Latest Altec Lansing speakers Latest Speakers | Recommended Speakers Final Mark: 20/25
	Date September 29, 1999  Author Eugenie  Manufacturer Altec Lansing  | All Altec Lansing Speakers  Language English, Romanian

Last time I presented you a brand less known world-wide, Advent. This time I will try to make a short presentation of latest Altec Lansing speakers, to be more specific models ACS54 and ACS33. Altec Lansing is well known around the globe, their speakers are prefered not only by end users but by a lot of system integrators.

Technology

Today speakers have to respond to a long series of exigencies. Most of us heard about bass, tweeter, acoustic chamber, etc. but there are a few who are able to define them and most importantly know to indentify them in his further speaker. I will try to define you these below along with the most important things you have to search on a speaker:

__tweeter quality. Tweeter is the dedicated high frequency loudspeaker unit. A good tweeter system allows you to hear the finest details of bell rings and give you the right sense of air and space without annoying "s" noise. Magnetic alloy like neodymium allows ten times the magnetic strength of conventional ferrite. Neodymium makes it possible to design very efficient and compact magnet systems, especially for tweeter units.
__bass resonance. Bass are the sounds in the low audio frequency range, typically frequencies below 500 Hz. Human ear can sense the directions from which sounds come from only if that sound is a higher frequency one. Regular speakers include a bass frequency speaker called subwoofer in every speaker. Multimedia speakers have one subwoofer and more treble speakers for directional high frequency sound. The typical subwoofer frequency range lies below 200 Hz or less where the human ear is almost nondirectional. This makes it possible to position a subwoofer almost anywhere in the room, and still enjoy deep notes and powerful, rumbling film effects.
__enclosure quality. The enclosure quality affects the sound of the speakers, as vibrations will colour/distort the sound reproduction. Wood enclosure is much better than plastic enclosure. It's like in the musical instruments world - a better wood delivers better sounds. If you have ever seen a woofer without enclosure it is impossible you didn't remark the ugly sound coming from it. This happens due to the same air presure on both sides of the membrane. It is impossible to pass over and not to discuss the excursion. You have seen the woofer vibrating. This is called excursion and represents the maximum distance that a woofer may travel without suffering mechanical damage. So called longthrow woofers may feature peak excursions exceeding 25 mm (1").
__amplifier quality and power. Many users look for the power of amplifiers or active speakers. They ignore the amplifier quality which may be more important than its power. The crossover frequency is the frequency at which equal power is delivered to each of the adjacent units in a multiway speaker system. In a typical two-way system, the crossover frequency between the woofer and the tweeter will be set around 2.500 Hz. A newer technology uses two different amplifiers for bass and tweeter and an electronic crossover which splits the frequency and deliver the electronic signals to each amplifier. Here we must talk about clipping. This is the distortion arising when an amplifier is overdriven - forced to deliver higher output signals that its design and/or power supply permit. Viewed on an oscilloscope screen, the top and bottom of a clipped signal look like they have been cut off. Even if clipping occurs in the low frequency range, the harmonic distortion products may be strong enough to seriously damage a delicate tweeter.

I do not want to enter the details, but remember to look for two way or three way speakers because a fullrange speaker unit: can reproduce the greater part of the audible range, but it sounds like hell.

The models we will talk about are ACS54 and ACS33. Both are the newest models of Altec Lansing. Altec Lansing ACS54 is bundled in a large box about 8 kg. ACS33 box is lighter, but it is big too. Altec Lansing ACS54 is a 40W speaker system while ACS33 is a 25W system. The differences between ACS33 and ACS54 consist in subwoofer power and satellites number. ACS54 is a five speakers solution while ACS33 has only two satellites and one subwofer. They have the same satellites, but the subwoofer is different. ACS54 has a more powerful subwoofer than ACS33, 20W ACS54 reporting to 15W ACS33. The cables are long and well made, connectors being color coded for an easier installation. The install guide explains almost all the issues that may occur in the installation process. In both versions the volume control is accessible on the right satellite. ACS 54 is a 3D sound system so that on the right front satellite it is available a surround button.

3D speaker systems were introduced when modern 3D audio cards hit the market. Most sound cards available today deliver the best positioned effects by quad speakers. But there are some that are able to simulate a 3D environment by dual speakers, like some versions of Aureal II based cards.. While ACS54 is perfect for gamers, ACS33 has only two satellites. You can understand that Altec targeted these speakers to another category of users. Anyway we tested them both, so let's find our about their capabilities.

It's impossible to talk about quality without knowing what's inside. Let's take a brief look to speakers specifications.

Specifications show some lacks of ACS54 and ACS33. First anyone knows that the human ear is capable of hearing sounds in 20 -20,000 Hz frequency. Due to an integrated medium and high frequency woofer present in the satellites both audio systems can't express sounds between 18,000 and 20,000 Hz. With ACS33 the problem is even more delicate in low frequency because its subwoofer isn't ready to sounds below 70Hz. Looking at specifications, the power of satellites seems too little even in ACS54 case.

Performance

I went for sound richness, as well as for bass and high level sound fidelity. I used one of the best Aureal Vortex 2 sound cards on the market designed by Diamond Multimedia. In the PC gaming section I pointed to the realistic representation of sound card 3D effects. Just look in the table below to see my results

To be sincere, I wasn't expected such a good sound especially from ACS33. Traditional PC speakers have plastic enclosure so that the beautiful bass may be explained by the subwoofer wood enclosure. The satellites aren't bad although I'd preferred them more powerful.

There are a few conclusions for this article. First, if you are interested in my opinion about these speakers performance here is what I believe. Both models are good made, but ACS54 has a few advantages that are too hard to jump over. Sound is very good in both cases, ACS54 delivers superb 3D effects, ACS33 is a good choice for an office/home computer. For a gamer ACS54 is a very good option because it delivers enough power to maintain the adrenaline up. Do not worry about the bass system. In both cases sounds cool.

Although ACS33 is a 25W speaker system it sounds powerful and the bass is clear even at maximum volume. There are no unpleasant distortions, it doesn't matter how up you want to go. Sound is clear all over the volume level.

I recommend both Altec Lansing models, they are easy to install and once installed they do the job very well. Before you buy the speakers think twice if you really need ACS54 or ACS33 is enough for you.