A 416 dilemma. What to do?

**Cal Weldon** · June 3rd, 2010, 04:04 PM

Any update?

**Panomaniac** · June 3rd, 2010, 08:05 PM

No, they are a GPA. Guess I'll give Bill a call tomorrow. I'll be out of town all next week for work.

**Panomaniac** · June 16th, 2010, 05:02 PM

Just got the driver back from GPA. Looks like the "reverse remag maneuver" worked.
Big thanks to Todd and Bill.

The better woofer didn't change much, but the "bad" one did. Went from a Qts of 0.6 to Qts of 0.4 and that results in a gain of a few dB. Vas is closer, too. Polarity is now correct.

The calculated BL (force in the gap) went way up on the bad driver. From 8.6 to 12.3. That's a big improvement and really makes the drivers usable. And the 2 drivers are now much closer to each other. They match better than the 416s I'm using now. Even the impedance curves are close.

They aren't as efficient or as low Qts as the 416-8As I bought from O.G. in the A7s, but that may be for a reason. Perhaps GPA is building voice coils and cones with solid state amps in mind. What I have now should work well with low output impedance solid state amps. Better than the old spec drivers that where meant for tube amps.

Thanks to everyone who helped on this. :thankU:

**mattvandyke** · June 17th, 2010, 05:33 PM

This was a neat experience for us Altec users. A pair of 416's were saved and should be in play for another 30+ years.

A great story with a happy ending.

Matt

**Panomaniac** · June 17th, 2010, 10:20 PM

Thanks guys! Yes, these went from an expensive pair of ashtrays to real, live speakers thanks to the keen eye of Todd White and the good work of GPA. And as you say, we all learned something.

Next week I'll pop these in my 828 cabinets to hear how they sound. Really looking forward to it!

**Altec Best** · June 17th, 2010, 10:30 PM

Yes Todd hunted down the info on that reverse switch on the re-magnetizer. Top - Notch Todd, great work.Those drivers were almost trashed and what a waste that would have been.....

**Todd W. White** · June 18th, 2010, 01:03 PM

Gee - thanks guys. Just tryin' to help...

**Altec Best** · June 18th, 2010, 03:30 PM

Don't mention it Todd. Good Job !!! Mike was heading to a dead-end with those drivers.Saved him some nice coin! :2thumbsup: :coffeedrinker:

**artlab** · June 18th, 2010, 03:56 PM

One question I've not seen answered. What was your total cost out of pocket?

**Panomaniac** · June 18th, 2010, 04:19 PM

Total cost? Wow, I don't know. More than I want to think about. Most of it in shipping. UPS was the winner in this deal.

More than a good used pair would have cost me, I'm sure. But these have now have strong magnets and new cones, so should last me the rest of my life. That's saying something.