Customer Reviews

Altec Lansing FX2020 Expressionist Classic Speakers for PC and MP3 Players (Black)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was a bit skeptical about these speakers right from the start because of their lack of a sub-woofer. But because they are made by Altec Lansing, whose products I've had pretty good luck with in the past, I reserved a bit of hope that the sound would be better than just decent. Well, it turns out that my hopes were a little too high...just like the tone of the sound coming out of these speakers.

The design of these speakers is pretty cool. Definitely not your run of the mill computer/MP3 speakers, which is a plus. That being said, I think these speakers take up way too much space depth-wise for what you get sound-wise. The bottom line is that the tone coming out of these speakers is over the top on the high end. There just isn't much bass at all. With no sub-woofer and single drivers, this comes as no real surprise. I guess I was just hoping for better sound from an Altec Lansing product. There are no tone controls on the speakers, either. So what you hear is what you get, unless you try to manipulate the tone using your computer's sound controls.

Whether hooked up to a computer or MP3 player, the sound you get from these speakers is never going to be anything more than just decent. If you want good bass response, you're going to be out of luck. If you want to play your music at reasonably high volume, you're going to be out of luck. If, on the other hand, you just want to play music at a relatively low volume level--say, maybe for background music--the sound might be good enough for you. But with so many other options out there, including 2.1 speaker systems for around the same price (check out some of the Logitech systems), I'm not sure why you would want to invest in these speakers; unless you're just very enamored with their appearance. Just remember: looks aren't everything.

I am so impressed with the power and sound from these little speakers. No subwoofer, but you'd swear there was one in the room. I got these as a replacement for my iMac speakers after my Bose Companion III system bit the dust. I had one of those Gone with the Wind moments... you know, "As God is my witness, I will never spend $300 for speakers that die in 2 years ever again!" Despite the cost, I did enjoy my old Bose speakers, but I'm not spending that kind of money again when their warranty is only good for a year and these little power houses come w/ a two year warranty if you fill out their registration info. Yet I digress. I'm accustomed to having the Bose subwoofer and the two small satellite speakers - but for the money - you can't beat these Altec Lansing FX2020 speakers with a stick.

I turned up iTunes all the way, then the volume on the computer up all the way, then the volume setting on the speakers at maximum - and I got zero rattle - just crisp sound with a dynamic range. No tinny sound - sounds great.

I judged the speakers on appearance - wrongly assuming that the big plastic plates would rattle and buzz on my desk - I was wrong. They help to direct the sound and the sound is like butter. Just awesome.

I listened to both spoken word, pop and rock on my computer... the sound is spectacular.

So - why the less than perfect review? Here are things I would change:

1. the big rectangular plastic/lucite plates should be made out of some material that has no static. These things are fur, dust and hair magnets. I have dogs and dust. Literally within minutes of use, I had a bunch of dog hair sticking to the sides of the speaker and now I have finger prints all over the translucent plates.

2. The power button is in an awkward spot. You've gotta grope to the back of the right speaker to hit the power button, which is nearly flush with the back, so you really have to look at the back of the unit - you can't necessarily find it by feel.

3. The volume settings are in a weird spot. Right behind the translucent plate, you're gonna get your hand grease on there w/ hand and finger prints groping for the volume controls.

4. The speakers are connected to each other permanently, not via an aux. cable - so if you need these further than 3 feet apart, you're out of luck. I had wanted to do some cable management around my desk, but it's not really possible - you can't snake a cable through small gaps in your desk w/ these big speakers attached permanently to the cables.

These shortcomings notwithstanding, these are fabulous sounding speakers at a very reasonable price. I'm of the opinion that you get what you pay for. I also own a pair of Bose Companion II speakers as well as a pair of JBL Duets. The JBL Duets sound fair for the price and are certainly adequate. I am utilizing AirTunes via Apple's Airport Express Base Stations throughout the house, w/ different speaker sets plugged into the different routers. It almost breaks my tongue to say this - but these rival my Bose Companion II speakers in sound quality.

