macnn
05/23/2008, 5:00pm, EDT
Friday, May 23rd
First Look: Alesis M1Active 320USB speakers
Notebook and all-in-one computers, such as the iMac, include built-in speakers that provide modest audio quality. Sometimes however, that quality muffles the true sound of your music or movies. For those who demand higher-quality audio without paying the price for high-end speakers, the $199 Alesis M1Active 320USB speakers may do the trick.
Physically, the Alesis speakers are 7.5 inches high, 6 inches deep, and 5 inches wide, making them small enough to carry and place in a convenient location. Both speakers weigh 7.5 pounds, and come with magnetic shielding to avoid interference from nearby computer monitors or television sets. For those who appreciate technical specifications:
Frequency response: 80Hz - 20kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio: 88dB weighted
Digital conversion: 16-bit delta sigma, 44.1kHz or 48kHz sampling rate
If these specs mean little to you, all you really need to know is that the audio from these boxy speakers is nothing short of superb, especially compared to the sound typically emitted from built-in speakers. Play your favorite song on ordinary options, and then play the same song on the Alesis models and the quality will be so startling that even the most untrained ear will notice the superiority of Alesis' efforts.
The front of the device provides a volume control knob with the added touch of a rubberized grip, making it easy to grasp and turn. To further modify audio output, the back of the speaker offers a Bass Boost switch. Turn it on when you want to emphasize bass frequencies, which can useful for playing music in a large room or when you want to hear a richer sound.
Connecting the speakers to any computer is easy. Just take the included USB cable, plug one end into the back and the other end into any USB 1.1 port, and you’ve connected the speakers to your computer without the need for any special drivers. This allows the speakers to work with any platform, including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. After the speakers are hooked up, you just need to configure your OS to redirect sound through the USB port, and then you’re ready to go.
(Although you must plug the speakers into an electrical outlet, there’s still a chance that it might overpower a USB port. Alesis recommends that you plug the speakers directly into a USB port on your computer, rather than to a USB hub.)
If you don't want to play sound out loud, a headphone jack accepts any set with a 1/8-inch plug. Another handy feature is the AC voltage selector switch, located on the back of the unit; if you’re moving to another country with different power standards, this switch lets you choose between 220-240V or 100-120V.
All these features may provide more than enough incentive to buy, but the back of the Alesis also contains a 1/8-inch stereo input, two 1/4-inch TS inputs, and two RCA inputs.
The 1/8-inch stereo input can be used for plugging in numerous external devices, such as portable CD players. The left and right RCA inputs allow you to plug in the likes of turntables, and the left and right TS inputs, meanwhile, allow you to connect musical instruments such as keyboards. All of these inputs permit the recording of audio.
To elaborate, you could plug a CD player or turntable into the speakers, and then record the output to digital files on your Mac. If you play a keyboard, plug that into the speakers and you can record your own music. In this sense the speakers give you greater flexibility than most of its rivals.
If you crave superior sound, the Alesis M1Active 320USBs will definitely make you happy. Toss in the Bass Boost switch and the variety of inputs for recording audio, and you have a bargain set of speakers that just might teach you new appreciation for your music collection.
Filed under: peripherals, gadgets, accessories, audio
Other story tags: music, First Look, speakers
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These are studio monitors
Has Alesis really been marketing these as consumer level audio loudspeakers? I have a pair of the predecessor to this model of speakers in my home studio. They are most definitely low-end NEAR-field studio monitors.
The "near" part is important. If my suspicions are correct, you would not want to be cranking music through these at loud enough volumes for, say, a house party. I imagine they would not last long.
I would be happy to be wrong.
alesis : not very good
don't buy equipment from alesis, without thinking twice. Have a look at the FAQ section of http://www.alesis.com/hd24
It might be off topic, but this show how they treat mac osx.
Don't buy Alesis
registered just to post this!
I would never buy Alesis equipment again. I had some prolinear 820 studio monitors and one stopped working after about 11 months of use.
The dealer told me they had washed their hands of the company and no longer sold their products because of their poor support.
Then I spent the next 6 months or so carrying the monitor around to various electronics repair shops and emailing Alesis and Intellimix (parts supplier) trying to get parts to these repair shops without any luck.
All the shops told me they wouldn't touch them because of previous problems getting parts.
I won't even mention the firewire mixer I had that caused kernel panics that Alesis couldn't help me with...
USB vs. Audio jack
I don't know much about Alesis, but I would really like a comparison between speaker systems that are USB port based vs. audio jack based.
I mean it isn't hard for any speakers to be better than the built-in speakers on a laptop, so why is that even an issue for an article!?!?!?!?
But why use a USB when you have a perfectly good audio jack sitting there? What are the differences? Can a Macnn writer take the extra few minutes to think of these things??!!?
Power
USB speakers can pull power from the connection, while audio jack speakers can't. In general, powered speakers perform better than unpowered.
Power
You, sir, have no idea what you are talking about.