|
|
|
Hardware video sound connectivity controllers systems ugm letters to loyd pc workshop GameSpot news reviews previews features hints downloads top games
See Also videogames.com gameguides.com User Services join help feedback contact us international vrml site map shop amazon.com play on HEAT.NET Sponsored Sites  HEAT.NET Professional Gamers' League(PGL)   
|
 |
SPEAKER review VideoLogic Sirocco Spirit
01/28/2000The Sirocco Spirits are a pair of near-field speakers suitable for light studio-monitor use or in a gaming environment where there's no room for a subwoofer. The speakers feature a 4-inch cone midrange/bass driver and a 10mm (1/2 inch) polymer dome tweeter. It's a fairly standard bass reflex (ported) design with sufficient power to play pretty darned loud. The overall amplifier output is 50W per channel RMS (25W per speaker). If you should decide to add a powered subwoofer later, there's a subwoofer output jack available. The Spirits sounded surprisingly uncolored on musical material - certainly more so than the company's DigiTheatre surround sound system. You can adjust the bass and treble response a bit with a single control that Videologic refers to as an "attitude control." Even so, there's only so much a 4-inch cone can do, so don't expect organ concertos to sound particularly robust. Videologic rates the Spirits to 45Hz; our 30Hz test tone could be heard but only very dimly. Since the Spirits constitute a stereo pair, setup is quite easy. There's a cable with a DIN-style connector from the powered (right) speaker to the left. There are two RCA stereo input jacks and a minijack for headphones - definitely a nice touch. Game audio did tend to sound a little anemic. When we fired up Mechwarrior 3, there was a noticeable lack of low-frequency punch no matter what the "attitude" setting. Still, if you ignore the lack of low bass, the overall sound was tight and imaging was quite good. With a Vortex2 board, the A3D imaging was about as good as I've heard from two speakers. Stereo imaging is fairly tight, though it doesn't extend much beyond the space between the two speakers. Transients were lacking just a bit in tightness - the Spanish guitar on the intro to Al Stewart's "Roads to Moscow" sounded just a bit on the flabby side. Voice sounded quite good though, with sibilants not overly exaggerated. The Palladium Ensembles rendition of "Diverse bizzarie Sopra la Vecchia Sarabanda o pur Ciaconna" sounded a tad weak, but the overall impression was airy and clean. The speakers could go quite loud, particularly if you reduced the bass content a bit. The real downside is the price. At $249, these are awfully expensive, especially considering you can get a full set of Klipsch Promedias for that price. As a studio mini-monitor, though, they could be just the ticket - compact, clean sounding, and easy to transport. Appeal: Low cost, compact near-field speakers for undemanding applications Pros: Relatively clean sounding; decent imaging Cons: Imaging slightly right of center; no low bass By Loyd Case
Back to Sound Cards & Speakers
| ||||||||||||
