Monster sound from edifier!

Edifier, a chinese speaker manufacture, recently release a super montrous heavy metal speaker for music lover. It's S550 and S730 that will captivate heart of enthusiast people around the globe. Let's take a look at both of them ;)

S550, as we can see from the image on the left, is a really nice-looking design speaker. The speaker is designed and inspired by Phil Jones, one of the most famous audio artist who settles in Japan currently (if I'm not mistaken). Except the design, Phil Jones has fine-tune the overall sound of this speaker too, to be sound as please as possible for everyone.

But how about the specification. Below is the specification for S550 taken from Edifier website :

Specifications:

• Power output: RMS 5 x 35W + 120W (THD=10%)
• Signal to noise ratio (amplifier): >=85dBA
• Input sensitivity: 5.1Ch: L/R: 480mV +/- 50mV SW: 175mV +/- 30mV
• Stereo: L/R: 520mV +/- 50mV SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
• Frequency response: L/R: 140Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 133Hz
  

Features:

• Luxurious 5.1 speaker system with 10 inch subwoofer- Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
• Passive radiator on both sides on the subwoofer to exaggerate bass performance
• Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
• Switchable dual input ports for both 5.1 channel and stereo inputs
• Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
• Headphone output on wired remote controller
• Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
• Volume booster for extra power output
• Separate bass and treble adjustments
• Multifunctional wireless remote controller included
• Dolby decoder circuitry included in digital version

Edifier S550 will be sold around Rp 3.800.000,-. Will the price worth it? For bass lover who need 5.1 speaker for their small home theater system, this S550 really can rock your room. Equipped with 10" subwoofer with 2-way design for each sattelite and 3-way design for its center channel will make S550 not disappointed.

Meanwhile S550 will be targeted to hit small home theater market, S730 is another beast from edifier targeted for music lover. This 2.1 speaker with its total 300 RMS has the power needed for shaking your small room!

The design looks similar with S550. This is really obvious because this one was also designed by Phil Jones! Phil Jones interference in the design and fine-tuning process will ensure S730 will have a maximum overall sound for music lover. Especially bass lover since it's using 10" subwoofer for 2.1 configuration. Only logitech with its Z5500 has doing the same thing. (Well, audiophile will say it's really overkill to have 10" in 2.1 setup, but who care anyway :P)

Okay, let's take a look at the specification, shall we?


Specification :

• Total Power Output: RMS 75W x 2 + 150W
• Frequency Response: 20Hz~20KHz

Features:

• Heavy metal 2.1 speaker system with 10 inch subwoofer
• Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
• Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)

This speaker will arrive in Indonesia market around June. That's the information I got from official Edifier distributor in Indonesia. The price will be tagged at around Rp 3.300.000,-. Can't wait to audition this one. It should sound awesome!

With both speaker, it's clearly seen that Edifier has put so much effort for entering new level of computer multimedia speaker market. I think now they can be put at the same level as Klipsch, Altec Lansing or JBL in this criteria ;).

If only Edifier put the lower price tag for this speaker, I would be at the front row of sales queue, then :P. Absolutely!

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...

Edifier Speaker Update...

Just realise today that Edifier has discontinued some of its products, include S5.1 speaker. It's so pity because I think this model is a very good speaker system in its price range. But Edifier has added a new speaker series, they call it C series, into his line. Let's see what improvement Edifier made for the new series ;)..

The C series, unlike previous Edifier series, featuring separate amps for more better design. We do know that separate amps usually is present in home theater speaker system. It's a good idea for implementing this idea in multimedia speaker systems. In theory, separate amps will bring less heat to the subwoofer (as amps usually integrated there) and this will preserve the life of amps component. The front line up C series is C3 speaker. Just take a look at this beauty below!


Here is the details of Edifier C3 speaker

Specifications:

* Total Power Output: RMS 8W x 2 + 30W
* 8" Woofer Driver Unit
* 3.5" Mid-range Driver Unit
* 13mm, silk diaphragm
* 16.6Kg for single gift box

Features:

* 2.1 channel multimedia speaker with external amplifier
* Stand-alone 48 Watt external 'component' amplifier
* Complete wooden housing for all speakers
* Electronic Intelligence Distortion Control (E.I.D.C) inside
* Built-in MCU control with multifunctional digital display
* 8 inch driver for subwoofer with 2-way designed satellites
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speaker

And Edifier also added S530D into its S series line. S530D is intended mostly for audiophile and music lover as its design is simple but elegant. It's equipped with a very nice-looking wired remote control and small wireless remote control. In fact, it is being said that the development of S530D series took almost 2 years. Enough said, just take a quick look for its appearance and you'll fall in love with it :P

Very nice and sturdy look as all speaker are made of wood! But how about the specification?
Below you'll find what you're looking for...

