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Posted: September 30th, 2001 Written by: Tuan Huynh Installation and Setup Installation for the ADA890’s was as simple as a speaker install can get. Since all the connectors are color coded and shaped differently, the connectors can only go in one way. Unless you try to hack off the ridges on the speaker connectors, installation should take approximately 10minutes. Just to make sure your speakers are connected correctly and all working, push the diagnostic button when you hook everything up. Altec Lansing has taken into consideration the different type of cables needed to connect the speaker system up to either a computer or DVD player and included all necessary cabling. Enough with the features lets move onto how they sound. Test Setup Hercules Game Theater XP (2.02 driver) Windows 2000 Coaxial Connection Analog front and rear connection ADA890 positioned for surround sound mode Music Performance Winamp (Various MP3’s encoded at 192kbps) (Speakers set to Stereo x2 mode using PCM). Gaming Performance Unreal Tournament (Hardware 3D Sound enabled) DVD Performance Ultimate DVD Platinum (“Neo” Dolby Digital Demo) Music Performance For music performance, I just played random MP3’s that were encoded at 192kbps and higher. I chose to use Stereo x2 mode because not all 4 channel sound cards can output 4 channel sound for MP3’s and Stereo x2 uses a Digital PCM signal. The audio quality for music was very good. Not only was the sound coming from the satellites clear and crisp, the subwoofer outputted powerful bass. The bass was strong, tight, warm, and was enough to make the ground shake. Turning up the volume to the maximum resulted in no sound distortion whatsoever. They sound as good as the Klipsch Pro Media 4.1’s in my opinion. This is definitely a system that would become of interest if you listen to a lot of music. Gaming Performance Since the ADA890 is marketed as a Gaming and Theatre speaker system, how do they sound for gaming? After playing UT for a while and running around getting shot at, I’ve come to the conclusion that these speakers rock for gaming. The powerful subwoofer enhances the gaming experience by making the gun shots come to life. The rear speakers make it so that you can hear people sneaking up behind you or just plain hear a rocket zip right pass you or into you. Overall the ADA890 provided a very good gaming experience surround you with gun shots. DVD Performance Sporting a THX certification from George Lucas, they must sound good for watching DVD’s right? After playing the Ultimate DVD Platinum “Neo” Dolby Digital demo, I was simply amazed by how realistic the 5.1 effect was. Even for a 4.1 speaker system the virtual center channel sounded like there was a real center channel speaker in place. The virtual center sounded clear and crisp while the subwoofer provided strong and warm bass. Turning up the volume a bit resulted in no distortion in the sound. Now I understand why Dell chose to go with the ADA890 for their THX Certified PC. |
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