Brand

Vintage Altec Lansing speakers

Altec started in the late 1930s as a service company for theater sound systems, and the name stood for all technical. It bought Lansing Manufacturing in 1941, and with John Hilliard it built the Voice of the Theatre horn systems that kept it at the front of the movie theater business for decades. Its home speakers borrowed the same parts. Altec's catalogs sold the Valencia and the Model 19 as having the same components as the A7 Voice of the Theatre, a 15-inch woofer and a compression driver on the 811B sectoral horn. Through the 1970s Altec quoted sensitivity at 4 feet rather than 1 meter, so its numbers don't line up with other brands' specs. The company changed hands several times from 1958 on and sold the consumer brand in 1984. These are big, heavy cabinets, so plan how you'll get them home before you plan anything else.

4 models we cover.