Altec Lansing VS-3151 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers Review - Tests: Music
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Although not all speakers are meant for music, it’s usually the case that if a speaker does well with music, it’ll perform well with other media. Keep in mind that music tends to be a stereophonic (two-channel) affair, while the VS-3151s are a surround-sound specific issue. Pure right or pure left panning is therefore compromised, giving the appearance of weaker panning. Although that's not really the case, to the ear, it doesn't really matter. Listeners will find that stereophonic panning is more subdued.
An interesting feature of this system, as mentioned before, is its ability to turn two- and four-channel sound into six-channel sound. This makes for a great addition and upgrade to most home stereo systems. Unlike in other 5.1 systems, this VS-3151 feature allows for the full sound of a song, regardless of whether it has two, four, or six channels to play rather decently.
For my tests, I looked at a number of genres in both CD and MP3. For comparison purposes, I used both a pair of Zalman Theater 6 5.1 Surround Sound headphones, and a Harman/Kardon HK-395 2.1 speakers. My sound source was a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! included in the Dell 4600 workstation. Works tested included the following pieces:
Evanescence: Bring Me to Life (Rock/Alternative)
Deep Forest: Deep Forest (Techno/New Age)
Eminem: Lose Yourself (Rap)
Georgie & Russell: Suavemente (Latin Jazz)
Led Zeppelin: Kashmir, With the London Philharmonic (Classical/Rock)
J.S. Bach: Partita # 3 for Solo Violin, performed by Itzhak Perlman (Classical)
From the very beginning of my tests, I noticed one thing: no notable hissing. The sound coming from the speakers was marvelously clean and clear at almost every level. (There was some noticeable hissing from the subwoofer when the sound was at its maximum blast.) The bass was pretty dominating, as would be expected from speakers meant for gaming, but this didn’t detract at all from the sound of the satellite speakers. And with the included control pod, controlling the power of the output for the different regions (center, surround, and sub) was very easy and comfortable.
By far the best performance from these speakers came with the more modern music styles, such as techno, new age, rock, and rap. Since these genres rely heavily on digital sound production, they fit perfectly within the constraints of these speakers. Music genres which rely mostly on acoustic instruments displayed a bit of a lack in the response from the upper-most ranges. This won’t be an issue to 99% of the listeners out there, and even the 1% that notice will be impressed that this kind of sound can be found on speakers which sell for around $75. (MSRP is just under $100, but going to PriceGrabber will quickly turn up sites selling the units for 25% less than Altec Lansing’s suggested retail.)
Judgment: If you're looking for a good, sound solution, and are on a sub-US$100 budget, you can't really go wrong with these. The sound fidelity is clear, and the frequency response is very clean across all stated ranges. Extremely high ranges are a bit of a problem, but unless you're planning to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to an all piccolo band, that won't be much of an issue.
Next: Tests: Movies >>
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