Review: Altec Lansing Expressionist PLUS FX3021

Source: Chapree (Lowyat.net)

The world famous Altec Lansing needs no introduction. Being a company with long history, majority of us had probably comes across their products at least once in our lifetime.

After being acquired by Plantronics in 2005, Altec Lansing undertook a huge corporate makeover. As a result, the company adapted a new logo and released a number of newly designed speakers to highlight their new image. One of the said speakers lineup is called the Expressionist.

The Altec Lansing Expressionist PLUS FX3021 is the latest model in the series, which includes the Expressionist BASS FX3022 that we reviewed earlier and a more back to basics, Classic FX2020. Check out how the new model performs, after the jump.


The FX3021 comes with 2 satellite speakers and 1 subwoofer, making it a traditional 2.1 configuration. Both the speakers and subwoofer are triangular shaped, similar to UFOs. The satellite speakers are mounted on a movable frame that acts as their base, together with three movable rubber feet. Five permanent rubber feet are also spotted underneath the subwoofer

Subwoofer control is located on top of the subwoofer and also acts as the power button. The volume controls and power indicator are conveniently placed on top of the right satellite speakers. No actual treble control is available though.


FEATURES

According to Altec Lansing, inside each satellite speakers is a 2" 4 Watts full-range drivers while the subwoofer contains a 5.25" 28 Watts woofer which altogether has total continuous power of 33 Watts RMS. Altec also incorporated down-firing, long-throw design as FX3021's subwoofer projection path.

Apart from the normal stereo input port, the FX3021 has one extra auxiliary input port. Both of these ports are located at the back of the subwoofer, together with satellite speaker and power adaptor port.

SOUND TEST

To test the FX3021, we plugged it to our AMD test rig that we used to review a graphic card previously. The machine is equipped with Realtek ALC889A audio codec that is built into the rig's Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H motherboard. We believe that this setup should be able to represent common application of the speaker as majority of PCs these days’ runs on built-in sound processors.

As for external media player, we use first generation Apple iPod Touch with EQ set to "OFF" and without any external audio amplifier application. We also flatten out our EQ settings on our software players which are Windows Media Player 11 and foobar2000. We also maxed out the volume level on our test rig, iPod and software players.


We run through the speaker with a lot of audio tracks across several genres from classical to electronica. Some of these tracks are in MP3 format while some are played from audio CDs. We also didn't forget to run couple of games and movie DVDs since both of them are also typical usage of a speaker.

Overall, the output from FX3021 is pretty balanced. Even with the subwoofer maxed out, the treble output is generally quite level with the bass output from the woofer. Not only that, the subwoofer is quite powerful and able to shake our table with its thumping bass output when the volume level is loud enough. That being said, we found out that we need to increase the volume a little bit higher when it comes to treble-heavy audio tracks such as classical, jazz and acoustic tracks regardless whether the tracks are being played from PC, MP3 player or CD.

Traditionally, a subwoofer is placed on the floor but we found out that FX3021's subwoofer performance is not as good as when it is placed on desktop. Hence, the "Desktop Subwoofer" label on its retail box. Potential owners of this speaker might want to consider clearing some space on their desktop for the subwoofer then.



CONCLUSION

In terms of looks, the FX3021 have a very huge aesthetic value due to its unique design. Not only it is stylish but it functions very well as a compact and powerful 2.1 sound system. But then, for it to perform optimally, the speakers need to be placed on the desktop itself.

Did we mention that FX3021 is priced just under RM 400?

Pro:
Affordable price, bass/subwoofer control knob, overall sound output is very powerful, adjustable speaker angle, dual input port, sleek and stylish design.

Cons:
No treble control, no headphone output, need to crank higher for classical music, subwoofer less performing when placed on the floor hence need some space on desktop.