Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂

This is Part 2 of my "State Of The Systems Report", where I thought I'd update you about how each of the three audio systems that I have up and running are doing, as they have been in a relatively stable configuration for a while now. 

If you haven't read Part 1 about the current state of my primary music listening system based on my Westminster Royal SE audio loudspeakers and the superb Level Four Audio Note (UK) electronics yet, you can read that report HERE. 

In Part 2 my focus is on my office system, which is a decidedly unusual audio system, particularly for an office system, but it gets the music right, and in a very big way. Literally! 

The Office Audio System

If you were expecting a set of headphones, plus headphone amplifier, to go with my office computer as an office audio system, well this system is about as far from that approach as is possible. Nothing wrong with the headphones approach at all, and headphone based systems certainly have their place, but this is an altogether different animal of a listening experience. 

The photo above has a bit of a distorted perspective, as it was shot with an iPhone in my office, relatively close up, so I've included a few early photos below from right after when I brought the Altecs home from Seattle with Ron Barbee, to give you a better idea of the scale of the vintage Altec loudspeakers size and construction.

Me applying a coat of finish restorer-preservative to the big Altecs right after I brought them home.

First off, the cornerstone of my office system is a pair of gigantic vintage Altec loudspeakers, similar to Altec A7s, each the size of a large refrigerator, but with a few twists. 

These Altecs are each 60 inches high by 30 inches wide by 26 inches deep, with Altec drivers, horns, and crossovers enclosed into truly massive wood cabinets, and fitted with burgundy grill cloth, in an attempt to make them blend into a domestic setting. That domestication attempt was a fail! 

The size of the Altecs compared to my Westminster Royal SEs. They are even larger than the gigantic West's!

These are heavy loudspeakers, somewhere in the 250 pound range each as a guesstimate. These vintage loudspeakers—like me, are over six decades old now—have accumulated a few scuffs and scrapes over the years, but still they are in very nice cosmetic condition overall considering their age, and the drivers, horns, crossovers and cabinets are in essentially perfect operational condition—a testimony to the impeccable quality of Altec products from that period.

The cabinets that enclose the Altec components provide substantial reinforcement for the 825-style bass horns that are incorporated into their cabinetry.

There is a divider panel between the low- and high-frequency horn sections of the cabinets—which would be an 825-style bass horn's top panel—that acts as a massive cross-brace to the cabinet's sidewalls.

The rear of the cabinet is broken into three segmented panels with further cross-bracing for the sidewalls, whereas the production 825 cabinet is a large, single, screw-mounted panel with no cross-bracing.

The heavily braced front panels are inset into the oversized sidewalls, so they too are acting as additional bracing, and the mounting panel for the 511B is also acting as yet another cross-brace.

All of that bracing and cabinetry adds up to a rigidity and massiveness for the Altec cabinets that is off the charts compared to the regular production 825 bass horn cabinets like I have in my Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers.

The original Altec components complement for these loudspeakers were 803B 16-Ohm bass drivers, massively braced 825-style bass horn cabinets with attached and enclosed high-frequency cabinets with Altec 804A 16-Ohm compression drivers mounted on Altec 511B horns, and Altec N-500-D crossovers were mounted inside the low-frequency cabinets. 

The 803B low frequency driver is described in the Altec literature as, "The Altec 803B is a 15-inch low frequency loudspeaker of professional quality, chosen to complement the finest broadcast and recording studio monitor systems (such as the A7 and A7-500) in addition to providing the critical listener with superb bass reproduction for all wide-range public address, sound reinforcement and theatre or auditorium systems."

"Utilizing heavy Alnico V permanent magnets (2.4 lbs.), rugged, die-cast frames, edge-wound copper ribbon voice coils of the largest practical diameter (3"), and exceptionally compliant cone suspension, these LF transducers combine the advantages of long-term operation with unparalleled response throughout the entire audible bass frequency range (20-1,600 cycles)."

The Altec 803B low frequency driver has a continuous power rating of 30W, a frequency response of 20-1,600Hz, a sensitivity of 99dB (SPL at 4" from 1W), and 114dB (SPL at 4" from 30W).

The Altec 803B low frequency driver has an impedance of 16 Ohms, the cone resonance is 25 Hz, the Alnico V magnet flux density is 12,000 Gauss, the frame (basket) is structurally-reinforced cast aluminum, the cone is molded fiber, the cone suspension is a high-compliance cloth surround with mechanical resistance, the voice coil is edge-wound copper ribbon, the diameter is 15 1/8 inches (7" deep), and the weight is 17.5 pounds.

