A 416 dilemma. What to do?

[Earl K]

I just wish there was a way to pull the magnet structure without ripping the cone off because I have two identical magnets that I would donate to the investigation. Can the spider be moved and the screw heads be gotten to? I really don't know. Maybe we could drain and recharge mine and stick them on Pano's baskets. I just dunno. My investment, if it was much, was a long time ago and long ago forgotten. And besides OG is pretty sure I'm full of it in the 418B department and it may be the unit I have that still works is in need of a re-mag/cone etc to be representative anyway. In other words, let's rip them up and give it another try. But I would insist on GPA just to keep all things consistent. I'll rip the cones out tonight Pano, and send you the magnets if you want to get to the bottom of it. Just a guess but, I looked at them and I think a guy could get inside for a look and then do a quick mig weld for closure. They were welded shut once, they could be done again.

Dan, that's a very generous offer, to give up your 418s for the sake of science .

FYI, ( the scuttlebutt that I've heard is ) once the magnetic circuit is broken ( by removing either the back-plate or the top-plate ) , the alnico slug must be recharged .
I believe it has something to do with a possible field reversal ( leading too a partial demag ) when the plates are pried apart ( & apparently the direction of the plate movement also matters ) .

I can spot chicken shit and envy from mile away though.
This thread, and I'm not talking about everyone, has brought out the lynch mob mentality here and I think it's time for some moderation.

In my neck of the woods we use the phrase "fly shit" to describe the action of "obsessing over a trivial matter" .

I'm not sure if that was the message behind your words that I've quoted but ( fwiw ) I don't believe this is a worthless obsession to find a way to tweak the SOP of a company ( GPA ) when the change will educate the consumer and allow him to avoid fruitless repairs and expense .

I don't see how this ultimately hurts the PR of any company .

I do understand that many companys wish to avoid the dialogue necessary to get there ( identify a problem & rectify it ) . I hope the GPA is one of those companies that embraces a bit of change when that change is beneficial to all parties .

Obviously I'm bummed because I thought that having the woofers reconed and remagnetized would bring them back to spec. That was not the case for mine.

My desire was to learn more about vintage drivers so that maybe I would not get burned with a bad purchase in the future.

Lets not lose sight of the fact that at this juncture this has now cost Pano some real money ( all in a lousy economy where no ones losses are as quickly forgiven ) .

Anyways, the ( following ) suggested changes to GPAs Standard Operating Procedure ( SOP ) are to avoid these situations ( as referenced in Pano's quote ) . These suggestions are now a week old see here !

• The tweak ( to procedure ) would be to have GPA remag first and then check the gauss level in the gap before proceeding with a recone .
• In the event the magnetic assembly won't hold the charge ( I think it's @ 11,000 gauss within the gap ) then the customer is contacted for further direction .
• I haven't completely thought through the consequences of a negative being given by the customer ( after hearing a woofer is a no-go ) / though I speculate that the alnico slug may still have some value to GPA if it's placed into a better return circuit . Anyways, the customer may just decide to cut his loses at that point and leave GPA to do what they will with the reject .
• Anecdotal evidence ( from Bill Hs experience with magging ) indicates this may be a rare occurance . Therefore I can see some customers opting to avoid the extra test / assuming it's made optional .
• This extra step would need to cost more than the $ 15.00 which Brad ( bfish ) has quoted as the present cost ( since the guass check would slow down the repair process ) .
• There is no reason that this added step ( & cost ) can't be made voluntary from the get-go ( initial contact between customer & GPA ). ie ; the customer is asked if he wants the extra step taken to determne if his woofer is a viable candidate for reconing .

BTW Dan, are you going to shoot Todd White a PM to get involved here in this thread ?

<> cheers Earl K