Original article has been published on web site www.igromania.ru
December 2009
Dmitry Kolganov
It is impossible to imagine a modern computer without sound. Movies, games, music – all of this is an integral part of the home entertainment center. But all the same, there are staunch people, who did not acquire speakers or who use tweeters until now, which were given as a tie-in thing to the computer. Today we tell about speakers, which can be a nice gift to the New Year. So, we have SVEN MS-908 2.1 speaker system with unusual design on our test stand.
Dish it out!
The pair of speakers and subwoofer-amplifier are included in the package content of SVEN MS-908. The subwoofer case is wooden completely and it is black. Designers decorated the front part with black glossy plastic, put the company logotype and mounted a 12 cm loudspeaker. The phase inverter outputs on the rear panel. Inputs, volume level and bass level controls are located there as well. The system is connected to an audio source with the help of RCA cable.
Cables from the subwoofer go to the pair of the satellites made of glossy black plastic. Speakers are thin and they have an interesting shape. In profile they bear a resemblance to worms from the Worms game. When speakers are turned on, a blue LED indicator lights under the bottom – it is especially impressive in the dark.
An unusual thing there is loudspeakers. As if there are two loudspeakers, one is a midfrequency loudspeaker, the second is a high-frequency speaker. But in practice it appeared not so: only a big loudspeaker was circuited electrically, the second loudspeaker fulfills the function of a passive emitter. It is set in motion by vibrations inside the case. Fortunately, SVEN has calculated the tilt angle of speakers and loudspeakers direct the sound clearly in ears when being placed on the table, that it is extremely important for satellites of such small dimensions.
Fighting has been going on
We tested speakers in several steps. As a preliminary, we used an iPod nano player as an audio source, then we connected the system to a computer. We abandoned the built-in sound in favor of high-quality DAC of Burr-Brown Company.
It is very difficult to describe the sound of speakers. If you pass on from the qualitative Hi-Fi audio to these speakers then you will take notice of shortcomings, especially in proximity to middle frequencies. But if it is your first speaker system after tweeters at the price of RUB 200, the effect will be overwhelming. The system works off every ruble, its sound is curiously dense and powerful.
The hero of the system is its subwoofer. After playing with settings, it is possible to obtain the qualitative sound; the main thing is not make a mistake with position. In the beginning, we placed it on a table and got actually the third channel, which broke the stereo scene. But it took only to move the subwoofer to the floor and the system revealed, the sound gained pleasant depth.
The system is the best to watch movies and playback concert records. We started on SVEN MS-908 the live performance of Motley Crue – Lewd, Crued & Tattoed and were taken up for one and a half hour, while the disk was playbacked. The subwoofer worked off beyond praise, it clearly distinguished drums and the bass guitar.
MS-908 is also on friendly terms with games: shots and explosions of grenades perfectly explode in the subwoofer and reverberate somewhere at the chest level.
If it were not for satellites, SVEN MS-908 would be possible to sell for RUB 3000 for a set. But now the price of the system is RUB 1300 roubles – and it is the justified price. Maybe, SVEN has a little bit better variants for listening to the classic music and vocal, but the speaker system behaves well in games, works off well concert records and music with deep bass, plus – it gladdens by its appearance.