The Altec !9's finally made me replace my Duntech Sovereigns. I owned the Duntech's for almost 30 years and still love them, but space is always an issue with the Sovereigns and power. The Altec 19's are an incredible speaker, providing a truly intimate, transparent, organic and dynamic presentation. Easy to place and easy to drive. They offer a massive soundstage and are incredibly detailed. I prefer them to the Khorns I used to have and think the Altechs are a hell of bargain. I am currently driving them with a Triode Labs EVO 45 integrated amp. Only 2 watts of power but an incredible 2 watts! Jeff Day, wrote a review of the EVO 45, in positive feedback and it is one of the reasons I purchased the amp. A stunning amp period but with the 19s....wow! The 19s are just damn fun to listen to, rock, jazz, pop, classical all wow! I have a number of audio friends who have some impressive systems, all them love to listen to the Altecs.

Size may be a concern, but they are pretty easy to place and will work in small rooms. Tubes are necessary period. Tubes and horns have an incredible synergy. A true example of the sum being greater than the parts.

Soundstage is as big as the room and totally immersive even at low levels. Very efficient and really shine with tube amplification. No need for sub in multi channel setups.

Huge and not a wife pleaser. Really need to put them on a wheeled platform for easy movement. Wire jacks flimsy and located on bottom of speaker.

These are still highly one highly regarded and sought after speaker. Hard to find these days, if you see them listed on local CL..the race is on..they usually get sold in a matter of hours, if that!
Drivers, crossovers, cabinet are top notch. Weight: 146 lbs each. Not tall, but big.
Huge sound! Quality sound, Room filling bass! Very dynamic. Match with tube amplification and it's rock n roll bliss. Solid and clear HF..but it's the mid range that makes jaws drop, the first time you hear them. I've owned Klipsch RF 7's and RF 83's. The titanium compression driver of the RF 83 has a bit more detail and extended HF, but the overall presentation of the
Model 19's, blows the Klipsch away. Look up AudioKarma.com, see what said about them. One of the Holy Grails of speakers. Very lusted after...and that is factual, not hype.
I can't really play them any where near their full glory volume in an apartment, but I keep them stored for the future, I find them too hard to let go. Even if you aren't in the market to buy such a speaker..just having a listen is a satisfying experience, you will remember. Maybe bring cash, just in case.

I have a pair of Altec Lansing speakers,that my husband bought in 1978,They are in great
shape, sound is wonderful,oak cabinets in perfect condition,I need to sell them,because I have to move and they are too big for the place that I am moving into.
Is anyone interested? I have been offfered $800.00

cari4602@gmail.com

I love the Altec Lansing model 19 speakers. They have always blown me away.
The music gets under you skin, in you mind and makes your whole body vibrate.

But I need to sell mine. If anyone still cares about sound anymore and not noise.

Hi Everyone, this is my first post here, and I have been a lover of Altec systems for many years, I'm 68 years ol now and was a rocker way back. What I have now in audio equipment is a mini system compared to my past, which I'm most interested in telling you about here. Once upon a time way back, I bought my first high end, high power amp., the Mattes SSP/200 which you rarely see on Ebay, (I have 4 now), and is a real sleeper of audio technology! I lived in Ohio at the time and everyone and their audio brother knew about Olson Electronic stores. During one visit I spotted a huge, extremely heavy speaker system with the name Seeburg on the front, which turned out to be made by Altec, with the 811 horn and 2-15" woofers, (Heathkit also offered the speaker with their logo). It turned out Seeburg had a wharehouse full of these and Olson bought them for a penny on the dollar, and was selling them in their stores for $200 a piece. The sound blew me away, eventhough the cabinet front design sucked. I ended up buying 4 of them and stacked them in my tiny 2 bedroom cabin. I wasn't crazy about the cheezy woofers Seeburg put in them, so I bought 8 high SPL Utah woofers (60 RMS) to replace them. But the story doesn't end there. I eventually took them to Miami Florida where I had my own workshop. I removed all the Seeburg front crap, attached them in two's, removed the bottom 811, laminated the entire 4-two's to look like two singles in Wilson Art white mica, with simulated black marble mica for the front. I had a large sheet of heavy industrial mech, and cut out 8 circles to mount in front of the woofers, behind the front speaker board, and I had the the mech chromed. I then built 3" high platforms with industrial swivel rollers mounted on the bottom, which I bolted to the cabinet bottoms.
I also wired the woofers for a doubling factor.
When anyone and everyone heard these, they were completely speachless! They did total justice for two of my favorite tunes back then; Leps Dazed and Confused, and Edger Winters Transilvania. Most of the walls were drapped in heavy fabric with sound absorbing ceiling tiles, and heavy carpet on the floor. I am now retired in Thailand and mostly dream of snaging a pair of Model 19's and maybe putting in Lambda woofers!

