Quote Originally Posted by bowtie427ss View Post
One of the things Altecs are famous for are their very tight manufacturing tolerances. One of those tolerances is width of the magnetic gap. I see no possible way that enough corrosion could occur to tightly lock the voice coil in place without a loss of material that will put the gap dimensions out of spec, and cause significant deviation from proper/expected parameters. We're talking just a couple thousandths here.

Another problem area that we cannot see without dis-assembly is the surface where the front plate meets the magnetic return pot. This surface as well as the mating surface of the return pot need to be a smooth even finish in order to provide an even/consistent magnetic circuit. The same conditions also apply to the surface where the polepiece meets the magnet slug. To resurface that part of the front plate would probably take it below the minimum thickness spec by the time any pitting is cleaned up.

IMO&E, salvaging that driver beyond an exercise in determining the exact extent of damage would be an exercise in futility given the availability and value/cost of replacements. I think it's best use is as a conversation piece, or door stop.

Certainly it could be salvaged, even to the extent that the return pot, front plate, and throat/polepiece were all replaced with GPA modern production, using only the original alnico slug and 11 slit tangerine.

But, i don't think it could be done for the ~75 bucks or less that a replacement assembly can be sourced for.

It'd be interesting(but probably not practical) to actually clean this one up and try to return what's there to a "working" condition. My curiosity would be to see how obvious any audible differences would be as well as the degree of measurable variation beyond what i think is quite predictable from a simple visual inspection. I think you'd immediately notice reduced sensitivity and quite possibly rolled off HF.

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

Good Advice B !