Topic: Altec Lansing 830A "The Laguna" Speaker System

[edtyre]

My dad passed away in 1992 and i am finally going through some
of his old gear and LP's.

I need some info on these, if anyone knows anything....
especially what they might be worth today.

Altec Lansing 830A "The Laguna" Speaker System
http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/Altec/1959-h.jpg

found some pics here
http://www.audioheritage.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=4&ppuser=2298

[boojum]

Two 15" Altec speakers means you will get some serious bass.  Looks like they are meant to be stuffed into corners, so I would do that.  Horns can sound nasal, but Altec had decades of experience building them for movie theaters so I am pretty sure the horns in these puppies would be fine.  What are they worth?  Whatever the highest bidder offers.  They might be hot with tube amp freaks as they are plenty efficient: max power - 30 watts. 

You could keep them, too, you know.  ;o)  Get a nice tube amp and enjoy the sounds.   

[edtyre]

Thanks

Just to update....i wasn't trying to find out a price to sell them, i was
just curious as to the value. I am definitely keeping them.

Last night i brought over an old Yamaha reciever and fired them baby's up for the
first time in about 20 years. The soundstage and imaging with these is amazing!
Just not too much bass and highs, great sound, very detailed but all pretty much
in the middle. Very nice sound at low volume.

A friend is bringing over a Decware tube amp and a cartridge to put in dad's
Thorens TD-125 w/ SME 3009 arm. We are going to spin a few of his classical lp's
and see what this system should really sound like.

[boojum]

Yeah, Altec is good.  They had a great rep when they were pumping out product for the audiophile market.  Their horn tweeters were regarded as quite a bit better that Electro-Voice, the other horn tweeter folks.  I am happy you have decided to keep them.  Push them into the corners and you will get some real bass.  Audio, the other addiction. 


edit: punctuation

[Dr.FOB]

Altec was 'the voice of the theatre'.  The moving picture sound unit of Western Electrics Bell Labs, Altec was responsible for many developments in talking pictures.  They later acquired the Lansing group (James B Lansing) and formed Altec Lansing.  JBL will tell the story differently...

Though not as classy as your Lagunas my first speakers, the Model 3 bookshelfs, continue to serve me well 34 years later.  They will certainly let that old vinyl sing...

[Chuck]

I once owned a set of the Altec Voice of the Theater PA speakers. The drivers on the (separate) horns blew up all the time and were expensive to replace. I didn't like them at all. They were very bulky and didn't sound good, to my ears. Of course, Altec has made some good speaker systems since then.

[boojum]

The old Altec Voice of the Theater speakers were pretty high efficiency as I remember.  They were first built before WW II I think.  I would guess than a 10 or 12 watt amp would drive them to enough loudness to make you cry.  I knew a fellow who had one in a Klipsch folded horn he built from scratch.  He drove it with a Leak 12 watt amp and it got loud enough that it was too loud.  All on 12 watts driving a 15" woofer.  It sounded pretty good to me, but that was back in '52 and speakers have come a long, long way since then.  For their time they were considered very good.

[Colin Liston]

It sounded pretty good to me, but that was back in '52 and speakers have come a long, long way since then. 

+T .  Nice.