Altec Lansing is a company with a great past,the VOT is a speaker used in many theaters and to this day by quite a few audiophiles who value life like dynamics and full scale sound VOT's can bring home.I will not go into describing Altec's history as it is long and Altec's web site alteclansing.com and altecmm.com has the company's history described in good detail.My first set of solid multimedia speakers was from Altec Lansing,back then the ACS48 was the best deal if one wanted some quality and good output capabilities,its two way sats coupled with a solid sub were backed by a potent 80W RMS amp.Priced just right made it the ideal choice for many.Next Altec released a load of speakers that were overpriced( 890 ) or lacked in features and quality.I even purchased the ATP5 a few years back,the system performed well save for the sudden death of the amp.The next wave had only two competent designs the 621 and 641,both returned Altec to the race but the race for sound quality was lost to Klipsch who with the introduvtion of the original ProMedia had a solid lead. And now enter the MX5021,the latest Altec Lansing product and it better be good if Altec wants to compete with Klipsch,Cambridge and Logitech.Times are changing and competition is shaping up lets see what the MX5021 has in store.

First thing you notice when unpacking the MX5021 is the very high quality wired remote pod,its quite heavy compared to the competing pods and its design well researched.On the pod you find a large rotating knob with three buttons,one power and two for tone controls. All gain is adjusted by the knob,for the first time in any multimedia speakers the pod is of high quality!With the Pod comes a very compact wireless remote,five buttons no gadgets.Nice touch for anyone who will use these speakers with a portable CD/MP3 player as part of a micro system. Next we unpack the cables,quite thin but they do the job fine.Contrary to some urban legend you do not need thick cables when running from amp to sats over short distances,and even more so if the sats get no deep bass.Now time for the main unit,the subwoofer.Only the Altec 641 sub is larger,its the second largest multimedia sub Altec made.All good news but size alone does not make any sub,I will get more into performance shortly.The back plate looks cheap,made of plastic.However any gripe went away after I removed the 12 screws holding it in place.Inside a very large heatsink takes the calories away from the output transistors,the power transformer is a large C core unit,the filtering donw by two larger caps coupled with two smaller ones.The port for the first time is not molded in the plastic facade or the amp plate,its a slot port( 3.5"wide by 2" high),the sub measures 8.5" wide by 11.75" deep and 15.5" high. Now to the stars of the show the MX5021 sats,each stand 10" tall ,2.25" deep and 5" wide.The sats use spring loaded clips,gone is the integrated wires found even in the 621/641 sats.The cabinets are plastic,clearly they use plastic ribs in the cabinet as resonance is not a problem here.Each sat contains dual 3" mid bass units and a 1" tweeter per sat.The grill on the sats and sub and the Altec Lansing logos under the grill give these speakers a distinctive look.

Now lets start with some audio tests,after I let these speakers break in for over 40 hours I strated to listen to various high bit rate streamed MP3's,first thing I noticed was how detailed the midrange is.No more gaps and holes in the midrange,the dual mid/bass woofers do their job well and this is evident on all music containing voice.Next what made a positive impression was how the subwoofer matches with the sats,no boom or irritating dubbing heard in too many multimedia speakers,even ones rated very high by most review sites.The bass is clean,has punch and diggs deep for a subwoofer this size.These MX5021 after a solid break in really let you enjoy the music and do not distract with all too common to multimedia speakers colorations and holes in the covered range.As it stands the MX5021 sats are on par and may even outperform in some respects( midrange for sure) the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra sats,as well as Creative's MC50 sats used in the 510D and 550 MegaWorks systems.Quite a feat,as the MC50 were the units with the least colored midrange I had tested before( save for now discontunued VideoLogic Crossfire and the much more expensive SiroccoPro studio monitors ). Seriously I the job Altec Lansing did on the mew MX5021 sats is top shelf at this price point and they could very well adapt them in 4.1 and 5.1 configurations in sourround MX5041 or maybe MX5051 systems in the future.

For some real tests I always use these CD's,Stereophile TEST CD 2(quick check of frequency response as well as recorded piano reproduction),Mighty Sam McClain Give it up to Love( voice and instrument reproduction,natural presentation),Terry Evans Come to the River( again voice and instrument reproduction,tonality),Sheffield Drive various tracks this lets me hear how coherent speakers and and find even hidden colorations as I know this CD indide out.Audio fidelity on Sheffield Lab recordings is among the best you can find.Lee Ritenour Collection,as always GRP Records CD's offer top notch quality,a very good test for any speakers.Monster's Monster Blues has a few good selections among them Etta james and Taj Mahal,a good system will comunicate the musical message here.I also used some classic Led Zep and Genesis live,these are a sure hit plus U2's The best of 1990-2000 DVD.Not limiting my tests I used Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on Telarc of course,this is more of a stress test all multimedia speakers fail poorly but some manage to take a good stab at it.
A few R&B and heavy metal was thrown in to cover most bases.
As for the DVD's used,only action packed and quality tittles went to work.Gladiator,Titan AE,both LOTR special extended edition DVD's.And Saving Private Ryan,the opening sequence is as much action as one get get.For gaming tests I used the best test of them all Call of Duty,this game when played with a Creative Audigy ZS and quality speakers may very well put you in the action so much you will be holding for dear life.