These are a little cumbersome for travel in comparison to my Bose Companion II speakers - but these are the ones I'm using directly connected to my computer, because they are frankly the best sounding ones in the house.

THE QUICK TAKE: If you like the design, and need a 2.0 desktop speaker system, these are a good option at current (2011) prices.

FULL REVIEW:

Altec Lansing has been making self-powered speaker systems (the amplifier is built in) for as long as anyone, and they are very good at it. The speakers work well for their intended use, with effective and efficient amplifiers and drivers, and are built with solid quality.

These speakers are pretty much exactly what you should expect. For what it is, it's a good system, but will likely appeal to those who want a two speaker desktop system with limited bass and an industrial style.

So what you see is what you get. With one big exception - the [original, now removed] Amazon pictures seem to show a clear front panel. It's really a dark transparent gray / black. See the Altec Lansing website for lots of better images. I like the dark color more than I would clear, though. The speakers actually look better in person - for example, the silver ring around the speaker has a nice knurled detail that adds to the industrial look.

Also, the actual dimensions of the front plate are about 6-3/8" high by 5-3/8" wide. (Though since it's angled back, the height of a speaker is really about 6".) It's even wrong on the Altec Lansing site. The front plate seems bigger than it needs to be (though in theory it's possible there are acoustic reasons for the size, it may serve as a "baffle"). In any case, they are probably bigger than you'll think, so get out a ruler and try to imagine the size.

DESIGN: This design does offer the market a new option, and not just in how they look: most speakers are taller than they are deep, while these are deeper (6.5") and not so tall. So if that works for your setup, these are one of the only options. Otherwise, the design speaks for itself - either you'll like the industrial chic look, with the prominent Altec logo, or you won't. A buyer can easily decide that for themselves, so there's not much point in reviewing how they look.

LIMITED BASS: It should also be pretty clear what this isn't - a system with real bass. These are small speaker drivers (3") in small enclosures (6" deep by 4" diameter), and there's no bass speaker. That kind of driver and cabinet combination just won't produce bass. So this system is suitable mostly for those who don't want the "subwoofer" underfoot beneath their desk, or who can't have that in their setup (due to co-workers or sleeping children nearby). There's no point in reviewing this as if it should have had more bass, as some do - it's a 2.0 system, with small drivers and cabinets. The lack of bass shouldn't surprise anyone.

By the way, as with almost all such speaker systems, the specifications (other than the dimensions!) are mostly meaningless. They are measured at such a wide sound range and high distortion level that they aren't helpful. The frequency range they give of 100hz-20khz is over a rather meaningless wide range of sound level. Similarly, they 7.5 watts per channel is only delivered at an unacceptably high distortion level, 10%. (Though they deserve credit for including that more complete information, as many makers do not include complete enough specs to mean anything.) So evaluate these with your ears, not your eyes. That said, for a 2.0 speaker system that you'll be listening to at close range, they are powerful enough and sound good. If you want a system that you'll listen to from across the room, you may want to consider something else.

It's good that they have an auxiliary input for other audio sources. Though personally I'd find an earphone jack useful, it's a shame there isn't one.

It's also a shame that the two speakers are hard-wired to each other, it's easy to imagine someone needing to snake the cable through a shelf or desk area.

So, if you like the design and the price, and need a 2.0 desktop speaker system, these are a good option at the current discounts from list price.

UPDATE (2010-03): There's not a lot I'd add to the review, my early impressions haven't changed, with one small update: I haven't found the location of the On / Off switch and volume controls to be a problem in my setup (on the desk), but some might. I do, however, really appreciate having a separate on/off switch and volume control - I don't have to re-set the volume every time I turn it on or off. People who never turn them off might not appreciate it, but others will.

Sound quality is detailed but a bit hollow sounding. Not surprising for speakers of this type, maybe it's the very lightweight enclosures.

