Sicuro RW-360XL 2.1 Speakers - Articles / Reviews

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Sicuro RW-360XL 2.1 Speakers

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Nicholas Hart
Kurtis
Realworld Tech...
Apr. 6, 2004

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Setup

This is a 2.1 speaker set so there really isn't much to setting it up. That is good because the user's manual accompanying these speakers isn't much to speak of... There are no pictures and the text isn't exactly perfect English. The instructions also mention a "G9' connector but don't actually say what it is. It's not too hard to figure out that the "G9' connector is the one from the control unit. Perhaps they could just say the control unit plugs into the connector marked "control out!'

These really are minor complaints as, like I said before, these are pretty simple to set up. The control unit plugs into the only connector that it will fit into. You plug the satellite you place to your right in the connector marked "right' and you plug the satellite you place to your left in the connector marked "left.' If you can't tell right from left then you have a 50% chance of getting it right and you probably won't even realize if sound is coming from the wrong speaker.

Testing

Here are the selections I chose while testing these speakers:

Music:
Beastie Boys : So Wat'cha Want
Audioslave : Like a Stone
Cranberries : Dreams, excellent highs, decent bass, lousy vocals/mids
Harry Conick Jr : Nowhere With Love, sounds like hes in a tunnel
OutKast : Deep
Smashing Pumpkins : 1979
Blue Man Group : Mandelgroove
Cake : Never There
Carl Douglas : Kung Fu Fighting
George Michael : Father Figure
Barry White : Im Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby
Tori Amos : Talula distorted sound

DVD:
Pirates of the Caribbean

Games:
BattleField: Vietnam
Unreal Tournament 2003

So now that we've got the speakers set up let's get to the good part. The flashing lights! We'll listen to the sound too but it's the blinking lights that grab all the attention.

And here is where things all fall apart. I mentioned that the first set of these speakers I received were damaged presumably in transit. This second set appeared ok, but this may not have been the case.

I began by listening to Audioslave's "Like a Stone.' It was horrible, painful even. The vocals were non-existent, devoid of any midtones. The highs were there but seemed distorted. The bass was fine, nothing spectacular, but average for a set of this caliber. I listed to "Talula' by Tori Amos and the "spoken word' beginning of the song was severely messed up. I don't know the technical term for what I was hearing, but I know a four-letter synonym of "poo' that describes it!

Not ready to give up, I subjected myself to more pain and turned on some Harry Conick Jr "Nowhere with Love.' I'm no fan of Harry Conick Jr, but what I heard would make my wife cringe. More distortion and it sounded as if he were singing to me from the other end of a tunnel.

I tried to adjust the frequency knob on both the control unit and subwoofer but only the bass changed. Something was seriously wrong with these speakers. Having had enough, I gave up for the night and decided I would work more on this problem later.

Here's where things get a bit creepy. I started a game of Battlefield: Vietnam up and had left the Sicuro speakers plugged in. Bad sound being better than no sound I kept playing. The game actually sounded fine; no distortion, no buzzing, the in-game music was reproduced quite well and the constant yelling of my Vietcong compatriots, although I couldn't understand it, was easy to hear.

After dealing out enough carnage for one evening I stopped playing games and decided to try out the music again. It sounded great! Well not great really, but compared to the earlier aural assault, this was the New York Philharmonic. Vocals were clear, midtones were!present. I didn't know what to do except keep playing other songs. Perhaps I had kicked the sub while playing, so I kicked it some more. Whether kicked to the side or the top I could not get the speakers to sound the way they had before.

So in their newfound state of functionality, these speakers actually sound quite good! The satellites produce amazing highs, very clear even at the highest volume. Being as small as they are, they simply can't produce great midtones, but they are much better than the cheap set that comes with most bargain PCs. The bass is still nothing more than average but perfectly acceptable.

With the sound situation somehow miraculously sorted out I began to pay more attention to the "Techno Lights.' The box says it will "Add a Visual Excitement' which, before having actually seen it in action, just sounded cheesy. But I must admit that it is quite impressive when you see the subwoofer lighting up in response to the bass it produces. With the volume turned up higher, the lights will shine longer and more often.

The lights in the satellite are triggered by their own sound output so will not be in time with the sub. I found that they respond well to loud snare drums or in vocals on hard accents like "K' sounds. The two satellites don't even match when they blink. Obviously they cannot necessarily be calibrated exactly the same, but this simply means more blinks for your buck. The satellites also don't blink nearly as often as the sub, but when all three light up and begin flashing away, it is a sight to be seen.

I took a movie of these speakers in action to show off the 'Techno Lights.' Big - ~1.5mb / Small - ~500kb

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Box & First Looks
Page 3: Setup & Testing
Page 4: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on April 7, 2004 - 7:13 pm

I got to give 'em credit for an innovative product. Although, not sure if the flashing lights would get annoying after a while or not!.

2 - Posted by JDUB on December 5, 2007 - 3:08 pm

I just purchased these for 42 dollars brand new im hoping that its arrives working and in great shape will report my opinion in a few days

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