Hi, I just won two of these(one working and one not working), I won them for 182 US$, Do they worth it? How do they sound?
Thanks,
Eliya Gwetta.

anyone? rodaboad?

Man, we got like 6 inches of snow overnight here in Scotland.
He's probably out having a snowball fight!

ziessB wrote:Man, we got like 6 inches of snow overnight here in Scotland.
He's probably out having a snowball fight!

Yeah, this snow is ridiculous! Hopefully I will be unable to commute to Glasgow on Monday morning! ZiessB, what's your banter?

Altec 670B? Hmmm. Looks a little like an Altec Birdcage ( http://www.electrical.com/item.php?page ... es/143.jpg ), but with a different housing...

The Altec 639 is similar to the STC / Coles 4033 which I own. Basically, it has two transducers - a ribbon and a moving-coil. The pattern switch mixes these two transducers together to get a synthesized pattern (eg. cardioid).

The STC 4033 is a well-designed, clever microphone (as are all STC / Coles mics). It has a slightly weird sound which I think most people would describe as being "coloured". It is huge, and you could probably kill someone with it if you threw it hard enough at their head.

Back to the Altec 670B..... Either get more data for it (from Google, etc) or open it up carefully to see if the parts inside are the same as a 639. It might be a newer, smaller version of the 639. That is partly the reason for getting rid of the 4033 at the BBC - they were too bloody big!

Eliya, for that price, I would say you got a very, very good deal. Perhaps contact Clarence Kane (ENAK) regarding re-ribboning. Get the broken one repaired and you may find that the "working" one needs re-ribboned too...

Well, my guess wasn't great....

http://www.coutant.org/altec670/index.html

The mic uses an "acoustic labyrinth" (ie. an empty cavity) to change the pattern of the mic. RCA used this technique (with the 77 I think...)

Looks to be good quality. Set the switch under the label to position 2 to get the highest output..

Eliya, if you are interested in selling the broken one, then send me a PM because I might be interested.

Roddy

Thanks for your reply rodabod! Looks like it's going to be a cool mic.
Actually, I was thinking of fixing the broken one myself(maybe it's just some faulty solderings), Would you help?

Thanks for your replies! It really helped!

eliya wrote:Would you help?

Yes, of course!

If you are lucky then it might be a bad joint, but it is more likely to be a bad ribbon....

Be careful when opening it!