Have there been discussions of how Altec woofers compare,406,414 & 416 to one another

[moray james]

My searches have been coming up blank. I am wondering especially how the two smaller woofers compare to the 416? The 406 has a lot of motor and a light cone and looks like it might be a superior choice in a dual ten configuration certainly over a single 12 or even a single fifteen with somewhat limited output but looks very nice. Thanks for comments and direction to threads of interest. Best regards Moray James.

[Horn Fanatic]

My searches have been coming up blank. I am wondering especially how the two smaller woofers compare to the 416? The 406 has a lot of motor and a light cone and looks like it might be a superior choice in a dual ten configuration certainly over a single 12 or even a single fifteen with somewhat limited output but looks very nice. Thanks for comments and direction to threads of interest. Best regards Moray James.

Greetings MJ -

Not first hand familiar with the 406, but my choice would be the 414 driver. It's the 12" version of the 416. They're both wonderful drivers fit for many applications. Consider the Avalon, Malibu, Carmel and 9844 systems which use a pair of 414 with the 811 horn. Put some vacuum tubes in front of those babies and they'll part the Red Sea. Play them at conversational level and the detail is remarkable. A single 414 was also used in the Seville and Coronado systems, although they were paired with the 3000H horn tweeter. As the tweeter was crossed over at 3K I envision somewhat of a hole between the two, what with the paper dome on the woofer. More of a gap with the 601 & 602 CoAx's. I own a 602B, and there is definitely a hole between the woofer and tweeter. I suppose the 602 cone would be similar to the 803.

Then you have the Corona which used a single 803, and the Model 19 which used a single 416. Both used the 811 horn. The Laguna, as well as the Heathkit Legato, used a pair of 803 and 511 horn. The 803 was superseded by the 416. Are they similar speakers? Hard to tell without a T-S Parameter comparison. The one thing I can say about the Laguna, is that it's a worthy competitor to the Hartsfield.

The only thing those ALTEC systems really need, as with vintage JBL systems, are up to date better designed crossovers absent the silly attenuator. I think using the current 902 compression driver with the radial phase plug is definitely in order as well, and definitely on a radial horn. Perhaps better box tuning also.

Good luck,

H.F.

[Ed Kreamer]

I have had the pleasure of using all three, 416,414 and 806. In general, all three are superb in mid bass and up but low bass capabilities are somewhat lacking in my experience. If used in pairs such as the 9844 and the 843 Malibu, the 414 benefitted from the close coupling and produce pretty decent bass. I once used the 414 as a low frequency driver in a 3 way system modeled after the 4311/4315. I was not happy with the low bass performance of the my system. I also built a 2 way system using 2 416's and the 511/802, crossing over at 500 Hz. I also incorporated the 30904 EQ unit that Altec made at the time. I thought that I had achieved audio heaven. I was soon married and Heaven would have to wait, ( at least as far as audio was concerned) as I suddenly became aware of the Wife Acceptance Factor. I've strayed somewhat from my brief regarding the three drivers here.

As I recall all three drivers sound quite similar with the 416 getting the nod for best low bass, as one would expect.

Ed