Comet series from Divoom, affordable home theater speaker system

Divoom always continue to provide us cheap and affordable speaker with sufficient quality. For the home theather segment, Divoom has their comet series product line. Comet series are really cheap for home theather speaker class. For example the Comet-D2 is bundled with price tag at approximately Rp 1.350.000,- while Comet-A1 is bundled with price tag at approximately Rp 2.300.000,-.

How about the specs? Each Comet-D2 and Comet-A1 come with similar specification. The most obvious thing is the subwoofer design. They are really look alike! And both speaker are featuring 100 Watt RMS output. However Comet-A1 do come with hardware decoder for Dolby/THX which makes its price higher than Comet-D2 ;). And Comet-A1 is bundled with speaker stand as well which will make the satellite allocation is easier than Comet-D2.

The specification for Comet-D2 and A1 series is as follows :

• Total RMS Power : 100 Watts
• Subwoofer : 50 Watts RMS
• Satellites : 50 Watts RMS
• Total Peak Power : 200 Watts @<10%>
• System THD : Better than 0.05% THD before clipping
• Signal to noise ratio : >95 dB
• Frequency Response : 20Hz - 20 KHz
• Driver size : 3"x2 + 1" (tweeter) high excursion satellites, 8" high excursion subwoofer
  

For small home theather system, these speakers may be the right choice for anyone in tight budget. If you have a lot of $$$ to spend for home theather system, you had better go with famous brand like JBL, etc. But considering its price, Divoom always offers us the best from their pocket :).

XForce5, Affordable 2.1 computer speaker from Divoom...

Divoom, a speaker manufacture from Singapore, has their good products too. Although their brand is not as Creative, Altec Lansing or Klipsch (or soon-Edifier) in computer speaker class, their product is not all crap. Some of their product do deserve a buying consideration while taking a look at their design and specification. One of them is XForce5 from their XForce series.

XForce5 is the biggest 2.1 from XForce series offered by Divoom. Its price range is Rp 890.000,- or under $100. It's really cheap if we consider Divoom packs XForce5 with 8" subwoofer, remote controller, 2 full range 3" driver plus 1" tweeter in each satellite, and fm/am radio function as bonus.

Besides rich in feature, XForce5 also features 2 aux in in form of rca input for common audio use. This means that you can hook one input for permanent use such as for tv or game console and the other for your mobile devices such as ipod, etc. Very nice features.

The subwoofer design is really like a computer case. And if it's put side-to-side with a real computer case, maybe it can fool anyone who take a quick glance at it. For the sound quality, since Divoom use 8" subwoofer, we can expect the bass can go low at least until 40 Hz. The spec Divoom use stating frequency response range from 20Hz-20Khz is over optimistic on my opinion.

On its price range, Divoom provide us a very good speaker with affordable price, making it's worth to consider for buying this one. If you like the design and it fit with your budget, just grab this one but expect no miracle! As every cheapo speaker on the market, don't ever turn up the volume level to its max if you don't want to hear noise or distortion coming from your speaker! But anyway, since this is marketed for computer use, you will seldom turn up the volume to its max anyway. 100 watt RMS would be already overkill for long-term listening in small space!

Cheap soundcard for music..

Via has been famous in soundcard era for the recent years - thanks to its flagship Via Envy chipset. Via Envy has a characteristic that make it very suitable for music lover-the chipset never resamples any sample rate for songs. Every songs will be played "as is". This feature is really important for audiophile because fidelity and accuracy is the most determine factor for high quality music.

But Via Envy also has always been associated by its high price, especially for guys like me who cannot afford, or maybe at least must think ten thousand times before buying a Via Envy soundcard priced more than $100. Of course, Via offered us a cheap alternative solution - Via Envy PT, which was used in Chaintech AV710. Unfortunately, the card is rarely be seen in the market. Once in a time, I even has tried to contact Chaintech distributor in Singapore, asking about this $30 soundcard and got answer "out of stock".

Maybe Via sees this matter and recently, Via had launched some new chipset intended for cheaper market - Via Tremor. Via Tremor will support maximum 6 channel output and 2 channel input. And it will support maximum resolution 24 bit and 48 KHz sampling rate for analog, while for digital, Tremor will support resolution 24 bit and 96 KHz sampling rate - very similar to Via Envy 24 PT. Along with Via Tremor, Via also launched Via Envy 24 MT which is intended for notebook or mobile devices. But forget about Via Envy 24 MT as this seems not a cheap solution anyway :P. Let's see all the features Via Tremor offers below...