These are unusual-looking speakers. Personally, I don't care for their appearance and they also sit awkwardly on my desk looking like they are halfway constructed. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however, and the pictures on the Amazon product page present a good idea of what to expect. These are actually pretty bulky.

Something else I didn't like about them: you can't unplug the cord that connects the right and left speakers which in some cases could make it more difficult to install.

The connections on the back for the computer or other device hookup are easy to reach, and the volume control is also easy to reach and use. The speakers are pretty solid and heavy, showing decent construction.

Sound-wise, I found them disappointing. They are nothing but midrange, and a very narrow range at that. I don't think the frequency response curve is very smooth because there is way too much emphasis in only a certain band. This is great if you need to have very clearly defined speech or voices, or if you like the twang of an electric guitar. But the bass is totally lacking and the treble is not there, either.

For example, I listened to Diana Krall's Live in Paris CD. The bass sounds like the sound of someone blowing over a bottle top. Diana's voice sounds unnatural. On another recording featuring Kenny Loggins on vocals and David Benoit on piano, the instruments and voices do not even sound real. The piano sounded like a toy piano and Loggins' voice sounded thin and watery. To their credit, James Taylor sounded okay. However, the problem with these speakers is that only certain recordings sound decent, depending on if they fall into the frequency range handled by the speakers (which like I said is apparently very narrow).

I have owned many pairs of PC speakers and these would have to fall in the lower range in terms of sound quality. They are better than the lightweight plastic things that come in blister packs for $10, but no way are these worth the money that Altec wants. The quality of construction is there, they are able to play plenty loud, but the sound is subpar. I gave it two instead of one star just because if you only need midrange, then these speakers give you plenty of it.

I got these speakers because they matched my keyboard and monitor and just looked great. However I've already had them replaced once, and now the replacement has failed. Im not paying another shipping fee to wait 3 weeks before getting another broken set. Altec Lansing is forever on my do not buy list.

The speakers are wired together with an approximately six foot cord. One speaker has a power button on the back; volume control buttons are on the top of the same speaker canister. This speaker also has an input that allows you to connect to your PC or MP3 player with a 3.5 mini jack for INPUT or AUX. Finally, there is a jack to connect this speaker with the power adapter.

Although there is no sub-woofer and therefore limited range, I find the sound is adequate for my primary applications - watching movies online and some limited music samples. As external speakers for my MP3 player they sound all right, but they are too bulky and difficult to move around to make them really good for that purpose.

This is not really a compact set up; each speaker is H 6.25 x D 6.5 x W 5.25. The shape of the speakers, cannisters attached to a decorative plexiglas square, make them awkward to pack up and move elsewhere. But, for me, the most aggravating aspect is the number of wires and the power adapter. Speakers that are intended to be used with laptops and MP3 players should not require an external power source.

The big selling point here will be the unusual shape and design of these speakers. The sound quality is just acceptable. The amount of wiring and the requirement for an external power source make these less than desirable.

What's in the box:
Expressionist Classic speaker system.
3.5mm audio cable.
Power adapter.
User's guide and Quick connect guide.

Specifications:
Two 3" full-range drivers.
Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 95 dB.
Total Continuous Power: 15 Watts RMS.
Each Speaker: 7.5 Watts per Channel @.
8ohms @ 10% THD @ 100 Hz - 20 kHz.
System Response: 100 Hz - 20 kHz (-10 dB).
Signal to Noise Ratio @ 1 kHz input:> 75 dB.
Dimensions:
-5" (W) x 6 -1/2" (D) x 5" (H).
-127 mm (W) x 159 mm (D) x 127 mm (H).

At first glance these are very aesthetically pleasing to the eye! You can only imagine my surprise and delight when we hooked them up to various things and they performed wonderfully.

