Altec Lansing rolls out new look, speakers aplenty

Altec Lansing sure came out fighting today, with it not only debuting a brand new logo, but a bundle of new speakers and iPod docks that sport the new branding. The most stand-out, by far, are the Expressionist Bass speakers pictured above, which are a full ten inches high and include built-in 4-inch subwoofers and two 1.5-inch drivers apiece. Look for them to set you back $130 when they're released next month in both black and white versions. On the slightly less intimidating front, Altec Lansing has the $40 Orbit MP3 iM237 single-speaker unit, which runs on three AAA batteries, and a pair of new inMotion iPod speaker systems: the inMotion Moondance GLOW and the inMotion MAX, the former of which even includes a special "snooze remote." Look for those to run you $200 and $180, respectively -- pics after the break.

inMotion Moondance GLOW iM402


inMotion Moondance MAX iMT702

[Shoumik @ Sep 10th 2008 5:42PM]

those trafic cone speakers lwill ook very dangerous in orange.

[Mel @ Sep 10th 2008 5:42PM]

What. The hell. Are those? I'm vaguely reminded of those old tower thingies they used to use to breach castles. They are therefore awesome by default.

[absinthe party @ Sep 11th 2008 7:33AM]

Man the ramparts! Archers on the ready! Don't fire 'til you see the .. bass.. in their.. hands?

[D-shan @ Sep 11th 2008 8:09AM]

hahahaha i was just thinking the same thing. Boy I hope they work well cuz' they sure are ugly...wow.

[Ekauq @ Sep 10th 2008 5:42PM]

EXTERMINATE!

[Cyantre @ Sep 12th 2008 4:16PM]

My thoughts exactly! Those things look like a couple of Daleks.

[codeo @ Sep 10th 2008 5:49PM]

At 3 or 4 feet tall these would pass for a strange retro-Dalek. Exterminate indeed!

[lens42 @ Sep 10th 2008 5:49PM]

AAA batteries in an audio product that doesn't have to be super small is VERY annoying. It's a speaker. AAAs cost the same as AAs but have less than 1/2 the power. Why do companies do this? Do they secretly own stock in Duracell?

[Sharone @ Sep 10th 2008 5:53PM]

These fancy shape speakers never sound as good as conventional speakers eg. Dynaudio, PSB etc.

[Billy Fiul @ Sep 10th 2008 7:37PM]

Dynaudio and PSB suck!

Infinity and JBL FTW!!!!!!!!

[gad get @ Sep 10th 2008 5:57PM]

"...runs on three AAA batters..."

Wait, do they say what these batters' home run stats are?

[gad get @ Sep 11th 2008 7:34AM]

They fixed that little typo, apparently.

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 10th 2008 5:58PM]

They look like fire hydrants. Full refund for urine damage?

[gad get @ Sep 10th 2008 5:59PM]

Please don't urinate on them. That's just...

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 10th 2008 6:11PM]

I wouldn't... but someone's dog might.

[gad get @ Sep 10th 2008 7:00PM]

Are... are you threatening me?

[iEye @ Sep 10th 2008 6:01PM]

Crap! its NOMAD

run!!!

[Ken @ Sep 10th 2008 6:13PM]

Exterminate!
Exterminate!

Awww, cute Dalek babies!

[required @ Sep 10th 2008 6:24PM]

I like the designs of all three, especially like the expressionist bass.

[thomas holm frandsen @ Sep 10th 2008 6:49PM]

i like it..
these you could actualy leave out when yoy had company over.

[Bookshelf @ Sep 10th 2008 6:59PM]

I'm sorry but this is no "brand new" logo. This is the same logo they used back in the 1970's

I have a pair of Altec A7's sitting in the other room. Same logo on the horns, drivers and woofers. I'm glad they brought it back though =)

[Bamfsog @ Sep 10th 2008 7:07PM]

I agree with the people above. Get some Dalek skins for those things and I would buy a pair. What? You didn't mean the 'Exterminate' comments as support for the idea?

[WhyFi @ Sep 10th 2008 7:46PM]

Wait a sec... you say it has a 4" subwoofer?

[iPhoneGuy @ Sep 10th 2008 8:41PM]

Are the inMotion docks compatible with the iPhone 3G? There seems to be very few iPhone 3G compatible portable sound system docks out there. I've been predicting that lots of these will show up in time for Christmas, and I'm wondering if these aren't among the first.

[ponchoboy @ Sep 10th 2008 9:23PM]

Those definitely look like sump pumps. Or garbage disposals.

[Mark @ Sep 10th 2008 9:55PM]

No awesome Zune dock? These are garbage.

[B.C. @ Sep 10th 2008 10:51PM]

WTF is a Zune??

[Knives_Out @ Sep 11th 2008 12:13AM]

ugh. these are, how do you say? .... "fugly" ?

[LarryLarryLarry @ Sep 11th 2008 3:32AM]

I'm not at all excited by having my two (tiny) drivers pointing directly away from each other. How am I supposed to get a stereo image when it's impossible to keep the speakers from facing each other? Oh, I see. I can turn them so that two of the four drivers are facing DIRECTLY AWAY from me. How practical.

[d @ Sep 11th 2008 6:03AM]

Ooooh, Dalek Speakers. Neat :)

[Galley @ Sep 11th 2008 8:55AM]

Their new logo is nearly as ugly as the speakers.

[KoKo @ Sep 11th 2008 3:28PM]

@ LarryLarryLarry,

Sarcastic, yet ignorant. Rear-facing tweeters is an old idea. The idea is they use wall reflections to improve stereo imaging. The benefit isn't clear, and it adds to the price, since you need double the tweeters. But many very well received, high quality loudspeakers have used the concept (and Bose uses it too!) There are nuances (bipole vs. dipole, delay, eq, etc.), and the subject is quite complex.

@WhyFi,

I agree. It cracks me up when people (not just Engadget writers) talk about 4" or even 6" "subwoofers." A subwoofer produces output below 80 Hz (and really, below 60 Hz.) That requires at least 8" drivers, plus hundreds of watts of amp power. The 4" drivers in the Expressionist units are just "woofers," or even "midranges." Even those boxes that sit on the floor in 2.1 multimedia systems aren't "subwoofers".

[Limbo @ Sep 13th 2008 12:52PM]

THIS