Montego II Quadzilla: A Steal At 30 Clams
Written: Mar 14 '01 (Updated Mar 15 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Sound, Very Cheap
Cons: Installation Problems, Conflicts With Some AMD Chips
The Bottom Line: An Excellent Value At 30 Bucks -- 4-Speaker Positional Audio And Decent Software Add-Ons
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| AytchMan's Full Review: Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla |
If you haven't upgraded your sound card in a couple of years, now's the time. The much-hyped, still-imperfect positional audio technology now threatens to achieve critical mass. So, your intrepid reviewer recently picked up Turtle Beach's Montego II Quadzilla (M2Q) for 30 bucks. With the latest sound cards going for $100 and up, we thought you might be interested in a review.
Overview.
Released in 1999, the Montego II Quadzilla is Turtle Beach's mid-level entry in the Sound Card Derby. The M2Q provides excellent sound quality and includes a decent set of support software. The package even includes a spiffy little Turtle Beach sticker to plaster on your rig. We actually considered doing this for several picoseconds. We'll spare you the sound curve charts -- the M2Q is an excellent, inexpensive card.
The M2Q's features include:
-A3D positional audio (so you can hear those orcs creeping up behind you)
-97 dB signal to noise (meaning: very good to excellent noise suppression)
-Support for headphones, 2-speaker and 4-speaker output
-Up to 96 hardware-accelerated DirectSound channels
-10-band graphic equalizer (to adjust bass and treble output)
-64 hardware wavetable voices
-256 software Synth voices
The software package includes:
-MIDI Orchestrator Plus to create multi-track MIDI music
-AudioStation 32 for playback of Redbook CD audio, MIDI, WAV, DVD and Video discs. It's a standard but spiffy- looking stereo rack
-AudioView 32 to record and edit digital audio
-Some A3D demos (they're lame but they'll demonstrate the concept).
The M2Q's system requirements include:
-P-75 or better computer (P-200 recommended)
-16MB RAM (32MB for Windows NT)
-12MB hard drive space
-CD-Rom for installation
-Speakers (duh)
And, for you hopeless spec rats, the M2Q requires two IRQ's, two DMA's and supports several I/O address ranges.
Subterranean Installation Blues.
We approached the installation with trepidation since sound cards are notoriously spiteful. We ruefully remember the purchase of our last Turtle Beach sound card -- the price was right, the subsequent frustration was not. However, much to our surprise, the M2Q went in without a hitch, both physically and softwarically. Hoo-uhh.
Physical installation is simple. Pop the main card into a PCI slot, add the Breakout Bracket (for your two rear speakers) in an adjacent slot if needed, and connect the cable. Note that the Breakout Bracket does not require an additional PCI slot, just some space at the slot cover (the "back door", as it were). The manual recommends that you locate the M2Q as far from the power supply and graphics card as possible. The very best of luck to you. Speaking of manuals, we're pleased to report that Turtle Beach has cleaned up its documentation act. The manual that comes with the M2Q is much better than last time around. It's cleaner, clearer and more professional.
Now The Fun Begins.
Be sure to download the latest Vortex drivers from the Turtle Beach website. When you do, read the directions very carefully. Remove only the previous drivers. Don't feel obligated to remove everything just because Dr. Feelgood did. We did this for instructional purposes only. Yeah, that's it.
After rebooting, we encountered two problems. During installation, we had allowed the Setup routine to overwrite the system tray with a M2Q icon. Silly us. Yeah, we know it's handy and convenient. But it will also make your MP3 files unplayable, even with Windows Media Player. We haven't the faintest idea why. Everything works fine if you don't put the icon in the system tray.
Second, after updating the Vortex drivers from the website, we had problems with SimCity 3000. Perusing the knowledge base on the site, we discovered that reinstalling some programs after installing DirectX7 is required. We reinstalled the game and life is now grand. Along the way, we found TB's Tech Support to be below average -- they've erected the standard roadblocks to discourage all but the most determined customers. Overall, we award the installation process a B- (not too bad). As always, your mileage may vary.
Another Urban Legend, Perhaps.
We've heard reports that the addition of a hardware-accelerated sound card can actually speed up your graphics processing because it offloads a lot of sound processing from the CPU. If so, the improvement is slight; we've seen no noticeable benefit from the M2Q in this area.
A Relevant Digression.
The Montego II Quadzilla brings up a subject dear to Dr. Feelgood's heart. As a notorious tightwad, we cast a flinty eye at the power crowd, the folks who ride the leading edge of the tech curve. Yeah, it's cool to flash the latest hardware at envious friends but it's also very expensive. So, rather than scarfing up the latest gizmos as fast as Silicon Valley can create them, we play hard-to-get, read the reviews and pick off the winners a year later, saving some serious shekels in the process. By staying a fixed distance behind the power crazies, we get 85% of the performance at a quarter of the price. Food for thought.
Submitted For Your Consideration.
The Montego II Quadzilla is a major coup for you Riders Of The Lagging Edge. Even though it's eighteen months old, it's a steal at $30 (recently at CompUSA). Once you navigate past Installation Shoals, you should have clear sailing. The M2Q offers excellent sound and features and will serve you well until the next advance in sound technology in 2005. We recommend it for everyone except the Latest-And-Greatest crowd.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30
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Epinions.com ID:
AytchMan
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Member: H Mushinsky
Location: Austin, TX
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 45 members
About Me:
Dr. Feelgood, your ferociously loyal reviewer, is on the case.
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