If you could go back in time and buy a new......

**bowtie427ss** · January 21st, 2012, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by Audio_by_Goodwill

No speakers?

Eh, there's not much made back then that can't be re-created and to a degree improved today. Finishes, adhesives, sheet stock, and electronics are all superior in today's world.

If i could really go back, the positively most exciting aspect would be the opportunity to meet the men responsible for all that we love under that close family of names. They were the truly special and unique aspects of this hobby that will not likely ever have peers in the truest sense. They had a kind of pride and dedication that is mostly forgotten today.

For me, a week out on the early factory floor with Dr Hilliard, and Jim Lansing would be worth all the Altecs i've ever laid eyes on. More than anything else, i would value that memory of having walked and learned among the truly great ones above all.

That said, a pair of 9848's and a pair of 6041's would be the last Altecs i'd ever need or want.

**Nipper** · January 21st, 2012, 11:04 AM

Damn..... You guys aint to bright.

This could be a real opportunity....

I would pick a really big set of Altecs and hollow them out so I could sneak back a set of Savards.

**bowtie427ss** · January 21st, 2012, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Nipper

Damn..... You guys aint to bright.

This could be a real opportunity....

I would pick a really big set of Altecs and hollow them out so I could sneak back a set of Savards.

You clearly put some thought into this which made me think too.

I guess i'd go back for some original Shearer horns or their predecessors and stuff them with Pink Lambert records for the Edison Amberola and concert grand cylinder players. Seen the value of a Pink Lambert lately?

**Old Guy** · January 21st, 2012, 01:40 PM

A complete set of Lansing field coils...second choice an A10 system

**Geekstar** · January 21st, 2012, 03:04 PM

I get to play with most of the old WE stuff regularly, given my connection with Silbatone (Silbatone Acoustics).

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Lansing gear and I really really like 755As.

I really need a second ALTEC 756B or whole Melodist 700 badly right now.

However, if I had to pick one item out of the whole WE/Altec continuum, I'd go with a pair of 757As. I must say that this is probably my favorite speaker. not the biggest, not the baddest but remarkably satisfying.

While I'm back there I'd like to pick up a few Altec 1400 series amps too...

**VolvoHeretic** · January 21st, 2012, 09:58 PM

Square foot floor space wise, isn't the A7-500 the best bang for the buck? I would go back to 1977 and buy eight of those at $400 each, for a wall of sound and be totaly deaf at this very moment.

edit: When I was a kid, back in 1977, a friend brought over his Peavey (I think) dual 15" woofer, fiberglass horn midrange and multiple Piezo super tweeter giant box speakers that we hooked up to my lowly A7's , powered by my Crown DC300A amp in a 25' x 25' pitched ceiling room. Wow, they sounded great.

Edit-2: did I tell you about the time that I jerked my A7's out onto the balcony and played "Schools out" by Alice Cooper and they could here it inside the school 500 feet down hill and how the cops showed up just at the end, but I didn‘t arrested ?

**Panomaniac** · January 21st, 2012, 11:36 PM

You did, yes. But it's still a great story.

**cradeldorf** · January 22nd, 2012, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by Geekstar

I get to play with most of the old WE stuff regularly, given my connection with Silbatone (Silbatone Acoustics).

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Lansing gear and I really really like 755As.

I really need a second ALTEC 756B or whole Melodist 700 badly right now.

However, if I had to pick one item out of the whole WE/Altec continuum, I'd go with a pair of 757As. I must say that this is probably my favorite speaker. not the biggest, not the baddest but remarkably satisfying.

While I'm back there I'd like to pick up a few Altec 1400 series amps too...

I was just on their site...awesome collection.

**voice of the theater** · January 22nd, 2012, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by cradeldorf

I was just on their site...awesome collection.

Yeah--like a Western Electric museum....

Silbatone Acoustics

Silbatone Acoustics

**Todd W. White** · January 25th, 2012, 11:19 AM

Preceding THX by at least 10 years, the A10 and related systems were the brainchildren of my friend John K. Hilliard's - he had the idea of improving the VOTT and, seeing the size of the houses getting smaller, came up with the A8 and especially the A10 (as seen above) as a higher-performance system that was a major improvement over the standard A4-type system, which he also designed. The Altec "brass" didn't see the need for it, and it didn't go anywhere. If they HAD, Sparkomatic wouldn't own the Altec name today....IMO