416 8a reconed? or not?

**Phil-G** · August 18th, 2014, 06:41 PM

Vintage Altec 416 8A 8 Ohm Speaker Woofer Voice of The Theatre | eBay

**bowtie427ss** · August 18th, 2014, 09:27 PM

It looks good Phil.

I don't know the reason. But, a lot of 416-8A's built in the large frames have the junction of the litz wires and VC leads visible in the seam between dust cap and cone. You don't really see this in other Altec woofers, and it makes one suspicious of a recone.

**Phil-G** · August 18th, 2014, 10:05 PM

i was looking at the ring 1" around the dust cone. that kinda makes me think it might be a multi purpose cone. that looks like where the dust cover would be for a duplex speaker.

if it's legit i was thinking it could replace one of my 416 8Zs with a repaired cone.

**valhallax** · August 18th, 2014, 10:12 PM

I was looking at the cross hatch pattern on the cone.. I got a 421 like that once and the cone material was flimsy. no cone number in the pic makes it hard

**bowtie427ss** · August 18th, 2014, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Phil-G

i was looking at the ring 1" around the dust cone. that kinda makes me think it might be a multi purpose cone. that looks like where the dust cover would be for a duplex speaker.

if it's legit i was thinking it could replace one of my 416 8Zs with a repaired cone.

Interesting point.

Write the seller and ask him for a cone number.

**magnarc** · August 19th, 2014, 12:31 AM

It looks a little rough the redone job. Look at the surrounds, somewhat uneven application of dope. Same with the adhesive round the dust cap.
But as pointed out, no cone number makes things hard.

**bowtie427ss** · August 19th, 2014, 08:19 AM

Gotta cross reference those numbers folks.

Paper label identifies the part number of that woofer as 32371, that's the part number for a 420A.

32370 is the part number for a 416-8A.

My first thought is that an Altec dealer repaired a 420 using parts he had on the shelf rather than a proper 416 or 420 kit. This would also explain the peeled foilcal.

The other possibility that comes to mind is an end run woofer.

Apologies Phil, i should have looked much closer. I don't believe it was born a 416-8A, i think it was a 420A, and reconed long long ago.

For shits n giggles, here's a 416-8A with the exposed litz/VC lead joints: http://www.haslingaudio.com/Altecsur...ory/story.html