Altec 9844-8B...what did I just find?

Sonance'84

moe.ron
Subscriber
I grabbed these based on instinct, not really knowing what was what. One woofer cone is torn pretty all the way. The other is fine as well as the horn.

I'm just curious if these are in fact 414-16E woofers and 902 HF drivers? The HF driver doesn't have the Altec "cap" over the back, but what's shown looks like pics of the 902 with the cap taken off. The woofers look proper, but there's no identifying tags on the rear, besides some torn off paper decals. Again, I looked up pics of 414-16e's with identical paper tags.

Can anyone confirm these are in fact proper drivers for this cab?

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:idea: I'm a bit confused by your opinion's...(referenced from linked thread above)

2009 - HF
No problem with highs on those babies after some XO tweaking, they have the ferrite 902 drivers.
2018 -
A 902(7/8 throat) on an 811(1 inch throat) at 800hz is one of the nastiest, grainiest sounds i have ever heard from an Altec.

2009 - LF
Get a network in them and they'll crap all over 19's but for the bottom octave, and i have 2 pair that i'll stand firmly behind that statement with.

That particular orientation of the 414 woofers has a polar response nearly identical to the 811 horn, as well as the dynamic attack of a horn loaded woofer, two tricks the 19 fails to pull off.
2018 -
The 414E has too large a motor to make articulate, extended bass, it never should have been called a "414" and you will indeed find that much like the 9844-8B itself, it was discontinued fairly quickly. You could probably say that it's a model that spilled over the edge while Altec was circling the bowl and be quite accurate.
 
They are not junk, they are intended work PA work and high power. They will not have the fidelity of the older models. They are worth while to make a project out of.
As far as the mis-match between the HF drivers and horns, I have made adapters that smooth the transition out between them that work well. Some where on the Altec forum is a sketch of them.
I would hook them up and see what you think of them knowing that they can be improved a lot.

BillWojo
 
:idea: I'm a bit confused by your opinion's...(referenced from linked thread above)

2009 - HF
2018 -

2009 - LF
2018 -
It's not my intent or desire to force my opinions on anyone, ignoring them is free, and there's even an AK feature that will allow you to never see any of my posts. I use it a lot and encourage others to do the same.

The drivers are genuine and properly identified. Pretty badges cost money, something Altec wasn't spending and didn't have at the time.

The 902 is a fine driver in the proper application. It has a response that is shifted upward an octave or more from it's alnico predecessors. It's several db more sensitive than the 806A it replaced in the system. Altec didn't use it below 1200HZ and generally stayed at 1500 or higher with it's lower limit.

The 414E uses the same motor/magnet structure as a 515G/E or 421. It's a very powerful motor, limits LF extension, and produces a mid forward response with such a small cone. They're several db more sensitive than the other 414's, if they handled more power they would make excellent mid-bass PA drivers.

Across their BW your speakers will be very dynamic and sensitive, likely a good bit midrange forward approaching XO frequency, and becoming grainy where the woofers hand off duty to the too low crossed compression driver, this could be EQ'd a bit, but the system would be better served by a higher crossover frequency. They will need subwoofers to fully extend the lower couple octaves.

It's important to understand that the company was not in good shape at the time they were made. It wasn't just 9844's. They were slapping new and different drivers into multiple long proven and well balanced speaker systems without the proper engineering and revisions to maintain the optimum performance customers had come to expect from Altec's long proven products. I will never be done grinding my axe over some of the ridiculous things that were done, particularly engineering done by the marketing and accounting departments.
 
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They left the cover off on occasion for clearance to the back of the speaker. Have had several pairs of A15-8a’s that I think are close to the same speaker with no cover on the HF.
Thanks, Andy
 
It's not my intent or desire to force my opinions on anyone, ignoring them is free, and there's even an AK feature that will allow you to never see any of my posts. I use it a lot and encourage others to do the same.

Wasn't intended to ruffle feathers, I was genuinely interested if you're opinion had changed over the years. You're knowledge is greatly appreciated and I thank you for answering my question so thoroughly. I now know that I have original drivers and not some replacements.
 
They were intended as a monitor speaker not a PA speaker. In proper working order they will kick the larger model with the single 15 and the 511 horn. GreatPlains Audio can rebuild the driver with the torn cone, or if your brave they will sell you a recone kit. There are some how to videos on You Tube to help you out. I will admit the older drivers have a better response with the 811 horn. The black cap on top of the horn diaphragm is to prevent surround failure at high sustained power levels. I would prefer the N1201 crossover which divides the horn output into two adjustable output bands.
 
The black cap on top of the horn diaphragm is to prevent surround failure at high sustained power levels.
It's important to understand that during most of early 902 production Altec was in financially dire straits. With the exception of 902's sold off the shelf, none of them had rear covers, and the new style loading cap was used as the rear cover on ALL OEM speaker systems.

They left the cover off on occasion for clearance to the back of the speaker.
Deletion of the rear cover was entirely based on economy.

I would prefer the N1201 crossover which divides the horn output into two adjustable output bands.
Amen, since Altec never intended the 902 to be operated lower.
 
Yes the 902 was rated at 15 watts rms pink noise with the percussion cap. The old spec sheets are available on the net. Great Plains has a newer diaphragm you might be happier with if you blow these in the future, and I can almost guarantee you will. I would use a Mac power amp with Power Guard rated around 75 watts if you want to protect your speakers. Even though the woofers will handle peak levels way above that your HF diaphragm even though attenuated 5 to 7db can't. I installed systems using the same driver with411 woofers, 416 woofers, etc with 125 to 200 watt QSC and Mac amps with a form of power guard and lost the 902 diaphragms everytime. We had to go to theolder diaphragms rated at 30 watts and some times these didn't work either. So that meant the old 808or 908 diaphragms which did not fail but had inferior HF response above 13 KHZ.
 
Even if the sometimes bizarre engineering wasn't up to the standards of earlier Altec products, late-spec Altec stuff is still pretty much drool-worthy.
 
I had three favorite horns, the 203b, the 311 X 90, And a MR 945 as I remember. For smaller space I like the MR that was 120 degrees. Out of all those my favorite horn was a 311 90. It didn't having ringing hollow sound of the 511 or the 811 horns. The 203 was by far the best multicell, And the MR 945 horn with a wye throat and two older 288c's was great combination used with an 817 and two 3156 woofers. A MC 2500 or 2600 driving a pair of 817's and a MC 2120 for the top and you had a killer combination. But the crossover had to be set around 750 Hz or above as lower frequencies would move the 288 diaphragm into physical destruction. We used to sell 816's with a HP 515, with a 311 90 horn with a 291 and a MT 902 as the super tweeter. Would could the system to be pretty flat up against a wall no matter how off the ground you were. For a two way system I always preferred a 604 in a 816 box. If it were PA pull the standard diaphram and install a 808 diaphragm. Who needs any thing above 13 khz out doors?. Some times I'd put 619's in 816 boxes as fill speakers where their was a tight budget. Later on Altec had those coaxial boxes, and they worked pretty well, too. We did a half doezen or so churches in old Mexicothat were shaped like a large sea shell. We would use 3 or 4 of the coax oxes to cover the main areas and then either smaller long throw mantarays for the furthest reach or some 120s for people almost under the cluster. Later on After Altec was gone we used a lot of EV product, and then at the end Renkus Heinz steerable line arrays. I wished we had that technology back in the 60's and 70's . They were great for voice, but not for amplifying bass and musical instruments.
 
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