The reviews of the model 19s are right on. You remember when and where you were the first time you heard these speakers. I listened to the A7s and the 19s on the same day in 1976. The A7s were amazing, mainly for there efficient, dynamic range. The 19s had them beat on every scale, mainly accuracy, deeper bass, more realism, especially vocals and of course the real wood veneer in either walnut or oak. Buying a pair of 19s in the 70s was way out of my league but I finally found a pair of 1977 original walnut beauties in 1998 for $1000.00 and will never part with them. I run them through a Nikko Alpha 450, 225wpc. power amp, a Sumo Athena ll preamp and a Rane ME 15B EQ. With some trial and error, I have found that you can get an honest 25 to 30hz on the low end, with lots of clean undistorted volume that enabled me to sell my 15in. Velodyne subwoofer since the 19s have no need for a subwoofer. The passive Xovers (L-pads) are simply genius on the 19s. I tried a Behringer DCX 2496 electronic Xover for a taste of the digital sound but quickly returned it because IMO, it couldn't match the sound from the 30+ yr. old L-pads! I like jazz, classical and a bit of everything actually. The most stunning thing with the 19s is the absolute realism of a good recording. Vocals are insanely revealing, actually hearing the breath between words. I've had B&O towers, Klipschorns, JBLs, to name a few, great speakers mind you but to get the best bang for your buck, the model 19s might be the last pair of speakers you'll ever own. They are huge and heavy. Handsome enough though, to display anywhere in the house if you can squeeze them in.Give them a listen if you can. There are still some great buys on these. My wife told me: No more speakers please. For once I can honestly say OK dear.

browsing the old internet I came on this site. Lo and behold the Model 19's still being reviewed. I am the lucky owner of a great pair also. As the other gentleman said you can remember where and when, My excuse for these treasures was being made "single" with lots of room to "fill" I called a fellow audio nut. This guy was really a wild one. Tweaks was his middle name. Any way I called and said "do you have any "furniture speakers" Did not really have too much interest in great sound just wanted to fill a big living room she got the end tables. He said he had a "bunch" of big ones his wife wanted out of the house. Well I am a pipe organ freak. So grabbed Michael Murry on a Telarc and a couple of old theatre lp's and went over. He had a wall of speakers and these Big monsters were on the bottom.He had no fancy amps in the room so we dragged over a lo-fi reciever and a couple cheap sources. Well you guys know the rest! After 20 years still say that was the best buy I ever made. Still use them to this day.Prior owner had glass tops cut for them so still nice looking. I use them as the front channels on a Marantz Sr14-ex..Stereo is still great. And a Hd-Blu ray is outright dangerous.Thought you would like hearing my story!

