Altec 511 (circa 1989–1991)

Name: Altec 511
Brand: Altec

Not much is documented about the Altec 511. What exists is a brief equipment profile in Audio (April 1991, p.84) and a handful of full-page ads that ran in Audio and HiFi/Stereo between 1989 and 1990. They describe a tall, four-way tower speaker. Altec positioned it as a system that gave the listener unusually extensive control over amplification and voicing.

The 511 was a sealed-box design with two 10-inch woofers, a 6½-inch mid-bass driver, a 2-inch dome midrange, and a 1-inch dome tweeter. Crossover points were 180 Hz, 1.5 kHz, and 3.5 kHz. Rated frequency response was 24 Hz to 20 kHz ±3 dB. Sensitivity was 92 dB SPL (1 watt/1 meter) and nominal impedance was 4 ohms. Power handling was listed as 150 watts nominal, 300 watts maximum. The enclosure stood 57 inches tall, 13 inches wide, and 13½ inches deep, and it weighed 110 pounds.

The ad campaign ran under the headline “Altec Lansing thinks it’s time you had a hand in what you hear.” It stressed that the 511 could be run single, bi-, tri-, or quad-amplified, with user-adjustable tonal balance and imaging for each driver band. The ads claimed five years of development and called the 511 a “towering achievement.” No independent reviews beyond the Audio specifications profile have surfaced. Little else is recorded about market reception or how long it stayed in production.