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| Boston Acoustic BA4800 speakers |
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Hardware Reviews April 2000 • Vol.3 Issue 4 |
Boston Acoustic BA4800 speakers | ||
 Boston Acoustic's speakers are known for packing big sound in relatively small packages. They deliver on that theme again with the BA4800 speaker system. It produces a whole lot of sound without taking up a whole lot of desktop space. Specs The 4800 speaker system is a five piece set: four satellite speakers and one subwoofer. The satellite speakers are relatively small. They measure 3.25 inches high x 3.25 inches wide x 3.50 inches deep. Stands are included for the surround (rear) speakers, so you can set them up and move them out of the way quite easily. The right front satellite speaker has a volume control, surround sound control, and subwoofer control. The subwoofer is 11.75 x 7 x 14.63 inches. This is perhaps slightly larger than most subwoofers designed for computer audio. The subwoofer may be a little tricky to slip under your desk, but the extra thump it provides more than makes up for the room it requires. One unusual feature about these speakers is that Boston Acoustics does not disclose the total watts for the system. Boston Acoustics prefers the SPL (sound pressure level) method of measuring output. This method measures the total output of the sound, in decibels, before distortion occurs. The maximum SPL of this system is 106dB (decibels). Translation: You can really crank up the volume on these speakers, and you'll still get crisp, undistorted sound. The frequency response of the system is a respectable 50Hz (hertz) to 20KHz (kilohertz). Testing We tested the Boston Acoustic BA4800 system on a 300MHz (megahertz) Pentium II system with 128MB (megabytes) of RAM (random-access memory), running Windows 98. We used a Creative Labs Live! sound card. We popped in an audio CD to measure the speaker's general sound quality. Then we fired up a favorite game, "Half Life", to see how well the speakers could reproduce the ambient noises and special effects of a 3-D game environment. Performance We were really impressed with the speakers as we listened to the audio CD during our first test. The subwoofer provided solid, deep bass amplification, and the satellite speakers also kicked out very high quality sound. We were really impressed at how clean and crisp the sound was, even when we kicked the volume up. The game test went just as well. The bass provided the satisfying thump that makes games come alive, and the surround sound speakers enhanced the whole gaming experience. The overall sound quality was excellent. These speakers may be a bit pricey, but they are some of the best sounding speakers we've heard. If you really love audio, you'll be quite satisfied with the Boston Acoustic 4800 system. by Michael Sweet
$199 Boston Acoustic (877) 333-4001 (978) 538-5000 http://www.bostonacoustics.com
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