Sean, this subject is tricky. You might like your original Altec 802 better than your new 802G. (I did not
even know that they do new version). I have no doubts about your preferences
but how sure are you prefer the sound of the old driver juts because it has concentric
ring phase plug? There is many other reasons why even the same driver made 40
years back and last year would sound very much different.
In a wider scene the subject
of concentric ring phase vs radial is not as convincing as you think. There are
advantages and disadvantages for both plugs and the key is to make a driver
that sound right with whatever plug they use. I do not trust researches with their
long expose into advantage one over another. Tomorrow thier agenda change and
they will be with the same confidence to advocate very opposite opinion side.
What I am saying is that I have seen “scientific” explanation why any of the
plug types is better. I have also see explanation why neither of them is good
and only combination of concentric AND radial
was good, or only tangerine style of plug was good, or only half-length whole are
good, or only spiral are good, or only 18-sound type are good. The realty is
not there. If you have a bad radial plug but use it with slightly different
suspended deafragm and slightly less compression, or slightly higher cone mass,
or with a small drop of glue on the very top of dome then will the radial loos
the disadvantages?
What I am saying is that design
of plug is important but it is more important how a given, selected by maker
phase plug is implemented in context of the entire loaded driver. I might agree
with you that the best sounding drivers were made mostly with concentric phase
plugs but I am very seriously doubt that the type of the plug made them to be
best. There are plenty of bad sounding drivers concentric phase plugs…
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