We hooked them up to my expensive Dell laptop which is supposed to have great sound but doesn't. Finally I was able to hear everything! Then we set them up to our daughter's Barbie MP3 players and the whole family was able to dance around the living room. We were also able to hook it up to Hubby's Samsung Instinct cell phone. Finally, we hooked them up to our 32 inch LCD in our bedroom. This is where we were blown away!! The sound was amazing and truly remarkable for speakers of this size. The bass was thumping and the voices were clear. To our ears they weren't tinny at all. There wasn't anything thin or metallic about the sound atleast for our family.

Again, we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to hook them up to the LCD television. (For this option, you need a cable like the one that comes with the system but on one end there has to be a red and white RCA plug to connect to the tv; where it says output on television). We watched Kung Fu panda and enjoyed it immensely. We currently have a surround sound system set up in our living room with a seperate receiver that will always outperform these little speakers, but if you need to listen to your pc, MP3 player or even amplify the sound from a secondary LCD/Plasma then these will suffice for that purpose and truly surprise you with the bass and sound that they push out.

On a side note, if you want these for a PC set-up and you do not have a lot of space on either side then these might not be the right option for you. The measurments are Width:5 1/4, Depth:6 1/2, Height:6 1/4. Not overtly huge but if you expect them to be rather tiny as in the picture then you might be surprised.

For the price point and performance, I recommend taking a chance on them.

I cannot recommend these speakers at the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) and I would hesitate to recommend them at half that amount (i.e., $40).

I tested them in different rooms of different sizes with different audio sources. I listened to classical music on them from two web radio stations (BBC and WNYC). I watched a Netflix "instant watch" movie on my laptop with these speakers (a documentary on comedian Don Rickles which included quite a bit of Las Vegas style big band music). I listened to a number of post-punk/New Wave songs on them from my Sony MP3 player. And I watched segments of two different chess instruction DVDs on my laptop, using these speakers for the audio.

In every environment I tried them in, these speakers tended to sound tinny and trebly, and at least twice I found myself thinking that they sound like cans. They lack bass and oomph, and this is notable even when listening to spoken audio. For example, one of the chess instructors on the aforementioned DVDs, Karsten Mueller, has a deep voice that I enjoy listening to on better speakers. The FX 2020s simply did not bring out the depth and bass of his voice.

They do have greater clarity than speakers that were included with desktop systems that I have purchased, for example, Advent AV270s. They certainly are a big improvement over Altec Lansing BXR1120 speakers, which I returned after purchasing at WalMart, reviewed here at Amazon, and which presently retail at Amazon for $19.99. (I rated them 3 stars out of 5, a rating that reflects the value-price ratio. If the FX2020s had a significantly lower MSRP, I'd rate them a 3. But at a penny under $80 they are overpriced.)

The Altec Lansing FX2020s have a unique visual design, but it doesn't compensate for their poor audio quality relative to comparably priced speakers.

As I write this, Amazon is selling the Creative Labs GigaWorks T20 2.0 Multimedia Speaker System with BasXPort Technology for $89.99, which is only $10.00 over the present price of the Altec Lansing FX2020s. I own a pair of the Creative Labs T20s, I've reviewed them here at Amazon, and I continue to be very impressed by them and to enjoy them. I am very glad I purchased them and at their current price I can recommend them without hesitation. I think they are a far better value than the FX2020s (and, unlike the FX2020s, the T20s have separate controls for bass and treble; the FX2020s have volume control only). I also own and very much like Altec Lansing's FX3022 Expressionist Bass speakers, although some listeners may feel (as some reviewers of them do) that they are too bass-heavy.

I have read the other negative-leaning reviews of the FX2020s that precede mine here, and agree with the negative and/or critical comments that others reviewers have made about these speakers.

Update on March 12, 2009: Despite my lack of enthusiasm for these speakers, I continued to use them pretty much daily since writing the above. I did this so I could continue to evaluate them, and give them a chance to get broken in. Unfortunately, this has not altered my impression of them. Of the three pairs of computer/MP3 type speakers that I own and use pretty much daily, in different rooms in my home, my favorites are the Creative Labs T20s. (By the way, I have used/tested each pair of speakers in three different rooms in my home. The largest is a 17' x 30' living room, in the middle is a living room/den that is 12' x 18', and the smallest, a bedroom, is 11' X 17'. Not surprisingly, the FX2020s sound best in the smallest room.)

