Dear Former Altec Lansing Professional Engineering Sound Contractor:

  As a former Altec Lansing Engineering Sound Contractor, it is important to me to know that my customers are well served by the systems I designed and installed for them, even after several years of use. Over the years, you, like me, installed a large amount of Altec Lansing professional audio products in churches, schools, stadiums, performing arts centers, and the like. You did so because you believed that no company made better sounding speakers and systems than Altec did, and you were right. Despite it's problems with LTV, the spin-off's, the buy-out's, and occasional Q-C problems, Altec continued to design and build outstanding professional audio products until the end. Even to this day, many of these products - especially the loudspeakers - outperform anything else in their class!

    Thanks to contractors like yourself, these systems were installed properly and many continue to serve their owners faithfully. If it hadn't been for companies like yours, these systems would have never been installed. Indeed, it was dedication to quality - a concept missing from far too many in this industry these days - that made Altec and it's contractor base an unbeatable combination. Indeed, it is pleasing to see how many of you incorporated on your websites a certain, familiar African Green in the color schemes of their websites and logo's. Such is the depth of dedication to Altec by her contractors and the principles for which she stood.

                                                                                            © Paramount Pictures

    You are painfully aware, I am sure, of what happened to Altec. Altec Lansing's parent company, EVI, was sold to the Telex Corporation. Subsequently, all electronic and acoustic products manufactured by the different divisions of  EVI were consolidated under the Telex and/or EV brand names. Sadly, Altec Lansing and University Sound did not fare well in this amalgamation. Both divisions were closed, the Altec Lansing brand was sold to Sparkomatic (aka "Altec Lansing Technologies"), and all of Telex's "pro" audio work is functioning, for now, under the Electro-Voice banner. There mere thought of it is nauseating.

    In reality, the problem for those who ran EV during the Gulton/Mark IV years was that Altec simply refused to die. Even when strapped with unbelievable debt for which it was not responsible by LTV, and even when Extra-Vicious did everything it could after the Gulton purchase to make Altec fail, it just wouldn't! Such was the strength of the Altec product line and the Altec family.

    It finally took the sale of EVI itself to an even more vociferous predator, Telex, to complete the task set forth by EV in the 1970's after Gulton purchased them - to put Altec out of business. For, when they couldn't do so legitimately (i.e., by building better products and selling them in a competitive marketplace), they asked themselves, "What are we going to do?" Then, the answer came forth loud and clear - "BUY IT, THEN KILL IT!" Such is the way of the "Engulf & Devour" corporate mentality of the days in which we live.

    But there is hope.

    Altec Lansing, as we knew her, is dead, and will never again be the giant in the industry it once was. But for those of you who stood by her for so long as  contractors, salesmen, designers, and installers, it is both comforting and important to know that service and parts for these products ARE still available!

    So - FEAR NOT! Your customers are not "audio orphans" - left out in the cold to flail and writhe in agony without technical support, parts, or service for their superior Altec Lansing products, faced with the grim and distasteful prospect of replacing them with lesser-than-equals!

    Our website contains links to a large amount of information on how to keep those great Altec products alive and well, including a Diaphragm/VoiceCoil Replacement Chart ,  Thiele/Small Parameters For Altec Speakers , and much, much more. Of particular importance to you will be three sources I list for parts and service of older Altec Lansing products. Please make note of them for your future reference.

    * Loudspeaker Repair/Parts: If you or your customers are using Altec Lansing loudspeakers, keep them running at peak performance by checking out Great Plains Audio at their website,  Great Plains Audio . Great Plains Audio is owned and operated by former Altec employees who, using the same materials and processes, produce GENUINE replacement parts for most all Altec and University loudspeakers!

          Contrary to what some sales rep for the "one-box-does-all" speaker manufacturer might tell you, we all know that there is absolutely no reason to throw away those great Altec loudspeakers just because they're not brand new!!!! Save your customers a lot of money and cement their loyalty to you as "their" sound company by helping them maintain their investment in their Altec products! Doing so will also prevent them from years and years of kicking themselves while saying, "These new speakers just don't sound as good as our old Altec's did!"

          Great Plains Audio can rebuild most all Altec and University loudspeakers for a fraction of replacement cost so they can continue to serve your customers for many more years to come! Also - do not be fooled by "aftermarket" diaphragms and re-cone kits - Great Plains Audio is the ONLY source for guaranteed Altec-quality replacement parts at reasonable prices! Everything else is but a poor imitation sonically, structurally, and economically!

    * Electronic Equipment Repair/Parts: If you or your customers are using Lansing electronic products that need repairs or updates (such as conversion of the Altec 1674/8 B-series to C-series), check out IRATEC Pro Audio at their website, IRATEC PRO AUDIO. Most all of the Altec professional electronic equipment - even some tube systems - can be serviced and put back into operation. Altec electronics were engineered and built to provide years and years of faithful service, but when they do fail, it's nice to know they can be repaired, rather than thrown away. IRATEC Pro Audio has a HUGE stock of NOS Altec electronic parts, including transformers, output transistors, etc. So - quit trying to match aftermarket components - call IRATEC Pro Audio and get the REAL THING!

    * Microphone Repair/Parts: If you or your customers are using Altec Lansing microphones manufactured prior to 1983 - including the famous M-20 & M-30 systems, the 685A/B/BX units, and even the 639A/B, then you will want to contact MicroMike Labs in Anaheim. Many of you will remember Mr. Bill Hayes, who was once head of Altec's Acoustic Dept. He now owns and operates MicroMike Labs, and can help you with things like the 650A/B, 639A/B, 670A, and so on. His contact information is:

       MicroMike Laboratories
        1537 West Cris Place
      Anaheim, California   92802
      Telephone: (714) 774-0342
      Attention: Mr. Bill Hayes
 
  Replacement Loudspeakers Now Available! Looking for NEW speakers to replace or augment existing ones? Well GREAT PLAINS AUDIO is now producing high frequency drivers, horns, woofers, and two-way loudspeakers that are acoustically equivalent in every way to what you are used to! Made in the United States of America by craftsmen with years of experience, the new loudspeakers available from GREAT PLAINS AUDIO will delight your ears with the most natural sound reproduction available today.

         Here is their contact information:
    

GREAT PLAINS AUDIO ™
  7127 NORTHWEST THIRD ST.
  OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA  73127
(405) 789-0221

    It is my hope that the information you find here and on my website will help you keep the Altec Lansing Professional Audio Products your customers have installed in their facilities alive and well. If there is anything I further can do to assist you in that task, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 

Yours very truly,
 

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

BACK TO ALTEC LANSING'S (unofficial) HOMEPAGE

E-mail us at:  toddw.white@sbcglobal.net