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Product: Speakers

Developer: Altec Lansing

Minimum Requirements: Any Macintosh with auxiliary input (1/8" mini RCA jack)

Retail Price: $129.95

Availability: Out now

Computer speakers travel a hard road. Stereo speakers, for the most part, handle just one thing: music. Not too hard for the developers to get them sounding right. Surround sound systems, on the other hand, are built mainly to pump out audio effects from movies...although mine are occasionally run through my DVD audio discs of The Game and A Night At the Opera. I tell you, you haven't heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "The Prophet's Song" until you've heard them from the "sweet spot" of a 5.1 surround sound system.

Computer speakers, on the other hand, don't have it so easy. Not too long ago, they dealt mainly with games. Well, with me, anyway, they dealt mainly with games. About the time CD drives started coming standard on systems, computer speakers were now required to handle music...and better sound in games. Then came the DVD drive, bringing with it the capabilities to handle explosions, dialogue, lasers, and the subtle but effective sounds of bones crackling during the sword fighting skeleton scene in Jason and the Argonauts. Throughout it all, you had the audio professionals using Macs to make the music we're now barely even allowed to play on our computers.

In other words, buying a good speaker system for your computer isn't easy. What may work great with games may not with music or movies. To make matters worse, speakers are available from dozens of manufacturers in numerous price ranges. Can you get good sound from a pair of $50 speakers? It's possible, I suppose, but I wouldn't want to try it. On the other hand, do you need to spend $300? That depends upon how much an audiophile you are. If you're like me, the kind of guy who can tell good sound from bad but who won't spend three hours positioning speakers or half an hour discussing the finer points of Watts, sound pressure levels and signal to noise ratios, the most you'll need to spend is...what's that say up there? $129.95.

Altec Lansing's VS4121 2.1 speaker system fits comfortably in the middle of the price spectrum, but performs closer to the high range. The 2.1 means that it has two satellite speakers and a subwoofer, and you won't want anything less. There are 5.1 systems available (four satellites, a center channel and the subwoofer), but only those who watch a lot of DVDs on their computer or play games that support such systems—and who have a 5.1 audio card—need mess with that.

Before I get to performance, however, let's talk appearance. The speakers are a graphite color with black highlights, or black with graphite highlights, depending upon how you're looking at them. At least, mine are. The photo below from Altec Lansing's site has them looking more like the titanium of the TiBook, making them a pretty good match for that. My system resembles that in the second photograph further down the page.

You'll notice in the photo that the satellites are "flat." I used to be wary of this, as that also meant tiny, ineffective speakers. The backs of these 6 Watt per channel speakers actually taper off to a point, allowing room for the two 28mm tweeters (per satellite) to breathe. The 3" midrange speakers are located in the half cone positioned behind the satellites. These are down-firing units, driving the sound into the desk instead of straight out like the tweeters. The benefit to this is that the sound is dispersed evenly, creating a warmer, more natural effect. No more positioning and repositioning your speakers to make sure they're hitting you just as you want them.

The style of the subwoofer closely mimics that of the satellites. It's more of a block, though, which is fine. It's meant to sit on the floor, so you're not going to be looking at it much. After all, only Harman/Kardon's iSub ever warranted being placed on top of the desk for all to see. If you have your computer on the floor, too, note that the subwoofer is not shielded, and therefore has to sit at least two feet away from the computer. Enough speaker cable is provided to make this a fairly simple task, depending upon your set-up.

The VS4121 subwoofer features a 6.5" 19 Watt, long-throw woofer, measuring 8" wide by "9.9 deep by 13.6" high. That's a bit taller than most other subwoofers I've seen, but height doesn't matter when it's under a desk. Width and depth are average.

While we're talking about width and depth, the satellites take up only 4" by 4.7" of desk space. Quite handy if you're pressed for space. The tweeter stands are 2" wide and 9.2" high, and their dark color renders them non-intrusive. They would probably sit completely unnoticed next to my 17" LCD Studio Display (unlike the subwoofer, the satellites are shielded) were it not for the blue LED indicator on the right speaker. It's a soft glow, certainly not annoying, but you do know it's there.

Speaking of the right speaker, that's where your controls are. You've got the main volume at the top, followed by separate treble and bass controls and the power switch. The headphone jack is on the right side of the speaker, even with the power button, and easily accessible. Full physical and audio specifications can be download in PDF form here.

Okay enough about all that. How do they sound? In a word, great, but there are some qualifiers. Altec Lansing lists this system in the PC Music section of their website, but I found they actually sounded better when playing games. The tweeters and midrange clearly handled ambient sounds and dialogue, while the subwoofer threw out gunfire and explosions with verve. That's why it works so well with games and not as well with music, though. In games, you want the bass of the explosions to dominate everything else. In music, you don't want the bass to drown out everything else. That tends to happen here, but mainly over the midrange. The tweeters still sound crisp and clear with music, but the midrange gets lost under the subwoofer. Perhaps this is attributable to the down-firing midrange. If that's the case, then maybe a more powerful speaker would solve the problem. Note that adjusting the bass and treble with the separate controls can solve this problem a little bit, but you'll need to reset them when switching back to games.

Oddly, it all seemed to come together in movies. I tested the system with the movies Tron, Dark City and (of course) Jason and the Argonauts. In some instances, the effects sounded better on the Altec Lansing VS4121 2.1 system than on my Infinity 5.1 system...especially the low rumbling of the tanks and the electronic pulses of the light cycles in Tron. The music seemed to sound better from the DVD films than it did from audio CDs, and I really have no explanation for that.

Altec Lansing's VS4121 system is a great option for those seeking a speaker system that can handle just about any type of media run through it. The battle between the midrange and the subwoofer gets uneven when listening to audio CDs, but not so much that you'll in any way regret your purchase. As I said, there are cheaper systems out there, and there are more expensive systems out there. Let them stay out there. For the computer user seeking a system that does a good job of handling gaming, music, and movie audio, especially if it's mostly gaming and movie audio, the VS4121 system has you covered.