. Awesome sound to say the least. James Sego had passed and Naomi had William Pippin and Dean Hewett in her line-up. Great group and top-notch sound.

jchaz -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 3:12:21 PM)
There is a slight possiblilty that these VOTTs might've been owned by The Goomans at one point. An older gentleman in our church said that he kinda remembered that Little David Young (the former M.O.M.) got them from the G'mans. I remember The Goodmans singing on those little Shure speakers, too. I saw them several times after Howard & Vestal retired-- when Mike English was with them. That's what they were using. I also remember the Segos using those old "suitcase Bose" speakers, too. I saw them with that same line up you mentioned in the early 80s. Thanks for the tip about Altec. I'll check it out. I've checked with a great local company here in the ATL called "Northwest Speaker Repair". The are excited about seeing these monsters. They've not seen any in years... I remember the LeFevres (or it might've been The Rex Nelon Singers, by thi spoint).. anyway, I rememeber them having a set of Altecs that had wheels on the back of them, and you rolled them, like they had a built in set of handtrucks on them. They must've been a mid-sized version somewhere between VOTT A-7s, and the smaller, tripod mounted ones that I mentioned previously that The Perrys had. A group I used to play for had an old Altec system that had the same tripod-mounted Altecs, but they had an OLD green Altec mixer/amp, instead of the Peavey head that Randy P used. When we upgraded, we got a HUGE Yamaha system- console, mains, and monitors. It ROCKED!! I also remember as a kid, seeing the little Kustom system that Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters carried. It was a silver padded vinyl head with 2 little columns that they set up on wooden stools. They used 2 'stick' mics... not sure what brand... maybe EV? What kinda unique eqpt do you remember?

jchaz -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 3:15:50 PM)
I forgot... I may have access to a set of them little Shure speakers... My old church had a set of them, and we replaced them with a set of rebuilt Peavey SP-3 cabinets that held new OAP woofers. I might could talk them out of them! We just put in a spare room somewhere. Later... I gotta make a call....[:)]

PaulPate -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 4:57:25 PM)
I cannot speak technically on sound systems, but I remember the old Altec Lansing speakers. Our first PA (1970) was a Kustom that you mentioned Wendy Bagwell had. Ours was red, and I think my nephew still has the speakers, although the amp is long gone. We bought the mic's at the same time and I don't recall the brand. The Kustom was a good set for our purposes, but the mic's were not very good.

BenHarris -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 5:51:31 PM)
You can buy replacement parts for the old Altec drivers from Radian Engineering http://www.radianaudio.com/ Ideal would be to take the old drivers and send them direct to Radian and let them do the work...it can be tricky. But it will be far less expensive than buying all new drivers. PLus the Radian's dont sound nearly as honky.

88keysinnc -> RE: Voice Of The Theatre (4/11/2008 9:34:04 PM)
The Altec's with wheels and handle on the back were most likely 1204B's. They had the same components as the A-7's did. The one difefrence I can recall was the cabinetry. The only set I ever had was a set identical to the Speer Families. I don't remember the model number but the horn came in a seperate cabinet and was basically just set on top of the woofer cabinet. Smaller than the A-7's but with the same horn and woofer. Ben Speer used these at the NQC in Nashville. Sounded real good. I loved the baby A's. The Inspirations used these as did other groups. jcahz, I have looked for a pair of the small Shure speakers for awhile. If you get your hands on a pair and they're in good shape, I might be interested in buying them if the price is right:)

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