806-8b

Altec 806 8B Drivers RARE Version | eBay

Not seen these before.

Seller invented BS. I would have called it an 806-8G to really impress you. Those are pulls from 9849's, a shame really as 9849 is an excellent loudspeaker right out of the gate.

23746 is proprietary to middle aged range 9849's. AFAIK, it was never used in another model, it was never sold "off the shelf, it never had a foilcal or any other indications that it was a model "806-8B".

They are "similar" to an 806 in terms of throat length and magnet size. They have a cast return pot. AFAIK, ALL 806's are made of steel pipe and plate welded together.

Early versions have annular steel phase plugs(i listen to a pair daily) later ones had the Tangerine. There's another member here who has 9849's with at least one tangerine equipped 23746.

I've owned several 8A's with tangerines. I don't see any advantage over 8G's and wouldn't consider them any more rare ore valuable, although less common.

Thanks for the info. Always like an Altec oddity...
Mechanically how do they differ from the 802-8g/808-8B body, apart from the size?

If you look up the 806 the alnico slug is smaller. I never cared for it, it was an economy version, no other reason.

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23746's are nothing more than 806-8A's..

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That's the exact same circular reasoning as saying 33785's are nothing more than an 802D's

23746 is no more an 806-8A than a 289 is a 351C.

Part number for 806-8A is 31132, there are multiple differences from a 23746.

With all due respect, show me an 806-8A with a 1 piece cast return pot/body.

In fact, show me any positively identified(that means it has a factory Altec label that says 806 on it) version of an 806 in a 1 piece cast return pot/body.

I gotta wonder if that model was an attempt to improve the units. Unfortunately the cobalt shortage caused alnico to go sky high right after. So short lived.

The main question that plagues me is "why did they switch from the the welded up cylinder, to the one piece, cast, truncated cone?"

If you look at 23746, 802-8G, or 808-8B carefully, you'll notice the shape is not a cylinder like the earlier 802, 806, and 808's, it has a certain taper making it a cone which is of course cut off(truncated) long before it reaches a point.

The best idea i can come up with is that it might make for more uniform flux in the gap from driver to driver, totally a guess.

Unfortunately most who could tell us are gone from this world.

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Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

That's the exact same circular reasoning as saying 33785's are nothing more than an 802D's

23746 is no more an 806-8A than a 289 is a 351C.

Part number for 806-8A is 31132, there are multiple differences from a 23746.

With all due respect, show me an 806-8A with a 1 piece cast return pot/body.

In fact, show me any positively identified(that means it has a factory Altec label that says 806 on it) version of an 806 in a 1 piece cast return pot/body.

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Sure it is.. It was a part number given before model number just like the 802-8G was given 033952 before it had a designated model number.They were early (23746) 806-8A's. The later 806-8A's had the tangerines.

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Originally Posted by Old Guy

Unfortunately most who could tell us are gone from this world.

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Agreed.......