3DsoundSurge Reviews: Altec Lansing ACS-56 PowerPlay Plus

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Important Info:

Speakers By : Altec Lansing
Price : $150 ERP.
Power Output:
Subwoofer: 35 watts RMS
Satellites: 35 watts RMS , 8.75 watts RMS per satellite

Minimum/Recommended System Requirements

Sound card or other audio device

Reviewer PC:

-Mikael
- Win98
- Celeron 300a o/c 450
- 128MB PC100 ram
- Creative TNT
- 6.4 GB Quantum SE
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! (EMU 10K1), Outrageous 3D Sound (Vortex 2), Hoontech Sound Track YFM 744 Digital XG (Yamaha 744), Aztech PCI 368 DSP (VLSI Thunderbird 128), Trident 4Dwave NX and Terratec's DMX Sound system (Canyon3D)

Features:

Overall

Total Audio Power 70 watts
Input Impedance >10K ohms
Frequency Response 30 Hz – 18 kHz
Crossover: 155 Hz.
S/N Ratio: >65 dB
Two analog inputs accommodate 3D positional soundcards
S/PDIF input for PCM digital audio playback for games and stereo
Digital control for master, surround, bass and treble levels with LED display
Color-coded connectors for ease of installation

Satellites

Speakers (per satellite) One 3 inch (75mm)
All magnetically shielded
Audio Power 8.75 Watts per channel (35 watts total)

S/N Ratio >65 dB

Subwoofer

Speaker One 6 1/2 inch (165 mm) long throw
Audio Power 35 Watts

Power Requirements

USA/CANADA 120v/240w/60 Hz
Europe/UK and various Asian countries 230v50Hz
ETL/cETL/CE approved

Altec Lansing is one of the most famous multimedia speaker manufactures and has won numerous awards for their speakers in the past. We posted a review of their first entry in the 4-speaker market, the ACS-54, a few months ago. With a SRP of $100 it’s entry level product that is directly competing with Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1000. As you know if you read my review I found the quality to be clearly better than the FPS1000 and rivaling the FPS2000 with the subwoofer not quite as good and the overall system clearly behind in loudness. It also lacked some controls the FPS2000 has and of course does not have Creative’s proprietary DIN connector. In this review we will take a look at the ACS56 that uses the same satellites as the ACS54 but with a much more powerful amplifier that feeds the 3" drivers with 8.75 Watts RMS instead of 5 Watts RMS. The subwoofer is new and has a 6 ½ driver fed with 35 Watts RMS of power. The ACS56 also has many more controls including bass and treble. On paper it looks to be a real winner for those that want a 4-speaker system in the $100-150 range.