Altec 291@288 drivers

[chris haberland]

Thanks for your help.I have adentified the driver as a 291.What i would like to know is,i have a chance to buy either a 291 or the monster 288.They both have stereo voice coils and diaphrams.Do these drivers work well in stereo applications and if so is the larger 288 driver the better of the two.Thanks again for your help, Chris.

[Jim D]

I have to have more info. There are quite a few marks of each and they all are slightly different. If the 288 is larger that means it is a later model and yes, probably is more applicable to HiFi than a smaller 291. The diaphragms between the 288 and 291 interchange. Let us know your complete model numbers and we can give you more info. Jim

[chris haberland]

The model number for the 288 is 288,8G and the 291 is 291,16A.Thanks Chris.

[Jim D]

The 291 has the old smaller motor, the equivilant of the 288C,D,E. The 288G is the larger alnico motor with the 288 diaphragm. It is more efficient and has more HF potential than the other. Both have anular phase plugs. Some people consider the 288G the best of all the ALTEC Large formats. They are excellent, however I prefer those later models with Tangerine radial phase plugs. Jim