Difference between 414 variants

[Ben Clarke]

Picked up a pair of 9844A today. 806 on 811B. Twin 414 12" woofs in a vented box. One box has 414Z, the other has 414-16B. What's the difference? I did searches on all the forums I know of, (obviously including this one), but came up with nothing.

[Steve Gonzales]

Ben, I had a pair with the SAME set-up!. I take it that the 414Z's have a gold basket and the 414-16B's black right?. I'm happy to tell you that they are sonically identical. Same specs. I'll bet that the enclosure that has the gold basket 414's also has a green horn and driver, right?.

[spkrman57]

414Z is the model for in cabinets. 414B has nice can cover for customers who buy over the counter. Both are 16 ohm.
Ron

[Steve Gonzales]

I would like to know if the 414Z's have the gold basket and the 414-16B's the black?

[Ben Clarke]

Thanks for the guidance, guys. I do appreciate the info. Steve, the colors are as you say, but the 806/811 combo is black in both.


The one with the Z's has an odd crossover. Looks homemade. Also, I can see that there once was a gold grill cloth over the woofers. It was cut from the front, but I can see where it was stapled on the interior. They're brush-painted flat black now. Any suggestions for a repaint? I've got a great paint guy (I hit a deer a year.)

I'm going to try to make some time to get these placed and connected this weekend. I burned a whole day of free time (that's about two weeks worth) going to get them.

[Steve Gonzales]

The 9844's I owned had a lightly textured grey finish with a "FENDER TWIN" type grill cloth. Parts Express has some retro/vintage cloth that would go nicely if you were to restore them. I don't think that it would be too hard to look at the one good stock n800f and duplicate it too. The twin 414's in that large enclosure must sound good, again, I'm sorry that I never did any critical listening tests. I do hope you will post pictures of them once you are done and relate your personal impressions of this classic monitor. Good luck with your new project!-Steve

[Ben Clarke]

The 9844's I owned had a lightly textured grey finish with a "FENDER TWIN" type grill cloth. Parts Express has some retro/vintage cloth that would go nicely if you were to restore them. I don't think that it would be too hard to look at the one good stock n800f and duplicate it too. The twin 414's in that large enclosure must sound good, again, I'm sorry that I never did any critical listening tests. I do hope you will post pictures of them once you are done and relate your personal impressions of this classic monitor. Good luck with your new project!-Steve

Great idea, Steve. I had seen that cloth, as I am considering adding grill cloth to my bass guitar speakers to match my vintage Ampeg stuff. I'm running some new stuff designed by Bill Fitzmaurice, and it looks a bit wild.

So for the Altecs, I was flipping some pages last night in the PE catalog, and noticed the tweed cloth covering right below that grill material. Hmmmm.... 9844 in tweed with Oxblood cloth? I've got some work to do first, but I'm thinking about it.