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I recently found out my 416-8b have after market cones and its driving me crazy i mean they sound good but what will they sound like with some cones from Great Plains? Has anyone on this forum experienced this and if so how much better did the factory cones sound?
Hi sean,
I would leave well enough alone .
If you like what you have / simply enjoy them for what they offer .
FYI, GPA has dramatically changed ( according to their own spec sheets ) the ts parameters of their modern 416-8B variant .
- Their "modern" cone-kit may not work very well in an older magnetic structure ( such as your woofer represents ) .
- IOW, your 416-8b magnetics may not be up to the challenge of supporting the "heavier" modern GPA kits .
- Also, various threads ( over the years ) indicate that it's far from a slam-dunk to assume that GPA's regaussing service will restore the older magnetic structures to full strength ( & full spec ) .
GPA's most recent variant of the 416-8b has gotten very good ( to great ) reviews . You'd be best to simply buy them outright if you're that curious .
<> :)
PS : Why do you think your current cones are aftermarket ?
I am not happy with the sound of the cones i am comparing them to some 605a duplex i have witch use the same magnetic structure and cone as the 416-8b and my Fake cones don’t sound as good. I know the cones are fake because i have owned and seen and listen to many Altecs in my short time here on earth. Plus i called Great Plains and asked what the cones are marked with.As far as the magnetic structure being different in the new 416-8b as to the old ones this is not true both magnets weight 2.44 pounds both are Alnico V and both have the same Flux density across the magnetic gap of 11,000 gauss. As far as the T/S parameters being different they are identical except for Free air resonance witch is 22.88 HZ compared to the old Free air resonance of 25.10 HZ witch is because of the cones being lighter not heavier and the Qms meaning mechanical resistance.the new 416-8b has a higher Qms of 8.18 as opposed to the old 416-8b 7.05 and the reason for the mechanical Q being higher is because of better spider and surrounds than the old cones. So my 416-8b will actually be better than when new once GP is done with them. When it comes to re magnetize alnico speakers I have never heard of it not being a slam dunk people might assume this because they re magnetize speakers that don’t need it so they hear no improvement if you have Alnico speakers that seen 30 to 35 years of high volume high current usage then yes re magnetize them and you can tell right away it will be a improvement in output. Mine don’t need it they still play at 96.5 db at 1 watt when i tested them. I use new 802 horn drivers from great plains instead of the old 802's and they are different looking they have a bigger body and weight about 2 pounds more but that’s it they are still the same magnet same phase plug same diaphragm comparing them to my old 802 on the same horn they both sound Fantastic no difference at all people have seen the specs for the new 802 and point out their less db at 1 watt than old 802's why? because Altec used a 30" horn in their test and Great Plains use a 511 horn witch is a 23" horn so it loads the diaphragm less therefore less output. Great Plains has done a Fantastic job of keeping everything to spec or better they are true Americans and helping to preserve part of American history. And even if my cheap fake cones sounded as good as Great Plains cones i would still change them why? their not American made all of my system is American made my Amp and Pre amp & cd player & turntable are American made so are my cables the only thing that is not American made on my system beside the cones are the Solen Capacitors witch are made in France and the inductors that are made in Germany.Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl K