Altec 414-16C
Not much is documented about the Altec 414-16C, but what survives is enough to place it. It's a 12-inch low-frequency driver with an alnico magnet and a cast aluminum frame, and it weighs 16 pounds. In the 414 family it's the 16-ohm version of the 414-8C. One collector's shorthand was simply "414-16C = 414-8C in 16 ohms." The lineage runs back through the 414A and 414Z (both alnico, 16-ohm), the 8-ohm 414B, and the cast-frame 414-8B. The 414-8C added a cast magnet pot.
A HiFi Haven thread on 414 woofers cites "96dB output of the 414-16C" and talks about pairing it with an 802D compression driver. Both are 16-ohm drivers, so the match is an easy one, with a simple first-order crossover around 6-8 kHz. Past that, the record is thin. No production years, original price, frequency response, or Thiele/Small parameters have turned up.
The one concrete market datapoint found is a 2020 US Audio Mart listing. It offered a pair of what appeared to be NOS 414-16Cs, serial numbers 01052 and 00204, never mounted, at $650. The seller guessed they were virtually identical to the current Great Plains Audio version. That claim is unverified.
Known specs:
- 12" diameter low-frequency driver
- 16 ohms impedance (16-ohm version of the 414-8C)
- Alnico magnet, cast aluminum frame
- Weight: 16 lbs
- 96 dB output (per forum report)
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