Different 416-8A's?

[Glocknroll]

Hi, and glad I found this form. I have been restoring an old set of Altec A-7 500's. I have just bought 2 416-8A woofers,to find out they dont fit. I have found out that there were 2 different sized 416-8A's. One is a 16 inch and one is a 15 inch frame from what I can tell. Any ideas on what I can do to remidy this situation? Glad to have found this site. Any help would be greatly apreciated.

[speakerdave]

I take it your just-acquired pair has the larger frames. They are actually less common than the original ones. It might be easiest to resell those and get a pair of the 416a's or 803a's with the mounting surface on the front of the frame only. The only alternative I know of is to modify your cabinets.

David

[Glocknroll]

Hi, well......acturaly I have the 15 inch frame 416-8A's. The cabinets I am useing I believe to be the Altec 828H model.The mounting holes in the cabinet are just a bit bigger then the speaker. I have read that most 416-8A's have a 14 9/16 mounting diameter.These are just a bit bigger then that. Looks like I go hunting for an older style 416-8A, or something else?...................Thanks for the reply.P.S. the cabinets are set up to have the woofer mounted from the inside.Howard

[speakerdave]

I'm not sure exactly what you are saying. The holes in the 16" frames are slots that could accommodate bolt circles of 14 and 3/4 to 15" or perhaps a little more. The 16" frames can be mounted to the front or the back of the baffle.

To accurately measure the size of the bolt circle either in the cabinet or on the woofer, you should measure on center of the holes.

If the frames of your woofers are 15" overall then they are the old style and can only be mounted to the back of the baffle.

[speakerdave]

The new style, 16" 416-8A frames look like the frame of the 416-8B pictured below (magnet housing of the 8A and 8B are different).

[speakerdave]

Again disregarding the magnet housing itself the old style frame looks as pictured below. It would normally have an additional, light metal, painted magnet housing, and could be grey or green, and could also be called according to the old designation, an 803A.