Summing up
Reviewing these speakers was a painful process. On the one hand, the quality of the sound they give out is SO GOOD compared to the competition, it actually hurt to turn them off. On the other, they seem to be a product without a market: They’re no use to PC gamers because they don’t have multi-analogue in. They’re no use to Xbox owners because the Xbox is all about the Dolby Digital through optical. They’re of little use to GameCube owners who, whilst they can certainly use these, expect Pro Logic II. They’re of even less use to Playstation 2 owners, who need Dolby Digital or DTS for their cut scenes and Pro Logic II for the games.
They’re a product without a purpose: they don’t match their target systems at all – especially not the Xbox it matches its colour scheme on.
What you get for your £149.95 in a set of Altec Lansing XA3051s is undoubtedly the highest in home-grade audio. For playing CDs, these can’t be beaten. However, for £150, they just don’t give the connectivity required; £150 will buy you a set of 4Gamers SPC205, Logic 3 Sounstation5.1, or Yamaha TSS-1. All three give, for the same money, a full Dolby Digital & DTS decoder with optical inputs. I can’t vouch for the quality of the sound they give, but the layman will notice little difference between mediocre and great speakers in a gaming situation. He WILL however notice the bad surround sounds that only Pro Logic or below give.
The model below these, the XA3021s, appear to have to use almost identical cones, but are only a stereo setup. If they sound anything like their bigger brothers, I cannot recommend them enough for the (stereo) job they do. The XA3051s however I can’t recommend for much more than stereo. Simulated surround sound is NOT surround sound, and especially not old-style Pro Logic.
The score you read below should still be considered above average, as these are certainly a remarkable set of speakers (and definitely not average). If they were multi-input (i.e. suitable as PC speakers), they’d get an instant extra point. If they were Pro Logic II, they’d get more points too. Optical input (with Dolby Digital and DTS support) would be a 9/10. All of the above, I’d be happy to award a perfect score. (These are all hearty suggestions, Altec. Listen to them! Obey them! Sell many speakers!).
As it stands, despite their high sound quality, I can’t award more than 7 to these speakers. Bearing the sound quality in mind though, I’d definitely consider another Altec set in mind for my next upgrade, if one is available with my input requirements.
Pros:
Perfect sound
Indestructible build
Cons:
High price for what they do
Lacks connectivity
Final rating: 7/10
