Buying a set of 2.1 speakers for a PC is a
somewhat thankless task, because it is easy to pay over the odds, or pay less
and end up with poor quality audio. The middle ground is the best place to be,
though it's at the lower end of that range where Edifier have pitched the M1380
audio solution.
It's uses a simple configuration that most
PC owners will be familiar. There's a big wooden (MDF) subwoofer with the
amplifier parts inside that then feeds two external satellite speakers, being
fed by a 3.5mm stereo jack from a PC or other source.
The other feature is a slick remote control
pad that allows you to control the volume and press 'mute' when the people in
the room below you start complaining, and also plug in some headphones.
It all looks rather stylish, and doesn't
take very long to deploy once you've removed it from the packaging.
One of the reasons the M1380 is so quick to
set-up is Edifier decided that the majority of wires in the design should be
permanently connected. So the satellite speakers are connected by phono
connectors, allowing you to potentially extend them from the subwoofer, but
everything else is hard wired including the power cable. That means if one of
those wires is damaged the whole system is junk.
On more expensive speaker sets I've seen
bass and treble control on the remote, but this speaker set has no treble
control, and the bass adjustment knob is on the rear of the subwoofer in a
set-and-forget location.
Surely the critical aspect is how they
sound, though, and I'm not really sure how to best describe that experience.
What seems to happen is that the 12 watt subwoofer actually overpowers the 8
watt satellites, masking out what medium and high frequencies they generate.
There is also a tendency to distort low frequency sounds even without the
volume being Mark decides if reviewing the M1380 speakers is an edifying
experience pushed up, made worse if the speakers are on a hard surface that can
easily vibrate.
That said, for the money these are they're
actually better than I'd anticipated, and unless you really crank up the volume
they're far from unlistenable.
I've quoted the RRP of $80 for these, but
I've seen them for at least $24 less from one high street retailer, and that
makes them a much more tempting proposition for anyone wanting some audio grunt
on a budget.
A new name in speakers for Creative
Labs to worry about
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Details
Price: $80
Manufacturer: Edifier
Website: www.edifier-international.com/
Required Spec: Device with audio stereo jack output
Specifications
·
Total power output: RMS 8W x 2 + 12W x 1
·
THD + N (testing level): 10%
·
Signal to noise ratio: ≥85dBA
·
Distortion: ≤0.5%
·
Input sensitivity: Satellites: 450mV ± 50mV |
Subwoofer: 70mV ± 20mV
·
Input impedance: 10KΩ
·
Audio Input Type: 3.5mm Stereo line-in, Auxiliary
input, Headphone jack
·
Adjustment: Power, Base, Volume, Mute
·
Frequency Response: Satellites: 140Hz - 20kHz |
Subwoofer: 20Hz - 130Hz
·
Subwoofer / bass unit: 5 inch (131mm), Magnetically
shielded, 4Ω
·
Tweeter unit: 2¾ inch (70mm), Magnetically shielded,
4Ω
·
Remote control: Wired: Volume control, headphone
jack, mute
·
Control panel: Bass trimmer, Power switch
·
Dimension: Satellites: 120mm × 151mm × 125mm |
Subwoofer: 164mm × 220mm × 280mm (WxHxD)
·
Weight: ≈4.20Kg (net) / ≈5.20Kg (gross)
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