Review: Dell AY410 2.1 Speaker System

Picked this system up recently, it was a Dell Daily Deal. Link to System at Dell

MSRP: $59.99+tax and shipping
EPP pricing: $39.99+tax and shipping
Dail Deal Price: $24.00+tax (free shipping)

System Contents:

Powered subwoofer
Left and Right channel satellites
Control module (wired)
Wiring and AC adapter

Firstly, delivery speed.

Ordered this Monday, January 18th. Fedex tried to deliver on Tuesday, January 19th (no one was home, sig required). Delivered Wednesday, January 20th. Awesome for free shipping, I think.

Second, packaging quality.

System came packed in a double layer corrugated retail box, very sturdy. Everything inside was individually wrapped, and everything had its own molded cubby hole, so nothing could get banged around. Every surface, once you get the outer plastic bags off, is protected by clear plastic static cling stuff. I still haven't taken all of them off. All the wires are twist-tied in standard fashion, of course.

Thirdly, hooking it up.

Now comes the fun part! Hook up is extremely straightforward. The satellite speakers have RCA jacks that hook into the back of the powered sub. They are color coded, and thus, idiot proof (I know, I hooked them up right the first time). AC adapter is easy to plug into the wall D) and the control module has an S-Video style plug into the back of the sub (everything hooks into the sub). After the speaker system is interconnected, the final connection is to plug the mini-headphone jack into the computer's headphone jack (specs in sig).

Thirdly (subsection A) Appearance and Controls

The control module is pretty handy, with a large top master volume control, and a knob on the side to dial the bass up and down as required. It also has the power button, and 1 line-in and 1 line-out jacks, so you can plug in your ipod, or listen through headphones without unhooking the system from the computer.

The appearance is aesthetic and pleasing, with the components being shiny white (matches the laptop perfectly) with black cloth grills. The sub is kinda square and clunky, but it is what it is, and is still pleasing to look at. What surprises me is that there is no excessive Dell badging. You have to look at the backs of everything to see who made it. I like that, for some reason.

Fourthly, the Test Drive.

Okay, everything's hooked up. Now the show starts! As a test drive, I chose some good old fashioned OutKast, something with a decent bass riff. It took some configuration of my eq and audio settings to get it to sound perfect (I'm a self-admitted audio-phile). Tried several different musical genres, and was impressed with reproduction of all. Bass is full, but not boomy (unless you want it to be...yuck), and the satellites do quite an impressive job reproducing the rest of the spectrum. The sound from this system is full and rich. They engineers did their job well with this one.

And, my most oft delve into multimedia, the movies. All I can say is...awesome. With minimal tweaking, and everything in the eq set still to the settings from my music testing, the sound reproduction is next-best to being in the theater. You never realize how much detail you are missing with no bass fill, until it's there. Sound effects and soundtracks come alive, and the parts of a thriller that are supposed to make you jump, make you jump.

Final Thoughts

Even at full retail, I would have been thrilled with this accessory. Factoring in the deal I got it at, I am triply satisfied. This system really finishes off my little entertainment system (the Daddy Zone ), and helps make my relaxation time easier to get lost in.

***I will say, though, please don't expect any desktop-sized subwoofer to rattle windows. They'll play some high quality bass notes, but there's only so much thump you can expect.***

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

 

Nice review. I checked out the link, they definitely look pretty cool. And certainly more portable than my Logitech Z-2300.

 

Sounds better than my Dell A525's. Although the claimed frequency response is better on the A525 (45Hz - 20,000Hz vs 65Hz - 17,000Hz).

And Mastershroom seconded. The subwoofer on the Z-2300 is massive. It doesn't even fit under my desk. (Small desk, I know)

 

jeremysdad:

Very nice review of the speaker system! I wish I would have ordered that day before they sold out! (Oh well, they will be back again for the Daily Deal round, or be lower in price soon)!

They always get great reviews..and yours is a plus! I like that you are able to enjoy your movies with the speakers..bonus!

Cin...

 

I ordered same day for my desktop at work. They should be in tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to getting them hooked up. Got a Blu-Ray drive on the way too