Benefits of VIA Vinyl Tremor

• High audio performance - With up to 24-bit resolution/96kHZ sampling rates for digital input/output and 20-bit/48kHZ analog connections, the VIA Tremor is capable of providing superb audio playback and recording quality to the PC audio enthusiast.


• Flexible range of connection options - 6 outbound streams and 2 simultaneous input streams, along with an integrated S/PDIF transmitter, allow for a wide range of connections that can support Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital EX Surround Sound. A direct access general purpose connector allows for easy use of expanded connection boards, and a MIDI port is also provided.


• Multiple applications - Applications include gaming, high fidelity home theatre entertainment, music playback and recording.


• Easy to integrate - I²S and AC-link input and output for easy connection with many codec or ADC/DAC solutions. Also supports Windows® WDM drivers.

So has any company decided to use Via tremor and produced cheap soundcard for music lover? Yes, there are several company like PPA International and Encore Electronics that has started producing several soundcard based on this chipset. This soundcard is really cheap, some even can be found as low as $10 in newegg.com! But please keep in mind that you will always get what you've paid for. For a $10 soundcard, you cannot expect the card will use a high quality ADC and DAC from respective companies like AKM or Wolfson :).

Labtec Elite 840 review..

When I was a college student a few years ago, I acquired this headphone. At that time, I was looking for cheapest solution for enjoying music since as a college student, I was always short of money. Looking for decent computer speaker for music, I realise all are too expensive. The excellent computer speaker for music at that time was Altec Lansing 621 and is priced about $150. A price that I couldn't afford...

Then when I had windows shopping in Dusit, Mangga Dua, I saw this headphone. I thought for a while: why don't give it a try? Priced about $25, I still can afford it with some saving money I had :). Then I looked for this headphone specification thoroughly. The specs is as listed below:

Features:

• High-performance audio for home or portable use
• Velvet touch ear pads for extended wear
• Acoustic air vent for enhanced bass
• Self-adjusting headband for superb comfort
• Tangle-free single-side cord

Specifications:

• Driver Magnet: Neodymium
• Cord Length: 10'
• Impedance: 32 ohms
• Ear Pads: Deluxe Padded
• Stereo Plug: Gold Plated
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz

Hmm, if I just mere take account the specification then this headphone will beat every computer speaker systems in the world since most of then cannot go as low as 20Hz! I believe to reproduce 20Hz by using speaker, we'll need a huge subwoofer and a very big room :). But in the end, I bought this gadget anyway and took it home...

First impression, when using this headphone in my old cheap computer, I found the sound reproduced is not too good. Searching a little bit for the culprit, I found two reasons causing bad sound. The first is the onboard soundcard I had (CMedia-8738) and the second is the source of mp3 file I played. So after pairing it with decent soundcard, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, I found this headphone can produce a very clear and nice music. I was surprised by the amount of details this headphone produced. The only thing lacking in this headphone is the bass. This headphone characteristic is producing a little bright sound. For bass lovers, they will absolutely be disappointed by this headphone-better go for Koss UR40!

The construction of this headphone is so well built. It's just the headphone cable is so thin that I sometimes was getting scared of tear it apart. But I found it would be unpleasant for wearing it for more than two hours since my ears will feel hot if I wear it for a long time. For comfort, I could not compare it with Sennheiser HD series anyway, which is being said as the most comfortable headphones in the world, it would not be fair. In its price range, I find this headphone offers the biggest driver (50mm) among its competitor. This is really nice as the bigger the driver, the more detail sound can be produced by this headphone...

After owning it for more than 4 years, then finally this headphone broke. I think it has exceeded its lifetime anyway. Time to start for hunting a new one....:)

Best budget computer speaker...

If you're in tight budget and want to have a decent computer speaker, then I suggest you to take a look at Edifier R401 and M3300. Both are priced below $50, a modest price. But this is the cheapest price I know for speaker systems featuring 6.5" subwoofer. Even better, R401 and M3300 are equipped with tweeter on its satellite make this is a very good speaker for listening to music.

