Altec Lansing

Last updated
Altec Lansing, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Audio electronics
Founded1927;97 years ago (1927) [2]
FounderAlvis Ward [3]
Headquarters1407 Broadway,
New York City
,
United States
Key people
Ike S Franco (chairman)
ProductsConsumer loudspeakers, headphones, in-ear monitors
OwnersInfinity Lifestyle Brands
Website alteclansing.com

Altec Lansing, Inc. is an American audio electronics company founded in 1927. [4] Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated audio electronics for professional, home, automotive and multimedia applications. [5]

Contents

Engineers at Western Electric, who later formed Altec Services Company, developed the technology for motion picture sound that was introduced in 1927, with the release of The Jazz Singer . [6]

Originally, Altec Services Company serviced the theater sound systems the company founders had helped develop. In 1941, the Altec Services Company purchased the nearly bankrupt Lansing Manufacturing Company and melded the two names, forming the Altec Lansing Corporation, and with the manufacturing capabilities of the former Lansing Manufacturing Company, they quickly expanded into manufacturing horn loudspeakers.

In 1958 the Altec Lansing Corporation was purchased by James Ling who made it part of LTV Ling Altec. LTV spun off Altec which it loaded down with debt first. By 1974, the company was saddled with debt. It was reorganized under Chapter 11 as Altec Corporation and continued for 10 years. Altec filed a second bankruptcy. In 1984, Gulton Industries purchased the brand out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Gulton was acquired by Mark IV Audio. Since then, there has been a string of owners, purchased in 1986 by Sparkomatic, [7] with the Pro equipment still made by Mark IV Audio, Mark IV sold out to Telex, who closed down the Pro division and folded its products into Electro-Voice. In 2005 Altec Lansing Technologies was acquired by Plantronics, 2009 bought by Prophet Equity, and has been owned since 2012 by the Infinity Group, a company which acquires struggling companies. [8]

Popular loudspeakers included the Altec Lansing Duplex 600-series coaxial loudspeaker, studio monitors from the 1940s to the 1980s, [9] and the Altec "Voice of the Theatre" line of loudspeakers widely used in movie theaters, concert halls, and also in rock concerts from the 1960s to the 1990s, such as custom designs used at Woodstock Festival.

History

Conception and early products

In 1930 AT&T's Western Electric established a division to install and service loudspeakers and electronic products for motion-picture use. Named Electrical Research Products, Inc. and commonly referred to by the acronym ERPI, it became the target of an anti-trust suit brought by Stanley K. Oldden. [10] By 1936, Western Electric had shed its audio-equipment manufacturing and sales division, bought by International Projector and Motiograph, and was looking to dissolve the associated service division. ERPI was purchased as part of a consent decree in 1937 by a group of ERPI executives, including George Carrington Sr., Leon Whitney "Mike" Conrow, Bert Sanford Jr., and Alvis A. Ward, with funding from three Wall Street investors. They reincorporated as "Altec Service Company", the "Altec" standing for "all technical". [11] Company executives promised they would never make or sell audio equipment. [11]

The Altec Services Company purchased the bankrupt Lansing Manufacturing Company and melded the two names, forming the Altec Lansing Corporation on May 1, 1941. The first Altec Lansing power amplifier, Model 142B, was produced that same year. James Bullough Lansing worked for Altec Lansing, then in 1946 he left to found the James B. Lansing Company (JBL), another manufacturer of high-quality professional loudspeakers, which competed with Altec Lansing. [12] Altec Lansing produced a line of professional and high-fidelity audio equipment, starting with a line of horn-based loudspeaker systems. First developed for use in motion-picture theaters, these products were touted[ by whom? ] for their fidelity, efficiency and high sound-level capability. Products included "biflex" speakers (where frequency range was increased by a flexible "decoupling" of a small center area of the speaker's cone from a larger "woofer" area) and the 604-series of coaxial speakers (which employed a high-efficiency compression driver mounted to the rear of the 604's low-frequency magnet, and exited through a multicellular horn that passed through center of the woofer's cone).

Altec Lansing also made the Voice of the Theatre systems. The design resulted from a collaboration between John Hilliard and Jim Lansing. Douglas Shearer didn't hesitate to approve the Hilliard's proposal and authorized "any reasonable budget". Hilliard became the team leader of this new project. Hilliard immediately recruited Lansing Manufacturing, Robert Stephens, a design draftsman on MGM's staff, and Harry Kimball. The speaker was named the Shearer horn. Later on, a more refined model, the VOTT, was introduced. The smallest model, the A-7, used a large-sized sectoral metal horn for high frequencies, which featured dividers (sectors) to provide control sound dispersion, plus a medium-sized wooden low-frequency enclosure, which functioned as a hybrid bass-horn/bass-reflex enclosure.[ citation needed ]

