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t3ch Review - Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass FX3022
Connor Scalleat
Altec Lansing is a very respected audio company whose recent product lines look like equipment straight from Tron. These speakers are possibly thee most awesome trendy looking speakers I have ever laid eyes upon.
Product: Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass- FX3022
Features
- Precision-engineered 1.5-Inch (40 mm) full-range speaker drivers
- Powerful 4-Inch (100 mm) down-firing subwoofers
- Optimized for PC and other digital media sources
- Built-in controls
- Auxiliary input and output jacks
Review
Immediately as you unravel the packaging the look of these speakers blow you away. They are 10” inches tall and about 5” inches wide. The pure shiny gloss and rounded curved edges are built for the modern style. With a pinched design they feature a subwoofer located beneath each speaker, which is why they are given stands, and are elevated when placed on a flat surface. This creative build allow for the sound of a 2.1 speaker set without needing a separate subwoofer.
With their petite figure, you’d figure their performance would be lacking, but that’s far from the truth. These speakers are very versatile and can have a multitude of different arrangements. Featuring 25 watts RMS of total continuous power, they can achieve quite the volume in any space. And with a built in auxiliary jack, you can plug in any device of your choice, and with and its complementary auxiliary-out jack, you can plug in a multitude of additional speakers.
Despite how cheesy this may seem, but having the bass being directly built into speaker’s base does allow for some great sound differentiation.
The split design allows for the bass to really kick and fill in the room. However, the bass is almost too good for the speaker weight. And I found that when playing at exceptionally high volumes, listening to music such as Daft Punk, my speakers were jumping around. Though this problem is only experienced when putting on songs with very heavy bass, but still, it does present a problem that is unique to only these Altecs.
The top of the speaker houses the 40mm drivers, sound excellent on an average listening volume. However, as soon as you turn the system up you notice a really lack of quality in the treble.
It appears that focusing heavily on the bass sacrificed much of the the rest of the speaker’s overall sound, and the drivers were clearly neglected. In fact, the speakers start sound muffled and almost crack with certain audio levels, which is something to take note of if deciding to put them in outdoors, or somewhere that they would be played at a high volume quite often.
Overall
If you are in the market for a high-end, excellent bass, sexy looking pair of computer speakers these are a great option. However, if you were hoping to sit back in an easy chair and listen to some opera than these perhaps these aren’t your greatest choice. They are grossly overpriced for the audio quality that they can achieve. You’re mainly paying for the look, compaction, and bass technology. On scale, these end up above average but not by much, although for a 2.0 sound system their bass really does the trick.
Pro’s
- High-end retro look
- Superior bass technology
- Auxiliary In/Out ports
Con’s
- Treble muffles at higher volume levels
- Not heavy enough to handle the bass
Price: $129.95
Where to buy them: Altec Lansing, Amazon
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