That Disconnected Feeling
Written: Apr 06 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Decent 2.1 speakers for under $30, better than most speakers in this price range
Cons: Overpowering sub in low volumes, underpowered sub in high volumes
The Bottom Line: An average-at-best speakers. You can really annoy your neighbors with this, but not without annoying yourself as well.
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| nad_masters's Full Review: Altec Lansing AVS300 2 Speakers |
After having a nice set of 2-way speakers for my PC for quite some time now, I was wondering what options I have in this new day in age. Although 4.1 and 5.1 speakers came to mind, I would hate to find a way to arrange the rear speakers (as most people like me don't require surround sound while using their PC). However, I do listen to a lot of music and watch a lot of TV on my PC (TV tuner, wee!). Good bass with a responsive treble and distinctive mids - that was what I was looking for in my next speaker purchase.
I've actually heard the Altec Lansing AVS300 in action at a friend's house, and was very impressed! In a decent volume, I was able to feel the bass, while cringe at the highs. Mids come through these two extreme allowing you to listen in between the frequencies. Breath taking! Especially for the music soundtrack of WarCraft III, a RTS game. And after seeing them for $25 at NewEgg, I decided to plunk down a quarter of a bill for this particular set.
Once I got it home, of course, it didn't sound quite as I remembered it. No matter where I place the sub, the sub and the mids sounded disconnected, as if they were two completely different sources. They did not complement each other as most speaker systems do.
While playing with the sub to fix that problem, I also find the sats to be very middling. Literally! There were absolutely very little high frequencies coming thru (when the sub was completely off, I monitored only the sats). It was a very perceptive thing, really. Once the sub is back on (and the disconnected sounding trio worked somewhat together), you can barely detect the missing of the majority of high frequencies (until you listen to classical or any other music source that have lots of high frequencies and switches back to low real quick - club music works).
I figured that this is no way better than my old 2-way 2-peice speakers, and did a comparison: My old (no-name) WAVE speakers were missing a lot of bass (naturally), and had a very flat-sounding reproduction. Compared to the Altec Lansing AVS300, the AVS300 blew away my old speakers. It sounded a bit fuller (but not much), but still having you wanting more. These are no Klipsch, but you can't really complain for the amount you pay.
Great, at least I know I didn't pay for a crappier set of speakers that would be worse than my old ones. So how does it fair in high volumes? This set gets pretty loud before it starts to distort, but after a certain point, it just doesn't make sense cranking it up any further. The real problem is, however, is that the sats actually overpowers the sub at higher volumes! Talk about a very disconnected feeling! You will hear nothing but distorted mids (not even NEARLY enough highs). You MAY feel a bit of bass, but you certainly won't hear it.
For those who do not crank up the volume, this may be the best solution for you. If you do, however, you may want to stay away from the AVS300.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nad_masters
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 in Computer Hardware |
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Location: Chicago, IL, USA
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If you mind is in the gutter, where are your hands?
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