Buy Altec Lansing ACS33 PowerCube Computer Speakers (3-Piece)Altec Lansing ACS33 PowerCube Computer Speakers (3-Piece) Product Description:
- High-performance 3-piece system
- Compact speaker satellites with 10 watts of power
- Powered 15-watt subwoofer
- Volume control and power-on LED
- Magnetically shielded
Product Description
High quality, high performance 3-piece system, compact speaker satellites are powered and magnetically shielded, pwoered subwoofer extends the low frequency response to add realism and bass. volume control and Power on LED
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Doubtful most users need more than this
By tropic_of_criticism
Certainly not the best speakers you could ever have for your computer, the ACS33 nevertheless fills an important niche in the market. If you're looking for subwoofered sound on the cheap, this is probably your best bet. They're competent performers, without taking price into consideration. Look at how much they cost, and you'll think there aren't better speakers made on the planet. They have the potential to work, as do most speakers, on both Macintosh and Windows machines.
Interestingly, they also have a secondary use. Because they don't need a computer to work at all, they can be plugged directly into any stereo system that has the ability to output its sound (that is, one which has an AUDIO OUT jack). They can thus give resonant stereo sound--even to lowly portables. You'll think twice about whether you really need to upgrade to a whole new system after hearing these speakers. (Before buying for this purpose, however, I'd recommend you go to altec-lansing.com and grab the manual for this product, just to make sure that it's compatible with your stereo.)
Inasmuch as there are drawbacks to the speakers, they are ones you would expect from a product so inexpensive. As another reviewer has rightly pointed out, there's no volume control on the woofer. There's also no bass, treble, or speaker-independent volume control. And the speakers are rated at only 10 watts, with a relatively indelicate frequency response.
But, big deal.
If, like most people, you've got your computer jammed into a corner in a busy room, you don't have the soundspace to set up a truly extraordinary auditory experience. If you've got a lot of people living with you, anything more than 10 watts is discourteous, anyway. Unless you have a room that you can dedicate to the computer, and that's relatively isolated from others, it's extremely unlikely you would actually be able to use more than this system offers.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Put on a short leash....
By Larry F. Rogers
These speakers do not sound bad, don't get me wrong. If the company had actually used a tad more thought when designing the cabling they would have a winner. However, even the sound quality on these is not up to par with the set of Cambridge Soundworks/Creative Labs computer speakers I have that cost about the same price.
The sub-woofer seems fine, but the satellites seem to have a much cheaper tinnier sound than the Creative Labs Speakers. For gaming they sound fine, but music clearly sounds better on the Creative Labs speakers to me.
But where these speakers truly fail the end user is in the wiring. Unlike the Creative Labs set that is configured more like a standard set of stereo speakers, allowing you to position your satellites anywhere in the room to achieve optimal separation, the Altec Lansing set has very short cables. The left speaker has to be within four feet of the subwoofer. Then the right speaker has to be within six feet of the left. Then to add insult to injury, the five foot wire from the computer to the speaker system has to plug into the left speaker.
Worst of all, they hard-wire everything. On the Creative labs system, the computer connects to the subwoofer which connects via standard speaker cable to the satellites. Wonderful and simple design!! The Altec Lansings have wires of non-standard configuration hard-wired into the left speaker and chincy speaker wire that is hard-wired between the speakers (Maybe if you rip them apart and splice wires you could expand it, but do you want to?).
The easy configuration of your computer speaker system is a large percentage of its sound and convenience. Dump these babies for the better sounding Creative Labs setup.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
We Spent the Evening Dancing to Beautiful Music!
By D. Scott
I had never had any speakers on my computer other than the ones that came prepackaged with it. After they died a slow, horrible, crackling death, I started to shop around. I finally chose the ACS33, both for the terrific price and the good reviews here.
The speakers were very easy to install - just plug the subwoofer into the wall, tuck it under the desk, and then plug the smaller speakers into the subwoofer and computer sound jack. When I first put in a CD to see what they sounded like, I was amazed. I literally never knew that speakers could sound like this. The sound really does seem to surround you. I have never even had a stereo sound this good. The subwoofer really makes a huge difference! We spent the evening dancing around the room to beautiful music and romantic monitor light! :)
The only drawback that annoys me about these speakers is that they must be turned on and off independently of the computer by turning a stiff horizontal dial (which doubles as the volume control) on one of the satellite speakers. The satellites are light, so you must hold it down with one hand while concentrating on turning the dial with the other. This sounds like a small thing, but after a few weeks of on-off-on-off, it can try your patience. If they must be powered independently, a simple on/off pushbutton in addition to the volume dial would be vastly preferable. This situation poses no problem, however, if you simply choose to leave the unit on.
I think the ACS33 is a great buy, and I probably would rate it 4 1/2 if I could. The sound is terrific, light years ahead of what I had before. You can't beat the price, either.
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