Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂

This is Part 3 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 with Duelund CAST crossovers and the superb Level Four Audio Note (UK) electronics, you can read that report HERE. 

You can read Part 2 about my office system based on vintage Altec "A7" loudspeakers with the superb 2 watt Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, and with Yazaki-san's modified Douk Audio U4 vacuum tube Bluetooth streaming DAC as a source HERE. 

Now in Part 3 I'll give you an update about my audio-visual system, based on vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers.

Audio-Visual System Report

Mine is a vintage inspired "theater" system, where my goal was to setup a downscaled home version of the sort of theater experience that was relatively common in the small-town movie theaters of my youth, sixty-some years ago now. 

Going back to the beginning: In 1877 Thomas Edison invented recording with the phonograph, and kicked off the acoustic era of recording that lasted until 1925, when Western Electric initiated the electrical era of recording with the development of microphones, amplifiers, disc cutting machines, loudspeakers, and sound reenforcement for movies.

Western Electric supported the theater movie sound business until 1936, when the movie theater industry declined dramatically during the depression, and then Western Electric decided to abandon the rapidly declining movie theater sound part of their business.

In response, a group of Western Electric engineers (George Carrington, Mike Conrow, and Alvis Ward) founded Altec in 1937 (Altec stands for "all technical") to pick up where Western Electric had left off in supporting the movie theater sound business.

Altec managed to survive the difficult economics of those next few years, and then in 1941 acquired the Lansing Manufacturing Co. loudspeaker company from Jim Lansing, so they could expand their business opportunities by manufacturing equipment to supply to movie theaters, and Altec Lansing was born.

In 1945 the first Altec Lansing VOTT loudspeakers, like the A1, A2, A4, and the A5, began to appear behind the screens in movie theaters, and by 1955 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences adopted the "Voice of the Theatre" loudspeakers as the industry standard.

Ever since I’ve been writing about audio I’ve been interested in the contribution that Altec Lansing VOTT loudspeakers have made to film, music, and audio.

Keith Aschenbrenner of Auditorium 23

I fondly remember interviewing Keith Aschenbrenner of Auditorium 23 for an article I wrote back in 2005, where Keith told me stories about events that influenced him in his audio interests. One of those experiences occurred in the early 1980s while Keith was traveling to Brittany in the west of France during the holidays, and he came across the French enthusiast audio magazine L´Audiophile.

L´Audiophile had opened a shop in Paris to demonstrate their do-it-yourself (DIY) audio projects and to sell parts to the DIY hi-fi hobbyists of France. Keith told me that listening to music at L´Audiophile over their system was a shock to him. Keith told me that when he listened to L´Audiophile’s demonstration system using VOTT loudspeakers, he immediately realized that his hi-fi system at home was a far cry from the musical realism and dynamic truths that the L´Audiophile system with those VOTT loudspeakers achieved so easily.

When Keith got back home he and his friend Norbert Gütte experimented with VOTT loudspeakers and single ended amplifiers (SETs), with the goal of musical realism, which was sparked by the listening sessions at L' Audiophile.

Keith told me about how the combination of his first 300B SET amplifier with his VOTT loudspeakers was “… just like a musical Christmas present. In the beginning, we handled it like Sunday shoes. The harmonic integrity and musical realism were astonishing. We went from using it for special demonstrations only to using it every day.”

Then I read John Stronczer's (Bel Canto Design) article in Sound Practices Issue 11, telling about when he first heard Jean Hiraga’s Altec-Lansing A5 VOTT loudspeakers at the Nouvelle Revue du Son listening room in Paris. John said, “I confess that it was love at first listen with the A5s. I mean I listened to a single bar and I knew.” John went on to adapt an Altec Lansing A5 VOTT loudspeaker system for home use for his own music listening pleasure.

Keith's and John's experiences had a big influence on me, and I really wanted a pair of the A5s of my own to play with.

The A5s were introduced in 1945 as part of Altec Lansing's professional audio line, designed specifically for small to medium sized movie theaters. Over time they would become renowned for their high-fidelity and high-sensitivity, contributing significantly to sound reinforcement in cinemas.

Jean Hiraga developed a crossover circuit for the A5 that was optimized for high-fidelity music listening in a home environment, which created a wave of interest in them. Powered by 300B single-ended-triode amplifiers, the big A5s started migrating from the movie theaters into hi-fi enthusiasts homes, to become a hi-fi cult classic combination. 

I wanted to have a pair of A5s as similar to Jean Hiraga's as I could find. I contacted Gary Fischer (Gary Fischer Speakers) to find out what he had access to. 