Up top are the Altec 804A 16-Ohm compression drivers mated to Altec 511-B horns (above).

The Altec 804A and Altec 802D compression drivers are essentially the same design, and are shown together in Altec literature.

The Altec 804A / 802D both use large diameter (1.75") aluminum ribbon edge-wound voice coils coupled to a large (2.25") aluminum diaphragm having tangential compliance. Both have a mechanical phasing plug with two exponential acoustic slots, which provides the proper phase relationship from sound emanating from the center & outer edges of the diaphragm and voice coil assembly, to give maximum high-frequency reproduction and a smooth overall response.

Like the 803B low frequency drivers, both the Altec 804A / 802D are rated for 30W. The Altec 804A / 802D frequency response is 500Hz to 22,000Hz, voice coil diameter is 1.75", impedance is 16 Ohms, and diameter is 4.5".

The primary difference is their magnets, as the 802D uses a 1.2 lbs., 15,250 Gauss magnet and the 804A uses a 13 oz. 13,000 Gauss magnet, which reflects their intended use as compression drivers for sound reinforcement in large spaces with high ambient noise levels (802D), or smaller spaces, like home listening rooms or smaller recording studios with moderate ambient noise levels (804A).

The Altec 804A compression driver is optimized for loudspeakers, "... located in non-reverberant space having moderate ambient noise levels, the Altec 804A driver proves a perfect match (Such conditions would be analogous to the average listening room or smaller broadcast and recording studio)", and pressure sensitivity is rated at 109.5dB at 1W and 124.2dB at 30W. 

I actually own examples of both the 802D (in my Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers) and the 804A in these Altecs, and they are both extremely good sounding compression drivers, but the 804A is intended to be better choice for smaller rooms like you find in smaller recording studios or smaller home listening environments. 

Leopold Stokowski at Carnegie Hall 1947 (public domain photo)

Did I mention that these Altec loudspeakers are historically important vintage Altec loudspeakers in that they were custom built for the domestic use of conductor Leopold Stokowski (above, April 18, 1882 – September 13, 1977) in his Manhattan apartment during the early 1960s (below), during the time he lived in New York and was conducting the American Symphony Orchestra?

Leopold Stokowski was one of the world's leading conductors during his lifetime, and conducted numerous symphony orchestras, including of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Symphony of the Air, as well as others. 

Leopold Stokowski was a remarkably creative individual and musician, who was also very interested in the recording and reproduction of music, and had enormous influence upon the world of music, film, recording, audio engineering, and even culture, during his lifetime.

A fascinating aspect of Leopold Stokowski's life—which is particularly relevant to his Altec loudspeakers—was that early in his career he became interested in the technical aspects of the recording and playback of music, something that most conductors of the time eschewed. 

To aid Leopold Stokowski in his interests, Professor Charles Weyl at the University of Pennsylvania created a tailored curriculum for him that focused on what he needed to know about acoustics and electrical engineering in order to more effectively participate in guiding the technical activities of the audio engineering that he had become involved in.

The University of Pennsylvania awarded Leopold Stokowski an honorary doctorate for his accomplishments in music, audio engineering, and film.

Leopold Stokowski worked closely with recording engineers during the acoustic horn recording era (1917-1924), the electrical recording era (1925-1940), and the "modern" analog recording era until his death (1941-1977), always striving for improved fidelity of recorded music. He heard it all from each era of the recording arts. 

Leopold Stokowski was very involved in advancing the recording and playback of music and worked closely with audio engineers from Altec Lansing, Bell Labs, Disney, RCA, and others, to advance the recording arts for records, film, and radio broadcast.

Leopold Stokowski loved experimenting with recording and playback technology and was involved in the development of multi-track recording used in some of the first stereo recordings.

He also collaborated with RCA in the use of a multi-track film recorder for the movie 100 Men and a Girl, in which Stokowski played a speaking part, and also with the Fantasound multichannel sound system developed by RCA and Disney engineers for the famous animated movie Fantasia.

So, have you ever wondered what a famous conductor like Dr. Leopold Stokowski—who was not only a brilliant conductor and musician, but was involved in every aspect of research and development advancements in film, recording, and the audio arts during their peak performance advancement periods—would build as his own ultimate loudspeakers for his personal home listening?

Dr. Stokowski's Altecs in my living room shortly after bringing them home.

You are looking at them (above).

Given my love for Altec loudspeakers generally, and the place in history for these unique loudspeakers built for Dr. Stokowski, I have a very sentimental attachment to them, as you might imagine.

