The Altec Lansing 641 is Altec?s latest 4.1 systems offering, retailing at $199. It features a massive subwoofer, four matching satellites and one remote control that produce 400 watts max(200 watts RMS). The system?s remote control is wired to the subwoofer and features 3 different listening modes including Stereo (for 2 ch. Listening), Stereo x2 (All ch. Mode), and Gaming(for systems with 4 ch. Sound cards). The system features satellites connect to the subwoofer via spring clips. Okay enough talk let?s talk about specs.

The Satellites
The satellite features a 1inch tweeter and 3 inch woofer.
The Subwoofer
The subwoofer features two 6 ? inch woofers.

Music Performance
The performance of the system is well above average for a computer speaker. Not home theater like but better than most computer speaker systems. The tweeter reproduced highs on music songs with good quality. The midrange was a bit lacking in some forms of music, but to a normal listener not noticeable. The massive subwoofer, the size of a computer a midsize computer tower produced excellent lows. Unlike most computer speakers that have 4 or 5-inch woofers that are called subwoofers to produce lows this subwoofer features two 6 ? woofers that can actually produce low frequencies. I recommend the subwoofer be placed near a wall rather than under the desk. I tested the system with various kinds of music. On the song One Day In Your Life by Anastasia everything came through crisp and clear with no signs of distortion. The system?s amp does seem to bring about distortion on some songs however. On the song I Will Walk With You by Bruce Hornsby, the satellites sound a little harsh at the loudest volume. However I wish Altec Lansing had placed bigger woofers on the satellite because with the size of it you can easily fit a 4inch woofer for better midrange performance to keep the subwoofer from producing midrange frequencies. The subwoofer like just about every computer speaker was producing midrange (vocals) which it should not be doing because it makes the system localized. However the soundstage was quite good for a computer speaker and better than the Bose Acoustimass & Lifestyle systems.

DVD Performance
Performance on DVD was excellent, the system featured an excellent showing on the movie Titanic. Playing Chapter 22 to test the low frequency effects sounded stunning with little distortion. The rears effects on The Fast And The Furious sound excellent. The satellites never showed signs of clipping however the subwoofer produced signs of distortion but not a lot. The explosion of the Mitsubishi Eclipse in The Fast & The Furious came through clear with close to home theater like sound.

Gaming Performance
Gaming performance on this system was excellent. On the game Need For Speed III, the cars engines sound clear and the cars sounded excellent. On Flight Simulator 2002 the roar of a Boeing 747-400 sounded like it was right there right with you. This system is best for gaming in my opinion as it performed best, but then again the system is aimed at a gaming system.

Computer Tested With?
Dell Dimensions 4300
1.6 Ghz
256 MB SDRAM
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz DSP 5.1 Sound Card
Power DVD 4.0
16X DVD ? ROM
16X CD-RW