Altec A7 Woofer Suggestions Please

[GM]

I allways wondered why everyone says to get the 416 over the 515.......

Simply because that's what Altec used/recommended until separate sub systems came along and they reinstated an A5 model. Me, I'd rather have the 515 and use a little EQ to flatten it to a lower F3, but as has been pointed out, the bass is heavily shelved down regardless, requiring significant room gain to offset it. Stick a 411 in it if you want bass and use a large horn with a <500 Hz XO.

GM

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I have had good luck just installing a 4 inch dome,I prefer felt....and leaving the 421 dome alone. YMMV.

.......or just coat them with rubber cement.

GM

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But what I like so much about them is that full mid-bass, and if the 515's have even more of that goodness, then I'm on the lookout for some.

Originally, there was a very noticeable sonic difference between the 416, 515 [no comparison to my ears], but I've read/heard that some later ones and GPA's are almost same-same sonically, but no personal experience to comment. Makes sense really, Altec consolidating parts as the company was being gutted and Bill winding up with the parts, tooling used at the end, so maybe the 'magic' is gone from the 515 with the trade-off being a better overall 416. FWIW, mine have enough HF 'sweetness' to XO them to super-tweeter horns at 5 kHz/2nd order! Can anyone do it with even a GPA 416 without a huge dip in the response and/or without obvious HF break-up modes 'shout'?

GM