Pair Altec 808-8A from 1973 Test, review and inspection

Even after Jim Lansing’s death in the late 1940s, Altec largely constructed their compression drivers quite faithfully to the postwar 1940s design he left with im the Lansing company’s buyout.
By the late 1940’s -- while the new JBL company hyped new designs like the D175 -- under great R&D constraints … Altec happily churned away refining and mass producing variants of the 1930’s 801’s terrific design with a few manufacturing refinements and material changes (to both the body and diaphragm).
Interestingly though, it was not until the the late 1960s --there were never any radical ideas -- until the introduction of these briefly made Symbiotik diaphragms... We see and hear any hugely radical changes in tone, and performance and various points. These strange looking variants were born at a time, where Altec wanted to grossly hype bigger wattage handling -- but rather, what they gleaned was a few notable behavioural tweaks ... they sound eerily smoother, with less raspy top end performance. Something quickly noticed, back in the 1970s amps when amps sounded harsh… Working musicians and studio recording pro’s really treasured these for that and overall efficiency, clarity and durability.
Over the years they have been often overlooked; and when coupled in large systems, they perform faithfully, blending alongside all of the other 12” an 15” woofers Altec made -- and the 808-8A shares a similar response to the well respected 802 series (the 808 does not reach quite as high, but you won’t notice).
If you plan to use a smallish 500 or 800 cycle horn (or something even smaller) and you have a small or medium sized room - don’t overlook the 808 and it’s “symbiotik”, part phenolic diaphragm. Despite the added detail you get with all aluminum found in other 8xx drivers (and JBL 175’s) -- you also risk the influx of harshness -- or too much efficiency in the upper high range -- a problem for all -- but especially fatiguing in close quarters.

Video and description © HiFiTown.com 2016