Altec Lansing ADA885 4.1 THX-certified, $39 @ Directron!

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JaYp146

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On sale: $38.99 .. Slickdeal'ers are reporting shipping is around $10ish. This looks to be a one-day only deal...


Link: http://www.directron.com/ada885.html
Alternate link: http://axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=75531
Photo: http://edit.store.yahoo.com/I/directron_1897_45218781
Reviews: http://www.anandtech.com/multimedia/showdoc.aspx?i=1523&p=1
http://gear.ign.com/articles/306/306313p1.html

Note ... ^ reviews are of Altec Lansing ADA 890 system, same sound, black color.

SPECS:

Altec Lansing ADA885 Beige 4.1 120W THX Certified Surround Speaker System with S/PDIF out

The ADA885 is a technologically advanced, THX Certified multimedia amplified speaker system featuring Dolby Digital and Pro Logic surround sound and stereo reproduction.

The unit is comprised of a subwoofer and two magnetically shielded satellite speakers. This combination provides surround sound on a desktop by utilizing side firing speakers. For enhanced surround sound the top speaker portion of each satellite can be separated and placed on a provided stand with long speaker wires. This enables the separated speakers to be placed for best surround sound performance. Equalizer circuitry automatically resets to conform to the changes that take place when the speakers are separated.

The system also features an LCD dislay, headphone jack, remote control, and diagnostic switch.

# Features & Specifications: System Response: 27Hz - 20KHz
# Total Audio Output: 120W (103 dB SPL @ Listening Position)
# Input Impedance: >10k Ohms
# Analog Input Sensitivity: 300 mV for full output
# Digital Input: S/PDIF
Satellite Speakers:
# Drivers: Four 3" full range, Two 1" tweeters
# Power: 60W (15W per satellite)
# Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >70dB
Subwoofer:
# Driver: One 8" dual voice coil
# Power: 60W
# Crossover Frequency: 150Hz
# Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >70dB
Dimensions:
# Subwoofer: 365mm x 260mm x 290mm
# Main Speakers: 137mm x 110mm x 162mm
# Surrounds: 110mm x 104mm x 117mm
 
These things have to be at least 5 years old...I remember my friend getting these with his pentium III dell when 21" CRT's first came out.
 
Well, I pulled the trigger and pick a set up. The last pair of speakers I bought for myself was around 2001. So, seeing that these where close to top of the line back in 2001, I think it a good deal for 52.00 shipped for me. Thanks! :)
 
Hm the Anandtech review says they "completely fail" in 4.1 mode for games due to an input issue of some sort. That would kill the deal for me.
 
The issue with the wiring is due to the sub being intentionally wired out-of-phase to work properly with Dell OEM sound setups...

Avoiding the 4 channel mode appears to be the definite way to go with these. Although I wonder - out-of-ophase simply means one of the two inputs has had the + and - terminals reversed to meet a specialized OEM spec. Couldn't reversing that cabling "FUBAR" be the solution to properly using the 4 channel mode? Not too hard to make a cable yourself to do that....

Keep in mind you're getting THX speakers for $40 here people... even if you're using them as 2.1 speakers it still a hell of a deal.

Also keep in mind using an SPDIF cable avoids this issue altogether as it allows the sound card to control the output/phasing. Do some googling, there are a TON of forum posts for this deal all over the place.... several with "fixes" for the Audigy2, etc. series cards.

Me? I'd just make my own cable and be done with it so I could use it analog.

Got my new 5500's and the recent Klipsch deal from BB so I have no need for these though they might make an excellent bedroom surround system for a DVD player (yes, these work GREAT for that as well).

My $02..

_drulloch_
 
Got these; Two actualy.

Whats the way to connect an RCA-Type S/Pdif input to the optical output on an A-Bit motherboard? Would you need a converter of some sort? or is there a dongle that would get me going? thx! (back @ 39.00 today fwiw)
 
All I have to say is I have been using a set of 2.1 Altec Lansing ACS45.1 since 1999 and they still sound better than most of what I hear in best buy today. I am picking up this set too.
 
BUMP; they're on sale again for the same price. Directron FTW! :p
 
Got mine in the mail the other day, but haven't had a chance to take them out of the box and install yet. They look nice...big and heavy box.
 
They are very nice. Been playing with them for a few days now.

By the way you are welcome to "borrow" all my links off my SD thread on this
and post them here, the more the merrier (manuals and test sounds, etc.)

I find I like them best in the Dolby Surround Prologic mode.
Not sure if I have the SPDIF off my Tforce 6100 working properly, everything sounds "tinny" in the Dolby Digital mode...
 
Just ordered three- one to replace my Z640's, and two for friends' birthday presents.
 
