looks like a volcano..

I do not have this particular model of Altec Lansing speakers, but I have an older (10+ years old) 2.1 Altec speaker set that I love. The sound from the set I have is outstanding, warm with lots of bass from the sub. The speakers I have are roughly the same size but mine are square, since they're older. I would buy this set if my speakers stopped working, but alas they're really durable so I'll probably have them for another 10 years.

They look cool, with a shiny UFO appearance.

I'm suspicious of the digital volume buttons, though. Sometimes volume buttons have a major lack of precision when adjusting the volume, making it hard to find the desired volume. I generally prefer a volume knob. I suppose I can just use the volume knob on my laptop if necessary.

teeje wrote:Anyone know if these are shielded so I won't have to hear my cell phone radio chirps?

If you are using nextel, it could be cased in lead and it would still chirp.

thorian wrote:5.25 foot woofer! Where am I going to put that? ;)

Right next to your 18" Stonehenge replica.

"Satellite speakers and subwoofer are encased in high-quality plastic with a black, high-gloss finish."

High-Quality Plastic? Is that even possible?

(I'm a non-techy so i'll apologize in advance)looking to add small but effective speakers to our tv - anyone know if these would work?

Anyone know if these are 110/220v?

craigthom wrote:I don't remember anyone serious about audio buying them. Then, as now, Bose speakers were sold through massive marketing efforts.

The 901s required an equalizer stuck in the tape loop; you couldn't just hook up the speakers and have them sound decent. Their nine (eight on the back, one on the front) full range drivers didn't produce acceptable lows or highs without electronic assistance.

Most of the 901s I saw were used backwards in PA systems, with the back eight drivers pointed forward.

Two- or three-way speakers is the way to go, just as it was back in the '70s (unless you go the Magneplanar with subwoofer route). For bass response, there's no substitute for moving air.

Umm I have had a set of 901's for about 18 years now. I guess maybe the ones you two have heard where not connected to a good system as I have zero distortion problems. I find them to be the best sounding speakers I have ever used. Maybe, it has to do with listening preference?

Altec Website

NightGhost wrote:If you're interested, here's an article on the history of Altec Lansing from Audio Heritage.

Yea this aint your daddies Altec...

stupid old guy wants to know: if ipod nano has female jack and speaker aux is a female jack, what connects them?

steveransford wrote:stupid old guy wants to know: if ipod nano has female jack and speaker aux is a female jack, what connects them?

They sell cords (at places like Radio Shack) that have two male ends.

...Built-in power and volume controls are at your fingertips


Good to know; I usually use my toes to adjust volume

pass

CaptainWes wrote:This looks amazingly like another volcano shaped product.

I recently used the "other" volcano... i wonder if this one works just as well?

I have these bad boys for my desktop
http://www.alteclansing.com/fx2020-expressionist-bass-pc-computer-speakers.html

Great sound and bass, only problem with these is there is no Bass control :/
But with an equalizer it's not an issue anymore
Picked up at tiger direct for 50$ on sale a while back

What's a speaker?

[quote postid="4048928" user="Armagedon"]Just so everyone knows what a 2.1 system is:
the 2 is how many speakers there are
and
the .1 is the sub woofer
[quote]

I'm not a sound-techie-person at all.

I'm considering these for my computer, but only if I can move my current computer sound system to my TV.

I have a Logitech system that has black, green, and yellow plugs for plugging into the device. My TV has red and white audio-outs, as well as a digital (optical) audio out.

Can I make that work? What kind of converter would I need?

Wooters, you're my only hope!

I noticed there is both an "input" and an "aux" jack on the subwoofer... does anyone know if you can connect 2 sources and select between them? That would be a great feature.

Will these work on a flat screen TV?

snowytear wrote:That old "adage" is a load of carp. If it were true, there would be no great deals or rip-offs. People who say "you get what you pay for" are either trying to sell you something overpriced, or trying to rationalize overpaying for something.

The truth about "you get what you pay for" is somewhere in the middle of gospel and a load of carp. There is a very strong correlation between price and quality, but there are exceptions, including many Woot deals.

Still, those exceptions have a limit. You may find that an item that Woot sells for $50 outperforms another item sold for $200 elsewhere. But don't expect it to beat a $500 one.

