The 604B -III lives on. Great Plains Audio has purchased the tooling and rights to the 604 series.
They were employed at Altec before the breakup.
Just installed a pair in 7 cu ft cabinets. Beautiful sound with great clarity.
Check out their website http://www.greatplainsaudio.com for models and spec sheets.

These speakers give life to music. The mid is totally transparent. There's nothing between you and the music. For energy, presence, dynamic and the feeling of live music, they simply are unbeatable! And with an efficiency of 100 db with one watt, you can feed them with a small amp. A cupple of watts is enough.

The driver in the mid is so transparent that it requires a GOOD electronic. Tubes or VERY GOOD solid states. The 604-8G also requires a BIG enclosure. The recommended cabinet is the 620A (same as the 17) which has 9 cubic foot and weights 138 lbs. But I wouldn't call this a weakess. I would call it reality. You cannot get the feeling of live music with small or inefficient speakers.

I bought a pair of Altec 620A about 8 years ago. The 620A is the pro version of the 17. They have the same 604-8G driver.
I got them from a women who bough them for her recording studio back in the 70's. She actually bough the same kit as Andre Perry, who was then the engineer and owner of the famous Morin Heights Sound Studio, north of Montreal. This studio was among the best in the world. Anyway, I nearly died when I saw these speakers. It was love at first sight.
If you're into music made between 1965 and 1985, they are unbeatable. They give an incredible realism to music... I could go on and on but let's just say they are a classic. The 604 driver was built for over 50 years with lots of improvements and innovations. How many speakers we're built that long? The 604-8G was the last one they made and possibly their most accomplished. I've used a 604-8G for over 15 years (I've also had Altec Stonenedge III). They are unbeatable!

Similar Products Used:

Altec VOT (A-7), Stonenedge III and Tannoy Belvedere (15 inch version).

MIDRANGE the best I have heard no wonder they are used in public address if there good enough for the presedent there good enough for us.

there are none

truly one of the best loudspeakers in the world today altec was leaps and bounds ahead of there time and puts most of todays loudspeakers to shame thease monitors will littraly bring you to tears they do everything right from shimering highs awsome mids and thundering base relisum I have yet to hear a loudspeaker that can touch them in the areas that count they are peticular good on voice so real its spooky voices are right there in the room just like a live performance base notes to are exceptional I can hear every thundering note cris squire plucks from his famous rickenbouker that I never quite hear from my prevous system whitch was also an altec stonehenge one and two combo as thease gems age there value is sky rocketing and are becoming harder to find a big following in the fareast for the model 17 604-8gs where most of thease have been exported for good reason I beleave some day they will corner the market on thease state of the art studio monitors so come on you altec fans around the world lets try and keep up and buy thease at home while you still can god bless JAMES B. LANSING U.S.A.

Similar Products Used:

altec stonehenge 1 and 11

I remember the Model 17 well, an incredibly good loudspeaker, with tubes or solid state. The 604-8G was the last alnico Duplex Altec made and has the Mantaray CD horn, many Altec freaks consider it the finest of the breed.

Altec 604-8g

I remember getting the raw drivers for like $400/pr back in 1975, and had to build my own cabinets with Altec's plans that they provided. They sounded amazing with my Crown DC300. Then, about 1977, a company named UREI paired these drivers with another 15' Altec in the same cabinate and were selling them as the then state of the art studio monitors. I heaed a pair of these at the AES in '78 and have NEVER found anthing that could play louder with such clarity and bass.
Really wish I could find a pair of THOSE monitors!!!!

This is a duplex(coaxial,concentric) speaker in a model 620 cabinet marketed as the Altec model 17.It is big,40"x26"x18" and has a front port.It has a compression driver/multicell horn concentrically placed in the middle of a 15"bass driver.All the drivers have alnico V magnets(2.5 times more energy than a ferrite magnet of comparable weight.The massive alnico magnets is one reason why it is so sensitive(105dB).30Hz to 22kHz.produced from 1973 to 1979.You can get more info a pictures of this speaker form "The Horn Speaker Home Page".There is also a review of a similar speaker(altec 604-8K)in http://www.audioreview.com/techtalks/speakers/messages/16352.htmlBe forwarned:I have only listened to this speaker with a direct heated single ended triode amplifier driving it.You can more than enough volume from a few watts and wouldn,t even need a preamp if you just listen to CD's.
These speakers are breathtaking.It can do macro and microdynamics like there is no tomorrow.It brings you the power of the music.It plays effortlessly with an ease that make music seem to flow out of it without a hint of strain.Its got correctness of timbre,startling transients,low distortion at all volumes,clarity and coherency.Clean and powerful bass,realism and prescence,detail,excellent tonal balance and dynamic contrast not to mention an immense sounstage.The highs are sweet and airy,the midrange seemless,clear and lush,the bass powerful,tight and bouncy.The cymbals shimmer,the drums played with weight and body,the horns sound like real horns and the reeds sound reedy.The strings are sweet and airy,voices sound like real voices, guitar strings actually vibrate.I can go but you get the picture.Due to its vintage they are not easy to find and most of these gems have been exported to the Far East where they are highly treasured but if you look hard enough you can still
find them.If you come across a pair make sure you give it a listen you'll probably get hooked too.