Altec Lansing A7: 1950s Studio Monitors for £3,200 Each; CRaaaaaZAY August 16, 2006
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Altec Lansing's A7 speakers were hot shit in the 1950s through the 1970s. It was then that they were known as the "Voice of the Theater", distinguished by being the only commercially-available speakers approved by the Research Council at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I totally cut and paste that, and I feel dirty for it. Anyhow, in 1973, Billboard mag claimed they were the most popular studio monitors in the country.
The crazy-looking horn speakers have a fan thing-a-ma-bob on top, I'm assuming for high frequency, and a 15-inch unit for rumble, and maybe a bit of mid-bass. The 200-watt speakers are handmade, cost £3,200 each, and take 8-10 weeks to deliver. They've been designed to accoustically match the originals.
Match the originals?! WTF!? Wouldn't you say speaker design has advanced since 1950? Someone clue me in. Why are these fugly monitors worth this kind of money? I'll apologize if someone can edu-ma-cate me to the farks. But for now, I'll say this: Altec, face it, you make computer speakers for Dell now. Don't try to make us pay five-figures for a pair of 1950 speakers from your better days.
Altec Lansing A7 Speakers [Altec Lansing]
Editor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
Awesome!
BL:
FORGET having someone explain the A7.
Instead, find an owner of a set of A7s and have them load a cd of music you are VERY familiar with and turn it up about half way. You will understand volumes about the A7 in just a few minutes.
You can thank me later.
CJ
Brian obviously didn't bother to actually LISTEN to A7's before writing his ridiculous and less than qualified comment. He might want to improve his journalistic approach by gaining some knowledge and maybe even hands-on experience about the subject before writing. Otherwise he will hopefully end up at a local village paper, where his babblings cannot cause too much harm...
Hey Brian, take notice that to these days, the holy grail of vocal microphones is a german design from the 1940s. This of course is widely acknowledged by serious audio professionals worldwide who obviously don't think that microphone technology has advanced that much in the last 60 years (actually, the opposite is true).
Professional audio technology is a different game than, say, computing & mobile gadgets. If audio is not your home territory thats fine, but take at least a couple minutes for web research before spreading BS.
Best,
M. Bodil
Brian, the Altec computer speakers you speak of, are probably just generic speakers with a badge saying 'Altec" slapped on it for selling purposes. These A7's are old speakers, back from the day when things were built to last, and the A7's are a fine example of that. Oh, did I mention that the design from the 50's will blow most new speakers away to kingdom kum. Like M. Bodil said, thake a few minutes and do a bit of research.
Regards,
J. D.