Sound great but are not 100% digital as advertised.
Written: Jun 24 '06 (Updated Jun 24 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice sound.
Excellent bass from subwoofer.
Treble dial on right satellite.
Cons: Requires digital output from speaker albeit being an analog connection.
Right speaker louder than left.
The Bottom Line: For $30 they are a nice buy for a 2.1 speaker system. Yeah I'd recommend them if you are looking for a cheap 2.1 speaker system.
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| tokar's Full Review: Gateway™ Digital BA735 |
I bought a Gateway Select 1200 desktop 5 years ago and received these speakers with the system. So you can either look at it as $0 speakers or $2000 speakers...haha! They are advertised as being digital speakers, however they are not completely digital which I will get into in a bit.
Boston Acoustics makes some great speakers and the BA735 are no exception. I still use them going 5 years strong.
The first thing I noticed about these speakers is how easy they are to setup. The cables are all color coordinated so you should have no problem finding where each cable goes. Green into back of computer and subwoofer, etc.
The next thing I noticed is the very nice improvement over the BA635 computer speakers which I received with my FIRST Gateway computer, a P2-450. The BA635 has only a volume control on the right satellite. The BA735 on the other hand includes both a volume control and a treble control.
The other difference is that the BA735 has a power light on the same satellite while the BA635 does not.
Like the BA635, the BA735 comes with detachable stands. Well, I shouldnt say detachable, since you receive the product (after purchase) with the stands already detached. A nice improvement over the BA635 is that the stands actually ELEVATE the satellites to more of an extent. The stands on the BA635 seem to just be a means of angling up the satellite.
Obviously one glaring difference the BA735 has over the BA635 is the size of the satellite. I would say its maybe 2 times the size in surface area. Both speaker systems produce great sound but I feel that the BA735, due to its enlarged satellites, distributes sound to a larger area than the BA635.
And of course, the BA735 advertised itself as being digital. The connection from the right speaker to the subwoofer is a digital connector, however the connection from the right to left speaker is analog and so too is the connection from the subwoofer to the computer...but these speakers require that you turn on digital output in Windows, so I guess they are digital.
One similarity between the two systems is the subwoofer. I really don't notice a difference in the subwoofer in terms of size, design or bass output. I dont mind though...the subwoofer produces some really nice bass. On the rear of the subwoofer is a bass control knob, the connector for the power cable (which is just a standard type connector from an AC-DC transformer), and of course all the audio cable connections. Interestingly, when I lived in NYC in a walkup apartment, my neighbor upstairs was always complaining of my bass. No, not the neighbor BELOW me, or next door, or even the one directly above me, but the one who was above me and one apartment over. An inidication of the nice bass produced by this unit.
Now the negatives...
The first major thing you probably will notice in your main operating system after install the driver for your soundcard is that these speakers will probably not work. I am not familiar with Linux or Mac to know whether they support a digital output flag, which converts the output of the soundcard to digital, but Windows does, and you have to check the box for it in the advanced properties in the audio configuration to get these speakers to work. Its annoying because if you dont know of this required fix you will probably think the speakers are broken.
The system isnt 100% digital. As I noted, the only connection which is digital is the connection from the right speaker to the subwoofer. The connection from the subwoofer to the computer and the connection between the left to right sattelites are analog. I actually tried plugging in the left speaker to my CD player and it worked, indicating that it is not digital. This speaker system is one of the oddest I have encounterd; it requires that the output from the soundcard be digital but at the same time it just converts the signal back to analog internally for the most part.
The bass control is available only on the rear of the subwoofer. Yeah I know that this is standard and expected, but I would like to have that third dial on the right satellite to control bass.
There is no headphone port on the system. I have used a couple speaker systems where you are given nice access to a headphone port either on a wired remote control, on the right/left satellite, or as a wired connector leading from the subwoofer. It is a very nice feature all speaker systems should have, but one the BA735 (and the BA635) lacks.
Another minor negative is that the rubber pads on the bottom of the unit easily come off. I have already lost one of the four...boo. I just rearranged them to form a triangle, so I think I'm good for now.
Another negative is that on most days I really can tell a difference in the audio levels between the right and left speakers, and I think it is because the signal arriving at the right speaker is digital, while the signal arriving at the left speaker is analog. I really feel the right satellite is stronger than the left. Compare this to the BA635 where I feel the signal is equal coming from both satellites, being that they are both analog.
The final negative I find is with the connection between the right and left speakers. The left speaker leads out an analog cable which plugs into the rear of the right speaker. I find the connector is rather loose and I find the left speaker turning off sometimes due to the connector being jarred loose.
Other than that you cant really go wrong for $30 (on Amazon.com) for these speakers.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tokar
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Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 1 member
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