Wish I had the vocabulary and intellegence of other two reviewers. I originally acquired a pair of what I remember to be Altec Lansing Valencias around 1969. I loved them and lugged them around as I moved, but they did have the problem of the voice coils becoming misaligned if bumbed too hard. Anyway, I bought a pair of absolutely perfect Altec Model Ninteens a couple of years ago and am still thrilled every time I play them. The bass is crisp, rich and as effortlessly full as I can take it in my little house. The highs are full, rich and sweet, with a presence and spaciousness I have never found in other speakers. I listen to classical and opera and I love full highs. The Model 19s provide effortless, huge highs without the harshness of other "good" speakers. I have recently teamed them up with a pair of Infinity rs8kappas, and their combined soundstage is stunning. My only problem with the Model 19s, and now the rs8kappas teamed up with them, is that they need a much bigger room, and as soon as I can sell my house in this terrible market will get them one. Any advice on playing different speakers together, especially those with different impedances, would be appreciated. I am using a Sony taf444esx integrated amplifier, 145 w/ch @4 ohms, 105 w/ch @ 8 ohms and its been okay so far. Any recos appreciated.

This is a speaker set for the critical and occasional listener alike. It is brilliant in design being a simple two way type. This is not just any simple two way type speaker however. The herritage behind the "19" is of the Altec Voice Of The Theature legacy. This is somewhat of a scaled down version of the venerable VOTT - but with better frequency extentions.

The "Tangerine" horn driver has extended upper range capability not many, if any, had when these were originally built. It was revolutionary in its day for a horn driver this size to have the farther high end frequency capability this driver offered. The 811 horn lens has outstanding dispersion charateristics for very good room coverage and super smooth frequency responce. Another fact is that the horn is efficient and a well proven design by Altec. Combining the 811 lens with this driver was pure audio art!.

The Altec 416-8B 16" woofer offered excellent higher end range to best meet the lower end capability of the great horn combination. Matching this particular mid woofer to that horn set made pure sonic sence. They matched and blended so well their sound is renowned in the audiophile community- at last a trully BIG sound in a sylish and accurate package. Another bonus is that this mid woofer was rugged and had a true low end capability of 30 hz- even better than all that is that it could do it loudly with a 99db effientcy, which again helped match it up to the horn combinations ability to play loud and clear.

As great as the driver match up was the crossover made it all possible, a very smooth transition aided by a couple of L-Pads, where one could tweak the frequency upper ranges or even the lower vocal ranges. The crossover was magic to me and gave this great speaker set its soull of sound reproduction. Another great thing is that you do not need a big muscle amp- a simple, modest, well made tube amp is easily played through these!.

Lastly were the cabinets, they came in a rugged Oak type or the stylish Walnut wood. They were very solid and heavy. They did not rattle or ring but provided a sturdy platform for the lower end bass extention port and to house the drivvers in wonderful style. These were large furniture pieces and very much looked the part with a nice finish and good construction. While they did house the drivers, they in fact opened and allowed the sound to look and flow like no other speaker made quite since.

Altec Model 19's are in a niche all their own. It is one of those speakers that your remeber when and where you were when you first heard them, you remember what played through them as you were taken aback by their wonderful sound. You remember BIG probably above all- BIG sound, BIG cabinets, BIG everthing! You reember the huge sounding bass, the soft clean clear vocals, you are captivated by sound that is more than unique. While other speakers may certainly sound good in their own right and ways- nothing captures you like the "19's'" ever do. These speakers really cannot be explained with any lofty words or expanded praises- they need to be heard to be belived and then you will know just how truely believable speaker audio can sound and be reproduced. quite like nothing else.

It was my unique pleasure to have rebuilt my Altec Model 19's after receiving them recently. I understand what makes them the fine speaker they still are even today. You see I AM one of those people who remembers where I was some 30 + years ago when I first heard them, and also remember what was playing through them. I also remember not being able to affoad them until just a few weeks ago. Now here I am playing that music I heard through them once again and exposing others to the experience they may have one day as well!. I won't belabor the finer aspects of this wonderful speaker as I know it should be a personal one, that moment where you too will be ambushed by excellence to the ears.
DC. .