Failed 515B

[jnorv]

One of my 515B?s quit working. Took it out and there is zero resistance. Before I ship it off to Great Plains, do I take out the dust cover to see if it is a simple fix. I notice that there are 6 Allen caps screws holding the back end together. What happens if I take them out? BTW, what is a JBL 2205 in my 828's going to sound like while I get the 515 fixed?

Jim Norvell

[Fitts]

Hi,

I don't know how about the six screws holding the back end togther but I would not touch them. An open resistance reading sometimes comes from a break in the flex wire that goes from the terminals to the coil winding. Check the resistance of the voice coil at the point where the flex wires enter the cone to see if they are the problem. Taking out the dust cap is a good second idea, sometimes the solder connection between the flex wires and the voice coil gives way and can be resoldered.

I put JBL 2205 woofers in my 828 cabinets once and promptly removed them. They did work but not very well. I suspect that the cabinet volume was way too large. If you do have to use one while your 515 gets fixed, try putting a big block of styrofoam in the 828 cabinet and set a bag of cat litter on top of it to hold it in place. You would be doing this so as to reduce the cabinet volume from 9 to about 4 cubic feet so that you could at least get the best possible sound from the 2205.

Good luck,

[Datubie]

First, check the braided wires that run from the screw terminals t the cone. If it isn't that then, the driver will require disassembly. If you have no experience with this, I recommend shipping it off to GP.

BTW, you'll have to CUT paper to get the dust cover off.

Originally posted by Jim Norvell:
One of my 515B?s quit working. Took it out and there is zero resistance. Before I ship it off to Great Plains, do I take out the dust cover to see if it is a simple fix. I notice that there are 6 Allen caps screws holding the back end together. What happens if I take them out? BTW, what is a JBL 2205 in my 828's going to sound like while I get the 515 fixed?

Jim Norvell

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[jnorv]

It is open. Since my 2205, 288 and 902 are all 8 ohms, it may be time to use my ALK networks and then modify the cabs for the 18" sub woofer. Still have to get the 515 fixed though. Loks like it gets a trip to Oklahoma.

JIm

[Altec19]

Let's be clear about something here. Do you have zero ohms resistance or is it infinite (unmeasurable)? Zero would indicate a short circuit (keep in mind that a good voice coil is only going to measure just a few ohms anyway). On the other hand, infinite resistance indicates that something has opened up. Two very different problems. Unfortunately, neither is likely to be easy to correct.

[jnorv]

I took off the dust cap without destroying the cone. Fairly simple. on further inspection, I suspect that the voice coil is open somewhere that I can?t get too. I have only had these about 2 years but the cone look in great shape. Can the VC be replaced with out replacing the cone? Since al of my Altec drivers that I use are 8 ohms, would it be better to retro fit 8 ohm coils on the 515?s? they are now 16 ohms. I am now driving them thru an active crossover but might want to go to a passive in the further>

Jim N

[dhook17322]

Don't forget to get the magnet strength checked while at GPA.

[gearjammer]

This is what i would do and what i have done in the past to my 416,s. At the point where the coil leads go thru the speaker cone to get to the back side of the cone,very carefully scrape the black glue off of the lead wire and do a ohm. check at this point. if it is good then you have a break somewhere between the terminal and that joint where the tinsel lead is soldered to the coil lead.This is if your coil leads run out of your dust cap before they go to the backside of the cone.

[Russellc]

hello,
Just a word of warning, you may want to consider reconing both of them for the following reason, if this bothers you. I had GP recone two 5158Gs, they did a great job, so fast it was unbelieveable. I had them back in less than a week! They were reconed with very original looking cones, which were slightly grey colored, with original altec numbers on them. One day one of my cats did a suicide dive into the A7 horn and scratched the **** out of my cone! Again I sent it in, and again it was back in just a few days. The driver performs great, but they have changed the cone. My new one is much darker black colored compared to my other 515, as well as my other altec woofers (many with original cones) Also, instead of the original altec part number on the cone like the first time I had them reconed, its number is a GP number, which begins with GPA...While the drivers perform perfectly, They look obviously different colors, and now the part numbers don't match. Ultra **** retentive types (buyers) will not like this, but at least GP is VERY WELL known and respected but... when shelling out maximum dollars for a pair of drivers, people get picky. Almost everyone who listens to my A7s notices the color difference and comments on it. Again, the driver works great, but I find my self hoping the next time my cat has such a fit, he does it to the other one, so they will match! Still yet GPA is the place for service!

Cheers,
Russellc

[jnorv]

I have decided to have them both reconed because I wnat to convert them to 8 ohms. I will let my heirs worry about the resale value.

JIm N