Musical System

[Cogito]

Today, I visited Walt (SoundMods) to listen to his system. Thanks Walt for having me.

Walt's system is... well... in one word, exceptional.

Walt has Altec A7-800 speakers with 811B horns and 15" woofer. The modifications Walt made add very good speakers exceptional. Listening to his system is addictive, one get immersed in music and forgets all the audiophile terms. His system is very involving, convincing, realistic, pleasing and musical.

[SoundMods]

WOW! It only took one beer!

Many thanks for those kind words -- it has taken me a life time in this hobby to get there. Yet -- I still find things to do with the system.

It never ends does it.

[chris1973]

Hey Walt,

Do you feel like posting a photo of your speakers?

I would like to see them if you do!

Thanks,
Chris

[Pelliott321]

Walt has spent much effort in perfecting his system. I use the word "perfect" for to my ears his system is what I feel as about as perfect sounding that can be pulled with a rock being dragged through a dirty alley. I have heard many systems over the past seven years I been associated with CAF, at our show as well as RMAF, Axpona, and the NYC shows and Walt's (IMHO) is the most musical system I have heard.
I feel I have been lucky to experience it. I am also lucky in that I live close by and have heard some of the changes over the past few years.
And now the big BUT
You should have heard the Quad 57's he rebuilt for a friend when they were in his system. Yes not the extremes this Altecs go but the openness was simply amazing.
So it's not just his Altecs, his rebuilt electronics are a big part of it.

[SoundMods]

Like Paul noted about the Quad experience -- they impacted me more. Those damn Quads (stock - as manufactured) had me going back to the "lab" to redo the Altec crossovers. Two frustrating weeks and I got the Altecs closer to the sweet, transparent, neutrality that Peter Walker's brain-child got only a mere five decades ago. There was no more to be done mechanically but I don't take anything for granted so I started a new crossover witch hunt after the Quads left the building.

And to think -- this craziness started in high school at age 16 after hearing playback on the music teacher's personal system in the lecture hall.

Word of advice? If read past reviews of the Quad ESLs you are not reading a review of the Quads -- you are reading a review of the equipment connected to them. They are that good.

BTW -- I just read an old re-published article regarding vintage equipment -- when stacking Quads Peter Walker recommends wiring them in series rather than parallel.

[Pelliott321]

I was curious about stack Quads and how they are wired.
Do you just use one set of electronics (PS and Input transformer)and connect all the panels in parallel
or use both sets of electronics

[SoundMods]

Here are two photos of one channel -- front and rear views. These photos do not tell the tale however. Just what you see when listening to music.

Attachments

[SoundMods]

To answer Paul -- stacked stock Quads (as manufactured) with the inputs wired in series with one amplifier. Peter Walker mentioned that you would need a 150-watt amplifier for that configuration. That was then -- this is now. Experiment with trial configurations for the best result. Just keep in mind that electrostatic speakers like voltage since the stators do not complete a circuit. Once I learned that lesson with my "late" Acoustats I found that they were easy to drive.

[chris1973]

Hey Walt,

So I'm just commenting on the photos:

Obviously you have a sliver of marble or granite on the back and the tops of the speakers. Is there any sonic quality to these two pieces of stone?

Chris

[Cogito]

What sonic charesteristics of MDF which make it a material of choice for speaker construction?

Why some high end speakers are made of thick layers of wood glues together emulating a solid piece of wood?

Vibration control and vibration isolation. Stone is very good at it.