I was looking around for some pa speakers to give a try for another set up or if they were nice enough probably keep them in my main system.

While looking around I remembered that my friend that I usually work with when hooking me up with nice gear for cheap or for a trade had pair of huge altec lansing 1204b VOTT speakers that he worked on completely.  The cabs are bit rough but not bad really. Has original which I believe big metal 511c VOTT horns with I believe are the 808 drivers and he replaced the original woofers with some nice(better) altec lansing 921-8a 16" woofers which looks and feels heavy duty with it's stiffness and nice cloth composent materials. He completely recapped the crossovers too.

I don't much on these guys but knew they were designed for professional studios, broadcasting, concerts, and theatres but other then that nothing much on their background.


I remember seeing them before at his place but completely forgot how huge these speakers are till I had to load them up in the suv and got them home. These things make my technics sb7000a look tiny in size comparison. The 1204b do weigh bout 120lb each but I didn't find the weight too bad since im use to hauling heavy stuff.

As far as sound from these monsters they perform better then I thought. I was bit concern at first bout the "cleaness" of their midrange and spectrum at the extreme end extension but they sound pleasent and are really nice sounding. Of course I can tell they do roll off in the above air registers above 15khz but it's such a gentle roll off I barely notice it much enough to bother me really. I actually like it. The bass response from those 16" woofers are good too I think. Didn't find them lacking much in extension with certain music and movies.

They do sound clean though. And the horn dispersion is very wide. I took big notice when watching a movie.

When I audition them at my friends he was using a nice 55yr old 15w fisher tube amp he completely worked on to drive them I thought the combo sounded outstanding. He told me if I was looking for tube gear he would hook me up for cheap since im good friend and doesn't care about making top dollar/profit. I just told him I might consider it once he's done recapping it and working on it.

Anyhoo at home I have them hooked up being driven by a big Crown CE2000 power amp and using my numark dm1200 mixer as a preamp and think they sound great. Im actually gonna keep these giant montrousities and touch the cabs up a bit a might refinish the wood up so they'll look brand new.

I also saw a pair of massive jbl's he picked up from a theater getting rid of them but that's another story.

Anyhoo, even though these guys look industrial and out of place (I actually like the look of them) they do sound great and lot better then expected. These are keepers for me. Will post couple pics later on when I get around to it but using a phone is a pain (I hate touchscreens sooooo much).