After bringing home these charming old vintage Altecs, a bit of serendipity happened: Frederik Carøe (Duelund Coherent Audio) suggested we build new crossovers for them to replace their Altec N-500-D crossovers that had pretty much aged out. They still sounded reasonably good, but it was obvious that the crossover components were tired.

The new crossovers for these beautiful vintage Altecs would showcase Frederik's new line of Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover components that he had developed, and the new tinned-copper CAST capacitors were something revolutionary and unique performance-wise in the world of capacitors. 

Frederik's new Duelund CAST tinned-copper capacitors received the highest rating ever achieved by any capacitor in Tony Gee's highly respected Humble Homemade HiFi's extensive capacitors test ranking (HERE). 

Here's what Tony said about them: 

"It is hard to describe what Duelund CAST Cu-Sn tinned copper foil capacitors can do but they have a certain richness and colour that makes things like voices and acoustic instruments sound very convincing. With "colour" I don't at all mean "coloured", it is more like richer and deeper colours with more nuances. I guess "tangible" is a good word to use to describe them. The sound is intimate and at the same time open. Smooth but never dark. In direct comparison, the CAST-Cu (not tinned) sounds some what stark. I have to be careful here because the CAST-Cu is the most neutral sounding capacitor I know. Saying that the CAST Cu-Sn sounds different could mean that it isn't neutral. But for some reason it simply does come across as the more realistic of the two. I also tried bypassing the CAST Cu-Sn with the 0,01uF Pure Silver Foil. Thinking that this would be turn out extremely good, after all the CAST Cu-Ag is proof that adding a little bit of silver into the mix can realy make a difference. But I prefer the Cu-Sn on its own. Adding the bypass capacitor does increase the amount of detail but the total sound becomes less coherent (not a good thing), sometimes even a bit "nervous". Comparing the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn to other capacitors, the Cu-Sn seemed to sound more "mature" than for example the Jupiter Copper Foil Paper & Wax. This sense of "matureness" was created by a slightly bigger and more spatious presentation. Swapping the Cu-Sn for the Mundorf Supreme Classic Silver Gold Oil did give an increase in top end detail but at the same time the overall sound was less spatious, actually even a bit flat and technical sounding. Now I am nitpicking here, the Mundorf is an extremely good capacitor, it's just that the Duelund is even better. I could get carried away here if I let personal taste get in the way too much. So as a reality check I tried the much lower cost and still very good Jantzen Audio Alumen Z-Cap, just to see if I should indeed rate the Duelund so high. The Jantzen Audio capacitor is a 100VDC aluminium foil type, the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn a 100VDC copper foil type: huge difference! With the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn all types of music flow, become more involving, to such an extent that I was forgetting that I was testing capacitors - I haven't had that experience for years. For example, listening to Kendrick Lamar's album Damn, it seemed as if Lamar was even "cooler" than usual ("cool" = "swag" for all you youngsters out there). When direct A-B comparing between the Duelund CAST CU-Ag and CAST Cu-Sn I would say that with the Cu-Ag the sound is a fraction more detailed at the very top end where as with the Cu-Sn the overall sound has a fraction more body to it. So by now you must know that I like my music to be as neutral and natural as possible and as coherent as possible. The Duelund CAST Cu-Sn does all these things at an extremely high level - plus it also adds a "being there" effect. The CAST Cu-Sn tinned copper foil capacitor is something special."

Thus the Duelund-Altec Project was born. After reading what Tony said, I sure was excited to hear these new Duelund CAST tinned-copper components in crossovers for my Altecs. 

I built up the new crossovers, one of which you can see in the photo below.

Next I installed the new Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers into the high-frequency section of the cabinets. I was very careful not to alter the historic nature of the cabinets so I could preserve their authenticity. 

The crossovers rest upon vibration decoupling pods, which are in turn sitting upon high-tech vibration damping cabinet liners, but are not attached physically to the cabinets in order to protect the original cabinets. 

As you might expect, the results were totally impressive, and those vintage Altecs sang with a sound quality and musicality that I adored. Tony Gee's description fits them to a "T". You can read the full project article with all of my impressions at the time HERE. 

To prepare for the next audio article in my writing queue I moved the Altecs with their beautiful Duelund CAST crossovers out of my living room and stored them for a time in my garage. I became concerned about storing the Altecs in my garage because of temperature variations, so I moved them into my office for storage.

I really had no intention of playing music through them, they were just sitting in my rather small office to keep them safe. But you know how it goes, right? I just had to give them a try.

