Great sound, great quality, don't expect much from the USB
Written: Mar 09 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good looks & great sound from an affordable set of speaker
Cons: Controls are not very user friendly and USB is only there for marketing purposes.
The Bottom Line: The ADA 305s are speakers that will satisfy most money conscious audiophiles for sound quality on the PC. Be aware of the extra features that aren't.
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| truewebusa's Full Review: Altec Lansing ADA 305 2 Speakers |
The Altec Lansing ADA-305 speakers were my final choice from a long list of speakers I had looked at. I went with Altec Lansing because I really liked the way their products looked & felt in the stores. They had a certain quality about them. I didn't actually get to try out the ADA-305s but I liked the numbers and the USB features sounded really cool so I ordered them online (to save money)!
First the good stuff:
The speakers sound wonderful. They are very rich sounding. No ear stinging highs or blubbering sloppy bass here. They fill the sound spectrum very well with smooth accurate sound. You can play them at high volume and really enjoy it. The reproduce music quite well, although I will say that they miss some of the higher notes, symbols, hats, etc aren't that clear, but mids & bass are great. So, they make DVDs a great experience and they are much better than most bookshelf systems you can buy if you want to listen to CDs in the background while you work. They really shine for games were you want some loud noise to go along with the action. The bass works wonders for first person shooters and car racing/flight sim games. When the explosions go off you feel it, right in your chest. The 4 way speaker simulated surround does it's best and gives some nice effects in a few games, but mostly it's just 4 stereo speakers - 2 on the left, 2 on the right.
The speakers are constructed very well. They are heavy and solid feeling. Nothing rattles inside if you shake them. I really like the fabric grills and matte finish. The cables are long enough to fit just about any desk configuration and allow a lot of choice for placement of the subwoofer. Setup is really easy, it's pretty much plug & play (if you leave the USB disconnected, I'll talk about that later). One of the best features is telephone support. When I had some problems with the software included I was able to call Altec Lansing and talk to a live tech rep. I really appreciate that.
Now for the not so good stuff:
USB functionality is not what it is cracked up to be. If you have a Via chipset or AMD CPU it is possible that won't work right until you apply a Windows 98 patch for the USB port (the patch can be found at Microsoft's site, search the knowledge base for article Q240075).
The software provided uses the USB port only to control the basic controls of the speaker; volume on each of the 5 speakers/6 positions and surround or stereo mode. You cannot control bass or treble from software and none of the settings affect the Windows sound device settings. It would have bee nice for them to link the Windows volume control to their software volume control. You can still use the windows volume control at the same time you use the speaker control. This can allow for some confusion and for some panicky moments if you accidentally get both of them to max. I find that I am continually adjusting both of them to get the sound right between different applications.
The control are another area lacking on the speakers. The volume is one of the infinitely adjustable types. In other words, it has no stops for max or min volume. I understand this is necessary for it to work right when you adjust the volume using the software (unless they added a servo controlled volume, like high end stereo equipment). It still is frustrating when you turn on your computer, realize the last time you used it the volume was way high and now it is late and night and you don't want to wake the house up with your windows intro sound. You just need to keep spinning the volume knob until you think it's down all the way. There are no controls for bass of treble on the speakers, I really think that was a mistake.
I recommend these speakers on their great sound and high build quality. I would say that if the USB is not something you think you need you could still use these speakers. Just don't connect the USB cable. Control them using the Windows volume and sound controls for bass & treble (which you need to use anyway) and for any special settings use the controls on the speakers.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
truewebusa
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Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 2 members
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