Equipment photographs · 1
1 / 1 · Altec Voice of the Theatre catalogue family photograph — A4, A2, A5 and A8 variants, circa 1978
Altec Voice of the Theatre catalogue family photograph — A4, A2, A5 and A8 variants, circa 1978·Altec Lansing Technology, courtesy Paul Barello·© Altec Lansing Technology; used for identification and historical commentary
A period Altec coaxial driver illustrates the company's divided-band transducer work; it is not an A7 cabinet.
Duplex coaxial loudspeaker·Author unknown·CC0Why it mattered
- 01
Standardized a high-efficiency, divided-band loudspeaker system at a time when amplifier power remained costly.
- 02
Its A7 variant moved readily from cinemas into studios, stages, and early rock reinforcement.
Engineering record
Original pricing
No reliable 1954 US list price located
2026 equivalent
Not calculated without a reliable original price.
A Japanese reference records later market prices, but those figures are not presented as the original US launch price.
Use in the field
The high acoustic output available from modest tube-amplifier power made the series useful before purpose-built touring cabinets became common.[1]
Professional reactions
Later field experience · September 2020 (reprinted 14 June 2021)
Dorsey preferred Voice of the Theatre variants with 1-inch compression drivers and a 500 Hz crossover, judging that they kept crossover artifacts farther from the vocal band. He contrasted this with a cinema installer’s preference for the more robust 288, illustrating the trade-off between sound and survivability.
Manuals & original documents
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Know more about A-series Voice of the Theatre?
Corrections, firsthand information, original documents, and credited photograph sources are welcome.