Let's see in details about what these speakers offer:

Edifier R401

Specifications:

• Power Output: Satellite Speaker: RMS 8Wx2(@ fo=1kHz, 10% THD, 2 channels loaded ); Woofer: RMS 30W (@ fo=80Hz, 10% THD, single channel loaded )
• THD+N (Amplifier): <=0.5% (Satellite, @ PO=4W ) # Signal-to-Noise Rate (Amplifier): >=85dB(A Weighted)
• Input Impedance: 10K Ohms
• Input Sensitive: 450mv
• Frequency Response: 42-20k Hz
• Input Port: stereo RCA Line-in
• Controller: Volume, Bass, Treble
• Speaker Impedance: 4 Ohms
• Bass driver unit: 6.5 inch (D166mm), magnetically shielded
• Satellite driver unit: 3 inch (D78mm) paper cone, magnetically shielded;1 inch PV membrane dome tweeter, magnetically shielded
• Dimensions: Subwoofer: 191(W) x 293(H) x 285(D)mm; Satellite Speaker: 96(W) x 167(H) x 106(D)mm
• Gross Weight: about 8.2Kg
• Power Requirement: 220V-240V ~ , 50/60Hz (for Model European/China/Korea/South America, etc.); 100V-120V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model USA/Canada/Japan )
• Max Power Consumption: 60W
  

Edifier M3300
Features:

• All MDF wood enclosure for subwoofer . * 6.5’’ High performance woofer, magnetically shielded.
• 3’’ midrange, 3/4" tweeter driver with heat treated paper voice coil, magnetically shielded.
• Flat panel satellite speaker.
• front hyperbolic bass port ensures powerful bass output.
• Wired remote volume control with headphone jack, mute button and power LED indicator.
• AUX jack feature adds convenience for additional source input
  

Specifications:

• Amplifier power output: Satellite: RMS 8Wx2 (THD=10%, f=1kHz) Subwoofer: RMS 25W (THD=10%, f=80Hz)
• Signal to noise ratio (Amplifier): >=85dBA Amplifier distortion: THD+N<0.5%
• Input Impendence: 10K Ohm
• Input Sensitivity: 450mv. (+/- 50mV)
• Frequency Respense: 45Hz - 20KHz
• Volume Control: Wired remote Volume Control, Subwoofer built-in Bass Control.
• Bass Unit: 6.5 inch (166mm), Magnetically Shielded, 8Ohm.
• Mid-range Unit: 3 inch (78mm) , Magnetically Shielded, 4Ohm.
• Tweeter Unit: ¾ inch, Magnetically Shielded, 8Ohm.
• Dimension Subwoofer: 167(W) x 298(H) x 283(D) mm
• Dimension Satellite: 110(W) x 180(H) x 70(D)mm
• Weight: Approx.7.9kg
• Power input: 100V-120V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model USA/Canada/Japan) 220V-240V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model European/China/Korea/South America, etc.)
  

It seems that Edifier now discontinues its R401 model, so if you find this one in store nearby, go get it while stock lasts. And M3300, many says this model is a steal for its price range. M3300 is being said to have the best clarity and treble sound quality for speaker at its price range...

Bizgram IT Show 2008

For those who reside in Singapore or coincidentally visit Singapore now, it would be unfortunate to miss Bizgram IT Show 2008. This event is held at Suntec City Exhibition Center and will last only 4 days, from March 6th until March 9th. For computer savvy, this would be a good chance to spend your savings for computer stuffs since the price there are quite cheaper than normal price.

As for example, we can bring home 500 G Western Digital Elements External Harddisk for only SGD$150. I have searched information and in Indonesia at this time, the same device must be bought for SGD$200. Wow, save SGD$50!

Need more information? Just visit the show lah :P...

Cheapest Internet Service Provider in Indonesia

If you're an internet maniac who loves to surf for hours and you don't have so much money to subscribe to any service provider for using their services, then you're lucky now. Because now, there is fastnet from firstmedia company which offers you a very interesting products. As you can see from the images above, fastnet offers maybe the cheapest unlimited internet packages.

Well, I used to work for Internet Service Provider for two years, so I can tell you whether the price for their services is cheap or not. And fastnet is incrediblely cheap (in Indonesia). But how about the performance? Is it as good as they claim? From what I read in many forums, in the earlier month, the services are very good, near what they have claimed. But after many people subscribe for their services, then the speed plummets.

It's usually happened in every service provider in Indonesia as the bandwidth is shared among all customers. Maybe we must wait for years before the internet in Indonesia is as cheap as in Singapore or Malaysia...;)

TelkomVision, cheap alternative for home entertainment

If you're a movie lover and most of the time you watch movie in your living room, then Cable tv or Satellite tv must be a must for you ;). Traditional broadcast tvs, even they are free, are full of advertisement and the movies they have usually are out of date.

