Altec Lansing has come a long way from the days when all they were known for were the shoddy speakers attached to your parent’s Packard Bell. Those were the days. 4 hours on Kings Quest and Leisure Suit Larry… anyway, I digress.

The Altec Lansing T612 speaker system is a speaker dock that finally works with your iPhone. If you haven’t noticed iPhones don’t work in standard iPod docks without putting them into flight mode (cell antenna off). They suffer from GSM-buzz interference, that sound you hear right before a phone rings when it’s near a powered speaker. Altec Lansing used GSM shielding to prevent interference with the T612’s two 3″ full-range drivers and 1″ silk dome tweeters powered by 60 watts of power. They’re surprisingly crisp and we were pleased by the separate bass and treble controls. The XdB bass enhancement did a quality job of reproducing an extended bottom note without the aid of a subwoofer.

Now you can enjoy the music loaded on your iPhone without worry of missing a call. The Altec Lansing T612 can also function as an iPod dock or other MP3 player via it’s auxiliary input, is wall mountable, and includes a wireless remote.

What this means to you: It won’t win any awards for design, but the Altec Lansing T612 does what it says and it does it well. Perhaps that’s why there’s one on my bedside table now.

Cost: $200 @ Apple