As far as new production Altec parts are concerned, I'm interested to see what Bill and Todd have to offer at Great Plains and Iconic Manufacturing. I could see using new production Iconic Altec 416 drivers in cabinets as have been documented several times in this forum. It would probably make a nice four π speaker. Maybe build something else with a 515 too. The eight π design might be good for that, but it's close enough to an 828 that might not be cool. We'll see.

I'll be interested to check out their compression driver too. Todd seems quite proud of it, and your impressions are promising.

I also agree with your concerns about profits and quality. This is true for any of the speaker companies we deal with, of course.

I surely hope Iconic Manufacturing can remain competitive, and continue to make a good product with consistent quality control. I don't know anything at all about them, so they may have that all locked up. But if anything frustrates me the most about loudspeaker transducer manufacturers, it's a lack of consistency. If they change products around all the time, then you are always playing catchup and it's no good for product consistency. Some companies have QC problems too, and then you never even know if the part you put in the system will even work. That makes logistics a nightmare, and return freight costs can eat you alive. Not to mention the hassle of it all. But I'm hoping for the best.