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synopsis
You might be an avid gamer ... or just someone who watches DVDs or listens to music on their PC. Perhaps you're just looking for a decent set of speakers for your console gaming station in your gaming room. Either way there's one thing all of the aforementioned are looking for - quality sounding 5.1 surround sound. This has meant, for the most part, that anything under $200 would most likely not be worth your money and although offer up 5 speakers and a sub, the quality of the sound experience would be seriously lacking.
 It's this market that's been addressed by speaker system leader Altec Lansing with their new GT5051 speaker set. The
GT5051 is a genuine 5.1 surround sound system with a unique solution. The 2 "rear" speakers sit on top of the "front" speakers, so there are no rear speaker wires to deal with. Armed with Altec Lansing's patent-pending Side- Firing Surround technology, the speakers are enabled with vertical stacking that provides reflected surround sound.
gt5051 Series feature list
The feature list is very impressive and offers some technologies that are absolutely not found anywhere else in the PC speaker market.
- Front Speakers: 10w per channel @ 8 ohms
- Surround Speakers: 10w per channel @ 8 ohms
- Center Speaker: 10w per channel @ 8 ohms
- Subwoofer: 30w per channel @ 8 ohms
- System Response: 40 Hz - 20kHz (-10dB)
- Drivers Per Satellite: One 3" Full range (front) and one 3" full range dipole driver (surround channel)
- Surround Sound with Simplicity – Unique, patent-pending Side-Firing Dipole Surround™ technology delivers the crystal-clear dialogue and surround sound excitement of your favorite movies and games in just two vertical stacks, a center speaker, and a subwoofer.
- Dual-Mode Selector – Each listening mode is specially engineered to provide outstanding performance.
- Use the 6-Channel Surround Mode with a 6-channel sound card to thrill your senses with the vivid, panoramic experience of true surround sound.
- Use the 2/4 Channel Mode to enjoy immersive six-speaker sound from any source – CD players, MP3 players, or your standard 2 or 4-channel sound card.
- Exceptional Bass – Rattle the room with low frequency bass from the 5.25" ported woofer set in a low-resonance wooden cabinet.
- Multiple Input Options – Connect a computer, a portable audio device, and a DVD, TV or Gaming Console all at the same time.
- Also Features a headphone jack for private listening, shielded satellites for use near video monitors, and color-coded cables for easy installation.
A nice list of features to say the least. The Side-Firing Dipole Surround sound technology is particularly impressive, and the multiple input options allow the speakers to be used with multiple devices.
really ... does it work?
 After reviewing Altec Lansing products and their competitors in the speaker market for some years now, I'm used to hearing wild and weird solutions from Altec Lansing and wondering "How the heck is that going to really work" after reviewing the white papers. Whenever I get the product in from Altec Lansing, I've yet to disappointed from their lofty promises. The GT5051 speaker set is no exception ... hooking the unit up was no problem, and the entire installation took about 5 minutes (everything is color coded).
I have a nifty test with most the games I play that I use for surround sound purposes, as well as I enjoy playing some CDs in the PC I'm testing to evaluate the quality of the surround sound. Sure enough, the Side-Firing Dipole Surround sound technology actually worked ... with three speakers physically in front of me, I could tell that there was sound coming from behind me ... ingenious.
Evaluation
There are two ways I use my speaker sets -
1) To blow my mind while playing the latest PC games
2) To blow my mind while rocking out to my music
It's only natural that I evaluate the GT5051 the same way that I would normally enjoy any set of speakers. For gaming, I played Blizzard's World of WarCraft, Sony On-Line Entertainment's EverQuest II, and Activision's Doom III, all of which boast some great surround sound experiences. With the GT5051's turned up nicely to bother my neighbors, the sound quality was very exciting and clear. The speakers aren't super-duper loud speakers, but they are loud enough to make you really exciting, and get your neighbors or loved ones really upset. Isn't that all you can really ask out of your speakers?
The game play experience while utilizing games that support 5.1 surround sound was fairly entertaining and somewhat effective for surround sound effects. At times,
the surround channel information wasn't totally perceptible, but all things considering made an interesting and tolerable surround sound experience.
Using the speakers for music listening produced a pleasing experience. The sounds are crisp, the bass is handled nicely (dare I say it was "kickin"), and the entire music experience was very pleasurable. The good thing about the GT5051 is that it has a nice range of high and low range sounds that come through very crisply. All in all it's a great sounding surround sound speaker set that doesn't utilize nasty wiring or take up a whole lot of space.
Overall Comments
The Altec Lasning GT5051 speaker set is an amazingly effective solution for some great 3D surround sound for your games and music. Personally speaking, I was stunned that speakers of this size (they aren't that big) could produce such nice sound, especially utilizing the unique Altec Lansing surround sound technology that boasts the rear speakers placed on top of the front speakers.
There really aren't too many drawbacks to this speaker system. It's priced nicely with an MSRP of about $150, and the level of loudness in relation to the quality and clarity of sound is very impressive. Simply put, the performance of the GT5051 is top notch and worth the money you'll put into them, creating a very nice value for PC enthusiasts. They are definitely "cool" since they look so sleek and unique, and their usefulness is perfectly suited for PC gamers as well as anyone that regularly listens to music. They should last you for years on end to say the least.
Overall, the Altec Lansing GT5051 speaker set is a fantastic set of speakers for those of you looking for a viable 5.1 surround sound set of speakers - especially those of you looking for ones that won't dominate your rooms with nasty long wiring. They sound great, they look great, and come highly recommended.
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9 / 10 |
OVERALL SCORE
94%
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9 / 10 |
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10 / 10 |
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