Hi folks! About a fortnight ago I wrote to the list discussing the new Altec Lansing Expressions Plus speaker system I'd bought then, I'm extremely happy with it.
I had thought when I bought this system that the Expressions Plus was the top of the line 2.1 speaker system model Altec Lansing manufactured but I was wrong. Yep, I could have taken the speakers back from where I bought them but as my one of my other sets was wearing out anyway it made sense for me to replace that with the expressions Plus and buy the new Altec Lansing Expressions Ultra system for my main computer system in the back room. The Expressions Ultra is the top of the line 2.1 speaker system Altec Lansing make at the moment and boy! what a monster we're talking about here. The system consists of 4 components, 2 2-way speakers that can sit on a desk, a small control panel that sits on the desk beside you and a monster sub-woofer that looks more like a PC tower case, you can sit this in a shelf, on the floor etc. 5 separate digital amplifiers drive this system with 200 wats total power, most of which is used by the sub-woofer to shake the floor or whatever. If considering this system then you'll need to devote a little time to the unpacking, Altec Lansing in my view ought to win an ward for environmental vandals, I've never seen so much plastic tape, bag, foam and other rubbish in a box. Once everything was unpacked and accounted for it was time to wire and then power up. Wiring up is simple enough, each of the speakers and control panel plug into sockets via cables on the sub-woofer, it appears that all the plugs are different so their's no chance of plugging the wrong speaker into the wrong socket, plugging the control panel into one of the speaker sockets etc. So upon turning the system on I heard sweet sweet sound so time to control the system with the control panel to hear just what the system offered my ears. The panel has 3 buttons and a rotary know, when this is turned as a volume knob it increases or decreases the volume and here's where things become interesting. If you turn the knob slightly then volume increases or decreases gradually, turn the knob a little more then the rate of volume adjustment increases so be prepared for a few shocks. 1 button on the panel changes the knob for volume adjustment to bass adjustment, another changes from volume to treble adjustment and the small button in the middle of the panel turns the system on and off - there's a main power switch on the back of the sub-woofer which turns everything off. There are 2 sockets on the side of the panel, one for line in and the other for headphones which I've found terribly convenient. I have the 2 speaker units on my desktop shelf and their they stand proudly, Altec Lansing have done a good job with the design of these units, many speakers I've seen are extremely flimsy and can easily be knocked over but not these, they stand on an angle held by 2 rubber feet at the front and the protrusion at the rear. No doubt about it, these are the absolute best I've heard in the class of a 2.1 channel system and I wonder what a better 2.1 channel system could give the ears that this one couldn't. As far as I've been able to determine most of the spectrum is easily heard, crisp highs, very nice mid range and earth shattering low. I did wonder why 200 watts for a speaker package which you're pretty much sitting right in front of? Well I don't wonder any more, when I'm playing games with things exploding all around me I just sit and enjoy the noise or when listening to my favourite music I sit and listen for as long as I can, these speakers give total enjoyment to my ears. To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [email protected]
