I have owned a lot of speakers. The list includes B&O Beovox S60s, Bose 901 IIIs, Klipsch Cornwalls and Klipschorns, KEF 104aBs, PSB Stratus Golds, Magneplanar MG 1.6QRs, Quad ESL-63s, Thiel CS 3.6s and the Altec Lansing Model 19s. At this writing, I still have the Quads, and I love them, but they are not the subject of this review.
The Model 19s are, simply stated, wonderful speakers. First of all they are HUGE, both in physical size and sound. They have the "big sound" that allows huge orchestral works to pass climaxes effortlessly, without any sense of compression or strain. I use an Audio Research VT-100 Mk I tube power amp (100 w/ch) with mine, and I couldn't be happier with the sound. They will play very, very loudly, but because they are very efficient, they play very clearly and cleanly at low volumes too. They do well with solo voice, piano and chamber ensembles. I listen mostly to classical music and opera, but I have eclectic enough tastes to sample pop, country, rock, jazz, disco, electronic and hosts of other types of music, and I think the Model 19s do a fabulous job with ANY kind of music!
The 15" bass driver produces some of the cleanest, clearest bass I have ever heard. The speakers will pressurize the room, shaking it with deep bass where the source requires it, yet the bass is free of boom or exaggerations. They have "slam" in abundance, but also finesse.
This is a two-way system. The top end is handled by a compression driver attached to a sectoral horn. I have had several pairs of horn loudspeakers before and while I loved their clarity and efficiency, they could be shouty, aggressive, honky, edgy or otherwise irritating. That constricted megaphone effect of some horn speakers is simply not there with the Model 19s. Trebles are clean as a whistle and clear. I suppose if deemed too strong, the treble could be lessened by the adjustments provided in the crossover network, but I set it to flat and have never felt the need to change the settings.
The clarity of these speakers is astonishing. They reveal instrumental timbers accurately. For example in a passage where a flute, oboe and clarinet are playing close harmonies and pitches, most speakers generalize this into one high-pitched woodwind-like sound. On the Model 19s it is easy to tell how many instruments are playing, which instruments they are and what they are playing. This startling clarity is true also of the bass, and the transition from the bass to the treble is smooth with seamless continuity.
Vocal reproduction is outstanding. I am an opera lover and go to the opera live quite often. Vocal reproduction is the acid test of speakers, and the Model 19s do a great job with solos, ensembles and choruses. The onset transients of a singer's words are so cleanly reproduced that comprehension of the sung text is enhanced. On some recordings you can actually hear the singer's intake of breath prior to singing, something that is all but lost on almost every other speaker I have listed to. the clarity is outstanding.
The Model 19s have a nice spacious image too, doing a good job of replicating the space in which the performers are in. Their left-to-right localization of performers I would judge to be about average on this speaker.
I was listening to Mahler's Symphony No. 2 this afternoon in the Telarc CD with Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony, and I literally had goose bumps all over my body while listening to the Altecs pumping out huge waves of clean detailed orchestral sound. Yeah! This is what audio is supposed to be!
Altec Lansing Model 19s are some of the best of vintage audio. If you can find a pair with stock drivers and crossovers in good condition, just get them. I did, and I may just have bought my last pair of speakers.