Altec Lansing FX3022 Expressionist BASS 2-Way Speaker for PC and MP3 (Black)

by Altec Lansing

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 5.3 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001IWOBA4
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: FX3022
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 22, 2003

Product Description

Color: Black

Amazon.com Product Description

The Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass FX3022 speakers provide crystal-clear sound in an attractive design that fits comfortably anywhere in today's digital home. Thanks to subwoofers built right into the desktop speakers, you'll enjoy powerful and deep bass from a compact package that doesn't take up your limited space. The FX3022 was optimized for computers, MP3 players, and other digital sources, bringing your music, movies, and games to life.

The Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass FX3022: Builds the subwoofer into the desktop speakers for a compact design. Features 25 watts RMS of total power for large volume capacity. Has an auxiliary input jack to connect additional sources.

Downward firing subwoofers are built into the speakers. View larger.

The Expressionist Bass combines a compact design with a large, full-range sound. View larger.

Controls are conveniently located on the speakers themselves. View larger.

Elegant Design for the Modern Home
The Expressionist Bass FX3022 was designed with today's digital home in mind. With a glossy black high-tech look, the speakers are just as much at home on your computer desk as they are out in your living room with your furniture. And at just 5.25 x 10 x 5.25 inches (WxHxD) and without a subwoofer to lug, you can easily move the system around wherever you need them, be it the living room, computer room, den, or porch.

High Performance and Great Versatility
Whether you are watching a video clip on the web or using your notebook computer to DJ your latest party, the FX3022 provides a great multimedia platform for all your digital media needs. Featuring 25 watts RMS of total continuous power, the system can easily fill your room with satisfying sound. With an auxiliary input jack and controls built right into the speaker, you can easily connect and adjust a source other than your computer, such as a CD player, DVD player, or iPod.

Bass Built Into the Base
Instead of the subwoofer that most other speaker systems rely on, the Expressionist Bass system builds a four-inch long-throw subwoofer right into the base of each speaker.

The system has a downward firing orientation, causing the bass to reflect off the desktop and create a radiating 360-degree sound field for convincing slam in the lower registers. And thanks to psycho-acoustic algorithms from the system's integrated Maxx Bass technology, you get close to an extra octave of lower bass. The end result is that you get twice the bass in half the space.

Two 40mm Drivers for Full-Range Sound
Specially engineered 40mm drivers provide the mids and highs with great clarity. The two drivers are compartmentalized in a sealed chamber, ensuring that the pressure of the subwoofer doesn't mix and muddle the sound.

The internal chamber features a rounded architecture that decreases harsh diffractions (sound waves that bounce around in otherwise square corners) and standing waves (which get stuck in otherwise square corners) that can "color" the audio that you hear. What this means to you is a cleaner, more natural sound.

The Expressionist Bass FX3022 is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Speaker system, 3.5mm audio cable, power adapter, user's guide, quick connect guide.

Bring your laptop and speakers out to DJ your next party.

Product Description

2.2 PC SPK W/ DUAL SUBS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for Classical Music, March 4, 2010

By 

H. South "Artist and Bibliophile" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Altec Lansing FX3022 Expressionist BASS 2-Way Speaker for PC and MP3 (Black) (Personal Computers)

I bought these on the basis of a good review in a gaming mag. However I also like classical music, a purpose for which these are singularly unsuitable. The bass is huge and boomy, the middle range weak. Try listening to a Bach cello suite with them: the open C-string sounds like a double bass on steroids while the upper strings sound like a nervous viola. Terrible.

I played around with the sound settings (Running Linux and haven't located an equalizer as yet) and found that selecting 5.1 surround sound seemed to improve the balance (since the bass would be directed to a non-existent central bass speaker, I suppose) but at the expense of overall quality - no better than the $20 generic speakers I'd had on my old computer.

Even for gaming I don't like the sound. You need the volume up quite high to hear the music and speech clearly, while sound-effects with booming sounds, such as spellcasting, are incredibly intense - it becomes almost nauseating after a while.

I should add that it's not just a case of not liking loud music - I have a first-class stereo system and listen to everything from Rammstein to Rachmaninoff at very high volume. The quality is what makes the difference.

I think another reviewer made a comment about liking these if you're the sort of person who turns their car boot into a bass speaker box - that's exactly the sort of sound these give.

Obviously many people disagree and there's plenty of good reviews - this is my personal experience and opinion of these speakers.

UPDATE: Since I've started running Windows7 and been able to use updated sound drivers, I've been much happier with the sound from these. They are still very bass heavy of course, but the right ambience settings in the driver selection can make a big difference. Still not ideal for classical though :)

63 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Size matters., February 28, 2009

By 

Jim - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Altec Lansing FX3022 Expressionist BASS 2-Way Speaker for PC and MP3 (Black) (Personal Computers)

(What's this?)

Where stereo speakers are concerned, size matters. The size of the speakers matters, and so does the size or gauge of the cable that connects the speakers to each other and to the audio source. For decent bass one must have a speaker surface or speaker surfaces large enough to move a certain amount of air.

