Altec 32343 Network Divider

**RonSSS** · April 27th, 2011, 09:59 PM

The 2.21" says 806 type driver. I can't find my calipers, but a tape measure confirmed that.
So next question is the phase plug. Just use a flashlight in the throat....remove it from the horn....and tell us if it's silver or orange.

Then be sure to measure the resistance to make sure it's not dead.

Alwaws fun to remove the frams and get the part number....but if you haven't done it, you can damage them pretty easy.

If you want to try, I'll give you my procedure.

These odball 806's of mine have the desired 23744 lightweight frams and the tangerine phase plugs.

And yeah, these have been sitting in my living room half assembled for 6 months now. I just need to remove one bug screen, put them together and haul em down to the audio room.

It's hot rod season. Headed out the the garage to Chop, Cut, Rebuild.......and weld!

Ron

**Corona Blue** · April 27th, 2011, 10:30 PM

Gentlemen! Thanks a million for your patience and good will toward my newbie ignorance.

Yes, VOTT, those caps are exactly what I have... even down to the leaking crystallized cap goo... mmmm... caaaaaap goooo...:doh:

I'm convinced that these XO's are as per their original spec. The new Solen's arrived today, so I'm hoping I will get a couple of free hours tomorrow to install them and try them out. Stay tuned for a full report.

OK... RonSSS, thanks. So, is the screen I'm seeing in the throat of the driver actually part of the diaphram ass'y? Does anybody have an exploded diagram of one of these that I can study?? Just so I know what I'm working with.

Thanks everyone for the help and the enthusiasm.

Allen

**RonSSS** · April 28th, 2011, 12:21 AM

Hi Allen,

The screen assembly is in front of the fram. Controversial about removing it, I like the change.

You will be able to see through it.

Ron

**Corona Blue** · May 1st, 2011, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by RonSSS

Hi Allen,

The screen assembly is in front of the fram. Controversial about removing it, I like the change.

You will be able to see through it.

Ron

Ron and VOTT:

Well, I tried to look into the throat of the driver, through the screen, and I even removed the horn to have a closer reference. But I swear, using the brightest flashlight I had, I could only make out a silver ring that seemed to have 3 notches that were positioned 120 degrees from each other (around the ring). At the center of this ring, there seemed to be a darker void, but I could not determine if I was seeing an orange hue or not. That bug screen really is a fine mesh and makes it tough. Spent a long time messing with it and finally just put the horn back on and loaded everything back into the cabinets, cleaned all connectors with deoxit and hooked them up.

I was driving these with a NAD 3020A that I have recently gone though completely. Fully re-capped with the best caps I could get my hands on, with some minor bypassing tweeks to the signal chain, but no major mods. Just better components. It's a very sweet sounding little thing, albeit anemic after about the mid throttle point. But I rarely listen to it that loud anyway. I listened to the speakers at about the 1/3 point which is plenty loud and a known sweet spot with this little NAD.

Listening to classical music at first, I had the horn attenuators down to around 6. The HF was very pleasing and apparent. It sounded round and "tubey" at this setting. The main thing I noticed was the LF was smoother and consistent from left to right, which makes sense since one side had a blown 18uf zobel network cap. I experimented for a couple of hours with different settings of the attenuator. I found that I liked them best set at around 1.5 or so: good detail, but not so bright as to be fatiguing. I wish the L-pads were a little more precise. They seem very "notchy." I cleaned them thoroughly with deoxit and compressed air, but not much improvement in their response. I have seen this before with pro-audio PA monitors. It's just not a very precise kind of component.

Overall, a nice improvement. The Solens don't sound much different on the high end than the stock caps at least to my ears. I'm still not crazy about the JBL 123A-1's. I may keep an eye out for some 414's. Were these JBL's designed for a specific application??

Best,

Allen

**Corona Blue** · May 1st, 2011, 06:47 PM

I was just perusing Altec stuff on ebay, and came across a person selling a single 9849-8b speaker. In the pics, I noted that the terminals are different than on my own...

Here, you see the spring loaded wire terminals, whereas on mine, it would appear that someone at some time drilled out the center retaining rivet, and installed 1/4" phone jacks in parallel. The guy that I bought these from was a jazz guitarist who used these speakers for a small cabaret style PA system, driving them with a small 100 watt power amp.

Only reason I bring this up is that, in my schematic, I depicted the XO input as having two paralleled TS style phone plugs, never stopping to think that it probably never came that way originally.

Just an interesting footnote.

Allen

**voice of the theater** · May 1st, 2011, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Corona Blue

Ron and VOTT:

Well, I tried to look into the throat of the driver, through the screen, and I even removed the horn to have a closer reference. But I swear, using the brightest flashlight I had, I could only make out a silver ring that seemed to have 3 notches that were positioned 120 degrees from each other (around the ring). At the center of this ring, there seemed to be a darker void, but I could not determine if I was seeing an orange hue or not. That bug screen really is a fine mesh and makes it tough.

Sounds like you have the Altec circumferential style phase plug--not the tangerine. There is significant controversy as to which is better. Both have been incorporated into some top notch Altec speaker systems. Some people swear by the tangerine, others consider the tangerine a cheaper product (it is made of molded plastic that's glued into place) and say that any audible improvement is from the h.f. (eq) compensation of the crossover networks/lighter diaphragms used with some of the tangerine phase plug drivers, not from the tangerines themselves..... Does this look like what you saw with the flashlight? (click on image to enlarge)

Originally Posted by Corona Blue

Ron and VOTT:

......I wish the L-pads were a little more precise. They seem very "notchy." I cleaned them thoroughly with deoxit and compressed air, but not much improvement in their response. I have seen this before with pro-audio PA monitors. It's just not a very precise kind of component.

Overall, a nice improvement. The Solens don't sound much different on the high end than the stock caps at least to my ears. I'm still not crazy about the JBL 123A-1's. I may keep an eye out for some 414's. Were these JBL's designed for a specific application??

Parts express has L-pads that would be suitable replacements for the ones in your crossovers. Old, worn, and oxidized L-Pads can degrade your signal. You may find that the combined improvement on the high end from replacing the capacitors with Solens and replacing the L-Pads is much more significant.

As far as the JBL's, a pair of used 414's (in excellent condition) or a new pair of 414's will blow them away IMHO. The 414's are amazing woofers. Not to mention that your crossover network is designed to work with the 414's. As I mentioned before, you can recoup a good chunk of the expense of purchasing 414's by selling the JBL's on ebay or Audiogon, craigslist, etc. JBL's are popular and they will sell if you price them realistically. Here are some recent ebay sales to give you a ballpark idea of what those woofers are worth--depending on their condition of course.

JBL Vintage 123A-1 12" Alnico Woofers Speakers L100 L88 | eBay $135 plus $30 shipping

JBL Vintage 123A-1 12" Alnico Woofers Speakers L100 L88 | eBay $195 plus $22 shipping....

http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-Vintage-123A...item19c4a157e6 $150 plus $22.75 shipping

**Corona Blue** · May 1st, 2011, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by voice of the theater

Sounds like you have the Altec circumferential style phase plug--not the tangerine. Does this look like what you saw with the flashlight?

Hi VOTT- Yes, that DOES look like what I was seeing... to be honest, I could not make out the detail of the center area of the plug. But I could clearly see the bright, outer ring with the slots at 120 degrees apart. So I'm inclined to think these are indeed what I have.

Thanks for the info about the L-pads. I may go back at some point and replace them. Put that one on the loooooong list of "things I shoulda done..." Dang!!! I just keep gettin' smarter all the time!