Oh man! I first heard my speakers at my uncle's house in Hollywood when they were his and I was 20. I fell in love with music at that time -- largely thanks to these speakers. Jazz especially. (Nightly visits to jazz clubs helped. Music was important to my uncle.) I'm now 53 and this past summer my uncle passed away and I inherited the speakers. (They're probably 1960's-era.) I flew 2000 miles from home to resolve his estate. At first I planned to sell the speakers and almost everything else. (I was hoping to keep his Citroen DS, but that was not to be.) I had an offer of $1k for them -- a cheery figure! As we worked on the house, friends and I would listen to the speakers in the evening. At one point one friend said "Listening to these things I'm crying but I'm not even sad." The one CD my uncle left in his player was Art Tatum & Ben Webster so we played that. Sometimes we'd go outside and stand in the street, listening to the music coming out of the windows. We all thought it was the best music we'd ever heard. We all agreed that I could not sell the speakers. So we strapped them onto a pallet and I had them shipped home via a semi-truck. We have a small house but I thought they might help our children learn to live better -- to have such an influence of beauty. People said they're too big, like washing machines in our little cottage living room. I said "Yes, that may be, but let's hear them before we decide." So I hooked them up to our generic little Sony receiver and played the Art Tatum Ben Webster CD for my wife and kids. The speakers passed the test and are still in our living room months later. They really like simple music: voice, horn, piano, strumming, slower drumming. You can hear everything. The detail seems to come out more than the ear could hear while listening live. It seems like we could charge admission to our house to hear them. We've had a couple parties. People love them. Now whenever I hear music elsewhere if it seems good I think "Wouldn't it be nice to hear this on the speakers?" I went to Best Buy and asked to listen to their best speakers. They had a leather easy chair set out in front of $5k electro-static speakers. They played me Pink Floyd. I asked if there was maybe something wrong with their set-up. It sounded quite lo-fi. A musician friend visited our house and said "Tape hiss would sound good on these." Indeed, I've listened to some bad old cassettes and somehow they sound good -- faded but still having dimension. I'd like to go to an audiophile store and see what they have. Should I risk it? I'm willing to be expanded further... My friends and I would like to haul them around to clubs in our area that don't have good sound systems. Our favorite outdoor beer garden often doesn't have any music at all. We could set up the speakers, maybe just in the back of a pickup, and really enjoy ourselves, as would everyone else. We'd feel like we were really somewhere. It would be my treat. They're the best things I own.

My father left me his pristine original Altec Valencia "Voice of the Theatre" speakers in their beautiful walnut cabinets. Even the grates are in very good condition. They date back to the early 60's. I grew up listening to these speakers and have always enjoyed the glorious sound they produce. No matter the volume level, these speakers speak the truth. Very large by today's standards but the solid walnut cabinets are beautiful pieces of furniture that you just don't see any more. They do 3.1 home theater duty in the master bedroom now. My wife spends a great deal of time using them when she watches her programming but I still find myself dropping in a CD or SACD every once in a while and slip back in time when music was music and speakers were speakers. If you ever get a chance to acquire an original pair of these works of art, you will not regret it.

I am a musician, composer of classical music. In 1970 not satisfied with any speaker
I admired the Voice of the Theater speaker, but were to big. I bought 2 Voice of Theater Woofers and constructed my own speakers which are Right and Left (mirror imaging). Boxes 3feet H, 2feet w, 1 1/2feet deep. I rarely go to concerts. Voice of Theater speakers are as live as you can get. Boxes contain 5 Philips dome tweeters and 3 Philips 5inch midrange, and 1 8inch midrange and a Warfdale mid-tweeter.
Altec Lansing voice of the theater speakers are the top for me.

Producing a warm sound without the bass boom which is so common with smaller woofers.

The only weakness I can think off is that they were expensive back then and that they don't make anything like that anymore. Just to bad that I have to move into a smaller home and can't use them anymore. If you know someone who wants to make me an offer for them, have them e-mail me to

I have a pair of Altec Valencia 846U speakers. They are the upper end of the " Voice of the Theaters" speaker line made by JBL for home use by using a beautiful furniture style cabinet to house them.

I purchased these speakers for $1440.00 plus tax in San Jose CA in the early 70th and had them and enjoyed them for all these years. What a wonderful experience. You really don't need a powerful amplifier to drive them, they are so efficient. And the sound they deliver is incomparable.

Incredible highs. Natural bass. Wonderful mids.

No wonder these speakers were popular in movie theatres - they hold their own and kick enormous butt!

Great LIVE sound - I think I am 2 feet from the speakers at a concert!

None that I know of - but jealous people would argue that the horns are harsh or that they are not very good overall speakers.

Ignore haters - they only want to get their hands on a pair. If you can find a pair at ANY price - get them!

These speakers hold their own and no current speaker or vintage speaker can out perform these at ANY price!

This review is for a pair of Altec Valencia 846U speakers. They are essentially Voice of the Theatres, only modified for home use. These speakers are in the birch version.

I purchased these speakers for $900.00 in April 2006 at a consignment store in Sun City, Arizona.

I currently use them as my entire setup - music, movies, and tv.

Customer Service

Well, Altec is no longer manufacturing vintage speakers. No customer service available.

