Altec Lansing 803B
A 15-inch cast-aluminum woofer that spent its life in broadcast racks and theater cabinets, and still refuses to sound like a museum piece.
Overview
Pick up an Altec 803B and the first thing you notice is the weight - 17.5 pounds of driver built around a heavy-duty cast aluminum frame with a precision-aligned gap. The second thing, once you read the label, is what it isn't. It is not a complete speaker system, and it isn't a horn. It's a standalone 15-inch low frequency loudspeaker, a professional-grade woofer built to anchor serious enclosures. Altec marketed it as a component for the finest studio monitors. The company's own literature calls it a 15-inch low frequency loudspeaker of professional quality, chosen to complement broadcast and recording studio monitor systems such as the A7 and A7-500.
Dating an 803B from paperwork alone is frustrating, because Altec's surviving trade literature is thin on production ranges. What does exist is physical: a date code from around 1964 found on a unit frame. That gives at least one anchor point and places the driver in the mid-1960s. Some collectors treat it as a transitional piece, bridging the rugged cinema sound systems of the 1950s and the more refined broadcast monitors of the 1960s and 70s. That framing may not hold for every unit, but the design brief is clear from the parts list. This woofer was built for places where failure wasn't an option - recording studios, radio stations, and mobile broadcast units.
The 803B carries a continuous power rating of approximately 30W and a nominal impedance of 16 ohms, with a DC resistance of approximately 5.5 ohms. Frequency response is documented as approximately 20-1,600 Hz, though some sources cite a broader 30 Hz to 20 kHz range. The higher figure appears to describe a complete speaker system rather than the 803B driver itself. The 20-1,600 Hz figure puts the driver in bass and lower midrange territory, where a two-way Altec system needs a clean handoff to a horn. Sensitivity is rated at 99dB SPL at 4 feet on axis with 1 watt of pink noise input, and 114dB at the same distance when driven with 30W. Owners report these drivers responding dynamically to tube amplifiers and low-output sources, since they don't need much to get loud. The 16-ohm impedance suggests the 803B was designed for multi-driver arrays or constant-voltage systems, both common in commercial installations. It was never a bookshelf part.
Key Features
2-Inch Edgewound Aluminum Ribbon Voice Coil
The 803B's voice coil is a 2-inch edgewound aluminum ribbon design. Unlike round-wire coils, an edgewound coil packs more conductor into the magnetic gap, which improves both efficiency and thermal capacity. That helps when the driver runs for hours in a broadcast rack. Aluminum was selected to reduce moving mass, allowing faster transient response, though it took careful engineering to manage heat. The 30W continuous rating is the payoff of that trade-off. Owners do report that the voice coils are delicate, and modern reconing services often substitute updated materials, because original coils are prone to damage from overexcursion or simple age.
5.5-Pound Alnico V Magnet at 14,000 Gauss
The motor is a 5.5-pound Alnico V magnet generating a flux density of 14,000 gauss. That's a strong, stable field, and it gives high motor strength along with tight bass control and damping. Alnico's natural warmth is a big part of the 803B's reputation for a smooth, organic low end - less clinical than ferrite, more dynamic than ceramic. The catch is that Alnico is brittle and sensitive to demagnetization from physical shock or improper handling, a real risk on a driver this old. Re-magnetizing a weakened Alnico V structure requires specialized equipment, which is why original, well-preserved magnets command a premium.
Half-Roll Surround with Progressive-Roll Centering Spider
The cone suspension pairs a half-roll outer surround with a progressive-roll centering spider. The half-roll allows greater linear movement than a full-roll design. The progressive-roll spider increases restoring force as the cone moves off-center, reducing distortion at high volumes. Together they were engineered for long excursion and consistent linearity, the same goal that made the 803B a natural fit for studio monitoring. Long-term reliability depends heavily on the condition of the foam and rubber components, which degrade over decades.
Cast Aluminum Frame and Military-Spec Construction
The frame is heavy-duty cast aluminum, and the build is described in terms of military-grade tolerances and military-spec materials throughout, with a precision-aligned gap. That's the reason so many 803Bs are still serviceable today even when their suspensions have given up. It's also why finding original, unmodified examples is difficult: many were reconed, repurposed, or cannibalized over the years, and a driver this sturdy is worth repairing rather than scrapping.
Historical Context
Altec positioned the 803B for broadcast, recording, and high-fidelity applications where bass accuracy and durability mattered. The driver shows up in the company's own system pairings - most visibly the A7 and A7-500 monitor systems, and Altec's "Stokowski" configurations and A7 Voice of the Theatre installations. Later documentation describes it as an earlier version of the 416. In the custom-system tables Altec published in the early 1960s, the 803B appears repeatedly as the low-frequency half of two-way builds - paired with the 802D driver on an 811B horn and an N-800E network at 800 cycles, or with the same driver on a 511B horn and an N-500D network at 500 cycles. Contemporary advertising in the trade press made much of the driver's linearity, with High-Fidelity (March 1959, p.27) claiming that cone movement followed the voice coil current with a precision verified by optical testing. Complete two-way component systems built around a single 803B were listed at $231.50 and up in that literature. The 803B was also the low-frequency driver specified in the 831A "Capistrano" system, which carried a guaranteed frequency range of 35-22,000 cps and sold for $399.
Original pricing for the driver itself is murky. A figure of ¥157,000 per unit around 1977 appears in the documentation, reflecting its professional status at the time, but no confirmed USD price for the 1964 period has surfaced. The related 803BS - a separate model - was listed at $22.00 unfinished in component tables, and that number is often misattributed to the 803B. It isn't the same speaker.
Collectibility & Value
The 803B holds a collectibility rating of 7 out of 10. It isn't as rare as the 604 or 605 series, but its role in professional audio history and its compatibility with high-end vintage systems keep demand steady among restorers and DIY builders. Original units are hard to find in working condition. The foam suspensions deteriorated decades ago, and the delicate voice coils are easily damaged. Many surviving examples have been reconed using modern replacements like the 035400 cone kits, which restore functionality but reduce originality. One listing in the current market notes the driver was "Professionally reconed by The Speaker Exchange!" Reconing is a known and accepted service for this model, not a red flag.
On pricing, the documentation is contradictory. One source states plainly that current market prices are not documented, while eBay listings on the same page show four units at $265, $425, $485, and $1,500. Recent completed sales tracked elsewhere include a tested pair at $1,499 in January 2026 and a single working unit at $399 in April 2026. Listings also turn up on non-US marketplaces. The spread is mostly about condition and originality. A clean, unreconed driver with a strong magnet is a different object than a reconed working unit, and the prices reflect that.
Before buying, check three things. First, the magnet: Alnico V is brittle and demagnetizes under physical shock, and re-magnetizing requires specialized equipment. Second, the voice coil: original coils are delicate and prone to damage from overexcursion or age. Third, the suspension: foam and rubber components degrade over decades, and a driver with original foam that hasn't been touched is a restoration project, not a drop-in. A reconed 803B with a healthy magnet is a perfectly good working driver. It just isn't the same collectible object as an original.
eBay Listings
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