Anyone here who had music equipment in the 70s?

[mikehende]

Hey guys, I am contemplating build a real 70s style setup but in particular using only large horns and bass. I know some guys back then used to have that setup. Others had more of a 3 way system with bass, woofers for mids and horns or tweeters for highs.

I would like to hear from anyone who had only horns for mids/highs and bass. If you can tell me if you had the horns wired into a passive crossover inside the bass cabinet or wires directly into an Amp would be great? Thx.

[VexXx Dogg]

Uncle was a DJ in the 80s, and I remember the setup because I use to play the ass around it.

For smaller setups I remember split boxes with passive crossovers bolted inside.

For the bazaar type setup, like the 6 boxes of18" scoops and tops with horns/tweets it was run directly from the amps, so you would have the active crossovers and eqs

[mikehende]

Thanks for sharing. Yes, I have an active crossover now running 2 way stereo but that 70s system setup in the way mentioned was a very special sound which I am trying to get back. I had a neighbor who had that sound but I can't find him anymore to ask how it was setup.

I am guessing to get that sound the horn was connected directly to a passive xover inside the bass cab but need to be sure. I think they used the large Altec horns back then or maybe this Peavey horns:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/12122 ... Mf1-X.html

[Zim]

Pm rollingstock

[mikehende]

I am going through the "members" list to find rollingstock but not seeing his name as there are 92 pages of members names starting with R

[mikehende]

ok, I have found and PM'ed him, thanks.

[RedVEVO]

^^

Not born yet ..

Tuners have some real viejo hombres ..

[mikehende]

Yeah, I had that in mind when I created this thread but worth a shot to possibly find someone from that time with that setup.

[Rovin]

most of d ppl from that era may hardly be on d net - far less on this forum , it must have some local FB group with those guys though , or if u google u most likely will find stuff on foreign forums online , check youtube too

1 of my much older bros was a dj in late 70s early 80s [his DJ name was DJ Moving Sounds , he migrated in d late 80s] , i was a lil baby at that time so i cud barely remember what he had except for 2 racks of piezo tweeters , each rack had about 24 & probably about 10 bass boxes , each box had a big port below d 2 15" or 18" speakers , it used to resemble if i type this : O_O like a human face 2 eyes & a long mouth , was a decent size system

Only items he kept back & we still have : some records, a big heavy ass kenwood 6 chan receiver , pioneer echo reverb , sound shaper 2 eq , technics turntable & a 18" Colussus speaker : NOTHING IS FOR SALE so doh even ask lol ... priceless souvenirs of our past

[mikehende]

lol no worries on the selling part but I appreciate the info. I know some DJ's from the 70s but they used midrange woofers and horns. What I am looking for are those guys who used only horns and bass, no mid woofers and no tweeters. I have a friend trying to get the accurate info from the neighbor who had the setup hoping he can remember and will confirm, will report back if I should be lucky.

What did your bud use for meds with those 2 racks of tweeters, do you remember?

[Rovin]

naw i was a baby at d time my bro was a DJ ...

[mikehende]

No worries.

[X_Factor]

For horns...they were connected directly to the amp...amps would have been Peavy cs800 or Phase amps with the red led light or the meter
Drivers would have been old JBL or MC cauley drivers
Processing would be a couple sound shaper eq ...pioneer crossover....pioneer pre amp

Reproducing the sound in modern day would be hard mainly because those components would be in a repaired state

[mikehende]

Thx. So it was basically a 2 way stereo setup from the xover? I never knew Pioneer made an active crossover, tomorrow I will see if I can track down one, just to get a look at it out of sheer curiosity. I had always believed they ran big horns directly into a passive xover inside the bass cab.

Of course I realize that no way to get that exact sound especially now running mp3's but I figure I can get really close if I use analog equipment only.

Did they use tweeters with the horns? or did they use big horns like these old Peaveys or Altec?

VINTAGE-Peavey-MF1-X-Mid-Frequency-Horn-Driver-Pair.jpg (29.71 KiB) Viewed 4877 times

[Rovin]

i remember yrsssss ago dj nightflight had some big horns seem to be about 3ft x 3ft to my eyes at d time , was a pretty big system long time ....

[mikehende]

That's a very large horn size

[Rovin]

few yrs back i ketch a mad vaps & made a 3ft x 3ft pyramid looking horn experiment out of 3\4 mdf & put a 10" rcf in it [made a pair of this enclosure actually] , not perfectly scientific but to me it sounded like wow , 1 alone was shaking my workshop galvanize & u cud feel it passing thru u ....

[Dave]

A man here had two 18" in a horn type box and has a pair of these monsters. That was delivery.

[X_Factor]

Look one type of midrange horn
It's almost impossible to get those again
Those were used with a midrange driver since highs were covered by the tweeters

[X_Factor]

That's what the crossover looked like back then
Was considered very high end to own one

[mikehende]

Whoa, you are correct, that is an expensive xover and seems to be a very efficient one from the specs here looking at all of the crossover points, seems to be a great option for mids and highs in particular:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/pre-a ... -equipment

https://www.ebay.com/i/174022609106?chn ... tQQAvD_BwE

[mikehende]

Ohh, were these the Phase Amps? If yes I think they were more 80s amps and not 70s?

[X_Factor]

Check that pic out
My father owned quite a few of them
Especially older peavy...yamaha...soundcraft

[mikehende]

Thanks, yeah I had some of them over the years.

[ruffneck_12]

just outta curioustiy

how much would a phase linear amp sell for today?

(i have one in parts and I studying to fix it up)

[mikehende]

On eBay seems you can them for $300 up

[X_Factor]

just outta curioustiy

how much would a phase linear amp sell for today?

(i have one in parts and I studying to fix it up)

locally, not much..maybe 12-1500 depending on condition and extent of repairs

[mikehende]

Was there anything special about this amp, was it maybe a tube amp? I had owned a Phase Linear Preamp in the 80s but not this amp.

[ruffneck_12]

Was there anything special about this amp, was it maybe a tube amp? I had owned a Phase Linear Preamp in the 80s but not this amp.

Wasnt a tube amp.

For the era, it was a BEAST

45 pounds, 700Watts..... In the 70s.
Simple to repair also. All 24 transistors was on the back, so if one bank failed (because 6 transistors were paralleled, four banks total) you could literally just unbolt them and slap in a new set.

If a Modern day amp with those specs fall on your foot, you might just get a scar.

If this amp fell on your foot, you have no more foot.

This amp was just pure BEEF.
Sound quality was top notch at the time as well.

[X_Factor]

Yupp
They were also easy to upgrade
Anyone remembers Heathkit amps?
My father had a couple of these
Was used for bass