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288 diaphragm options

Altecjosh

Altecjosh

New Member
I am finally getting around to messing with some 288c's I picked up. I snagged 5 drivers, but only 2 have original working diaphragms. I'm waiting to see whats going on with gpa, but who knows about that. The other options seem to be...

1. China diaphragm - not gonna happen
2. Russian paper - Heard good things $120 each
3. Angels western sound? - Found these on ebay the other day. Cant find anything about them. $360 pair

The Angels Western sound diaphragms kinda look like cheap china versions with a label burned into them. Has anyone heard of them or used a pair? It says they are titanium with aluminum voice coil. The russian paper diaphragms can be ordered with aluminum, copper, or copper-lite voice coil.

At this point I am leaning towards the russian paper ones.
 
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What's wrong with Chinese diaphragms? I know they have a bad reputation but is it demonstrable? Just wondering.
 
Whats wrong with the original up dated diaphragms my Great Plains Audio? There ought to be some out there some where. Remember the 288C and 288D diaphragms are only rayed at 14 watts RMS oiginally where the latest Great Plains diaphragms are rated at at 30 watts RMS. if you will raise the crossover frequency to 800 HZ they will easily handle more than double the power has been my experience. I use to push two 16 ohm diaphragms with a MC 754 rated at 100 watts that came with Power Guard and they would run for ever with more than 110 watts shared between two drivers.
 
GPA isn’t selling them anymore, that’s what wrong with them. Maybe that will change in the future. I snagged a pair right before Bill left.

I haven’t tried the 288 Chinese diaphragms, but all the 802 Chinese diaphragms I’ve tried sucked. They just sound bad. I’ve tried a few different kinds.

There is a thread on the AUB right now that mentions the ZXPC diaphragms might not be bad. At least they sound promising. But how they actually sound, we don’t know yet.
50 bucks each…

I have also heard good things about the Russian paper diaphragms.

Someone should get a pair of those AWS diaphragms and run some tests on them
 
I have not tested the chinese diaphragms, but I have read bad reviews somewhere in my travels. Nothing is wrong with GPA, but I havent been able to get ahold of them lately. I will try again tomorrow morn. The angels western I would guess are made in korea after finding his page. Pretty cool though, he makes replicas of some western electric gear.

www.angelswesternsound.com

Contact | mysite

Western Electric driver unit replica. WE555, WE4181, WE597A,WE597 tweeter. Altec 284/7 field coil driver. RCA 1435 field coil driver.
www.angelswesternsound.com www.angelswesternsound.com
 
Here is a response I got back from Angels Western Sound.


I decided to make a replica of Altec 284/7 drivers, So I made the
same as the original 284/7 diaphragms.
These diaphragms are fit to 288c/d +.
The sound is a little bit smoother than 288 diaphragms.... no harsh
high(?)...due to the fact that our diaphragm has no wrinkle outside of
the diaphragm.
 
Well the sound is obviously smoother because it has no wrinkles ;)

All joking aside, I read that as “it sounds more rolled off than a 288 diaphragm”

If I were you I would harass GPA into selling me a pair of diaphragms. They’ll cost you about the same as the AWS, but at least you know what you’re getting. I think it’s the closest thing to original we have left.
That is assuming they didn’t change them when Bill left….
 
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