Specifications:

* Power output : RMS 35W x 2 + 70W (THD=10%)
* Signal to noise ratio : >85 dba
* Input sensitivity : PC: L/R: 600mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
* CD: L/R: 720mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 330mV +/- 30mV
* Frequency response : L/R: 158Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 130Hz

Features:

* Luxurious 2.1 speaker system with 8 inch subwoofer
* Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
* Switchable dual input ports for audio source with different output power
* Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
* Headphone output on wired remote controller
* Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
* Volume booster for extra power output
* Separate bass and treble adjustments
* Multifunctional wireless remote controller included
* Coaxial and optical inputs

I easily fall in love with both speaker system. If only I had had enough money.....

High-End Computer Speaker for HTPC..

Nowadays, computer is more than office tool. Because of advanced technology, computer can now be used as home theater replacement or also known as HTPC (Home Theater PC). In order to build a HTPC, you'll need to fulfill several requirements by choosing the right components as follow :

• VGA Card that has hardware acceleration for decoding video compression (H-264, MPEG-2, etc)
  
• Processor with decent speed


• High-Quality soundcard which support multi-channel (5.1, 6.1, etc) playback


• A high-quality multi-channel speaker set


• A huge monitor or LCD TV for displaying the movie

This article will focus only on speaker. Why do I only discuss speaker? Because I believe speaker is the heart of HTPC. You cannot enjoy any movie if you cannot be immersed by the movie's sound effects. And the main device for giving you the right sound as wanted by movie producer is speaker because the quality of sound-card onboard nowadays has been very good. So in this article, I will try to show you 2 high-end computer speaker products with best price/performance that can be used in HTPC.

First candidate is Logitech Z5500. Let's see the speaker first from the image below :

I would not describe in details about Z5500 technical specifications because it would be too long and besides, there are a lot of reviews there you can easily find about :). I will just tell you what make me think this speaker does deserve to be in your living room.

Ok, first is 10" subwoofer. Well, it is the biggest subwoofer in this class and price range. So when you choose this one, you'll be sure of have an enough bass to shake your neighbors' wall :P. Just kidding. Logitech speaker is famous of its huge bass. Well, sometimes the bass is boomy but this can be tricked by placing them in the right spot and help from equalizer :). But with the big size of subwoofer, you'll be sure to know exactly what the explosion should sound in the war-action movie.

Second, Z5500 is equipped with hardware decoder in it. It's capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Prologic II signal. It also have 6 channel direct, StereoX2 and Stereo mode if you don't want to utilize the hardware decoder capability. This will add more benefit when you have, for example, a stereo sound card but you want to hear 5.1 Dolby Digital sound from your movie. Well, you can merely use passthrough mode of your sound card so the signal will be delivered as is to the speaker and then let the hardware decoder in speaker do its job.

Third, Z5500 offers wide range of compatibility mode. You can use this speaker for PC/Mac, CD, MP3, DVD, Playstation, Xbox and other gaming console. It's very nice to have such a versatile speaker that can be used for many devices you want to plug in. You will save room and money because you won't need to buy another speaker for every devices you have.

Overall, because of its configuration, Logitech Z5500 is most suitable for movie (THX certified) and gaming. It can also be used for listening to music, but for some genre music which need a pure-flat frequency response before it can sound enjoyable, you'll have to tweak the equalizer enormous times before you can find the right configuration...

Now the second candidate, Edifier S5.1. As usual, let's see the image of this speaker first ;)

Wow, now we see how the speaker should really look :). Edifier S5.1 is really elegant by having wood finishing instead of plastic/alumunium material usually used in computer speaker. The configuration is almost the same like logitech, i.e : 5.1 and have remote control. The main difference between this speaker and logitech's one is edifier S5.1 does not come with any hardware decoder in it. The other difference is the subwoofer in Edifier S5.1 is smaller than logitech Z5500 has (8" vs 10"). But it won't hinder this speaker to be in your living room as it has several remarkable characteristics as follow :

First, looks! In my opinion, this speaker shows us how the speaker should look. Simple and elegant. The choosing of wood as finishing material is brilliant as wood is also known as an excellent material for reproducing sound. It also have LCD display, but in this case the control center from logitech is far better :).

Second, tweeter! The satellite of edifier S5.1 are equipped with 3/4 inch cloth dome tweeter. This will ensure that you'll be able to hear high frequency sound like you often hear in classics music.

Third, price! What can I say? For a price below $300, you won't ask for more as this speaker currently is the best price/performance speaker set. But keep in mind that this speaker is most suitable for music. If you want to hear *boom* as *BOOM* then you'll have to tweak equalizer a little bit. Just make sure your sound card support equalizer or at least treble/bass configuration.

Overall, Edifier S5.1 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to have a nice-looking speaker and listen a lot for music in their living room. The setup features smaller subwoofer than logitech, means that edifier's subwoofer won't be stand out as above its satellites. It will be balance instead.

If I have hot money to spend and should choose between these two beast, then I'll choose Edifier S5.1 as I like music more than watching movie ;)...