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09 February 2010 

1/1 

Altec Lansing is a well known market leader in PC gaming and home entertainment audio systems who create some great products. Today I take a look at the versatile 251 speaker set, which is a six piece amplified system.

The 251 is made up of five satellite speakers (one of which is a center speaker) and one subwoofer, together providing 90 watts of sound power with 5.1 surround sound (separate left, right, left surround, right surround sound channels)


System Specifications:

- Total System Power: 90 Watts (45 Watts RMS)
- Frequency Response: 35 Hz - 18 kHz
- Signal to Noise Ratio @ 1 kHz input: > 70 dB
- Crossover Frequency: 150 Hz
- System THD (distortion): < 0.5 % THD at -10 dB full-scale input voltage
- Input Impedance: > 10k ohms


Also included in the box, is this phono adaptor - which will be useful to connect the speakers up to certain devices:

Phono 'AAC1' Adaptor
 

Satellite Speakers:

- Driver (per satellite): One 3" full-range driver
- Dimensions: 3.8" (W) x 3.5" (D) x 5.6" (H)
 

Satellite Speakers
 

Each one of the satellite speakers are the same 'boxy' shape. The 'boxy' look is lost thanks to having rounded edges and curves. The speakers are pleasing to the eye, each one is metal grilled, stamped with the Altec Lansing logo and have an overall smart look to them.

As shown in the first picture, the speakers can sit flat on any surface - on the bottom there are four little rubber feet.

Alternatively you can place the speakers using the supplied stands, which simply slot into the base of the speaker, to angle the speakers upwards slightly (this is probably the better option as the sound given out will be more at ear level).

One of the satellite speakers has all the controls moulded into it:

The Control Speaker

Viewing from the left-to-right, we can see a headphone jack (allowing private listening through a set of headphones), three volume control knobs (for the center speaker, surround and master volume) and finally an on/off switch with a green LED that illuminates to indicate power state (something that a modder may wish to convert to a blue LED...)
 

Centre Speaker:

- Driver: One 3" full-range driver
- Dimensions: 3.8" (W) x 3.5" (D) x 5.6" (H)
 

The Center Speaker

The center speaker has a non-removable stand, that allows you to move the speaker up and down to angle the sound. This is a useful feature to get your 5.1 surround sound setup just right.

As you can see, the back of the centre speaker is stamped with CENTER. Each speaker has something similar (e.g. LEFT FRONT) to ensure correct placement of the speakers when setting up the system.
 

Subwoofer:

- Driver: One 5.25" long-throw woofer
- Dimensions: 6.9" (W) x 7.5" (D) x 11.2" (H)

The Subwoofer

The subwoofer is heavy unit with a fairly large 5.25" woofer that will churn out some nice deep bass. The reverse of the subwoofer is home to some important required connections - it is the hub to which all of the satellite speakers connect and also has connections to connect the system to your PC:
 

The reverse of the Subwoofer
 

Two moulded cables protrude from the reverse, a power switch, connections for each satellite speaker, subwoofer volume control and a switch to flick between '6 Channel Surround Mode' or '2/4 Channel Mode'.
 

Connecting the System:

Connecting and setting up the system could not be easier...

First off the most important connection you must make is the power cable! Without this nothing much will happen... this is a simple case of plugging the cable into a spare power socket in your home. (Although you could do this last once all other connections have been made).

The second cable to connect is the cable that connects the set to your soundcard. It is made up of three wires, and is colour coded in the normal industry standard:

Depending on if your soundcard is more than two channels or not, you may not need to make some of the connections (If you soundcard is only two channels, then you need to set the switch on the reverse of the subwoofer to indicate this).

This is all clearly explained in the supplied manual and is not a major issue to get worried over.

Connecting the satellite speakers is extremely simple, as each plug end is shaped and colour coded - there is no chance of making the wrong connection and you will be up and running in no time:

Performance:

I was slightly disappointed with the 251 only due to the finding that it is more suitable for gaming and home entertainment (e.g. watching DVDs) rather than pure music playback. I found I got some slight distortion at certain volume levels, although this could be because of a few reasons:

- I listen to too much deep deep 'bassy' music
- I had the volume knobs up way too high (e.g. bass level too high compared to the volume)

- The soundcard was not up to scratch (it was a cheap OEM one)
- Im expecting too much from 90 Watts of power and pushing the set over its limits

Then again, it did depend on the MP3 that I was playing! Im going to blame the MP3s as CD playback was excellent...

Don't get me wrong though, the system as a whole really does pack a punch. Each of the satellites provide an amazing output for their small size and the subwoofer thumps away in the background - a real room filling sound is achievable (when coupled with a soundcard that supports more than two channels), great for movies and gaming to really put yourself into the action.

Even two channel playback is great, simulating surround sound. All sound output from the set sounds 'real' and does not sound 'flat' even when it is cranked up a bit, sound replication is very good indeed.

Conclusion:

I must say that I am impressed by the 251. It is a smart looking set, with a great amount of power under the hood. Versatility is high, you could use the 251 for almost anything - just connecting to your PC for general sounds, playing back music files or hook it up to your personal CD Player, MP3 Player even DVD Player.

If the device has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a line out or normal RCA right and left outputs - you can hook it up!

Setting up was very simple (basically plug this plug there and that plug there!) thanks to all the connections being colour coded along with the clear and comprehensive instruction manual.

The only thing I dislike about the set is the really thick cable that enters the control satellite speaker. The reason it is thick is obvious (it carries all the control signals) but it tends to get in the way and be hard to shape, although in time it will probably soften up.

Should you wish to enter the world of 5.1 surround sound, or are considering it, this would be a good set to take a look at. Even if you are not looking for a 5.1 system, you can still use it for your 2 channel setup thanks to the dual mode switch on the reverse of the subwoofer.

The 251 is a good speaker set for it price tag.

modtown rating: 5 out of 5

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