Customer Reviews

Altec Lansing M812 Octiv Air Wireless Speaker System with Dock for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Bought directly from Altec Lansing. As soon as speaker unit plugged in, noticed display was not working. Continued setup anyway and fiddled around to get it to work, amazingly without seeing a display. Seemed like it would play okay until shutoff. Once shutoff, would require 20 mins of fiddling to get to work again. Remote functioned about 10% of the time and the unit's own controller functioned about 20% of the time. Given the addit'l poor reviews of this product, I would avoid at all costs. Have contacted Altec Lansing customer service for a return authorization but have not received it yet. We'll see how well they repond.
UPDATE: Finally charged for the unit by the retailer 4 months later. In the interim, i have tried to use it but it has NEVER functioned properly. IT COST me $35 to ship back a defective unit worth nothing. Customer service at Altec Lansing is abysmal at best. Unless you want to waste your money, do NOT buy this unit.

When it comes to playing your iTunes music in a room away from the computer, products tend to take two main approaches. The first approach streams music from your computer to speakers of your choice. Apple Airport Express or the Sonos System are an example. The second approach involves docking iPods directly to an integrated set of speakers. The Octiv Air essentially takes the "dock" approach, but provides an aux port, so it also supports the "computer streaming" approach when paired with the above products. Thus, the Octiv Air operates in a very impressive, unique way!

Better yet, instead of the dock being physically attached to the speaker system, the dock is separate and wirelessly streams your iPod or "computer streamer"'s sound to the speaker, which can be placed elsewhere. For me, that feature makes the system brilliant!

My wife likes to listen to her iPod in the kitchen, but the problem with other iPod docking products is that our counter space is too valuable to fit a big speaker. Now, we can set the iPod in a small, out-of-the-way dock on the kitchen counter, but stream the music to the speaker, which sits elsewhere!

Another plus is that the wireless dock supports any sound output from your iPod. This means that in addition to the music on the iPod hard drive, you can also use the Octiv Air for Pandora internet radio and any other music supported by iPod Touch/iPhone applications!

As for the sound quality, it's excellent! It's much crisper than the docking products I've used in the past, and rivals any high-end docking system I've heard.

My only complaints are trivial. First, while the product description says the wall-mounting bracket is "optional", what it SHOULD say is that it's "sold separately". Second, while the system works with iPhone 3G, docking it will result in your iPhone giving you a message saying "this accessory is not designed to work with iPhone". You can just close the warning and everything will work as normal, but be prepared for the annoyance if you want to dock your phone.

All in all, I think Altec Lansing has thrown together a FANTASTIC product, that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend if you're in the market for a high-end iPod speaker system!

Conceptually, this speaker system seemed like a good product - a remote dock and a large speaker that would be able to drive some full sound. Indeed, we thought the sound was very nice on this unit - when we could get sound out of it. Unfortunately, there are just far too many kinks - we could never get this unit to sync up for more than a few minutes at a time. Sometimes it would sync and receive input on the FM tuner portion of the remote dock (why they put the tuner in the dock is beyond me) but it would not permit you to change the frequency, or not permit you to change to the iPod/iPhone input. We would disconnect, de-power, reset, re-sync time and time again. Eventually we just gave up on the system. Although I generally like Altec Lansing products, this one is a complete dud for us.

UPDATE Nov '10: this product now lives in my attic. I got something much better with sound that's just as nice. Plus it's smaller and doesn't take up nearly as much space!

UPDATE Dec '09: I left this ton of bricks unplugged since Aug 09, but recently felt ready to fight with it again. I plugged it in, set it up. Within a minute, I had it working. A few days later, I go back to use it. It's frozen saying "no sync". So I called Altec Lansing. I told them the problems I've had with it. He immediately said its a "receiver" issue and it needs to be replaced with a new speaker. I have no problem doing that, but they want me to pay to ship it to them(they pay to ship it back). I just don't have the throw away cash right now to do it since this weighs so much and who knows if the new one will work. When it decides to work, I love this ipod dock, when it doesn't, I HATE it.

UPDATE Aug 09: We used this ipod dock often in our living room. It never moved, or got mishandled. One day I went to use it and the speaker part was not cooperating. Couldn't get it to turn out, despite the little dock part showing as powered. I just spent over an hour with the manual, and now even though I have power to both, the speaker screen either freezes(have to unplug), or just gives a spurt of music and then powers down. I tried to change RF channels, did everything the manual suggests. I am too mad to speak with an altec tech on the phone(since they do not appear to have email tech support), so I'm going to put it to the side for now.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: You know how sometimes you're sitting there listening to something, and you're enjoying it to such the extreme that you want to hear absolutely everything right this minute and just can't choose? These speakers did that for me. I could sit here for hours just listening.

First thing out of the box I noticed - wow is this sucker heavy! The speakers probably weigh around 14-15 pounds alone. A bit bigger than I expected as well. But of course, don't let that deter you. The bigger, heavier speaker produces amazing quality sound.

I was hoping to mount this on my kitchen wall - free up counter space and clutter! But unfortunately, the mount is sold separately. Plus I'm in a rental, and thinking about it, putting something of this weight on the wall makes me nervous.

