Labtec APX 4620

Mark Muschett

Overview

Update: It's worth noting that this review was posted Janauary 20, 1998. Having said that we still think it's a good but not excellent buy for $100 or less which is what Labtec charge for it on their website.

I certainly had my eyes opened by Labtech and in a very positive way. For me Labtec had come to mean entry level speakers for people who don't rank their audio right up at the top of the priority list.

Well in September they set out to change that impression by launching two new speaker sets. The APX 4620 is not even the top of their new performance line of speakers, but boy do they perform!

The first two things you will notice upon examination of these speakers are the unique design of the satellites and the impressive look of the subwoofer.

The satellites, which are fairly large, come with a bracket that has double sided tape and a bracket that sit on top and down the sides of your monitor. (Click Here for a bigger image) The satellites then hook onto the side of the brackets and sit neatly against the sides of the monitor. What about shielding you ask? No problem at all. I noticed absolutely no distortion coming from these well shielded speakers. This is what Labtec calls their clear desk mounting system and its a nice touch and entirely optional.

The right satellite is the control center of the system with seperate bass and treble controls, volume and a contol for 3d spatializer levels. One the face of the satellite are convenient mini-jacks for headphones and microphone.

The subwoofer is an impressive looking black box which is the heart of this system.

Installation

The speakers jacks and cables are all colour coded making following the clear instructions in the 10 panel fold out manual a breeze. Cable length for the satellites is more than adequate (5'), with cables going to the output jack and microphone jack on your sound card. The main umbilical cord that runs from the from the right satellite to the subwoofer is long enough (7') to get the subwoofer into the corner of an averaged size room, where it can do its best stuff.

As I noted the volume control for the system is on the front of the satellite, but the main power switch is inconventiently placed on the back of the subwoofer. With no automatic power management circuitry users with either leave them on full time or have to walk over to the sub to shut down.

Performance

Any Brian Adam's fans out there? Waking up the neighbours is a distinct possibiltiy with this system! The 4620's put out a total of 70 watts RMS using five, yes thats five, discrete amplifiers! There's 44 watts to the progressive suspension subwoofer, 7.5 watts to each pair of midrange drivers and 5.5 watts to each tweeter. Frequencies are split using a 3 way electronic crossover. The satellites use what is called a D'Appolito speaker configuration. In this arrangement, three speaker drivers are stacked vertically, with the tweeter sandwiched between two woofer and/or midrange units. In the case of the Labtec 4620's the tweeter is between two midrange units. This controls vertical dispersion and crossover lobbing for less ceiling and floor bounce, and it often improves focus and clarity. Most THX speakers follow a variant of this design. According to Labtec, the D'Appolito configuration removes sound gaps thereby creating a uniform sound field. So what? Well it really sounds great and if you are using these speakers with a 3D sound card the excellent focus offered by the speakers can only help with the cross talk cancellation and more effective HRTFs.

As I noted, the 4620's to pack plenty of power and scale nicely from low to very high volumes. I don't have a decibel meter, but I can attest to the fact that these speakers can crank up the volume to a near painfull level without noticable distortion!

Frequency response is listed as 25Hz-20kHz and is actively equalized to provide a balanced spectral presentation, and deliver a natural sound throughout the entire audio spectrum. My testing using a HIFI Surround test CD shows that the there is excellet low frequency response right down to 45 Hz! At 40 Hz its much quieter, but you can still really feel it. At 35 Hz the sound is really quiet and I don't feel much either. At 30 and 25 Hz the sound is barely audible (and no feeling) and, right in accordance with the specifications, at 20 Hz I hear nothing and I feel nothing.

The speakers also offer Labtech's propriatory Variable Spatializer^® 3-D Imaging™ to creates a 360° sound field. This is a feature 3D sound card users can probably do without, but its still a nice touch for other users.

score: 90/100

Price Performance Ratio

At $149 list price and especially at the $99 street price, these speakers are a steal. Just as Labtec's promotional materials state, these speakers really do offer features found on more expensive systems.

score: 95/100

Summary

With the APX 4620's Labtec has risen to the challenge of putting out a speaker with above average performance at an affortable price. If you are in the market for a good set of speakers you will want to find a set of Labtec's new performance line speakers and have a listen for yourself. I think you will like what you hear.

Overall score: 92.5/100

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Review posted: January 20, 1998

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