You hear people saying that you have to install Altecs in auditorium sized rooms for them to work properly. I have found that idea to be nonsense. While Altec A7s and A5s were designed for sound reenforcement in small or medium sized auditoriums or movie theaters, and work great in those applications, they were also designed to be flexible enough to be used in smaller recording studios, and even for home listening with their domestic models. 

The key to getting the big Altecs to work well in smaller listening environments is adjusting their crossovers so that the high and low-frequency drivers are balanced at the listening position, which the original Altec adjustable crossovers were designed to make possible. Once you do that their performance is truly impressive, even in small rooms like my office.

I paired the highly-sensitive Altecs with the superb Triode Labs 45 EVO SET integrated amp, which is the best amplifier I had ever heard with my Westminsters until the arrival of the formidable Audio Note (UK) Tomei 211 SET integrated amplifier. The main advantage of the Tomei is it has ten times the amount of power output of the 45 EVO (about 20 watts compared to 2 watts), which is a better match for the Westminsters sensitivity rating, particularly for albums from the acoustic eras of recording, that are at very low levels. 

I should mention that friend David Gitlen, an amazingly talented jazz guitarist who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jim Hall and Joe Pass back in the day, prefers the 45 EVO to the Tomei for listening to jazz with the Westminsters. He says it better captures the actual sound of the performances he was present at when they were recorded. David has the best ears for hearing what is going on in music and recordings of anyone I have ever met, by a lot. He was also present for some of the recordings we listen to, and was familiar with the guitars and amplifiers used by Jim and Joe for those recordings, so I'll defer to David there. David's not an audiophile, and probably looks at us audio nuts as loonies, but he's a very talented jazz guitarist who enjoys listening to music on a high-fidelity audio system too, and he constantly impresses me with his perceptions about music and recording during our listening sessions. 

On the Westminsters, for listening to the broad range of recordings from the acoustic, electrical, monaural magnetic, stereo magnetic, and digital eras of recording that I enjoy, I think the Tomei does a better job overall because of its additional power, which serves early lower-fidelity recordings with less gain particularly well, and then of course there is the "superpower" aspect that the Tomei 211 SET possesses in the realm of "fidelity of feeling" that makes all of those lower-fidelity early recordings sound and "feel" amazing to experience.   

Back to the Altecs: The 45 EVO paired with the Altecs & their Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers sounds like a "Voice of God" style of presentation. It's a superb combination.

As a source I'm using Yazaki-san's remarkable hot-rodded Douk Audio U4 vacuum tube Bluetooth streaming DAC (above), and streaming music from my iPhone 16 Pro Max, typically from Seattle's Jazz24 or New York's Operavore, which are both superb sources for steaming great music.  

Yazaki-san was really excited about the performance of this humble hot-rodded DAC, which he co-developed with Honda-san. Both of these gentlemen are world-class audio engineers at the bleeding edge of design, and what they've managed to accomplish with the inexpensive hot-rodded U4 is rather mind bending.

Yazaki-san builds hot-rodded U4s for a small select group of music enthusiasts for around $600 USD last time I checked. A true bargain for its level of performance. I have no idea how the hot-rodded U4 turns those rather low-data music streams into such fine sounding musical performances, but it does.  

If I blindfolded you and plopped you down to listen to this system, with its Altec loudspeakers, 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, and hot-rodded U4, I'm thinking you'd say you were hearing either master tapes or exceptional vinyl played back over a truly amazing audio system. It's that good.

I almost forgot to mention that the speaker cables are Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper, the interconnects are Belden 8402 tinned-copper microphone cables, and the power cables are by Sablon Audio - all first rate and affordable choices. 

Also, the Altecs are in room boundary positions, which works really well for smaller rooms like my office. 

Because of the combined qualities of the big sensitive Altec loudspeakers with their sublime Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers, the profoundly good 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier,  in my small office room, it feels like I am sitting in the front row of a live performance completely immersed in and surrounded by the music. 

This system really provides a remarkable listening experience, one that is information rich and full of nuance, rich and deep musical tone colors, natural sound quality, live-like dynamics, tons of presence with instruments and vocals, aural images with lots of body, an intimate and spacious presentation, with outstanding rhythmic flow, and an overall sense of being immersed in the middle of a musical performance with a very transcendental quality to it.  It's a "being there" experience.  

As you can tell, I am absolutely in love with my office system. It is an immensely fun audio system to listen to music with. Yes it is a bit strange for an office system, but it delivers the music with powerful soul transforming listening experiences that never disappoint. 

Ok, that's all for now.

My State Of The Systems Report, Part 3, about my unconventional audio-visual system is up next. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!