Altec 421 woofer

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Originally Posted by Audio_by_Goodwill

It's a smaller horn, so it's not a single driver (smaller) 815, if that's what you're after.

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Right. And the small horn reinforces the area where a 421 is louder than a 416. The effect is to make the system more forward and aggressive. Good for kicking vocal over audience noise. Which was the reason for the 421/A7.

I recommend the bigger horn, or a bass reflex...making the port a little smaller, the paper dome I mentioned earlier, and band limiting will deal with the issues GM mentioned. Add a sub, and sounds pretty darn good. If I wanted to use the bent 32B with a 15, that might even be my final choice.

Hmmm...if this dang heat would go away mebbe I'll make some sawdust. I WOULD like to hear that.:)

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Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

Replace the shiny dustcap with a vented paper one, slap a piece of duct tape over the vent on the back of the magnet, and 95% of the population(audiophools included) won't have a clue they're not listening to a genuine alnico 416 or 515. In fact, i'd be very surprised if many of the altec experts could pick the 421 in a blind test without the aluminum dome in place.

Just my .02.........................

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I got offered a pair of 1233 PA speakers cheap. They have 421-8 LF's with 811 horns and 808 drivers. The cabinet volume is about 10.25 cubic ft. Is it possible to do a DIY conversion and have some home stereo speakers that would be acceptable to my relatively untrained ear?

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Originally Posted by artlab

I got offered a pair of 1233 PA speakers cheap. They have 421-8 LF's with 811 horns and 808 drivers. The cabinet volume is about 10.25 cubic ft. Is it possible to do a DIY conversion and have some home stereo speakers that would be acceptable to my relatively untrained ear?

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Probably. Retune the boxes using one of the available programs, convert the 808's to 802's and recap the crossovers would do wonders.


Or new boxes from scratch, even better.

Running them active and adding an EQ also works. Doesn't hurt to extend the holes into ports and adding some socks. (aperiodic)

RE the various dust cap mods, it should be noted that the aluminum dome is responsible for dumping a lot of heat from the voice coil (aim an IR thermometer at them in use for proof). I've temporarily painted them with liquid vinyl like GM suggested to tone them down a bit for blues guitar, but OG's 4" paper dust caps probably have less thermal effect (screen-vented from 416 should be best).

Right about the 8HII being the highest power rated, when they came out, Altec offered a lifetime guarantee... unheard of in the MI world.

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Originally Posted by bfish

....... but OG's 4" paper dust caps probably have less thermal effect (screen-vented from 416 should be best).

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Isn't the screen vented cap going to cause problems becasue of the vent in the motor? .......it'll be vented on both sides.

Not if you install it over the aluminum cap (leave it in place).

The 416 dome is 4", 421s metal dome is 3". Plenty of room between them.

A felt dome might be something to think about. It could breathe.


Although I suspect in Hi-Fi use the back vent would suffice...

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Originally Posted by Old Guy

Right. And the small horn reinforces the area where a 421 is louder than a 416.

I recommend the bigger horn, or a bass reflex......Add a sub, and sounds pretty darn good. If I wanted to use the bent 32B with a 15, that might even be my final choice.

Hmmm...if this dang heat would go away mebbe I'll make some sawdust. I WOULD like to hear that.

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True, one would normally either address this in the XO design in a HIFI/HT app or just EQ it.

Agreed, I was/am quite fond of the 421-8H with a light coating of rubber cement on the DC in a compact TQWT tuned to ~55 Hz for an 80 Hz XO.

Yeah, I've been trying to get my garage and workshop cleaned up/back in service for months now, but between a worse than usual pollen season and Summer heat/smog I've been ~ under house arrest, so only about half finished. :(

GM

I was reading this thread and just thought I'd mention that I've got a couple of blown 421 woofers here--if anyone's interested I'd sell them for next to nothing and GPA could make them good as new.....