I eagerly got this out of the box and set up, as we are complete iPod dock lovers. I listen to my ipod everywhere. Sometimes when I'm working I like classical, but I'm also a huge fan of hip-hop and a secret lover of indie, I'm a "anything but country" person. The sound of this dock surpasses anything I've ever had before. Real quality, hearty sound. I'm hearing things in my favorite songs that I've never heard before. Realizing they might be more musically complicated then I had imagined. I love that the bass/treble adjustments are on the remote. I sometimes like to adjust for the song, and this lets me do that. These speakers really differentiate each instrument, I'm a little shocked by how good it is.

I only wish it had AM radio and more control over the ipod with the clicker to switch playlists etc. Also for those with a cordless phone. There is interference on the phone(not the speakers) if you use a 2.4 GHz phone, as this is on the same frequency. But guess what, I love it so much, I got a different phone.

I just received this product from Altec Lansing yesterday (not from Amazon) who are offering it a very low price. When I saw the price that the product was being offered at I thought it was too good to be true -- now that I've receivved it I understand that it IS too good to be true!! -- this product stinks!!! It is repeatedly giving me "No Sync" errors so it plays for a few minutes, and then it doesn't play. I have tried all 3 frequency settings including auto, I have turned off my wireless router in my house, I have moved the device to various areas and it's entirely inconsistent. Works ok for a while, then then for a while, and at other times it comes off and on repeatedly.

On top of this sometimes the remote device only works partially - so that everything works except the volume control.

In addition, when I try to change the frequency settings on the docking station it intermittently freezes. Plus changing the settings on the speaker is similarly problematic -- non responsive sometimes, jumping around at others.

There are so many things wrong with this product I can't believe it.

We'll see what Altec Lansing does for me.

I had been looking for quality wireless speakers, and when Amazon offered this item at almost half off the regular price, I jumped at the opportunity. However, this product has been a complete disappointment. I encountered the same "No Sync" message as many others on here. No amount of fiddling or adjusting the settings changed this -- the wireless dock was simply flat-out defective. The dock itself feels flimsy and light, in contrast to the bulky weight of the speaker itself.
Amazon's less-than-convenient return policy didn't help things here. I will never again purchase electronics from a vendor to whom I can't physically return a defective item and demand a refund.

Overall, a highly disappointing experience. Given how common the No Sync issue seems to be, I can't help but wonder if Amazon was simply trying to unload a defective item quickly. I'm sorry I bit.

I purchased an Altec Lansing product specifically because it was rated/okayed for use with Apple iPhone. I hadn't yet gotten my iPhone, but used my iPod Classic 80 GB on the AL dock--within three days the Altec Lansing dock fried the hard drive on my iPod beyond repair: toast. When I contacted AL regarding the issue, the representative was rude, arrogant, short-tempered and of no help whatsoever. Amazon saved me by taking the product back, (Amazon ROCKS--always) AL--not so much.

So, for those of you with new Apple products--my advice is to spend the same money on a nice home theater sound system and use the Aux-in feature rather than a docking system. And--I would certainly suggest steering clear of this particular brand because if there is trouble--you'll be on your own. They will be of NO help.

After shopping for a portable/small iPod stereo system, I decided to give the 812 a chance being it was for such a good price. Now I know why. The sound is great. The design is nice, although very heavy. I knew that I would not be transporting this around the house after realizing there were a few parts to move. Once I set it up, the "NO SYNC" came up pretty much immediately. I tried all 3 different station, but no luck. I also noticed my internet was slower and it kept knocking me off.

So I sent it back.

Maybe the extra $150 is worth it for a hassle free Bose system. It's too bad because I really liked the sound the the AM/FM feature.

I have now returned my speaker system for replacement twice in 3 months. The first one I received died within a few days, and was promptly replaced by Amazon. The second one died bit by bit, losing more and more functions until it became clear that it was no longer usable. That took 2 months. I have requested a replacement unit again because I love the idea of it and the sound of it, and I am hopeful that the third time will be the charm. If the 3rd one dies, I will be asking for a refund. The idea behind it and the sound quality are everything I wanted. If only they could actually produce one that works....

Customer support at Altec is pretty hopeless, they basically tell you to return it to Amazon. Luckily, Amazon is standing behind this product. I am pretty discouraged at this moment, but we will see what happens on the 3rd go round.

Prospective buyers beware!

This is a pretty exceptional product. Its a wireless ipod sound system that can really fill a room with sound. Set up is very easy. You put the speaker unit anywhere within 100 feet (I put it about 20 feet away) and then you plug the base / dock into the wall. You put the ipod into the dock and hit play and use the remote to turn on the speaker and control the volume / bass. Pretty simple. Sound quality is fine and the volume is plentiful. Bas & treble controls are ok, I could use more range in them however. I was not blown by the sound but it sounded very acceptable.

The auxiliary input works great also. I plugged it into my laptop and it works great. Everything plugs into the base dock, nothing plugs into the speaker. Like wise with the FM radio, sounded great.

Big complaint is the dock is too small to hold an ipod touch in many cases and you have to take it out of the case to get a proper fit or it loses connection to the base dock. That was very unfortunate and it loses 2 stars for that. Given how easy it would have been to enlarge the dock just a bit to accommodate cases its silly they didn't consider this. I also tested it work my iphone and it worked great. I didn't see any problems there also.

So, what it needs to be perfect:

1. A slightly bigger dock to allow for ipods in cases. Very annoying to have to take the ipod out of the case to play. Every other speaker, clock, etc, I have has room for the ipod in the case.

2. Remote needs more options. I have a $70 sony clock radio whose remote lets me actually control the ipod and sort thru menu's & play lists. For this $$, this remote should have been backlit and should control the ipod.