Altec's QC Problems

[RonSSS]

Todd,

You have mentioned the quality problems with Altec gear in the late 70's and 80's. Would you care to elaborate? What problems there were?
And how did you fix them?
Thanks,
Ron

BTW.......sure is a pleasure sharing all of the knowledgs and experiences with all of you here. Wouldn't it be neat if we could meet sometime.

[TonyBlues]

I had purchased a pair of Model 6s (3way 10" bookshelf) in the early to mid 80's. I'd had JBLs until then but liked the sound of the big Altecs and it was my chance to try a pair. I'd thought they would be equivalent to the JBLs of the time. They fell a bit short. There was only a single piece of damping material against the back, the frames were still aluminum but unfinished, the grills didn't last too long, and after a couple of years the surrounds on the midranges came unglued. We actually still use these in the extra room with a JBL car woofer and the original mids and Mantaray tweeters, they sound fine to the kids.
It looked to me like Altec was cutting corners in the execution of some decent designs. The speakers were assembled OK. The backs of these list both Anaheim and Oklahoma.

[Todd W. White]

I own a pair of Model 6, Series II's from Anaheim...I had Bill @ GPA replace the foam surrounds and cleaned up the controls, and the sound GREAT!

The move to OKC was a disaster early on - so much of what was being done in Anaheim was not documented. Most of the employees had been there for years, and they just "knew' what to do without having to be told or shown...not so with the (formerly University Sound) OKC work force: though EXCELLENT workers, they had NO IDEA how some things went together at first with regard to the Altec products. It took a while to get into the swing of things, to say the least.

It's a pity the Models 4, 6, & 8 weren't alllowed to be developed further and stay in production. They went away when Sparkomatic started leasing the "Altec Lansing Consumer Products" name....

Todd W. White, Owner & Webmaster
Altec Lansing's (unofficial) Homepage