If you have been following my reviews lately, you would know that I have been actively searching for a pair of good 2.1 speakers for my gaming rig. I was toying around with the idea, hoping to still save money by sticking with my old cheap (paid $27 at the time)
Altec AVS300 2.1 speakers. They aren't very powerful, which is to say they can't get to a satisfying volume, and even then, it distorts at high volumes.
I've already checked out an old
Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 speakers which looked great, but had very weak mid and high frequency performance. The new (and still on the market)
Logitech Z-4 performance reminded me of the Altec Lansing 2100 almost exactly.
The only speakers that came close were the
Cyber Acoustic A-3640A 2.1 and the speakers on the chopping block today, the
Altec Lansing VS4221.
Package
The attractive blue box is of significant size, but is not that hard to get into your cart. I purchased mine at a local Best Buy, as it was on sale for $79.99 (MSRP is $89.99). There really isn't anything spectacular in the packaging inside, but everything is secured by a styrofoam top and bottom. What little accessories are on the top in a little tray-like area.
You do get:
Left/Right Sattelites
Subwoofer
IR Remote
Remote holder
Manual
Warrantee card
Not much to sneeze at, though it is good to note that the warrantee card states that if you send in the registeration card, you get an extra 1 year warrantee on to of the standard 1 year already included, giving you a total of 2 years from the manufacturer. Best Buy also offers a Product Replacement Plan for $9.99 for an additional 2 years after the manufacturer's warrantee, which is a bargin for $100 speakers. With 4 years of complete protection, it's hard not to be giddy. Of course, the proof is in the pudding - will either keep their word when something does go wrong?
Setting up
Setting up a 2.1 speaker has never been complicated. The Altec Lansing VS4221 is no different. I've noticed while some sets have the left sattelite connect to the right sattelite, then the right sattelite connects to the subwoofer, this set have both sattelites connect to the subwoofer. The left speaker is a standard RCA connector, while the right speaker is a propriatary DIN connector. This is no doubt due to the fact that the right speaker also controls the volume, have a power LED, and also has the IR receptor for the remote. However, this means that you won't be able to extend the right speaker wire at all (unless you enjoy hardware hacking). The wires are actually pretty long enough for both speakers to snake to the subwoofer in most setups. I can't imagine going further than what they give you (about 7 feet each). The right speaker wire is much thicker though, which may slightly hamper your ability to route them neatly.
A 6-feet mini-jack to mini-jack cable connects from the subwoofer to the back of the stereo output of your sound card or other audio source.
One thing nice about the Altec Lansing VS4221 is that it has RCA input jacks for game consoles, CD player, or other analog stereo source that puts out a proper line-out signal. There is no "switch" to switch between the different sources (mini-jack or RCA), nor does it autodetect. It merely just mixes the signal. So if you have a source playing over the RCA jacks, and your computer is hooked up to the mini-jack, you can still here your usual desktop noises as you compute while you listen to an exteral audio source. For some, that may not be ideal, but I like this implementation in a computer speaker set, since it is first and foremost a COMPUTER speaker.
Usage
A warning when plugging it in for the first time: for some odd reason, Altec Lansing decided that plugging the power cable should default to turning on your speakers, which makes a loud pop noise. Other than that, it's fine.
The right speaker has one of those hated bright blue LEDs behind a mesh, and has only 2 tactile buttons for volume up and down. To turn off the speakers, you hit them both together. The included remote is where all of the controls are at.
When I first heard the speakers at default settings, the highs were non-existant, and all I heard was bass and muffled mids. ARG! I had to turn up the treble to hear a much more natural sound.
Drawbacks
Already I have found several drawbacks to this set. It relies too much on the remote, for one. Again, the right speaker only has two buttons for volume and power control. The remote allows you to not only power the speakers and adjust volume, but also adjust treble and bass. It also has a "loud" button to punch up the sound. A lonely "default" button turns bass and treble settings back to factory default. If you loose your remote, or if it breaks, you can not adjust any of these things! You will only get to power up/down and adjust the volume.
