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<img src="http://parcom.pro-networks.org/images/ALTEC LANSING LOGO.gif" align="right"> Thin USB powered speakers gorgeous to the eye and ear
By Fernando Cassia
July 1, 2006, 08:50

ALTEC LANSING lets you forget batteries forever and kiss power supplies goodbye with the nice XT1 set of USB powered speakers that are also good for desktops and portable mp3 players. The laptop speakers are often too small for a decent sound quality.

While I can't complain too much about the ones in my Gateway 7422GX, when playing MP3 songs at high volume the sound level is quite limited, and a slight distortion starts to appear before the music can fill a small room. I looked for options but there were two problems: first the notebook sound card does not have enough power to drive large passive speakers, and second, there was always the issue of how to power the active -amplified- speakers.

I have a pair of ancient but reliable and good sounding Sony SRS-37 speakers, but these can be either powered by 4 "D" batteries that last no more than a few hours at full volume, or by using a bulky power brick. After some exploration into the amazing world of USB powered speakers I was instantly attracted to the Altec Lansing XT1 set, which which not only have a famous brand name behind them, and a gorgeous look and design -perfect to be placed at each side of the Gateway 7422- more importantly for a speaker set: I found these sound really good.

Externally, the XT1 are two thin and tall "satellite" speakers measuring about 7.8 inches tall and less than two inches wide. Internally, there are two micro-drivers per "satellite", and the right side speaker contains all circuitry for the Digital-to-Analogue converter, because yes, there is a "virtual sound card" inside the speaker set.

<img src="http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/images/smiles/source.jpg"> The Inquirer
<img src="http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/images/smiles/view.jpg" border="0"> <a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32761" target="_blank"> complete article</a>

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