[saintalfonzo]

I was moving some of my stuff into a new apartment today and decided to get some of my things that had been in storage for years in my parents' basement. I came across a pair of old homemade tweed speaker enclosures that my uncle gave me about 16 years ago; at the time he gave them to me he told me they were some old speakers one of his friends gave him years ago, and he had no use for them since he had newer equipment and never really used them anyway. I never ended up using them anyway, and they've been in storage since. When I picked one of the cabinets up today, I noticed that one of the speakers inside had come loose from where it was mounted in the cab. Upon unscrewing and removing the back of the enclosure I took a look at the speakers and noticed they were 8" Altec Lansing 755As with alnico magnets (I've been interested in alnicos since reading about them some time ago), and decided to check them out on the internet. Apparently these are some great midrange speakers that were manufactured post WWII, and the two that I have are in exceptional condition - not dried out and showing no wear really at all. After reading up on them I decided that I want to hear them badly, but they are only rated at 8 watts and my Yamaha receiver/amp is much too powerful for them. I'm interested in what fellow headfi'ers would suggest for amplification. I suspect a low-wattage tube amp would be in order, but would appreciate some suggestions from those with more experience.

 

[NightOwl]

That's a classic and highly regarded single driver. It's basically a Western Electric 755a that Altec Lansing continued to manufacture after they took over Western Electric. Down the road you may want to look at putting these drivers into new boxes. There's been a lot of experimentation and new designs using these drivers in the last few years with reputed great success.

You're right, SET amps are the recommended match. I've read of ASL and Bottlehead amps being highly regarded with them. I'm not all that familiar with the newer Chinese tube amps, but I'm sure these would work as well.

For a different (drier and more detailed) sound, a vintage class "A" amp like a Bedini 10/10 with a tube preamp like a Conrad-Johnson would also work.

If you wanted to try a budget solution, T-amps work very well with efficient single drivers. I haven't personally heard one with that particular speaker.

If you haven't come across it yet, here are links to the classic Altec Lansing web site.

Lansing Heritage Forums - Powered by vBulletin

ALTEC CATALOGS

Edit: Someone sold a matched pair of these on Audiogon some months ago for $1300.+