In my opinion, for use as normal desktop computer speakers, these Altec Lansing FX2020 Expressionist Classic Speakers for PC and MP3 Players (Black) are not good choices.

Yet they are capable of producing very fine and satisfying sound under some specific circumstances. Let me explain.

What most other reviewers of these speakers have failed to note is that, as for most speakers, placement is critical, to a greater or lesser extent. In the case of these speakers, the placement makes all the difference.

In my opinion, they should NEVER be mounted on a desk - unless the desk is up against a wall, you sit facing the wall, and the speakers can be placed within a few inches of that wall. In other words, if you are seated at a "normal" desk and face away from a wall, these speakers will not work well on your desk.

These are basically sealed units and, like many other sealed units, they benefit greatly from bass reinforcement obtained from placing them near rear walls and well apart.

In my particular case, I have them mounted on low cabinet tops with their rears less than an inch from a wall. They are spread approximately six feet apart. (The design of the speakers angles the drivers up, to project the sound directly at the listeners' ears.)

Used in that type of location, they afford excellent sound reproduction. The bass, about which most reviewers have complained, is definitely there. While I have no other "test equipment" other than my ears (which, however, are pretty good), I'd say that the bass starts rolling off around 90-100 Hz but is there to at least 80 Hz (and possibly even below this) and the bass rolloff is very smooth.

"Smooth" is how I would characterize their sound. They are very neutral (offering apparent "flat" response, at least to my ears) and they do NOT have that horrible 125 Hz "hump" in their response that many people mistake for bass, especially when listening to rock and roll music and other such highly processed recordings (which are optimized for that "hump" in frequency response).

I have been playing music through these Altec Lansing speakers for the past few days since I received them. All of the internet music stations to which I have listened are encoded at 128 kbps (I prefer to listen at that level of encoding for music; the difference between 128 and 96 is clearly audible and anything below that is unlistenable, at least for me).

The first internet broadcast to which I tuned was the "Adriana Lecouvreur" broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera this past Wednesday evening. Encoded at 128 kpbs, the opera sounded very, very good, with great spaciousness and great depth (the Met broadcasts on FM radio of Saturday afternoons, which sound fine over regular radio, are also available on several internet stations but are encoded at only 96 kbps; I do not know why this is so, but the difference between the Saturday broadcasts heard on the internet and their own 128 kbps internet broadcast is obvious).

I was immediately struck by the excellent imaging quality of the speakers, though that should not be a surprise as small, high quality speakers generally do image well.

For the next few days, rather than listen to computer sound, I attached a small Coby Model No. MPCD511 portable CD/MP3 player. With this, I played either excerpts or the complete disc from several hybrid SACDs I own (hearing, of course, the CD layer only): Respighi: "The Pines of Rome" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner (from Living Stereo 82876-71614-2 Respighi: Pines of Rome; Fountains of Rome; Debussy: La mer [Hybrid SACD]), Widor: [Organ] Symphony No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42 No.1: Toccata played by Virgil Fox (from Living Stereo 82876-71626-2 Encores), Vaughan Williams: "A Sea Symphony" (Symphony No.1) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Robert Spano (from Telarc SACD-60588 Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony) and, last but not least, Holst: First Suite in E-flat, Op. 28 No. 1 and Second Suite in F, Op. 28 No. 2 plus Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks played by the Cleveland Symphonic Winds conducted by Frederick Fennell (from Telarc SACD-60639 Holst Suites 1 & 2 / Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks / Stars and Stripes (Stereo Hybrid SACD)).

Now if you know these recordings well, you will say that this is rather an unfair test - and you'd be right.

