This is a well regarded vintage speaker system, circa about 1978~1981. It is a two way speaker featuring a large upper horn, the 811 horn lens, with the “Tangerine” driver. The bottom driver is a large Altec 16″ mid woofer, 405-8B model. The cabinet is a large, 40″ x 30″ x 21″ wood veneer type. Their weight is 143 lbs each! The wood veneer cabinets comes in a rich walnut or classic oak.

This speaker system is very efficient at 99db, 1 watt, 1 meter. You can play them with simple tube amps or good quality lower power solid state types. These are LARGE looking and better yet LARGE sounding speakers1!! They can cover a musical spectrum from effectively 40 hz to 18,000 hz! These are a favored speaker amoung the audiophiles so finding them at a reasonable price may be a challenge.

Their sound is truly unmistakable. Deep rich bass and super clean mid range are their hall mark. They will fill the larger rooms easily with excellent sound. These speakers feature dual control L-Pads to tailor the mid and high frequency output of the horns. This is a very exciting, full bandwidth, speaker system to listen to when restored. Depending on condition these can be bought for %500~$2500. Typically a good restoration will include woofer recone and magnet re-energizing of all the drivers. Other improve,emts may include a xover network upgrade, horn insulation and cabinet refinishing.

If you love big, clean sound without the necessity of a muscle amp these are the speakers to certainly consider!

DC
Rating: 5 / 5

I bought these speakers at Walmart on a complete whim. As a musician, I run Logic Studio for recording on a Macbook Pro through an Apogee Duet, and I felt like having these small speakers would be useful as a quick traveling set that I could whip out whenever I needed to demo material in front of small groups of people. My expectation with this set was a weak-amplitude, weak-bass set that would produce a nice mid-range and clear sound that would work well in small, quiet rooms. However, after testing the first set I bought, there was some obvious static and slight distortion, particularly audible at the mid-volume level and beyond. It was so bad I thought something was defective and I decided to return them for another set. However, the second set had the same problem and I realized these speakers were just a poor substitute for a decent set.

I gave it two stars because they are sold at a very low price. Also, they are portable and have a nice aesthetic look. However, the quality is poor, and I think must consumers would be better off looking for a nicer pair of speakers, even at higher price if necessary. I did not expect to receive a perfectly clear, spectacularly balanced sound from speakers this small and cheap, but I did expect a good sound that didn’t reduce my listening experience dramatically. These speakers failed to come through.
Rating: 2 / 5

I bought these for about $18. 50, plugged them in 5 minutes latter and am blown away. I have never, ever heard desktop speakers with this sound quality. I listen to the same channel on iTunes every day, and I am hearing things in songs that I’ve never heard with other desktop speakers. In some of these songs, I can tell what sound qualities come from the recording equipment. I used my iTunes equalizer to pull down the mid range a little and crispen the sound. I’m especially amazed that they are *USB powered* (not AC powered). The volume can fill a small room (15′ x 15′), but may be a stretch for larger rooms. If you use them for a desktop system while working at your computer, they are going to be more than enough unless you have a *lot* of ambient noise to overcome.

Setup is easy. It took more time to unpack them than to plug them in. Unless you expect Bose 501 quality for $18. 50, you won’t be disappointed. I think a competing product is the Logitech S220 2. 1 Speaker System. I have two Logitech S220 2. 1 systems at home and the Logitechs, although well worth the money, don’t compare to the Altec BXR1220. I just plugged these in, so I don’t know how they will hold up over time. But if they keep this sound quality, I’m going to consider these guys one of my best investments ever dollar for dollar.
Rating: 5 / 5