Altec Lansing makes its first entry into the budget six-channel speaker market with the 251s, an impressive £90 offering.

A little quieter than competitors such as Creative's Inspire 5300 and Videologic's ZXR-500s, the 251s come with 5w satellites and a 20w subwoofer.

They're not the prettiest in the playground - with the rounded black curves on a silver back giving a distinctly 1980s feel - but they are remarkably simple to set up, unlike many other low-end surround sets. Each satellite is not only colour-coded to the ports at the rear of the subwoofer, but they are also given grooves so only the correct cable can fit into the socket, much like a playschool toy.

It's good to see that the minijack cable, running from PC to subwoofer for the rear speakers, has a dummy port into which it can be plugged to prevent electromagnetic interference.

The power and volume controls are on the front right satellite, making them easy to access, and are accompanied by a headphone socket and centre and rear level controls.

While the stated frequency response is an impressive 35Hz up to 18KHz, we found the response to be uneven in between. The emphasis was clearly on the bass and, while the 251s packed a punch, there was a little too much for our liking, spoiling the sound of many of the musical genres we tested, in particular classical.

That said, signal to noise ratio was comparatively excellent, and the heavy bass makes these speakers truly superb for both film and gaming.

Surround information is accurate and the sweetspot is good and wide.

DETAILS
Price: £89.95 (£76.55 ex VAT)

Contact: Eurotech 0118 981 0011

www.euro-tech.co.uk

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