3DsoundSurge Reviews: Videologic Sirocco

sirocco.jpg (10083 bytes)

Important Info:

Speakers By : Videologic
Price : $329 (Ł200) ERP.
Power Output:
Subwoofer: 40 watts RMS
Satellites: 20 watts RMS per satellite
Rated: 93/100
Award : Surge of Approval

Minimum/Recommended System Requirements

Sound card or other audio device with 3.5mm stereo mini-plug or adapter for Analog output

Reviewer PC:

Celeron 300 (Not A)
LX Board
64mb sdram
16Mb CLRTNT
2.1 gb Quantum UDMA HDD
15" Elonex monitor
MS Intellimouse with wheel
USrobotics Sportster Voice (33.6)
12x CL Infra CD-ROM
ISA NIC

Speakers:
Sony LBT N-455 Hifi. 100w RMS per channel - 4 way speakers. 3 way speakers (woofer, mid, tweeter) 60w RMS. 8" ported sub - 40w rms. That's right, 2 subs
Yamaha YST M20DSP's

Features:

SUBWOOFER
Wood construction MDF cabinet, containing fully magnetically shielded bass drive unit.

Low frequency drive unit: Audax 6.5" cone (35Hz to 130Hz).

SATELLITES
Wood construction MDF cabinets; each with mid-frequency (bass/mid) drive unit and separate high-frequency drive unit (tweeter), both fully shielded.

Bass/mid frequency drive unit: Audax 4" cone (130Hz to 3.8KHz).

High frequency drive unit: Audax 10mm polymer dome (3.8KHz to 20KHz).

AMPLIFIER
Two independent amplifiers per satellite, plus two bridged amplifiers for subwoofer. Self Peak Instantaneous Temperature (°Ke) (SPiKe™) Protection Circuitry for protection against overvoltage, undervoltage, overloads, including shorts to the supplies, thermal runaway, and instantaneous temperature peaks.

Power supply unit: Dual rail toroidal transformer with 28000µF of smoothing capacitance.

Power output: Satellites: 20W RMS per channel. Subwoofer: 40W RMS. Full system (all channels driven): 80 Watts RMS at 1% THD; 100 Watts RMS at 10% THD.

Frequency response: < 3Hz to > 100KHz.

THD (nominal output): Less than 0.01% at 1KHz.

Input sensitivity: 200mV.

Controls: Power on/off, Volume, Subwoofer volume (relative to main volume), Attitude (dual shelving filter for mid/high frequency tone adjustment, ±6dB range).

Connectors: Gold plated phono inputs; individual outputs to each speaker unit; 1/4" headphone jack on amplifier front panel; IEC mains inlet.

Power supply: 220-240V AC 50Hz.

GENERAL
Minimum System Requirements: PC with sound card, or any stand-alone audio source with line-level output.

Cables supplied: IEC mains cable, 3.5mm stereo jack to phono and speaker cables.

Approvals: CE marked. Compliant with the EMC and Low Voltage Directives (89/336/EEC and 73/23/EEC).

Dimensions: Satellites: 130mm (W - front), 80mm (W - back) x 200mm (H) x 150mm (D). Subwoofer: 235mm (W) x 420mm (H) x 370mm (D). Amplifier: 204mm (W) x 86mm (H) x 340mm (D).

Weight: 17kg/37lbs 8oz.

Technical support: Technical hotline and Internet web site.

Warranty: Two years.

Update: Just a quick update to point out that this is still an excellent system, the best 2.1 system that we reviewed with the exception of the much more expensive Sirocco Pro.

Videologic have a lot of ground to make up after the decidedly average SonicStorm Pro. Their Vortex 2 based SonicVortex is on it’s way, but we’ll start of with their first attempt to put their foot in the door of the highly profitable PC speaker market, the Sirocco.

The Sirocco blurb is full of the usual claims of ‘Studio Quality Sound’. Where they attempt to rise above the mainstream is with their sheer quality. The Sirocco is a two satellite and subwoofer setup, as is de rigeur. The amplifier is, however, a separate item. And this is where the differences begin.

The slightly wedge-shaped Sirocco satellites are bi-wired and bi-amped. Now many half decent pc speaker satellites have a mid and a high cone in them, but precious few actually have a separate amplifier to drive them. The practical upshot of this is a purer signal. Rather than having the high and mid signal amplified as one and only separated by the crossover once the signal gets to the speaker, a bi-amped system treats the mid and high frequencies to their own amplifiers, and gets the signal directly to the cone it is designed to drive. This means there are actually five discrete amps in the amplifier. The cones themselves are made by Audax, a known name in hi-fi components, and measure in at 4" for the mid and 10mm for the tweeter. And of course, both the satellites and the sub are magnetically shielded.

The sub is of a plain but functional design. The 6.5" Audax cone sits behind a car-audio style grille, with the 2" bass port nestled snugly below. A nice touch are the four recesses on top of the sub allowing the amp to sit on top. However, this is one amp that you would give pride of place to.

The Sirrocco amp is very deep, almost as deep as the sub, and at 430mm it’s going to look quite imposing on your desk. The Sirrocco is a very simple system. No Virtual Dolby, no digital speaker connection, not even a graphic equaliser. Instead, one large and two slightly smaller knobs dominate the front panel, along with a 6.3mm headphone jack, and a blue power LED. The larger of the three knobs is Volume, and is the smoothest control I have ever felt on any piece of audio equipment. The two smaller knobs, while not as smooth, still fit in with the overall feeling of quality of this system. The Sub control alters the output of the sub relative to the main volume, whereas Attitude is like a more advanced tone control. Usually tone controls are used by a manufacturer too cheap to fit proper bass and treble controls, but in this case, it seems to offer just the right amount of control. More later. The amp kicks out 20w rms to each of the satellites, and 40w to the sub, so 80w rms total at 1% total harmonic distortion, a very respectable figure for a good hi-fi, let alone a set of PC speakers.