The Altec Lansing FX3022 Expressionist Bass speakers produce the best sounding bass I have heard on 2-way speakers designed for PCs and MP3 players in their price range. The bass speakers, or subwoofer drivers as Altec Lansing refers to them, are large enough (ALs specs say 4" each; the visible surface measures about 3 1/2" across) to push enough air volume to produce a satisfyingly deep bass sound, and to cause whatever desktop or tabletop they are set on to vibrate. The unique down-firing design of the subwoofer drivers amplifies the bass (as long as the speakers are on a flat, hard surface as opposed to, say, a thick carpet; even a thin tablecloth would absorb rather than reflect some of the sound). And the 1.5" "full-range speaker drivers," as AL describes them, that are near the top of each cone-shaped speaker really do put out a full range of sound, meaning good midrange as well as good treble.

As I write this I have these speakers connected to my laptop and I am listening to a live broadcast of an opera from the Metropolitan Opera House, and the sound quality is excellent and full. The orchestra and the soprano, mezzo, baritone, and bass singers all sound clear, full, and undistorted.

I have also used these speakers connected to an MP3 player set to play a selection of rock tunes during workouts, and the bass and overall sound is most impressive. The driving bass inspires a vigorous exercise session.

I don't know the gauge of the cable that connects the speakers, but it is considerably fatter than cables I've seen on any other PC and MP3 player speakers. I imagine that AL designed it that way because thicker speaker cable results in better quality sound. The lower the gauge, the thicker the cable, and as Amanda Moore writes on Crutchfield dot com's page on choosing and installing speaker wire, "the lower the gauge is...the better its capacity to pass the amplified audio signal."

As other reviewers have noted, the speakers are hardwired to each other, which means that they have to be moved together. Because the bass speakers or subwoofer drivers are exposed, this means that one must be extra careful when moving these speakers.

These speakers are almost the size of small bookshelf speakers, but because of their tapered cone-like shape they occupy less space than they would were they rectangular. They are just a bit shorter than the height of a roll of paper towels, and have a footprint almost as wide as a new roll of "giant" paper towels (or just a tad less wide than a new roll of Scott 1000 sheet per roll bathroom tissue).

Some time last year I purchased a pair of Creative Labs T20 speakers from Amazon and I have reviewed them here, and I remain mightily impressed and pleased with them. But since coming into possession of the Altec Lansing FX3022s I am beginning to wonder which speakers I prefer to listen to. Sometimes the ALs have too much bass, e.g., when I am listening to spoken audio or am watching online news clips and the like. But sometimes the CL T20s don't have enough bass and oomph compared to the ALs (which makes sense considering that the CL speakers simply aren't built to push as much air as the ALs are capable of pushing).

I love bass and I think one must be a bass lover to appreciate the Expressionist Bass speakers. But I don't love bass so much that I would want a car with a trunk that has been turned into a huge subwoofer, and I don't like it when I hear cars and vans, etc., that have that kind of overpowering bass emanating from them. I don't find the bass on these speakers overwhelming, but I do imagine that someone who cannot say that they love bass might find these speakers not to their taste. One negative about these speakers that I will note is that there is no way to adjust the bass on the speakers themselves; only the volume can be adjusted.

Follow up written on March 12, 2009: I wrote above that I was beginning to wonder which pair of speakers I preferred listening to, the Altec Lansing FX3022s or the Creative Labs T20s. Since then I've decided that I prefer the Creative Labs because to my ears, while the Altecs have what I describe above as a good midrange, comparison tells me that the Creatives have a very good midrange (in the sense of having greater subtlety, depth, and overall clarity; on a 1 -5 scale I give the Creatives a 5 for midrange and a 4 for bass, and the Altecs a 4 for midrange and a 5 for bass). I'm considering upgrading to a pair of Creative Labs T40s.

134 of 150 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For Bass Freaks, March 13, 2009

By 

monkuboy (Temple City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Altec Lansing FX3022 Expressionist BASS 2-Way Speaker for PC and MP3 (Black) (Personal Computers)

(What's this?)

I am fairly certain I'll get flamed and accumulate a bunch of "not helpful" votes but too bad. These speakers are bass, bass and more bass. If you are the kind of person who likes their brains to jiggle from bass note vibrations, don't hesitate to send for these. I have never heard desktop speakers that have anywhere near the amount of bass as these do.

These are not little polite things. They take up a fair amount of real estate on your desk so make sure you have room for them. The construction quality is good; volume control is easy to use and accessible. Be careful when you handle them because the woofer is open at the bottom and you might poke your finger into them if you pick them up the wrong way. Also, I don't like the fact that the cord connecting the left and right speakers is not detachable.

Right away the first thing I noticed about these speakers when playing a CD through them is that they pump out a tremendous amount of thumping, flabby bass. They made the entire computer table shake and I could feel the vibrations in my chair. It is absolutely unnatural and after a while it becomes torturous. It does not faithfully reproduce recordings because of the over emphasis on bass. The midrange and treble isn't bad, but it is overwhelmed by the bass.

If you like bass, you will like these. If you like balance or finesse, look elsewhere. These are not high-fidelity speakers. They will get your attention but like someone with too much makeup, they quickly become tiring.

Two stars for the solid construction quality and if you can tame the bass they would sound fair, but these are way overpriced.

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