Customer Reviews

Altec Lansing 2-PC USB & AC POWERED PORTABLE ( XT2 )

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

These are the best sounding portable USB speakers I've heard. I also love the flat style of the speakers and case. It makes it easy to pack into a laptop case or a suitcase for portability.

They're made of a sturdy plastic with aluminum grills and flip-under stands, which makes them very durable - important if you travel. I've never used the auxiliary input, so I can't comment as to how well it works with a portable audio device.

The biggest con for me is the lack of a headphone jack. When these speakers are connected to your laptop, it disables the built-in speakers and sound card (naturally). To switch to headphones, you have to disconnect the USB connection, then close and relaunch whatever application you're using with audio. It's a minor nuisance, but enough for me to take away a star. Another minor nuisance is the fact that it disables the use of any hard volume control buttons you have on your laptop, and volume is controlled either via the speaker itself, or through your control panel. Again, the workaround is to not use the USB cable and connect from your computer's headphone out into the auxiliary input, but that requires an extra cable in addition to the USB or AC cable, which defeats half the purpose of USB speakers.

A good buy to me. Well worth the money, but before buying you should be aware of the two issues stated above. If using headphones and hard volume controls are not that important to you, this is the ultimate buy.

I owned the previous version, which eventually gave out. But these are so much better! Unbelievable sound. Includes power adapter (a new feature) which means I can use with my portable MP3 or DVD player without powering up the laptop. Great travel case. As for the USB connection, mine works great and I can still use my laptop's volume control buttons. As for the headphones issue, that's a Window's issue, not these speakers. Anytime you have multiple sound systems installed, only the one using the system's sound board will allow us of the headphone jack. So, just open the Windows controls (Control Panel -> Sounds -> Audio tab) and switch to the onboard and you can use headphones. No need to disconnect.

In terms of portability, these speakers are excellent. They plug into a USB port (PC or Mac), from which they are supplied with both power and the audio signal. This means that no power cord or audio cable is needed. The right speaker has the USB cable and the left speaker plugs into the right speaker with a retractable 3 foot cord. So overall they are very portable and quick to set up.

In terms of sound quality, they are good in most ways, but extremely poor in one key area. They have crisp treble, proper mid, and bass down to about 80Hz. Also, they are plenty loud for a portable speaker system. Their sound quality problem is that the bass is extremely over-boosted in upper bass frequencies, which are bass frequencies that NO-ONE likes to hear boosted. Also, the bass easily distorts in bassy songs. These bass problems make for very poor overall sound quality that is annoying to listen to.

This speaker system has some really useful features that many other portable speaker systems don't. They can be plugged in with a supplied power adapter so that your computer doesn't have to supply the power (useful for laptops), they have an aux input so that any audio device can be connected to them (and the speakers come with the correct cable for connecting devices to the aux input), and they have a subwoofer output for a subwoofer sold by Altec Lansing. They also have bass and treble adjustments, but the adjustments are barely perceivable. Also, the speaker system comes with a carry case in which all the components fit.

This speaker system has some great features that many other portable speakers don't have, and with the exception of the bass problems, the sound quality is great. But, due to the over-boosted and distorting bass, I would not recommend this system.

Heard about these speakers on XM Radio and decided to buy and try them. When I got them was surprised at how easy to connect and the sound. Sound is just Fantastic. My laptop never sounded so good with all the music I have downloaded. Recommend these to anyone useing a laptop at home.

I bought these speakers to go with my MacBook Pro to do on-site recording & mixing with my ProTools M-Box rig. In a word, these are great. I chose them over the Logitech speakers because you have the option to power them either via USB or via A/C- so you can plug your iPod or portable CD player into them, for example.

Frequency response is excellent, and the imaging / detail is particularly noteworthy. No they don't really crank & will distort in the bass at high volumes, but there has to be a tradeoff somewhere. There's a subwoofer out (which I haven't tried), but if you need louder volumes / more bass, you could plug a subwoofer into them & you should be all set.

They come with a nifty little carrying case and lots of adapters for international A/C outlets. A little pricey, but I think a fair value.

I was concerned that such small speakers would sound tinny, lacking any substance, particularly in the lower tones. But they really shine. The bass is wholesome and solid. Just don't expect from these speakers what you would expect from larger PC speakers.

Useful info that is not included in the tech details or description:

1. You can connect this via USB to a standalone USB port for power only, and the provided male-to-male audio cable to your computer's Audio Line-Out jack, and it works like a charm. So if for software/support reasons your USB doesn't provide sound to the speakers, it still works via this option, and you don't need to use the (provided) AC adaptor. In my case, I use a KVM switch with multiple computers, which gets sound to the speakers via such a male-to-male audio cable, from the selected computer. The speakers get power via the USB cable connected to a USB hub that is built-in on my monitor, of all things, with this hub not being connected to any computer. Result: I get sound from any computer on my KVM switch, through one set of speakers, no AC adaptor.

2. There is a set of wall-outlet adaptors included in the (very nice) case. I don't know that the adaptor adjusts to household voltages in foreign countries (that could be 220-240 volts), but the adaptors mount on the AC unit and are interchangeable.

The user manual says the following is included:

"Universal power supply with international plug set"

Which probably means you can plug this into any wall outlet anywhere in the world. You might want to check with their tech-support to be sure (www.alteclansing.com)

The user manual is available in PDF on their site

(http://www.alteclansing.com/images/user/XT2_MAN.pdf)

You won't be sorry :)

Sometimes you'd like some music for a group where you don't have a formal music set-up. These laptop speakers do a nice job. On a vacation in Italy, all the laptop music, even from the internet, was ringing out. Good volume and tone.

These ridiculously good looking (yes it looks better than in the pictures) speakers sound even better!

I bought a set for my laptop so that I could use them to watch movies at the hotel on my business trips but I liked them so much that I bought 2 more sets, one for my office and one for my home computer for my kids.

They're absolutely fantastic! Great buy, great sound and great price too!

I purchased these as a mobile audio solution for my Macbook Pro. The speakers work great and have a nice vocal range when paired with the optional subwoofer. At the same time they definitely have flaws. The flip down stands don't work well when you plug in both a subwoofer cable and the optional dc power cord. The cords seem to get in the way and prevent it from standing upright without manipulation. Also when connected to my laptop, they make a distorted noise when adjusting the volume. The don't do this if you use the optional audio input. I previously owned a set of XT1's and never had this problem with them. They are definitely good USB powered speakers. I'm not sure they are worth the money over the XT1 though.

Definitely too expensive to be such a disappointing product. If you're looking for loud, keep looking. I wanted more volume from my Dell Vostro 1500 for watching movies. This was $50 down the drain.