To serve as the foundation for my A5 VOTT Project, Gary had access to two 825B cabinets, two 16 Ohm 515B Alnico low-frequency drivers, and two 16 Ohm 288C Alnico high-frequency compression drivers that he could build up into a fully restored pair of A5s for me.

Jean Hiraga used Altec 1505B high-frequency horns for his A5s, which I really wanted too, but at that time there were none to be had, so we went with 1005B high frequency horns, which was another classic Altec-Lansing A5 VOTT combination of components. 

Should you want to go down a similar path, these days, Gary Fischer (Gary Fischer Speakers) in collaboration with Marcus Klug (Klughoerner) and Santos Oropel (Great Plains Acoustics), can build you a brand new pair of reproduction Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers using Gary's custom cabinets, Marcus Klug's beautiful hand-crafted wood 1505B horns, and Great Plains Acoustics latest versions of the large format Altec compression & low-frequency drivers. You can read more about them HERE. 

Gary did a beautiful job of restoring my vintage Altec A5 VOTT loudspeakers, and you can read more details about Gary's work with my A5's in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the posts I wrote about them. 

I installed my A5 loudspeakers into my smallish "theater" room (spare bedroom) towards the end of December 2016, in room-boundary positions (room corners), which is the best way to place large loudspeakers in smaller rooms. 

I built up a pair of Hiraga-style A5 crossovers for high-fidelity sound, with the addition of a set of 16 Ohm L-pads on the high-frequency portion of the circuit, so I could balance the output of the high-frequency compression drivers to the output of the low-frequency drivers at my listening-watching position. 

Don't let anyone tell you that the big Altecs don't work well in small rooms - that's a myth. They work amazingly well if you dial-in the output of the high-frequency compression drivers using an L-pad to match the output of the low-frequency drivers at the listening position. Then they provide an absolutely immersive and mesmerizing listening experience.

One of the beautiful things about Altec A5 VOTTs is that they are highly-sensitive loudspeakers, which makes them an ideal match to the very best in amplification: low-powered singled-ended-triode amplifiers are a match made in heaven to the A5s. 

Originally, the Altec A5s were designed for use with 300B SET amplifiers, and as I found with the Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier, the combination of A5s with 300B SET amplification is absolutely stellar, providing an immersive listening experience with an "you are in the movie" otherworldly psychedelic quality to it.

Alas, the Meishu had to go on its way to its new home after my Positive Feedback review of it, but the Meishu remains the finest amplification I have ever heard powering my A5 VOTTs, and I deeply miss its presence. 

Leben CS-600 with Sophia Electric EL34-ST tubes.

Leben CS-300F integrated amplifier.

While I will continue to pine away for a 300B integrated amplifier until I have one to pair with my A5 VOTTs, in the meantime I have been alternating between the lovely Leben CS-600 or Leben CS-300F vacuum tube integrated amplifiers during the cool winter months, and the cool running SPEC RSA-M3 Real Sound Class D integrated amplifier designed by Yazaki-san for those hot summer months. 

SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier.

I have a 77" LG OLED C3 Evo television that I absolutely adore for enjoying movies or TV shows. It's as big as I could go for use between my Altec A5 VOTTs without obscuring the screen with the high-frequency 1005B horns. 

I use an Apple TV for streaming video content to the LG C3 via HDMI, with the optical out from the LG C3 feeding an Mhdt Lab Havana vacuum tube DAC, whose RCA outputs connect it to the integrated amplifier for sound output.  

I use an OPPO UDP-203 Blu-ray player for spinning DVDs or Blu-Rays, or an occasional CD.

All of the RCA interconnects are Belden 8402 tinned-copper microphone cable interconnects, and the speaker cables are Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper. Power cords are by Acoustic Revive.

This A5 VOTT based system really fulfills my small-town vintage theater fantasy for home listening-viewing. It is such a satisfying experience that I just never seem to be able to get enough of it. 

Do I have any dreams for the future? Well I suppose so. Ideally I would like to have a pair of Marcus Klug's hand-crafted wood 1505B wooden horns atop my A5s, and of course I would like to have a 300B SET integrated amplifier for that authentic A5 VOTT theater listening experience. I keep looking at the ANK Kit 1-15 300B integrated amplifier as a possible match to the A5s, and wondering what it might be like. But that's it. Until then I will continue to immensely enjoy this audio-visual system that makes every TV show or movie an enchanting experience.

Ok, that's all for now.

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