AS500 Sound bar and Dell 2005FPW

[housecat]

I know some are interested in the sound bar attachment for their 2001FP/2005FPW.. well I can tell you that it sounds pretty decent for what it is (generally crappy speakers, very small).

I went from Logitech Z560s (too bass heavy, which is surprising comment coming from me) to an old Altec Lansing 3 piece setup (sounded just about right), to this.. downsizing because I live in an apartment and prefer my headphones anyway (Sennheiser PC150) almost all the time.

For my use, basic sound for those few and far between instances I am tired of wearing headphones, they work perfect. And clean up the desk a lot. I cant stand a bunch of stuff on the desk, and had already put those speakers down in the cupboard.. yes, thats how much I used them.. when I did, the sound came from the cupboard. 🙂

The bass response, and high end is horrid. But for someone like myself they are perfect. They do NOT compare at all to a Logitech/Altec 3 piece.. and I'm not even going to bother mentioning Klipsch's name in comparison because its not even close.


For those that probably wouldnt have speakers if they didnt have something like this available (me), they are perfect and I'm glad they were available.
If you sound like me, get them for your LCD.

If I upgrade my sound, it will be to a headphone amp and a pair of Sennheiser 595s. Thats the path I've found I'm leading down towards in my 15 years of computing.. headphones are pretty tough to match with conventional stereo equipment (you dont want to see how much it would cost to equal a $500 headphone's sound in home audio).. and you dont wake up the wife/kids/neighbors in the process.

AS500 sound bar
4/5 stars.
For their compactness, good looks.. but mediocre, tinny sound is kinda disappointing (but expected).. though Dell probably could have made these sound a bit better. Part of that lost point is also that they overcharge for them, but it depends how much saving space and having a great looking setup means to you. Worth $40 for me.


Hope someone finds this useful.

 

[pmark]

Thanks for the review! I'm in the same situation (use headphones most of the time) and was looking for smaller speakers.

 

[housecat]

Your welcome.. I couldnt find any thoughts on these before I bought them so I thought I'd add my own.

A sound quality comparison, if it even matters would be close to other integrated speakers on monitors. Probably only minisculely better than those on most CRT/LCDs built in.
Fine for me, and probably you as well.. but some are really picky.

 

[pmark]

housecat, did the sound bar come with an AC adapter? I'm trying to figure out if there is any difference between the ones that are out on ebay from the one from Dell.

 

[housecat]

there is an older model (as500P i think) that had an ac adapter. it works on older model LCDs from dell. this one is the only one on their site currently, and it has no ac adapter. It plugs into the lcd.

i dont think they attach the same, so you have to get the correct one. i have an older 17inch dell lcd and this sound bar would not fit on it, and likewise that lcd didnt have the DC plugin needed.

its a very short cord on this thing, so theres no easy way to extend it, ect if you have an older panel.

 

[housecat]

by the way, i have something to add.. there is a significant downfall to these if you are affected

since they are powered by the LCD, if you have it set to turn off after a given time, it turns the speakers off as well.. which is good and bad.

but i used to turn on music, turn the monitor off and get in the shower. no longer. but its not a big deal for me, i just turned that off.
when i leave, if i want to leave the computer on, i just hit the power button on the LCD.. something ive done for years anyway- because sometimes certain apps, if running (WMP), even if not playing music or doing anything will keep the monitor from going into screensaver/power saving mode anyway.


just a heads up. i just use the power button to save power now, instead of sometimes relying on the software setting, but like i said more often than not i'd come home and the screen would be on anyway for any given reason.

but it wouldve made a bit more sense for dell to make it so that the LCD power switch doesnt effect the speakers.. they have their own power switch.

again, dumb. but im still saving quite a bit of space, compared to even the most compact speakers.


i was mainly comparing these to the logitech z3 (because they are about the cheapest decent looking set with any kind of sound quality worth buying over these).


but if you are into headphones, you will find that ALL speakers have very poor headphone amps. so in that department all speakers are created equal. only a dedicated headphone amp is superior (and vastly).

any more questions, feel free to post here.