Maybe I'm being Captain Obvious here, but both previous posts were rather extreme.

I've read several reviews noting a hissing sound, but I'll take my chances that it's tolerable. Just ordered one.

fast100 wrote:These speakers are rated at 10% distortion, which is un-listen-able. So you won't get your 33 watts. Used to be all stereo equipment was rated at .05% distortion. I wish it still was. Then you could compare apples to apples. IMHO

Even with 10% distortion, you will NEVER get 33W out of them. On one of the pictures, you can read the power input rating to be 16V and 1A. Since electrical power is voltage times current, the most you could get is 16V * 1A = 16W. And this is assuming 100% efficiency, which no amplifier has. So I estimated that you might get something like 10W, which nevertheless is enough to make some noise...

i came.
i saw.
i wooted.

and now my evenings spent in the office when no one's around shall be heavenly and ear-bud free!

i am going to drop the bass!

kwfarkas wrote:will this work for an XBox 360?

You can either plug into a controller, or mod the console.

misslisam wrote:I'm not a sound-techie-person at all.

I'm considering these for my computer, but only if I can move my current computer sound system to my TV.

I have a Logitech system that has black, green, and yellow plugs for plugging into the device. My TV has red and white audio-outs, as well as a digital (optical) audio out.

Can I make that work? What kind of converter would I need?

Wooters, you're my only hope!

You could get your current speakers to work (kinda), but certainly not to their full potential.

On a sound card the green plug is for your front left/right, the yellow plug is for your center speaker or subwoofer, and the black plug is for your surround left/right.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsxp/images/using/mce/expert/sound_sound_card.jpg

You could get a RCA Y-Cord which would take both red and white to a single female and then you could plug in one of your cords but that would render the other speakers worthless.

You could get two female to female cords for red and white, and plug in two of your cords, but then you'd lose stereo and still not use all of your speakers...

Another option, if you want to use your current computer speakers is to buy an A/V receiver - but that's way too expensive solely so you can use computer speakers on a TV.

Bottom Line is "No" - you really can't hook up your computer speakers if your sole output is Red/White RCA cables...not if you want to be happy.

Best bet is to save another $40 and buy a Vizio Sound Bar fron Costco and hook that to your TV

sssprinkle wrote:You could get your current speakers to work (kinda), but certainly not to their full potential.

On a sound card the green plug is for your front left/right, the yellow plug is for your center speaker or subwoofer, and the black plug is for your surround left/right.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsxp/images/using/mce/expert/sound_sound_card.jpg

You could get a RCA Y-Cord which would take both red and white to a single female and then you could plug in one of your cords but that would render the other speakers worthless.

You could get two female to female cords for red and white, and plug in two of your cords, but then you'd lose stereo and still not use all of your speakers...

Another option, if you want to use your current computer speakers is to buy an A/V receiver - but that's way too expensive solely so you can use computer speakers on a TV.

Bottom Line is "No" - you really can't hook up your computer speakers if your sole output is Red/White RCA cables...not if you want to be happy.

Best bet is to save another $40 and buy a Vizio Sound Bar fron Costco and hook that to your TV

Thanks for the info! Guess i'll just have to get something special for the TV and pray for a day when this stuff is interchangeable.

glddurngo wrote:Anyone know if these are 110/220v?

The power supply that comes with these is 110 volt only. Google finds several people who "accidentally" plugged their adapter into a 220 volt outlet and fried it.

However, it's just 16 volts DC with a standard connector. Should be pretty easy and cheap to replace with a universal adapter.

CaptainWes wrote:This looks amazingly like another volcano shaped product.

LOL! This would look good NEXT to the other volcano shaped product ;-)

bitman wrote:5.25" isn't much of a woofer, but I suppose it technically qualifies. But it's not a *sub* woofer. Subs handle frequencies below 10 Hz, including 1 Hz and 0.1 Hz.

That would make them completely and absolutely useless, because no human can hear below 12 Hz and most can't hear much below 20 Hz.

These bunions are pretty deceptive, if you know anything about amplifiers and speakers and are trying to compare them to anything else...

