Laguna or Metragon

[conductor]

In looking at a picture of a JBL Metragon, I was taken by how similar certain of its design features resemble those of my Altec Lagunas. The laguna came on the market, I believe, in 1957. It is mentioned in a 1958 Hi Fi magazine for sure, but I believe I read somewhere that 1957 was the first year. The Metragon, I am thinking, came out in 1959. I may be wrong. Anyway, the Laguna was designed by Glenn of California. One of my Lagunas has a GLENN stamp on the back. Could the Metragon and the Laguna have been designed by the same house? Or did someone influence someone? (note I didn't say copy).

[bfish]

...Could the Metragon and the Laguna have been designed by the same house?...

Nope. G of C may have had a hand in Laguna's cabinet design, or they may have merely built the box to Altec spec. Richard Ranger designed the Metregon for JBL, and in that example, unlike the Laguna, the cabinet was a critical element of the functional design. Other than a very slight similarity in style/appearance, they could hardly be more different. All the major players of the day had a model or two with the same basic look, it was merely a style that was popular at the time.

[conductor]

it was merely a style that was popular at the time.

Yes, Danish Modern.

[wws944]

Yes, Danish Modern.

Besides the Laguna and Capistrano that are pictured on the catalog page, did Glenn do any other cabinet designs for Altec?

[conductor]

There was one other that I know of. It was the Corona. I have seen two different versions of it. One being basically a smaller version of the Laguna cabinet without the front crossmember that the Laguna has. I know of no other although there may have been some such as the Corona with the Laguna type cabinet that are super rare. I was able to email a former employee of G of C whose grandfather and then father owned the factory. I asked him if he might be able to help me find out who designed the Laguna. Here is his reply:

"That cabinet looks like the kind of work that Glenn did in those days but I didn’t start there until 1972 and even if I visited the plant occasionally as a young kid, I don’t remember that item.
While I worked there, the only AV cabinet project I remember was building the first 1000 walnut cabinets for Sony’s first Betamax TV/VCR combo (there had been nothing like it on the market before). For that project, the cabinet was completely designed by Sony in Japan and we had zero flexibility/input on the design. I still remember my dad laughing when he found “joints to be secured with grue” on the blueprint!
So…assuming your AL cabinets were the same kind of project, this might mean that the design either came from inside AL or was commissioned by them."

[wws944]

There was one other that I know of. It was the Corona. I have seen two different versions of it. One being basically a smaller version of the Laguna cabinet without the front crossmember that the Laguna has....
So?assuming your AL cabinets were the same kind of project, this might mean that the design either came from inside AL or was commissioned by them."

That is interesting. Googling around a bit, the only Corona I found was a smallish bookshelf system.

Both SWMBO and I are mid-century modern fans, so the Laguna styling has appeal. I also really like the 'corner cabinet' look and practicality. So I have sometimes thought about having a pair of replicas built, with any suggested modern tuning tweaks of course, and loading them with modern components from GPA. But GMs comments a couple of months ago on why most don't use them anymore, e.g. they 'maximally excite room modes', has me a bit concerned...

It seems like a lot of speaker companies have traditionally outsourced their cabinets. Especially back in the 50's and 60's - when speakers were supposed to look like furniture. Roger Russell has some text devoted to this WRT the McIntosh cabinets in his web pages. On my ML-1C systems, he writes "The cabinet appearance was created by Warren-Freidman, consulting designers, who also made designs for the Drexel furniture line. United Speaker Systems purchased the cabinets from Arnold Furniture in New Jersey."