Daily Giz Wiz 850: Altec Lasing 604
Episode 850 of the podcast
| Subject: | Review of Altec Lasing 604 |
| Released: | Friday 12 June 2009 |
| Length: | about 20 minutes |
| Download file: | dgw0850.mp3 (9.3 MB) |
Listen to the episode
Detailed information
Link: audioheritage.comThe Model 604 Duplex Speaker was first made by Altec Lansing in around 1944. It mounted a high-frequency compression driver which sent sound from behind and through the centre of a 15" woofer/bass driver, with a 6-cell horn placed over the cone, enabling a compact design. It's a type of coaxial speaker. The speakers were installed in cabinets or other housing. Subsequent models were made but the basic design remained the same. Dick bought the 604C model after he started working for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. To Dick's chagrin, his mother later gave them away, along with some of his Lionel trains.
Dick also says that his were Voice of the Theatre speakers. For pictures of some VOTT models, see Episode 137, and check out audioheritage.org's profile of the VOTT. A few years ago Altec Lansing re-introduced the VOTT A7-Legacy, which didn't last very long. It's now part of Plantronics. For a summary of the evolution of the company including its more recent past, see Wikipedia.
More about the Gadget Warehouse
Dick's Gadget Warehouse is a 10' x 10' x 10' room, complete with floor to ceiling shelves, with no windows and no doors (well, there must be one door), at Sofia Bros Storage Center, 475 Amsterdam Avenue, New York. You can see some pictures of the warehouse taken by Leo when he visited it back in Episode 246. For a look inside the building, see Sofia Bros' video:
[play video]
[play video]
Mr What?
What should Leo be called? Check out Answer Giz Wiz Questions.
Keeping One's Sanity
Chris Lind Hodson, from Richland, Washington, started working last August as a high school graduate. Listening to the Daily Giz Wiz and other TWiT shows helps keep his sanity and dignity, as he stacked pop bottles and juices in the cooler of 7-Eleven and filled oxygen tanks in a different business location. If Dick and Leo should one day hear about an explosion relating to oxygen, it might have been Chris. Explosive thoughts, but understandable when you know where Chris lives. Richland, Washington is sandwiched between the US Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot to its south and the Hanford Works to its north, home of the atomic bomb in World War II.
(source: insidedgw.vox.com)
