Edifier S5.1 240W Speaker System - Articles / Reviews

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Edifier S5.1 240W Speaker System

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Nicholas Hart
Kurtis
Edifier
Aug. 28, 2004

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Taking a Closer Look

After unpacking these speakers I was immediately drawn to how nice they look. Each is made with an MDF wood enclosure with the sides finished in a wood-grain laminate. The finish is excellent with the seams of the laminate very difficult to see. The speakers all have a removable mesh screen, allowing for a more "professional' look. Each satellite is identical and incorporates a 4" woofer and ¾" tweeter. The center is essentially identical to the satellites with the same woofer and tweeter in an elongated and side-laying box. Wall mounts are built into each satellite and the center channel speaker. The connections are spring-loaded bare-wire clamps.

Most impressive of the bunch is the gigantic subwoofer. It contains an 8" driver with rear port. The unit is very tall, roughly the size of a full-tower PC case. On the front is a VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) and controls to change settings like volume, subwoofer level, fade, bass and such. Somewhat strange is that the selector button for the settings is labeled "FUN.' With a name like that, I expected some kind of animated display when I first pressed it but was disappointed when I found out how utilitarian its use was.

The rear of the sub is dominated by a large heatsink. The heatsink never got more than lukewarm after hours of use at high volume. There are input and output connectors for 6.1 channels so you can actually add a rear center speaker to your setup down the road.

Taking a closer look inside the sub took a little wrist-work, as there are 18 screws that need to be removed first. Once inside we can see that the amp housing is actually sealed off from the rest of the internals; no peeking at the back-side of the sub. I wouldn't call myself an electronics expert, so I will let you draw your own conclusions about the amp from the pictures. (Kurtis' Note: Worth mentioning is that the large gobs of hot glue evident in the pictures are not at all uncommon in speakers or really any electronics. It would be a mistake to consider these low quality simply because of the messy appearance of the glue.)

A remote is included with the Edifier S5.1 system. It has all the important buttons for volume control, muting, and power as well as buttons to control the levels for subwoofer, center and surround channels. The mode button switches between the preset EQ settings and the FUN button acts exactly like the FUN button on the subwoofer itself.

One thing that I find missing from either the sub or center-channel speaker is a headphone jack. I think this is a glaring omission from a set of speakers that is marketed for PC use. When I wanted to use my headphones late at night, I actually had to reach behind my machine and swap connectors. Needless to say, that isn't the most convenient scenario. Another thing I would like to see are non-slip pads for the satellites. The subwoofer has them, but the satellites, which are much more likely to reside on the desktop, do not. Even if they are on a sheet for the user to apply if they desire, I think they would be a great addition.

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Page 2 of 5

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Page 1: Introduction & The Packages
Page 2: Taking a Closer Look
Page 3: Setup & Testing
Page 4: Testing Continued...
Page 5: Conclusion

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5 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on August 30, 2004 - 6:59 am

So Nick, how pissed are the neighbors??

2 - Posted by Nick on August 31, 2004 - 1:28 pm

HAHAHAH

I don't live in an apartment so that certainly helps. And then there is the fact that these things dont thump nearly as powerfully as Z680s or Gigaworks subs do. It is funny tho to listen at normal sound volumes and have the wife come in from the kitchen and ask about the thumping sound.

3 - Posted by Rich on August 31, 2004 - 1:41 pm

She's not familiar with that sound yet?????? For shame! :P

4 - Posted by Kerplunk on September 2, 2004 - 1:48 am

Thx for the review. i'll buy a 5.1 speaker system, but im not sure what to buy, edifier s5.1 or logitech z-680... what do you recommend me to buy?

Thanks a lot.

5 - Posted by Kerplunk on September 2, 2004 - 2:43 pm

thx for the reply Kurtis. Reading this review, there said that you may put some code with the remote control to "give more power" to the subwoofer.

How do i get this code?

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