Altec Lansing inAir 5000 hands-on, price range and a hint ofa release date

Altec Lansing is about to celebrate 75 years as a company next year, so it decided to get itself an early birthday present: a quality speaker system. The decision was to meet the newish AirPlay tech with a relatively high-end box, and then work down into lower price categories later on. The result is the meaty, wedge-shaped inAir 5000. It’s truly a great speaker, with fairly flat response across the spectrum, loud and clear mids, and plenty of distortion-free bass. There’s nothing exceptional that I could hear during my time with the speaker on the IFA show floor that would make the proposed €500 to €600 price range seem like a bargain, but that’s what full reviews and A / B testing are for. The release date is based on Apple’s final approval of the hardware, but Altec Lansing is aiming for an October or November launch. I was told the price is also susceptible to change, since the goal for the inAir 5000 is to match the AirPlay competition on price while besting them in performance. A few photos are after the break.