Funky Wireless Speakers Deliver Sweet Sound
Saitek, best known for its gaming peripherals, now has some welcome portable audio entries. The Saitek A-250, for example, is a versatile one-piece dualspeaker set with a neat trick up its sleeve: It can receive music wirelessly from any Windows PC via a USB 2.4GHz transmitter.
An unusual design certainly helps separate this product from the pack. The A-250 looks a bit like the head of a praying mantis, reminding us of Zorak from Space Ghost but in a high-gloss black finish. The tweeter grilles are outlined in metallic red (left) and copper (right). What makes this thing look really creepy are the 1-inch red drivers visible beneath the grilles.
The A-250, billed as a 2.1 speaker system, has two eyelike eyelike tweeters on either side behind black metal grilles. A downward-firing 3-inch subwoofer underneath is ported out the back. An active crossover at 400 Hz distributes the high and low audio signals among the three internal amplifiers. Although portable, at 3.5 by 13.8 by 4.8 inches (HWD) and about 1.7 pounds without batteries, the system is more suitable for the home than for travel.
You can control play/pause, track skip, and volume with your music software or the buttons on the speaker. The buttons work with any music software that supports media keys on a PC keyboard. The line-in port and included cable let you connect to any audio playback device.
The 3-inch subwoofer is held off the surface by little rubber feet, so you actually do get a nice, tight bass response. Upper bass is excellent, which is what keeps the speaker from sounding tinny.
The volume is good up to about 9 on the 10-step scale: The speaker tends to distort at maximum volume. We got a clear signal up to about 100 feet through walls and doors. We like the A-250 a lot, but we have a couple of ideas for making it even better - Mac support, for starters. We’d also like to see a transmitter for portable players, and the monochrome LCD could use some beefi ng up in the viewing-angle department. Despite these minor quibbles, we give the Saitek A-250 our Editors’ Choice and recommend it for vacation homes and for home/offi ce/dorm desktops.
Read the full review from www.pcmag.com