The most often used Voice of the Theatre system was the A-4, many of which are still in use in motion picture theaters measuring 9 feet tall . as of 2018.[ citation needed ] The efficiency of all of these products originally provided high sound pressure levels from the limited amplifier power available at the time. The original Voice of the Theatre series included the A-1, A-2, A-4, and the A-5. The A-7 and A-8 were designed for smaller venues. In 2004, the A-7 Voice of the Theatre system was inducted into the TECnology Hall of Fame, an honor given to "products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology." [13]

Bill Hanley used Altec high frequency drivers and horns along with JBL bass drivers in his custom-built loudspeaker system for the Woodstock Festival in 1969. [14] Some professional Altec Lansing products remained in use well into the 1990s.

Altec Service Co. and Altec Lansing Professional audio products

James Ling purchased the Altec Lansing Corporation from the ailing George Carrington Sr., in 1958. By the time James Ling spun Altec Lansing off in 1974, his company, LTV-Ling-Altec, had heavy debts. In 1984, Gulton Industries, Inc., purchased the Altec Sound Products Division from the Altec Lansing Corporation, which was operating under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Included with the purchase were the tooling, parts and product inventories, distributor network, designs, patents, and assets of the Sound Products Division of Altec Lansing. The motion picture theater sound installation and repair business, Altec Service Co., was sold to J. Bruce Waddell, then head of Altec Service, and comptroller Robert V. Gandolfi. They established it as A.S.C. Technical Services in Richardson, Texas.

The Altec Lansing Corporation was formed by Gulton Industries as part of the purchase and headquartered in Oklahoma City, the site of the University Sound factory built by Jimmy Ling when he moved there from White Plains, New York. Prior to the purchase, Altec Lansing had been headquartered in Yorba Linda, California, but it was moved as part of an effort to reduce operating costs.

Altec Lansing Corporation produced professional audio products until 1995, when Telex Communications, who had purchased Altec Lansing's parent company, EVI Audio, Inc., in 1997, consolidated all of their electronics manufacturing facilities into one location in Minnesota.

Altec Lansing Bookshelf loudspeakers Altec Lansing Bookshelf Speakers.jpg
Altec Lansing Bookshelf loudspeakers

Post-1996

In 1996, Altec Lansing Technologies Multimedia established an R&D center in Kfar Saba, Israel. The center, known as ALST Technical Excellence Center, cooperate with STMicroelectronics (ALST = Altec Lansing + STMicro) and focused on advanced multimedia technologies such as USB audio, surround sound and wireless audio as well as on handheld video. The center was closed in 2001 and the development activities moved to the Milford headquarters. [15] In May 2000, Altec Lansing's Professional division was closed by Telex and the Altec Lansing was later sold to Sparkomatic and renamed Altec Lansing Technologies. [16] The Altec Lansing Professional line was relaunched in April 2002 by Altec Lansing Technologies using a few former executives and sound engineers of the old Oklahoma City-based Altec Lansing Corporation, bringing Altec's professional and consumer products under the same roof for the first time since 1986. The company later dropped the professional audio products and Altec Lansing Professional's Oklahoma City offices were closed in late 2006 and all remaining activities relocated to the headquarters in Milford, Pennsylvania.[ citation needed ]

An Altec Lansing PC speaker Altec Lansing.jpg
An Altec Lansing PC speaker
An Altec Lansing iM227 speaker from the Orbit M series David Yeo T. B. - OrbitM - 20091005213137.jpg
An Altec Lansing iM227 speaker from the Orbit M series

On 30 April 2001 Altec Lansing Technologies launched their first line of headphones named as the AHP series. This series of headphones had various different designs and price ranges. [17] In February 2004, Altec Lansing Technologies reissued a number of loudspeakers starting with the A7 Voice of the Theatre, manufactured in the US with some changes to the enclosure. Similarly, Altec Lansing Technologies reissued the 510, 508 and 305 loudspeakers. [18] Very few were actually made. On July 11, 2005, Altec Lansing Technologies announced that it was to be acquired by Plantronics for approximately $166 million. [19] On September 10, 2008, Altec Lansing Technologies went through a corporate makeover changing its name to Altec Lansing LLC and its logo from a "whirlpool" to an abstraction of a multi-cellular horn. [20]

On 1 October 2009 Altec Lansing LLC announced that it was to be acquired by Prophet Equity for approximately 18 million dollars. [21] In July 2011, Altec Lansing LLC announced the opening of new West Coast headquarters in San Diego, California. Brendon Stead joined as Vice President of Product Management and Engineering. Stead was formerly the General Manager and Vice President of Harman International and Labtec. [22] On October 18, 2012, The Infinity Group bought Altec Lansing for $17.5 million at auction thus saving the company from bankruptcy. Infinity specializes in acquiring and turning around struggling or bankrupt consumer brands. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudspeaker</span> Converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound

A loudspeaker is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections. The speaker driver is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound.

