Altec Lansing / DELL ADA995 6-piece Speakers THX ?

[jpuntel]

Altec Lansing / DELL ADA995 6-piece 5.1 Dolby Digital THX Computer Speaker System. Anybody own these speakers? Are they any good?

 

[Soul_Hunter]

i just picked up set from a second hand store near me with a dell system for cheap, this speaker system is amazing and produces very clear bass and treble at loud volumes. it rattles the windows in my whole house, And also awsome for watching dvds on the computer. Very pleased that i didn't let the deal slipped by me.

 

[paintter47]

Altec Lansing / DELL ADA995 6-piece 5.1 Dolby Digital THX Computer Speaker System
If you are a bargain hunter like I am, you know you sometimes stumble onto treasures. My cousin and I "found" this system minus the center speaker at a Goodwill Store. We had no prior knowledge of this particular system. My cousin bought it and was more than pleasantly surprised at its performance. Truly magnificent, powerful sound ...not just loud! Crystal clear highs and smooth super bass ( capable of vibrating the floors) were the norm and the volume wasn't even turned up high on the bass. This was a steal of a deal for $29.00! If you can find one in good working order you won't regret it.

Have earplugs on hand if you turn it up high...protect yourself!

 

[brutenasty]

I was wondering if anyone knew how or if it is possible to hook up these computer speakers to my flat screen tv?

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

For under $150 they are pretty decent.

The highs and mids are about as good as you can get with a PC speaker set such as this. However the bass and the sub are less than stellar, but passable. The only competitor that goes for less is the Logitech 540 set which has even worse bass. The Z-5300 series, however, has much better bass than both setups, it uses the same speakers as the much more expensive Z-5500 set but with less features. All in all, the Altec Lansing ASA-995 set has possibly the most natural highs of all three, but the lows are way too inaccurate and boomy for me to truly recommend them over the Z-5300s whose bass is too a little boomy, but PC speakers aren't great to begin with. For less than $150 they are decent, for more they are too expensive, that is my take.

Note that I have tested all of these at a local audio shop.

 

[Guest]

I'm a little bit late, but I've had these speakers for the last 6, maybe 7 years of my life. The above poster is correct in terms of the bass, I've got a high end sound card in my rig and there no fixing it. To the reguler Joe who listens to this they won't notice however. Highs and mids are good as long as you have the software to tweak when you want. Speakers are connected to my soundcard, which is connected to my reciever, then is connected to my TV. Hope that answers the question regarding hooking it up to a TV. I paid 399 for these 7 years ago, and I still don't see the need to replace them. Time may be coming close, but in terms of Hi def movies, techno music production, games, and reguler TV/PS3 use these are a steal of a bargain right now on thier own. If you have a killer sound card 90% of these speakers problems can be eliminated IF you are fussy. Hope this helps.

 

[aladinsane2005]

I'm a little more late, but same story as above had these speakers 7 years and as an aging headbanger I blasted these speakers almost daily and can't believe their still working. Ordered new gaming rig with sound blaster X-Fi gamer sound card. Can't wait to see what sound improvement I'll get. My daughter says that card has a lot sound adjustment possibilities. I'll post in when my new computer comes.

 

[caoa]

I hava had them from 1999 or around that ...they are the best there is...tried once to change them for some some logitech, the best there was... and no luck ... the sound of these ones are just amazing.....the sound of the subwoofer is the best. Getting a THX cerified sound blaster card...in few days time. Will see what's the difference.

 

[gcgjohnson]

I bought this set several years ago closeout on eBay for about $150, I believe. I had somewhat satisfied with them. I like that thee sound reproduction is very accurate and clear. All speakers have a midrange driver and a tweeter unlike most sets available today. Bass reproduction is okay for me too for a set of computer speakers. If you are looking for audiofile quality, I recommend that you use a dedicated home theater receiver purchase your home theater speakers to suit your environments. But again, for computer speakers that will be in a bedroom or office, this set is about as good as it gets for the money. My only complaints are that the sets lacks either a wired or wireless remote control, it has a slight hum at idle, and it picks up pops from surrounding electrical interference.

I have not auditioned the Klipsch set, but it was priced at about 3 times as much and it has received some negative feedback. My second favorite computer speakers are now hard to find Cambridge Soundworks 4.1 Surround. Not the 5.1 plastic Creative Soundblaster ones. The 4.1 Surround was still made by Henry Kloss' Cambridge Soundworks. Cambridge said that since computer speakers are so close together, you don't need a center channel to accurately reproduce the soundstage. I agree, but these do not have tweeters and there is some missing clarity in the highs.

 

[Makron]

For under $150 they are pretty decent.

The highs and mids are about as good as you can get with a PC speaker set such as this. However the bass and the sub are less than stellar, but passable. The only competitor that goes for less is the Logitech 540 set which has even worse bass. The Z-5300 series, however, has much better bass than both setups, it uses the same speakers as the much more expensive Z-5500 set but with less features. All in all, the Altec Lansing ASA-995 set has possibly the most natural highs of all three, but the lows are way too inaccurate and boomy for me to truly recommend them over the Z-5300s whose bass is too a little boomy, but PC speakers aren't great to begin with. For less than $150 they are decent, for more they are too expensive, that is my take.

Note that I have tested all of these at a local audio shop.

I just bought these and i've always known they are good speakers. Previous sets owned are logitech x230, altec cs-21, logitech z-2200, audioengine a5 + a8 sub, basically no high end but I've heard a lot of speakers.

The sub in this system is fantastic. It is more aligned at 80hz than sub base and overly boomy z5500 and z2200. It plays more accurately however the satellites are the main culprit, they lack in the bottom end. there is a clear lack of mids and slight lack of sub bass. My A5+ with sub wil make that a non issue.

My take is the sub on ADA 995 is the real deal but you got to be creative since it has no crossover filter.

so my plan is to get another one ada 995 subwoofer. And to have the satellites replaced or aided by some small bookshelf speakers it'll rock