The set does include a remote holder that included a double-sided sticky mount. I decided to put the holder behind the right speaker so that at least I have a place to put it back and not loose it. I rather not put it on my expensive
flat panel monitor. Oh, these speakers looks great with the monitor, by the way. :)
Lastly, adjusting the treble, bass, and volume is all by ear. There are no visual indicators or feedback as to where you are in the adjustable range. This is a pitty, and I find out later that a single EQ setting doesn't work with my different types of music and games.
Looks
Yes, a strange catagory, but it must be said. As speakers have evolved into a show piece, this must be mentioned. The Altec Lansings look absolutely perfect next to a flat panel monitor, as the sattelites look flat themsleves! Two small tweeters make up most of the speaker's surface area, covered by a metalic mesh. The base is actually a mid-range speaker directed downards, which forms a nice looking and functional base. I think the mid-range drivers should face the listener, and a 3rd low-end driver should be facing downards (who knows, you might not need a sub with this design!). Does it sound as good as it looks?
Sound Quality
These speakers give a very good first impression. When I was at Best Buy, I was able to cycle through their sound clips. I used their jazz music clip, which seem to highlight all of the ranges, except for the low end. The sound was nice and bright, thanks to a total of 4 tweeters, but it wasn't overwhelming. The bass and mid range was complementing each other very well without much adjustments. I liked it alot.
When I got it home, it continued to impress with hip-hop, which was more bass-heavy. However, when it came to rock, the guitar seem to be overly bright with the same EQ settings I thought I adjusted perfectly for my ears. Vocals almost faded into the background and undistinguishable. There was no way to adjust the mid frequencies, so I lowered the treble instead. This action made me realize that the mids were almost non-existent, and even worse - when my ears are pressed up to the mid-range drivers, they are muffled and hollow sounding! So why did I get a very good impression before? Because we tend to notice extreme frequencies more so, and being able to hear both thumpy bass and bright rich highs, we forget that the mids are important! I failed myself as a critic. :(
As stated earlier, I have found myself adjusting the speaker's treble and bass constantly with different music types, and the reason why is because some music are overly bass-heavy, and some have overly bright highs. The lack of mid frequencies requires a balance between the tweeters and the sub to produce a satisfactory mid, which will cause non-stop adjusting of both to get it sound "right".
I probably would have done better with the suspicious and dubious quality of the
Cyber Acoustics. I hate to say it, but the Altec Lansing VS4221 even fooled me into thinking the
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 sounded bland because it lacked the ability to produce the high frequencies that the VS4221 can. What can I say? To me, clearity means being able to hear highs, and the impression of the Klipsch after hearing the VS4221 were warped.
The Skinny
I say judge for yourself. After listening to many speaker sets, I have decided that, like displays, sound is a very personal thing. I did not bring my trusty
MP3 player with the songs I wanted to listen to as I did with the other speakers to play around with at the store when I purchased it, and I will be returning them for the Klipsch. Though they cost about $65 more than this set, will be worth it. The feature I will miss the most from the VS4221 (which I hope others will follow, including Klipsch and their Promedia 2.1 line) is a RCA line-in that also mixes with the mini-jack source. A better implementation would be allow the user to decide whether to mix or select the source themselves.
There is a lot of things I liked about the VS4221 - the design, the tweeters, the RCA line-in... however, the biggest issue is that it lacks clearity on the mid-range. Visual feedback on adjustments will help, as well as placing those controls on the speaker itself instead of relying on the remote. The remote is very handy for those who use their PC as their stereo and like to sit in bed reading/writing/being a lazy snake (as they say in Chinese).
All in all, the biggest killer in recommending these speakers is lack of accurate mids, while the secondary issue was the annoyance of a visual feedback of treble, sub, and volume adjustment. Also, not being able to adjust these settings without the remote is absurd. Hopefully, Altec Lansing will stock these remote and can replace them cheaply.
Nu-Image Corporation
