Altec 32343 Network Divider

[Corona Blue]

Driver measurements:

From the rear surface of the driver ring to the forward surface of the driver's housing, I measure 2.210"





The horn base gasket is .100" thick, so 2.310" to the horn flange face.


Don't know if this helps identify the unit or not. Maybe it's just a Korean clone driver???? Hey, no biggie if so... the horns sounded pretty darn good!!


Anybody know if these measurements narrow it down to a known driver?



Allen

[voice of the theater]

Driver measurements:

From the rear surface of the driver ring to the forward surface of the driver's housing, I measure 2.210"

Too small to be 802-8G's--I suspect they're 23746 compression drivers as shown on the chart that Earl K provided (under Altec 9849-8D) http://www.lansingheritage.org/image...ers/page11.jpg That would also make sense as to why they are paired with Altec 32343 crossovers in your cabs (not to imply that these things always make sense!).....

Don't know if this helps identify the unit or not. Maybe it's just a Korean clone driver???? Hey, no biggie if so... the horns sounded pretty darn good!!


Anybody know if these measurements narrow it down to a known driver?



Allen

No, those aren't Korean clones--they look to be real Altecs--we just have to find out which ones. Bowtie and RonSSS-- you guys both own 9849's. Any chance one of you gentlemen can measure your h.f. driver to help figure this out (or does anyone know the dimensions of a 23746 driver)?

The caps you have there are original. All altec crossovers from that era used those black caps with red ends. So I don't think anyone had changed values. I'm betting the blowed up one is the shunt cap that goes across the woofer. Which means someone really cranked the volume!

Ron

I agree--every Altec crossover I've ever recapped from that era had those original caps in them--here are the ones I replaced that were in my Model 19's

I have a pair of the 9849's and I hate to adnit that I've never listened to them......

Ron

Ron, you should dig those things out and crank them up! Don't you know there are underprivileged children in poor countries who may never get to experience tinnitus?

[RonSSS]

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]

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]

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

[voice of the theater]

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.

Nice! Thanks for measuring Ron--now we're getting somewhere..... Allen, with the horns you have, you won't have to remove the drivers from the horns to see the phase plug. Just shine a flashlight in the throat of the horn and you'll see the phase plug. If it's a tangerine plug it will look like the orange circle at the left of this photo--if you use a bright flashlight--even through the screen you will see what looks like tangerine slices and an orange-ish hue....

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.

Ron, my Model 14's and 19's still have the bug screens in them. What differences/advantages do you notice from removing them? Since replacing the capacitors in my speakers with Solens, I am extremely happy with their sound. However, if there's a way to get them to sound even better, of course I'm interested. These are being used in my home, and I don't move them around. Do I need the "protection" of bug screens? Anyone else want to chime in about the merits or drawbacks of removing the screens? I play my speakers without the grills on--I don't want the sound to have to pass through fabric. Do I lose anything by having the sound pass through screens?

[RonSSS]

The bug screen removal was touted by Joe Roberts of Sound Practices Magazine years ago.

So I tried it, it made sense to me.

I used to tweak my system using pink noise. Sitting in the sweet spot, I noticed a real phasey sound when moving my head back and forth even a few inches. Peaks and valleys. With the bug screens gone, that went away, and to my ears, the sweet spot became bigger.

Shine a flashlight through a screen at the wall.

I also noted better HF extension.

This is what I noted. Others here will say that the screens were designed in, and removing them will mess up the sound. I only found improvement. And there aren't many bugs in my basement.

That said, once removed, there is no going back on the older 800 series drivers. You have to cut it out with an exacto knife. The newer 900 series are much easier. The screen is right under the mounting gasket.

If your model 14's have 900 series drivers, you can try it, and change back if you don't like the effect.

Try the pink noise test.

Ron

[Corona Blue]

Hi guys-

Sorry been away for a couple days. Had a few hours to work on the XO's though... here's a before/after of the job...

Before with original caps:









And AFTER with new 400V Solens...








Pack one of these in your suitcase next time you plan to fly to see the inlaws... Hee hee...

Allen

[Corona Blue]

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]

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