Quote Originally Posted by ricohman View Post
Actually I think thats not a bad deal. When one figures in the amount of labor it takes to build these big caninets I think its a pretty fair price.
Where can someone buy new drivers/woofers?
Great Plains Audio makes brand new 416-8B and 416-8C woofers. Most Model 19's came "stock" with 416-8B woofers (mine did), but I have it on good authority that the last Model 19's produced came with 416-8C woofers. GPA also makes brand new 902-8A h.f. drivers (which were stock in the later model 19's), and I'm told they now make 802-8G h.f. drivers which were stock in most Model 19's (which are the drivers that are in my Model 19's). Great Plains Audio is owned and operated by former Altec Lansing employees--manufacturing brand new drivers on original Altec Lansing tooling using Altec's original plans/designs.....
Here are the links for the drivers:

http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/downloads/902series.pdf


http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/downloads/416_8C.pdf

Home Page Great Plains Audio's Homepage

I couldn't find any mention/links to the 416-8B or the 802-8G on the GPA website? Is it just that I'm not awake enough yet on this Sunday morning? Can anyone else point ricohman to the links? Is it a problem with their website that I can't readily find these drivers listed there or does GPA no longer produce them?

Also, I just went to GPA's ebay page and noticed that many of their products are not listed there. They have established quite a name for themselves, but there are still a lot of vintage Altec enthusiasts out there who haven't heard of them--people that do Altec searches on ebay for drivers, diaphragms etc. I think GPA could increase their client base by listing every single product they manufacture on ebay--even if they just mention several of their products at the end of one of their ebay listings so that anyone searching for those Altec parts on ebay will learn that GPA manufactures brand new parts for vintage Altecs...... For example, I just did an ebay search for "Altec 902" and "Altec 416-8B" and Great Plains Audio's parts/listings do not come up on those searches. I've got to think that's potential business lost..... Not to mention I don't see any of their diaphragms listed either. Between woofers, h.f. drivers, and diaphragms not coming up on ebay searches that's got to be a decent amount of potential business lost---and potential exposure--anyone searching for those drivers or diaphragms on ebay should IMHO see GPA results in their search and this could be the first time many of these people have ever heard of GPA--could be a great way to "spread the word". Even if these newly informed people don't buy now, at least they'd be aware of GPA the next time they blow a woofer or diaphragm etc. In other words, it might not amount to many sales now, but it would promote awareness of GPA which could in time "snowball" their client base as people who become newly aware of them (thanks to an ebay search) either blow drivers or start building cabinets for new projects etc. and eventually do business with GPA. I think ebay is often the first place people turn to for vintage Altec parts--and it seems a huge missed opportunity for someone doing a search on ebay for Altec parts to not see GPA results in their search. Anyone who's in touch with Bill might want to pass this suggestion on to him. I've got to think that just about everyone on this board needs GPA to thrive for many years to come to provide repairs and brand new parts to keep all the vintage Altecs alive and well. Anything we can do to help promote them is in all of our best interests......

billatgpa items - Get great deals on Electronics items on eBay.com!


(Last minute addition) I just did a very general ebay search for "Altec Lansing diaphragm" and not one GPA result came up--but plenty of results like this came up:

Diaphragm for Altec 604 802 806 808 8 ohm NEW P#10-908 - eBay (item 220314678199 end time Feb-06-11 12:35:43 PST)

And I see activity (bids/questions asked) on some of these non GPA listings! No one else's ad says anything to the effect of "Great Plains Audio is owned and operated by former Altec Lansing employees--manufacturing brand new drivers on original Altec Lansing tooling using Altec's original plans/designs" because no one else can truthfully say that--GPA has a huge edge due to their credentials. One ebay ad could list all of GPA's diaphragm part numbers and have the words "Altec diaphragm" in it and then they would come up as a result for EVERY ebay search whenever someone's looking for new diaphragms instead of coming up in zero search results. I know GPA doesn't currently do a lot of ebay business, but I think passing this suggestion on to them could help change that and in time "snowball" awareness of them/client base.