-4W per channel at 10% THD - THD for amplifiers is generally measured at <.1%

THD is total harmonic distortion, or a measure of how distorted the sound is at a given power level. This is a measure of an amplifier's ability to cleanly amplify sound. The industry standard is .1% or less at an amplifier's RMS rated power over it's entire frequency range


-System response 40Hz-20kHz (-10db) - this is usually measured at ±3db.

3db is the sound equivalent of half/double. If a frequency range is rated at ±3 db, that means that across the whole range the maximum variation from loudest to softest is 50%.

10db is the sound equivalent of 10%. So that means that across the frequency range the maximum variation is 90%.

With speakers like these, this means the lowest end of the frequency range (40Hz) will be approximately 10% of the volume of the upper part of the range. That means lack of bass.

Having said that, for systems like these, Altec makes good sounding speakers. I just don't like the way they list the bunions, as it's a deceptive deviation from the industry standard.

NightGhost wrote:You can either plug into a controller, or mod the console.

Sure...or you could NOT void the warranty on your xbox by modding it and just buy an adapter. If you're using HDMI to your TV, get one like this hdmi dongle for xbox 360.
It allows you to hook the HDMI up to your TV, but also have the audio outs for an external system. I suppose you might also need something like this headphone to rca adapter to connect to this particular system.

webgrunt wrote:That would make them completely and absolutely useless, because no human can hear below 12 Hz and most can't hear much below 20 Hz.

You don't have to hear bass in order to feel bass.

Wow! This is a great deal, especially when other places are asking $80+ for these.

badsign wrote:You don't have to hear bass in order to feel bass.

Actually, you kind of do. In the real world, the typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX-approved systems. These mythical 1 Hz subwoofers to not exist, let alone .1 MHz, which is so low you would not even be able to feel it. No one would create such a useless product. Bitman pulled those numbers out of his ass, he doesn't even know what a subwoofer is.

Think about what you're saying. Who on earth is going to buy a subwoofer that is COMPLETELY SILENT to all human ears? I doubt you could even feel bass below 10 Hz.

CaptainWes wrote:This looks amazingly like another volcano shaped product.

roadhunter wrote:Why wouldn't you just plug your headphones into the device and listen to it? You wouldn't even need these.

Because you don't want to be bothered shuffling cables? Say you're using these with a computer, or for that matter any other relatively bulky, non-portable device. Sometimes you want to use the speakers (because your obnoxious roommate isn't around to melon about the "noise") and sometimes you want to be able to plug a set of earphones in to forestall yet another argument. A pass-through jack makes it much easier to do this.

webgrunt wrote:Actually, you kind of do. In the real world, the typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX-approved systems. These mythical 1 Hz subwoofers to not exist, let alone .1 MHz, which is so low you would not even be able to feel it. No one would create such a useless product. Bitman pulled those numbers out of his ass, he doesn't even know what a subwoofer is.

Think about what you're saying. Who on earth is going to buy a subwoofer that is COMPLETELY SILENT to all human ears? I doubt you could even feel bass below 10 Hz.

mythical subwoofers

"Rotary woofers excel at producing sounds below 20 Hz, below the normal hearing range; they can produce audio frequencies all the way down to zero Hz, a static pressure differential."

webgrunt wrote:
Think about what you're saying. Who on earth is going to buy a subwoofer that is COMPLETELY SILENT to all human ears? I doubt you could even feel bass below 10 Hz.

He's the type that they were lampooning on a recent TV commercial that's been playing locally. Interviewing a number of people who had clearly just thrown their money away on items that they clearly didn't understand were thoroughly preposterous. One was a guy with an ancient tube-driven amp that he claimed "reproduced frequencies only dogs could hear."

Gotta love "audiophiles" with more money than solid knowledge or common sense. Without 'em, what would Bose do?

bitman wrote:5.25" isn't much of a woofer, but I suppose it technically qualifies. But it's not a *sub* woofer. Subs handle frequencies below 10 Hz, including 1 Hz and 0.1 Hz. These are not directional, and are unaffected when pointed into the floor.

How can a "sub" woofer produce sound you cant hear? The human hearing range is typically from about 20 Hz to about 20,000 Hz. Subwoofers are typically speakers that are dedicated to the 20-200 Hz range. Size of the sub doesn't dictate which frequencies it can reproduce, just how *well* it can reproduce them.