Nope, still going strong, but I'm getting my own place, and my computer is becoming my all-around entertainment center. I want the extra power, and the THX cert. 5.1 isn't so important to me, especially since all of my old systems have done just fine emulating 5.1 on a 4.1 system- the same as this one does.
 
I bought an ADA885a 4.1 set back in June 2000 (beige ones, not the black Dell units). I finally retired it last month, now using a DDL card and a real reciever/speaker setup.

The reason I went that route was because I bought a new monitor (Westy 37") and was hooking up HD cable, Xbox, etc, and wanted the greater flexibility that the reciever gave me.

The 885's worked without a hitch that entire 6 year span, (even the remote is still working) and sounded great, even much newer high end systems had a hard time keeping up with the 885's, in terms of clean, powerful bass and crisp highs, with good mids.

I can't praise them enough, I damned sure got my $200 worth of use and more out of that set, and never felt the need to upgrade to something newer until I got the new monitor.

Generally I used them as a 2.1 setup (with the sats plugged into the fronts), but the few times I bothered with 4.1, it worked fine, but the last time I used the 4.1 was back when I was still using a SB Live, somewhere around 2002.

They're still in a box in a closet, and I expect they'll see service again on the spare-parts rig I'll be building for the garage. Years of life left in them.
 
wait, does this system only have 2 tweeters for only the fronts and not the surrounds?? :confused:
 
Yes there are no tweeters on the surrounds.
I like to have tweeters too but the 3" drivers are fairly full range so for just the surrounds they sound okay to me.

For $50 delivered I feel they were well worth it. Would never have paid $250 like alot of people did from Dell five years ago.

Price is back to $45 on Directron but still at $39 on their sister company:
http://axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=75531
 
mavalpha said:
Just ordered three- one to replace my Z640's, and two for friends' birthday presents.
Click to expand...

For anyone ordering over $100 from them you can get another $10 as there is a coupon code.
 
mavalpha said:
Nope, still going strong, but I'm getting my own place, and my computer is becoming my all-around entertainment center. I want the extra power, and the THX cert. 5.1 isn't so important to me, especially since all of my old systems have done just fine emulating 5.1 on a 4.1 system- the same as this one does.
Click to expand...

My bad...I was thinking of the Z680 for some reason :cool: . I had a set of Z640's also, and these are much better even without the center channel.
 
vibe said:
For anyone ordering over $100 from them you can get another $10 as there is a coupon code.
Click to expand...
Linky please? Maybe I can get them to price-adjust after the fact...
 
just oredered these speakers. But now I have a question.

I have an Abit NF-7 board that has onboard soundstorm (I dont really play games but would like to watch some movies with wsurround sound).

Which cables will I need to hook up the onboard sound card to these speakers? Also will I have any phase problems for surround? I know that I shouldnt select 4.1 but if I select 5.1 will the rear channells still play in stereo and it will emulate the center channell? I would appreciate it if someone could explain it to me. Thanks.
 
The NF-7 is a nforce2 motherboard with soundstorm correct? Is so, you can use the digital link (coaxial) to the speakers and bypass any phase problems all together. The nVidia on board sound is still the only soundcard to encode gaming surround in dolby digital if I remember correctly (soundblaster only outputs stereo gaming on the digital output, unless the X-Fi finally fixed that glaring oversight). If you motherbaord has a coaxial digital out (my old Asus A7N8X DLX did) all you need is a cheap single composite cable. Hope this helps...
 
You send full 5.1 to the ada885 and it figures out how to decode to 4.1
The center channel is simulated between the two front speakers. Works well.
 
Drulloch said:
The issue with the wiring is due to the sub being intentionally wired out-of-phase to work properly with Dell OEM sound setups...

Avoiding the 4 channel mode appears to be the definite way to go with these. Although I wonder - out-of-ophase simply means one of the two inputs has had the + and - terminals reversed to meet a specialized OEM spec. Couldn't reversing that cabling "FUBAR" be the solution to properly using the 4 channel mode? Not too hard to make a cable yourself to do that....

Keep in mind you're getting THX speakers for $40 here people... even if you're using them as 2.1 speakers it still a hell of a deal.

Also keep in mind using an SPDIF cable avoids this issue altogether as it allows the sound card to control the output/phasing. Do some googling, there are a TON of forum posts for this deal all over the place.... several with "fixes" for the Audigy2, etc. series cards.

Me? I'd just make my own cable and be done with it so I could use it analog.

Got my new 5500's and the recent Klipsch deal from BB so I have no need for these though they might make an excellent bedroom surround system for a DVD player (yes, these work GREAT for that as well).

My $02..

_drulloch_
Click to expand...


I have about 15 years experience building custom loudspeakers. You are correct. You can put a speaker out of phase by simply reversing the + and - wires. You can also put it out of phase electrically in the crossover but they most likeley did it in the wiring. Its worth a try.
 
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