In Indonesia, they are some companies offering paid tv services. For example: Kablevision, AstroTv, and one which I will discuss a little bit - Telkomvision. Usually they offer their services in packages. So for example, if you subscribe to package C then you'll have channel a,b,c being streamed to your living room. If you want another channel then either you upgrade the services or you subscribe to additional channel (and of course pay more!).

So because of this scheme, then the rate is not really affordable for Indonesian people. That's what differs TelkomVision to another competitor. TelkomVision recently offer what they call prepaid tv services. In prepaid scheme, customer can choose packages in very small packages. Basically, it's just full tv packages splitted into many small tv packages. But this scheme will help Indonesian people to subscribe to their service.

TelkomVision offers this scheme into their direct to home services (satellite tv) and cable services (cable tv). The list of their offers for both services are listed below :

1. Dunia Anak (Children's world - Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney) - Rp 50.000,-
2. Berita (News - CNN, BBC, CNBC) - Rp 40.000,-
3. Film Pelangi (Rainbow Movie - Star Movies, MGM, Celestial Movies) - Rp 60.000,-
4. Olahraga (Sports - ESPN, Star Sports, Ten Sports) - Rp 60.000,-
5. Paket Laga (Action Movie - AXN, Animax, Discovery Real Time) - Rp 50.000,-
6. Film Laris (Box Office Movie - HBO, HBO Signature, Cinemax) - Rp 65.000,-
7. Metropolitan (Metropolitan - FTV, Hallmark, Discovery Travel and Living, E! Entertainment, Asian Food Channel) - Rp 60.000,-
8. Musik (Music Channel - MTV, V Channel) - Rp 65.000,-
9. Pendidikan (Education Channel - National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, NHK Premium) - Rp 40.000,-

For using their services, customer must have satellite dish and Telkomvision decoder if customer want to subscribe for TelkomVision's Direct to Home service. Then they must purchase the voucher for services listed above before they can watch TelkomVision's broadcast.

TelkomVision once again provide customers a new way for home entertainment ;). Good job...

Mini passenger car with mini price : Chery

Have you heard about Chery?

Chery is the car brand from China which is popular there. In mainland China, Chery is no 2 of most car sold last year. Not disappointing for a brand which I've never heard before :P...

But Chery is not popular without any reason. The manufacturer claims that Chery is made from fine quality material. At least, we can say that the material is standard compliant. Chery also has EuroII certification. That means this car produces very low emission gas. This is very nice as we have to preserve our environment :)

In Indonesia, the cheapest Chery, Chery SX, is sold at Rp 75.150.000,- (or approx US$8000). With that amount of money, you will have :

• Air Conditioned
• Power steering
• Power window
• Auto close window
• Central lock
• Keyless entry
• Anti theft system
• Electric mirror
• Radio tape
• Fog lamp (front and rear)
• Rear wiper
• Velg standar
• Side skirt
• Rear spoiler
• High mount stop lamp
• 4 (four) safety belts
  

With its tiny cute looking, is Chery worth to be bought?
I won't give you any suggestion as I'm not gurus in automotive field ;).
Please decide yourself....

Avega, the most affordable sedan

If you live in Indonesia and you're tight on budget but have a dream of having your own sedan, then you may consider to buy Hyundai Avega as your private car. Recently, when I read newspaper, my eyes stopped at Avega's advertisement. It emphasizes on how valuable this car as its price starts from Rp 90.25 million (below US$10000).

For many Indonesian people, maybe this sedan is the cheapest one since Timor, a national car promoted by Soeharto's son in his era. But will it hit the market greatly? Indonesia is the country which has characteristic as price sensitive. This means that many Indonesian people often neglect the quality and choose the cheapest price in buying their needs. So because of its affordable price, this car has a great opportunity to be popular.

But if we take a look at the specification, is this car really worth it? I'm not an car technician nor an expert in reviewing a car, so I can only list the specification I got from the newspaper ;).

Here are what we will get from Avega :

1. 1500 cc - 4 cylinder engine
2. Compliant with Euro II standard (that means this sedan is environment friendly)
3. Power steering (for easy driving)
4. Multipoint Injection (MPI)
5. CD MP3 audio (for type GL and SG only)
6. Flexible seat arrangement
7. Air conditioner with heater

One thing that I can comment on is in Indonesia there is absolutely no need of heater since Indonesia is a tropical country. The weather here is very hot in the spring and warm in the summer ;). The rest, hmm, maybe it's better to visit hyundai showroom in your city so you will be able to inspect the car more thoroughly. Agree ?