Altec A-440A (c. 1955)
Not much information survives on the Altec A-440A, and nearly all of it comes from Altec's own launch advertising in 1955. There are no independent reviews and no surviving technical documentation. The ads establish that the A-440A was a preamplifier, introduced together with the A-340A power amplifier as a matched home pair. Audio (February 1955, p.11) carried the announcement of the new A-440A preamplifier and A-340A amplifier. Altec's marketing copy that spring said the units were designed for the home but built to the conservative professional standards of the control consoles and amplifiers Altec supplied to broadcast and recording studios.
The fullest contemporary description of the A-440A's features is a High Fidelity advertisement (September 1955, p.54). It lists five inputs with individual level controls, 25 record playback characteristics, separate full-range bass and treble controls, and a tape recording output. By the end of 1955, Altec was promoting a complete home line of 27 separate units, with complete systems priced from $324 to $1,180 (High Fidelity, December 1955, p.117).
That is about all the record holds. No service manual, no production dates and no independent measurements have turned up in the sources available to the Archive. The A-440A is a name tied to Altec's mid-fifties move into home hi-fi, with the A-340A as its documented companion.
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