I fired the tests with Titan AE,the opening packs quite a punch in 5.1 mode where the dedicated subwoofer channel is working.Since these are 2.1 speakers I used downmixed signal as test.Still good test for 2.1 speakers,the MX5021 while not as capable as the 5.1 Ultra in output can play very loud with no audible strain.Voices and upper registers are all reproduced very well and only the subwoofer would need help during bass heavy scenes,here dual woofer in a larger cabinet would probably do the trick.Most however will not complain as for a single 6.5" woofer you get plenty of punch.Loading LOTR again took the MX5021 sub to its limits,the scene with the Barlog was no longer a massive bass attack but it could be described as competent rendition.At times you notice some edge un the upper registers,this only quite evident when the system is pushed.On most playback this weakness will not interfere too much.Same with the opening scene of Gradiator,its evident the sib lacks serious depth for movie fanatics but does a fine job,and as always from the bass up the MX5021 sats do a great job,the ambience and clash of swords and action is rendered quite well here.

Now time to play some Call of Duty,again same story as with movies.In two channel mode this system cannot do justice to a game where a 5.1 is needed to get the full sourround effect.My attention focused on dynamics and any sign of stress or lack of coherence.The MX5021 sats passed thru action packed levels with ease,and at times I found myself reaching for the control pod,to lower the volume.Now if only Altec could release a 5.1 version with a testosterone upgraded sub,they would have a clear contender.In the Russian campain Stalingrad is the place for over the top action and sonic overload.Here in the level where you have to retake the center of the city the MX5021 recreated a good sense of being in the action,gun shots and sustained machine gun fire plus soldiers rushing forward was well taken care of.

Even with its qulities the MX5021 is more geared towards music,this is where I will focus my attention.

When testing speakers its always good to start with recordings that contain voice and well recorded voice.This called for Monster's Monster Blues featuring many know blues musicians.Played Roy Rogers and Shana Morrison Molly O and Dog Boy,this piece has good bass background and and very well recorded voice,both male and female.A great piece to judge speakers midrange,before I go further let me tell you the midrange was near flawless as far as sub $200 MM speakers go.The upper registers were a bit to agressive to my taste,when listening half a meter away.Remember all listening was done with bass and treble settings half way.So the upper level edge can be corrected with a few pushes on the remote.Next track was number seven,Etta James I'll Take Care of You.Yet another great track with a solid bass foundation and a truly powerful voice to test the sats.And yes one more time the MX5021 sats glided thru this piece with no distractions.very impressive,Altec is doing someting right here.Now comes my fave acoustic piece of this CD,Taj Mahal's Lovin' in my Baby's Eyes.From the start I could clearly hear some midrange coloration,I am positive the result of the plastic sat cabinets.Nothing too distracting,this was in evidence at higher levels.This type of coloration follows all multimedia sats,and most fail poorly.Just keep in mind the MC50 sats of the MegaWorks 510D/550 fared no better on this same selection.I would compare the MX5021 sats lack of

Just to take a break,I went for my high bitrate(256 kbps)MP3's,and Coldplay's Clocks.Great show here,the start with the piano was clear and no ringing from the sats even at high volume(measured around 102dB).What is more the feeling the subwoofer climbs too high is gone,the sats take care of all but the bass nothing more.Home home ...great song,I almost forgot to review the speakers,a good sign a damn good one if you ask me these are multimedia speakers.

Now for the ultimate punchy bass test,what else if not Stanley Clarke's The bass-ic Collection.This CD packs many tracks with bass and upper bass punch to knock you out of your chair.Mau I say right away the MX5021 did not fail on any and even managed to descend quite deep on a few cuts.And again the sats were the stars of the show,with the sub providing a solid foundation with definition and no Logitech colored bass.Mothership Connection was rendered how it should be,solid defined percussion with a solid beat.Voices clean and clear,I just hope the MX5021amp holds.I am pushing well past 100dB now.