Bose Corporation is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-canceling headphones, professional audio products, and automobile sound systems. Bose has a reputation for being certainly protective of its patents, trademarks and brands. The majority owner of Bose Corporation is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Non-voting shares were donated to MIT by founder Amar Bose and receive cash dividends. The company's annual report for the 2021 financial year stated that Bose Corporation's yearly sales were $3.2 billion, and the company employed about 7,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn loudspeaker</span> Loudspeaker using an acoustic horn

A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A common form (right) consists of a compression driver which produces sound waves with a small metal diaphragm vibrated by an electromagnet, attached to a horn, a flaring duct to conduct the sound waves to the open air. Another type is a woofer driver mounted in a loudspeaker enclosure which is divided by internal partitions to form a zigzag flaring duct which functions as a horn; this type is called a folded horn speaker. The horn serves to improve the coupling efficiency between the speaker driver and the air. The horn can be thought of as an "acoustic transformer" that provides impedance matching between the relatively dense diaphragm material and the less-dense air. The result is greater acoustic output power from a given driver.

Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2001. At its peak, it was involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, among other businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JBL</span> American audio hardware manufacturer

JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing, an American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer. JBL currently serves the home and professional audio markets. Their professional products include live PA systems, studio monitors, and loudspeakers for cinema. Their home products include home audio speakers, waterproof Bluetooth speakers, and high-end car audio. JBL is owned by Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

James Bullough Lansing was a pioneering American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer who was most notable for establishing two audio companies that bear his name, Altec Lansing and JBL, the latter taken from his initials, JBL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harman International</span> American electronics company

Harman International Industries, Inc., commonly known as Harman, is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been operating as an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio monitor</span> Speaker designed to reproduce sound accurately

Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate audio reproduction is crucial. Among audio engineers, the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses. In other words, it exhibits minimal emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies, the loudspeaker gives an accurate reproduction of the tonal qualities of the source audio, and there will be no relative phase shift of particular frequencies—meaning no distortion in sound-stage perspective for stereo recordings. Beyond stereo sound-stage requirements, a linear phase response helps impulse response remain true to source without encountering "smearing". An unqualified reference to a monitor often refers to a near-field design. This is a speaker small enough to sit on a stand or desk in proximity to the listener, so that most of the sound that the listener hears is coming directly from the speaker, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings. Monitor speakers may include more than one type of driver or, for monitoring low-frequency sounds, such as bass drum, additional subwoofer cabinets may be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kenneth Hilliard</span> American engineer

John Kenneth Hilliard was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film and won an Academy Award in 1935. He designed movie theater sound systems, and he worked on radar as well as submarine detection equipment during World War II. Hilliard collaborated with James B. "Jim" Lansing in creating the long-lived Altec Voice of the Theatre speaker system. Hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics, vibration, miniaturization and long-line communications for NASA and the Air Force. Near the end of his career, he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in California, a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UREI</span> American audio equipment manufacturer

United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renkus-Heinz</span> American sound equipment manufacturer

Renkus-Heinz is a California-based manufacturer of loudspeakers and related professional sound reinforcement equipment specializing in steerable loudspeaker technology. Based in Foothill Ranch, California, the firm has a global presence in permanent installations at auditoriums, transit centers, sports venues, houses of worship and musical performance venues as well as in the concert touring industry.

KEF is a British company specialising in the design and production of a range of high-end audio products, including HiFi speakers, subwoofers, architecture speakers, wireless speakers, and headphones. It was founded in Maidstone, Kent, in 1961 by a BBC engineer named Raymond Cooke (1925–1995). In 1992, the Hong Kong–based Gold Peak Group acquired KEF; and GP Acoustics, a member of Gold Peak, now owns the company. KEF continues to develop and manufacture its products in Maidstone.

A coaxial loudspeaker is a loudspeaker system in which the individual driver units radiate sound from the same point or axis. Two general types exist: one is a compact design using two or three speaker drivers, usually in car audio, and the other is a two-way high-power design for professional audio, also known as single-source or dual-concentric loudspeakers. The design is favored for its compactness and behavior as an audio point source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altec Lansing Duplex</span> Line of loudspeakers

DUPLEX was the trade name given by Altec Lansing to its line of coaxial loudspeakers, beginning with the first model 601 in 1943. However, the name was most commonly associated with the subsequent model 604 which was a seminal loudspeaker that became a milestone in loudspeaker development. Well over a dozen different models carried the Duplex name over a near 50-year period. The vast majority consisted of a high frequency (HF) compression driver mounted to the back of a large diameter paper cone low frequency (LF) driver. However, there were also a few models with small diameter LF cones and direct radiator tweeters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gunness</span> American audio engineer

