todd.brust
New Member
So I have had a pair of Altec 291-16A compression drivers that had a pretty thick coat of paint on them, so I decided to clean them up a bit. I had them apart and managed to damage a tinsel lead and the diaphragm is shot. I would like to find a replacement, and was wondering about my options.
A quick Google search brought up Great Plains Audio. Looks like they have the replacement I would need, but has no pricing information. Simply Speakers has replacement diaphragm for $50 and original Altecs for $130. The original Altec replacements do not look like what I broke today if that is any help. I also saw replacements on eBay for ~$20 with free shipping from China.
So what is the best route to go with repairing this compression driver? Anyone dealt with any of the mentioned options? Any other options? I was thinking about buying the $20 China replacement and at the very least do a comparison. Anyone dealt with Great plains?
As far as what I plan on using them for, No idea at the moment. I have a set of 805B multicellular horns that these attach to. Kind of wanted to play around with these but have no particular application yet.
Here's a couple of Pictures.
Before I messed up the Tinsel Lead
The driver that I had already cleaned up. This was mostly done with a couple plastic razor blades and a little rubbing alcohol. Those plastic razor blades work great too! The original paint was almost perfect underneath that old paint. According to some documentation I found, these monsters were installed in 1970. They were used regularly with all of the original Altec electronics until 2015. Pretty impressive, especially for the original preamp and amplifier,
These are the pair of 805Bs.
Thank for any help in advance!
A quick Google search brought up Great Plains Audio. Looks like they have the replacement I would need, but has no pricing information. Simply Speakers has replacement diaphragm for $50 and original Altecs for $130. The original Altec replacements do not look like what I broke today if that is any help. I also saw replacements on eBay for ~$20 with free shipping from China.
So what is the best route to go with repairing this compression driver? Anyone dealt with any of the mentioned options? Any other options? I was thinking about buying the $20 China replacement and at the very least do a comparison. Anyone dealt with Great plains?
As far as what I plan on using them for, No idea at the moment. I have a set of 805B multicellular horns that these attach to. Kind of wanted to play around with these but have no particular application yet.
Here's a couple of Pictures.
Before I messed up the Tinsel Lead
The driver that I had already cleaned up. This was mostly done with a couple plastic razor blades and a little rubbing alcohol. Those plastic razor blades work great too! The original paint was almost perfect underneath that old paint. According to some documentation I found, these monsters were installed in 1970. They were used regularly with all of the original Altec electronics until 2015. Pretty impressive, especially for the original preamp and amplifier,
These are the pair of 805Bs.
Thank for any help in advance!