And here goes Sheffield Lab DRIVE CD,the natural,ambience and overall transparency on this compilation is astounding.I listened to all the tracks in order to better weed out the MX5021 faults.First track went smoothly,good dynamics,no agression from thesats and quite defined lower spectrum.The main beef is the percussion lacks size,nothig majot as no speakers I heard below a certain size and cost can reproduce percussion without audible compression.My Klipsch RF7's and Dynaudio Contour 3.3's can,but these speakers cost many times more and need quality power amps.Plus their size is,you guessed BIG.The third track is special,Clair Marlo's voice should be soft and soothing,even at high volume.Here as is the case with all multimedia sets so far a slight edge is present,the instruments are well rendered. Time for the The Power of Seven,great speakers will have layers of sound,with singers being clearly defined in space.Well sorry to report not te MX5021 can or no MM speakers I have or heard can do justice.Only my Dynaudio Contour 3.3's and a pair of Altec Lansing VOT's did cut.The compression is evident and the individual singers become a mass.Tried on the ProMedia 5.1Ultra and got similar results(review comming in the future too).Not finished yet,The Usual Suspects brings us Evolution,a superb display of various instruments,voice and solid driving beat.Well well the mutimedia speakers should not be tested with these tracks,they try hard but fail to pass the whole message,compression both driver and amp limitations prevents a life like rendition.Now the Moscow Philharmonic starts with force,good atempt but it was like watching the performance from a window,not being there.The grandiose power and might of the orchestra is subdued and compressed.Now the O-Daiko tracks from KODO,this track contains hypnotic drum beats if your system is up to the task,my two main systems even when playing a building shaking levels can put almost too sleep,you relax listeing to this.Well this time the effect was somewhat subdued,but well rendered.To really get this track going you need very low distortion subs capable of deep bass at high SPL levels.next came the drum improv by Jim Keltner,very good performance by the MX5021,lacking in size and impact but not in quality.Again the sats stealing the show,no one notey boom from a bass module crossd to high,clean and dynamic would be used best to describe the MX5021.

Here comes Mighty Sam McClain,and the classic Give it up to Love.This is a must have for anyone who wants to test high end speakers,CD playback and just about anything audio.The CD I use is Audioquest AQ-CD1015.This is another CD I know in and out,used this very CD to purchase many and amps and speakers.Like with Sheffield Lab recordings Audioquest ranks up there with Chesky and Mobile Fidelity.From start to finish this album is all about quality,dynamics and true know how by the artists and sound engineers.Forget garbage pop recordings,no matter how good they may be they dont touch this album in sonics.So how did the MX5021 sound,quite good,much better then expected.Give it up to Love and Too Proud are blues masterpieces and I'll be damned to find someting much better to test speakers anytime soon.I'm Tired Of These Blues was played like it should,loud.The sats rendered Sam's voice with aplomb,no quitting all power and good finesse.All in all the MX5021 showed the best performance found at this price level to date!
Terry Evans is next to test Altec's latest.This recording is more raw,more live the likes you would hear in a blues bar live.Again and and again the voice is not hidden,its just there.Full and powerful driving the performance forward,from the great get Up,Get Ready to the best piece IMO the 10th track,Love Is A Precious Thing.This performance is riveting,the newest Altecs deliver the goods for music.

I wanted to hear how deep the subwoofer could reach,and if any peaks not hard during music playback would be found in the bass.So I pop my Stereophile Test CD2,track 16 and here we go.first the sats are cut around 125Hz,from then down the sub takes over.What you all want to know is doe sthe sub have any nasty bass peaks,sorry none to report.Its as linear as high ticket subs,but for a MM sub its very linear in my setup.The sub starts around 125hz and descends with power to 40Hz!The tuning is around 40hz as the port on the back is working plenty around this frequency,and usable frequency is good down to 31.5Hz! This NOT corner loaded at all and in room,places over 24 inches from the closest wall.Very impressed with Altec,all their previous subs failed the 31.5hz tests poorly.This one takes care of business,and for a single 6.5" woofer powered by "only"50W ,very impressive.The sats are quite ful range and this shows,no more gaping holes and subs trying to extend above 200hz.All upscale multimedia speakers should be crossed no higher than 125Hz,as the sub will be much less directional and mostly serve deep bass.

And in conclusion Altec Lansing has a great system in the MX5021,from the remote pod to the subwoofer its all so well balanced,like the Cambridge MegaWorks and Klipsch 5.1Ultra the MX5021 deserves high praise.It has power,quality and above all its balanced something most multimedia speakers lack.No MM speakers will ever replace a dedicated high end system,but the level of performance is quite good for most people.If you are looking for a high quality set of 2.1 speakers give the MX5021 a good long listen,and a good look.Its a well balanced system that should pelase many PC users who listen to alot of music,PC gaming fanatics and HTPC fans will find better systems in the Klipsch PM 5.1 Ultra and Creative's Mega and GigaWorks series.

Please note a chart with measured outputs will be posted when all the separate speakers are reviewed,and yet again I use softer critera when reviewing PC speakers,as even compared to my cheapest Totem ROKK's they lack finesse.You simply cannot compare even the best MM speakers on the same level as sky is the limit HT with high grade electronics.

--TheEAR