Altec Lansing VS2421

I bought these speakers to use with my Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop, I have no dedicated soundcard, just the integral one that's part of motherboard. The reason I chose these speakers was that nine years ago I bought a PC from Dell that came with Altec Lansing speakers and they were excellent then.

Like most computer orientated speakers these simply plug into a stereo headphone/speaker socket (often green) with a standard stereo 3.5mm jack plug. The speakers are mains powered, the mains cable going straight to the subwoofer (the big bit), so there is no external transformer to bother with, the two small speakers (satellites) plug into the subwoofer.

Unlike a lot of computer speakers where volume adjustment and on/off is on one of the satellites, the VS2421 has a cabled remote control. On the control you have an on/off, volume control, treble adjustment, auxiliary socket, headphone socket, microphone (mobile phone style) and external microphone socket. The control has been criticised by some as being too large, personally I don't think it is, if it was flimsier it probably wouldn't sit on the desk properly. Its dimensions in cm are 9.5(length) 6.8 (width) 2.9 (height, including rotary volume control).

The most important thing about speakers is of course sound. My satellites are set up on top of a low level table in my living room. They have small stands and are 21.5 cm high, the subwoofer 29.8 (depth) 14.3 (width) 23.7mm (height) is on it's side to fit in a low height shelf under my table.

To me, the speakers easily exceeded my expectations. Once I'd set the bass (done on the subwoofer) and the treble (on the control), I played different music styles at varying volumes. At full volume on rock music, Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer, I couldn't have a conversation with my wife, not even by shouting. It wasn't at night club volumes but adequate I'm sure for everybody except for diehards who want to disturb the neighbour's neighbours. Even at less than half volume with the bass turned up I could feel my floorboards upstairs vibrating. At quieter volumes the piano solo of Gymnopodie - Live the Dream by Myleene Klass, was like being there, a real piano in front of you, though some adjustment of treble at low volumes was needed to stop a slight hiss. I couldn't get any sibillance (distortion of treble at high volumes) on tests designed for the purpose on www.last.fm. I can't emphasise enough how impressed I am with these speakers, I'm not a hifi buff but I am critical of music sounding bad because of speakers not being up to the job.

I haven't tested the controllers integral microphone, which could for example be used for internet telephone calls, like Sype. I have read that it is quite basic, probably not for recording yourself karoake style. The manufacturers website says it is on the right speaker but this seems to be out of date. The auxiliary socket is designed for input, like an mp3 player or mobile phone, though you would need to buy the necessary cable terminating in a 3.5 mm male jack plug.

My only criticism is the two cables going to the controller, they wouldn't exist if you didn't have the controller on your table top, but this seems a small price to pay for ease of control. Why do I only give the sound a rating of 9/10? Because they can't blow my windows out!

The next best thing about these speakers? They only cost me £34.30 from Amazon, p&p included.

Other facts, peak power is 56 watts, 98 decibels, the small speakers have a "keyhole" for optional wall mounting, the subwoofer does have small "feet" though mine doesn't suffer at all lieing on it's side. The colour is black with maroon around the speakers and volume control, very nice. For gamesters I only tried them on an old game of mine called "Outlaws". This sounded superb, you could almost feel the sound of a rifle shot on your shoulder. I would imagine they would be brilliant for newer louder games. And a final thought, you could connect these to a headphone socket on a TV and have great stereo, lead required though.