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JBL - new and vintage. Advent. B&W. Polk. Linn. Omega.

Deep Clean Bass

Speakers cable (wire)input in a very inconviente spot..LIKE UNDER THE SPEARKER. with mean i have to take every thing off the top of the speaker and turn it upside down to hook up the speakers.

I own the Altec studio monitor's fifteen's. I love the deep clean bass i can push out of them, After installing a new set of woofers.. the horn drivers where blowen, i couldn't find and set of drivers to put back in them so i had to modify a pair of tweeters to fit them. but all in all i still get a good clean sound. Very good For A company that pretty much started the industral side of speaker systems..

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seening how in the long run these are JBL speakers. Altec Lansing. (JBL) James B Lansing.Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony, JBL, Tynor, Pevey, Yamaha, Cerwin Vaga, Technics, EV, Bose.

Clean, efficient, excellent cross-overs,smooth response in all ranges

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Altec Lansing, Model 19's, studio monitors, purchased at ayrd sale, couldn't believe my luck, the 416B's were our of the cabinets, but were not damaged at all, I was amazed at the clean sound, they are much better in my home then the A7's, which i have now taken to my shop, gotta use them some place, I still have not heard any speaker system that can compare at all levels with the VOT, I drive them with Harmon Cardin, installed new diaphrams in the 808A's and I listen and totally enjoy

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tested JBL X series, cerwin vega, Kliptch, none better, JBL at least compare in some areas

VERY EFFICIENT USE OF POWER, GOOD BASS EXTENCION, UNBELIEVABLE MID AND HIGH CLARITY.

SIZE, SIZE, SIZE, 84" TALL 34 3/4 WIDE 39 3/4 DEEP, EACH BOX WITHOUT THE HORN ON TOP! THEY WEIGH OVER 600 POUNDS! EACH BOX WITH DRIVERS! NOT INCLUDING THE WINGS! BRUTALTO MOVE AND STORAGE.

I HAVE 4 OF THE A4 BASS CABINETS, MODEL 210 LOADED W/ SELINIUM DRIVERS 2- 15" WOOFERS EACH. HIGHS ARE JBL MANTARAYS. WE USE RANE EQS AND CROSSOVERS WIH QSC AMPS. I HAVE HEARD ROCK CONSERTS THAT CANNOT MATCH THE VOLUME AND CLARITY OF THESE. AT LOW VOLUMES THEY HAVE VERY HIGH SOUND QUALITY. WE HAVE DONE MANY MODIFICATIONS TO THESE CABNITS. THESE ARE THE BIG DADDY OF ALL SPEAKERS, COMPAIRABLE TO COMMUNITIE'S GOLIATHS. iF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON THE MODIFICATIONS DONE, DRIVERS USED, AND GOOD ALTEC WEBSITE INFO- OEM PRODECTS USED, MODIFICATIONS, AND SCHEMATICS EMAIL ME AT CHETNLORI@HOTMAIL.COM. PLEASE NOTE ALTEC IN THE SUBJECT LINE. THANKS

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NOTHING IS SIMULAR, CLOSE WOULD BE HIGH END JBL, EV, TURBOSOUND, AND CERWIN VEGA.

At times they will take your breath away. Listening to them is as close as you can come to hearing what it sounds like to be in the studio. They were a big help in raising my kids.When they were old enough to ignor the usual don''t touch the...and you have to say it over and over again, I only had to tell them once not to touch the volume control on my pre-amp. I''d leave the room and when I heard a roar of sound I knew that once I peeled the kid off of the ceiling and got his pulse rate back to normal that I would never have to worry about either of them going into the music room alone until they could speak.

They are extremely expensive to maintain. Wait! let me explain. As most of you know they kind of take posession of a room. Well whenever my wife felt like practicing extortion for trinkets or cash, she would casually mention that it was time to re-do the room in which the 7s presided. That meant only one thing, pay up or find some really good headphones. I don''t mind the extortion because love is forever and so are Voice of the Theaters.

The firs time I heard a pair of A7s was in 1961. The tune was from Bolero. When I was old enough to play in a band, I couldn''t forget the sound of the A7s. They were our main PA speakers. When we started making money the first thing I bought was, wrong, not the A7s but all of the electronics. But I was rewarded. A couple of years later my parents gave me a new pair of A7s for a wedding gift. I''m still married to my only wife and I still have the A7''s. By the way they are model W2 (WII) which means two huge, but beautiful walnut cabinets. I''m thinking about selling them, if you are interested contact me at cmonreff@aol. Come on ref! Yes, I was a high school basketball referee.

ITS AN ALTEC VOC!!!!!!!

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MY FATHER BOUGHT A PAIR OF THEM WHEN WE LIVED IN SYR.N.Y ,BUILT THEM HIM SELF(EXCEPT THE CABINET)I HAVE ALL DOCUMENTATION B.P. SPEC. PRODUCT DISCRIPITION HISTORY IF ANYONE IS IN NEED OF THIS PLEASE EMAIL ME AND I WILL SEND YOU A COPY OF ALL THAT I HAVE INFOR. INCLUDES A7, A7-500,A7-W,A7-500W WIRING INST. PHASING, EVERYTHING MY EMAIL IS ROCKINRIGGER@MEDIAONE.NET

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