All of these recordings are of the highest quality and deserve the very best playback equipment. These Altec Lansing FX2020 speakers are definitely not in that category, yet the music, for the most part, was at least listenable (with the exception of the Holst/Handel/Sousa disc - forget about that one unless you do indeed have the finest sound equipment and SACD - or LP - capability).

But I wanted to see what these speakers could do and this test satisfied my curiosity.

For a much more fair test, I listened to several ordinary CDs, including several of the Beethoven symphonies as played by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich conducted by David Zinman (from Arte Nova Classics set 74321-65410-2 - exceptionally fine perfomances, by the way Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies) and two others of my favorite CDs: "The Best of British" (EMI Laser CDZ 7 62528 2 The Best of British) and "Russian Ballet Favourites" (Naxos 8.554063 [evidently not available through Amazon]).

Through these speakers, these CDSs were far more satisfying in sound quality than were the SACDs mentioned above; the speakers were able to reproduce an excellent sound stage and were not taxed in trying to reproduce sound that was beyond their capabilities.

From my admittedly limited (five days thus far) audition period, I have come to the conclusion that these speakers are, in fact, excellent for what they are, and would bring an appropriate listener a great deal of pleasure. (As I'm writing this, I am listening to "Classic FM UK," a really fine internet radio station which is encoded at 128 kbps and which I should recommend to all.)

For whom would these speakers be appropriate? I should think they would be very suitable for a college student who listens to classical music, Broadway musicals, or acoustic jazz. If that student will place these speakers against a wall as I have recommended, he or she will find that the sound quality from CD, MP3 player (with at least 128 kbps encoding), or computer will be very satisfying indeed. A bonus to having a small system like this in a college dormitory is that the speakers and other equipment can be easily packed away when not in use and will then be out of sight of prying eyes.

Another candidate would be a small child who is showing a budding interest in fine music. With modest, yet good quality, sources, these speakers will only enhance that interest, rather than detract as so many other speakers will.

Finally, any adult who also loves good music played through a modest system will also find these speakers to be a valuable adjunct to their enjoyment.

In short, for listening to fine music, these speakers are excellent, in my opinion. For rock and roll and other such processed music, in New York vernacular, "fuhgeddaboudit!" Get something else. (It is my opinion - and my opinion only - that speakers optimized for such processed sound are lousy speakers, to say the least. But if that's what you want, go for it!)

Now for the big question: if I like these speakers so much, why only four stars?

These speakers have two disadvantages, one major, the other somewhat less so.

NO speakers of this quality should be hard-wired together. Period. Others have commented on this flaw but I'll emphasize it. I should have liked to place the speakers in corners to see if the bass enhancement, already improved by placing them against a wall, would be even further improved by corner placement (corner placement generally does improve bass response) but, due to the length of the connecting cord, I cannot do this.

In my opinion, this is inexcusable, especially in a speaker system which exhibits such fine imaging, depth, and overall sound quality. But this is a relatively minor disadvantage.

The major disadvantage is that these speakers must be placed properly as described above for best sound quality. This is the main reason I am subtracting a star. The sound quality, in my opinion, should not vary as much as it does due to placement; after all, these are marketed as computer speakers and most people will want to use them as such on their desks, etc.

So, overall, I can give these units only four stars - and I think that's a pity. Were it not for the design flaw of the hard-wired cord and the critical necessary placement, I should definitely have given them five stars, based on their overall sound quality (when properly placed).

Let me tell you about my personal equipment so that you will know to what I usually listen: I own three systems, two "mid-fi," one of which is primarily for movies so I'll ignore that one, and the other one which consists of an NAD 7030 receiver and Mordaunt-Short Pageant Series II loudspeakers.

My main ("hi-fi") music system consists of Hafler DH-101 preamplifier/DH-200 power amplifier and a pair of Klipschorn loudspeakers.

If you are familiar at all with that level of equipment, you will see that I am used to listening to sound of a very high quality indeed. (I also formerly went frequently to live concerts of classical music but I have not done so in recent years.)