David W. Gunness is an American audio engineer, electrical engineer and inventor. He is known for his work on loudspeaker design, especially high-output professional horn loudspeakers for public address, studio, theater, nightclub, concert and touring uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford A. Henricksen</span> American inventor, American musician

Cliff Henricksen is a musician, inventor and audio technologist. He is self-taught as a musician with a graduate degree in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Throughout his career Cliff has found innovative ways to apply engineering basics to electro acoustics and to audio technology as it applies to music and in particular to live music performance. He has invented and engineered a wide variety of technologies and products well known in the world of professional audio. Today he balances work in audio and work as a performing musician.

Clair Global, or simply Clair, is a professional sound reinforcement and live touring production support company. It was founded by brothers Roy and Gene Clair, who went into business in 1966 after they were asked to bring their sound system on tour with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band. The company formally incorporated in 1970 as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Hughes (audio engineer)</span> American inventor and audio engineer (born 1965)

Charles Emory Hughes II is an American inventor and audio engineer. He is known for his work on loudspeaker design, and the measurement of professional audio sound systems. Hughes first worked for Peavey Electronics designing loudspeakers and horns where he was granted a patent for the Quadratic-Throat Waveguide horn used in concert loudspeakers. He worked for Altec Lansing for two years as chief engineer for the pro audio division and was granted two more patents. In 2021, Hughes was hired by Biamp as principal engineer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional audio store</span> Retail business

A professional audio store is a retail business that sells, and in many cases rents, sound reinforcement system equipment and PA system components used in music concerts, live shows, dance parties and speaking events. This equipment typically includes microphones, power amplifiers, electronic effects units, speaker enclosures, monitor speakers, subwoofers and audio consoles (mixers). Some professional audio stores also sell sound recording equipment, DJ equipment, lighting equipment used in nightclubs and concerts and video equipment used in events, such as video projectors and screens. Some professional audio stores rent "backline" equipment used in rock and pop shows, such as stage pianos and bass amplifiers. While professional audio stores typically focus on selling new merchandise, some stores also sell used equipment, which is often the equipment that the company has previously rented out for shows and events.

Sparkomatic was a USA-based manufacturer of car audio products with a production facility in Milford, Pennsylvania. Their primary products were automotive speakers, tape players, radios, and other audio accessories.

References

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  3. ↑ Altec Lansing History
  4. ↑ "Company Overview of Altec Lansing/AL Infinity, LLC". Bloomberg News . Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  5. ↑ "Altec Lansing Creates a Range of Almost Indestructible Bluetooth Speakers - PLuGHiTz Live - Special Events - Show Notes - PLuGHiTz Live". www.plughitzlive.com. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  6. ↑ "TIMELINE: A Legacy of Sound". www.alteclansing.com. Archived from the original on 2004-08-25. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  7. ↑ "ALTEC LANSING". www.audioheritage.org. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  8. 1 2 "Infinity Group Buys Altec Lansing Name, Plans To Rebuild Brand". www.twice.com. 2012-10-18. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  9. ↑ McGowan, Chris (November 15, 1980). "Sound Pioneers". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 46. Nielsen Business Media. p. 42. ISSN   0006-2510.
  10. ↑ "Ask Pacent Suit Dismissed". Motion Picture Herald. Vol. 129. 1937. p. 76.
  11. 1 2 "ERPI Turns Over Sound Servicing to Former Heads in New Altec". Motion Picture Herald. Vol. 129. 1937. p. 29.
  12. ↑ "History". JBL Professional Loudspeakers. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  13. ↑ "TECnology Hall of Fame, 2004". TECawards.org. 2004. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
  14. ↑ Evans, Mike; Kingsbury, Paul (2009). Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World. Sterling Publishing. p. 56. ISBN   978-1402766237.
  15. ↑ "ST Microelectronics, Altec Join For Audio Research".
  16. ↑ "ICONIC".
  17. ↑ "Altec Lansing enters headphone market". www.twice.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  18. ↑ "Altec Lansing | Legacy Product Line" (PDF). soundhouse.co.kr. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  19. ↑ "Altec Lansing | Bluetooth Speakers, Headphones & Earbuds". Altec Lansing. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  20. ↑ "Roundup: Altec Lansing reveals new logo, audio products". CNET. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  21. ↑ "Prophet Equity Buying Altec Lansing - PE HUB". PE HUB. 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  22. ↑ Lansing, Altec. "Altec Lansing Looks West and Opens New Office in San Diego, Focuses on Audio Solutions and Emerging Technologies". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
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