Altec mistakes leading to early demise

[robertbartsch]

Well, I have followed this former giant with great interest since the late 1960s and I was trully bumbed when I learned of their demise in the 90s.

Anyway, I got to thinking about the management mis-steps and decided to post a few here for discussion.


Did not revise their professional series drivers to handle "big" power for concerts and other large forums starting in the 1970s.
Allowed competitors to push them (e.g., the Altec 604s) out of mixing studios and movie houses
Did not develop a trully high output UHF driver
Continued to use the metal cast horns when better materials and designs were available
Mis-judged the consumer market for lower-end products which was being invaded by second rate manufacturors like AR, Boston Accustic, Bose and Kliphorn
Did not do an adequate job of advertising and marketing including emphisizing their great heritage
Allowed the company to be acquired by private equity investors

[mikebake]

Other than that, they did well.

[doodlebug]

Add to the list:

- Did not develop adequate distribution channels to get their product into dealer showrooms in the 70s.

- Midjudged and did not counter trends toward small-box systems through the 70s and 80s.

I was a salesman and installer in the 70s and remember we could not even get the Stonehenge models when they came out. While they were still big, the did compete well, sonically, but were backordered to the point where it wasn't even worth recommending them unless we wanted to lose customers. The owner dropped the line as a result.

On the small-box stuff, Altec did offer some lower end consumer product but it was still big - just small relative to a Valencia. They were lost.....

Cheers,

David

[MikeBrewster77]

A catastrophic failure to adapt to evolving technology and trends, subsequently creating an insurmountable disconnect between the product and the buying criteria of the market seems to be a fairly good summary, no?

But, like Mikebake said, other than that - bang up job guys...

Best,
- Mike

[JBLRaiser]

we're all sitting here in from of our computers, listening to the latest YouTube sensation powered by.....Altec Lansing.:applaud:

[Maron Horonzakz]

So where do you find JBL these days,,??????? I cant find a dealer in this country. Are you awake ??? Mr Harmon ??????

[4313B]

So where do you find JBL these days,,??????? I cant find a dealer in this country. Are you awake ??? Mr Harmon ??????He left the building.

[robertbartsch]

I thought Harmon is in his 90s now and he recently handed the CEO role to a younger person after failing to close a sell transaction with a private equity investment firm who would have raped the company and then tossed it to the wind.

[hjames]

... after failing to close a sell transaction with a private equity investment firm who would have raped the company and then tossed it to the wind.

You have a real turn of a phrase there, pilgrim. From all the discussion here last year, it sounded like NOT closing with that firm was a good thing - why would you call it a failure?

[robertbartsch]

I beleive a Harmon sale to a private equity firm would result in the demise of JBL sooner rather than later. You can thank the frozen credit markets for the derailment of this transaction.

[Goodwill_HiFi]

we're all sitting here in from of our computers, listening to the latest YouTube sensation powered by.....Altec Lansing.:applaud:

Uh..... is that sarcasm, or do you not know Altec's history? Altec Lansing Technologies is the company formerly known as Sparcomatic...... They are NOT Altec. They bought the name and own some of the patents.

[Goodwill_HiFi]

Continued to use the metal cast horns when better materials and designs were available



The Mantaray's weren't aluminum and they were the last of the Altec HF horns. They came out in the 70's, I believe.

[hjames]

Give it up, folks. Its just a couple of trolls, running through the site, kicking anything they perceive is down ... its a pretty crappy attitude, actually.
I wish they'd go take their peeing session somewhere else ... bad spirited SOBs. But if Y'all want to hang out with them and commiserate in your beer, have at it!
The big Altecs my friends had were pretty darned nice speakers, but I never thought much about the PC speakers that came much later
(thats Sparkomatic to you, Sparky ... sheesh)!

[Goodwill_HiFi]

Give it up, folks. Its just a couple of trolls, running through the site.......

I'm the one with the lowest post count here..... Hope you aren't referring to me.

[jomina]

So where do you find JBL these days
Funnily enough I was in a shop this afternoon that had K2 9900, K2 9800, 4600 on demo, as well as a vast number of S/H 4312 / L100s, at least two pairs of each of K2 9500 & 4343s as well as various other JBLs.
JBL sell in places were people are prepared to buy. The US is not one of those places apparently.

[Maron Horonzakz]

All the way over to Japan Huh??? When was the last time they had a JBL dealer in the midwest ??? You dont display them for audition,,You wont sell them..As for as Sparkomatic selling Altec,,They didnt care,,and still dont.