Yet I have also found the sound of these Altec Lansing FX2020 speakers to be very rewarding. In such exalted company, they hold their own, considering, of course, just what they are.

In addition, I also own several other small portable amplified computer speakers of good quality; should anyone desire to read my comments about them, my reviews of two of them are here on Amazon. In my opinion at the present time, these Altec Lansing are the among the best sounding portable amplified speakers I own.

Of course, they would not be suitable to take on a trip. As others have noted, they are rather large in size and, in addition, they are somewhat awkwardly shaped (at least in my opinion).

Regarding the styling (looks) about which others have commented: personally, I do not care for it; my wife does, however. So there you are. I guess that's what makes the world go 'round!

In conclusion, I should highly recommend them to people who, like myself, enjoy fine music, yet want a second or more modest system for general listening and who recognize the limitations of speakers such as these and the disadvantage in design of this one in particular.

They must be willing to set these speakers against a back wall as I recommend in order to achieve good, balanced, sound quality.

For those people, who are discriminating in their taste, especially if they are willing to exercise great care in using the speakers so that nothing happens to that connecting cord (which would render the speakers useless), I believe that these Altec Lansings would make a fine choice.

I was excited to use my first Altec Lansing speaker for my desktop, since I know their great reputation in the speaker system. I have been using a 5.1 channel THX-certified speaker system from Logitech (Z-680) for 5 years and have been extremely happy with it. Recently, I got the Logitech Z-5 USB speakers and realized that the cool design is not the most important part of PC speakers. Yes, the Z-5 looks very cool (it is a USB speaker and has a remote), however, I feel like something is missing in the sound. When I got the Altec Lansing FX2020, I was a little worried since it looked cool, and the price was almost same as the Z-5. I mean, this speaker might not be differen from the Z-5; however, the FX2020 and the Z-5 are two different speakers. I mainly compare these two speakers here since I believe that the one looking for a good PC speaker system in this price range would consider these two speaker systems as major candidates.

First of all, the color of the front plastic panel attached to the FX2020 is different from the product picture. From the picture, the rectangular plastic panel that holds the speaker looks like it has no color. Wrong. In fact, it is light black. Is it only me who has light black color? I do not think so. The package box does not say anything about the color. If there were choices of colors, there should be information about the color on the box, or you should be able to choose the color when you order (if I am wrong, please correct me). So this system has a black barrel shape speaker with a black-tinted color panel attached to it.

If you like the mid and high range sound, you would like the sound from the FX2020. My complaint about the Z-5 was that the sound was flat and too soft. However, the sound of the FX2020 is very punchy. The mid-range sound is very aggressive and the high range sound is very sharp. The bass sound is weak, but not too much. If a sub-woofer comes with the FX2020, the sound balances out pretty nicely. If you like the clear and sharp sound, you might like the sound from the FX2020. Also, this speaker system is bigger than you think. From the product picture, I was expecting it to be small speakers. However, it is big (but not too big) and takes up some space of your desk.

When I listened to the FX2020 side by side with the Z-5 to compare, I preferred the sound from the FX2020. However, after long time of listening, my ears got tired more with the FX2020 than the Z-5. But I do not listen to music from a PC for a long time, so that was not a problem for me. I am currently using the FX2020 more than the Z-5.

By the way, the FX2020 has an aux port so that you can connect other music players like an iPod.

One minor gripe is that you have to turn it on every time you use it. Other PC speakers that I have been using are turned on (or remains to be on) when the power is supplied. However, the default state of this speaker is off, and I have to press the power button every time I use it (I disconnect the power from every electric device after I use it). I still do not get used to it. Also the volume control button is a push-button type, but I prefer the dial knob more, though.

Overall, this is a good speaker system with clean sound. And it is beautiful. However, if you really like deep bass sound, the FX2020 might not be your best choice. If you like the convenience of a remote and the clean channel of sound from a USB connection, Logitech Z-5 could be your choice. However, if you are a believer of Altec Lansing sound, the FX2020 will give you some pleasure except the weak bass.