STREAM Light Multimedia Speaker System is a slightly reduced replica of the well-known SVEN STREAM speaker system. This model is designed first of all for those who would like to obtain a quality sound but don’t have enough room to accommodate the oversized speakers. The designers have slightly reduced the size of speaker cabinets so now they can be placed even on a loaded worktable in the office or at home, but these innovations didn’t affect the internals and workmanship, so the system remains «packed» as before. Let it be remembered that the main distinction of STREAM line-up products is four-channel amplifier (bi-amping feature).
Package Contents
The speaker system comes in red and white box containing the following:
- active speaker system;
- 3.5 mm signal cable;
- 3.5 mm / 2RCA adapter;
- operation manual and warranty card.
Appearance and Design
All STREAM speaker systems have a rather similar appearance. But they differ on cabinet sizes, mid-frequency drivers, power and range of reproduced frequencies. In our case the speaker cabinets are made of MDF material of 9 mm thick with black PVC foil glued to the outside of it. The side panels are clad with semi-circled genuine wood stylized decorative plates. It is worth noting that these plates are not only decorative but also serve to improve ruggedness of the cabinets. Four rubber feet support the speakers on horizontal surfaces.
The drivers are located on the front panel according to classical rules and covered with nets made from black acoustic fibers to protect them from casual damage. A mid-range emitter is composed of a driver with black-painted paper cone and soft rubber suspense. HF-emitter is regular: a dome driver with textile cone. Magnetic screening is fully implemented so the speaker system can be safely placed near the old-fashioned TV-sets and monitors.
The main connectors are located on the back panel of the active speaker additionally serving as a cooling radiator for microcircuitry. Signal is supplied to the standard RCA stereo input. The active and passive speakers are interconnected by way of non-standard connectors and respective cable. The length of the supplied cord is 2.5 m thus excluding any inconveniences with the arrangement of speakers around the room. Controls are located on the decorative plastic insert at the bottom of the left-hand satellite speaker. Three knobs for master volume and LF/HF balance control are available. There are LED indicator and a headphones plug-in jack.
The interior setup of the speaker system is pretty faultless; moreover, everything testifies to a pretty good workmanship considering the claimed price. The cabinets are padded with polyester for better damping effect whereas the main wires are accurately collected in bunches and fixed to exclude their bounce at high output. The amplifier is fed through a plate-type transformer with secondary windings output of 60 VA (12 × 2 В, 2.5 А), while the supply filter includes two 4700 mcF capacitors. The proper amplifier is built on four TDA2030A microchips. Taking into account the capabilities of these microchips and implemented power supply circuit design we can confirm that the announced output of speakers (2 × 30 W) is well grounded.
Practical Testing and Listening
So, let’s start from frequency response curve analysis. As one can see, the response curve is of good irregular shape and a slight cut is observable only at high frequencies. The rated output is reached at about 80 Hz which is also not bad with these speakers’ size. Especially pleasing is absence of abrupt surges and droppings in mid-frequency range which will result in decent tone truthfulness. The drives are matched in an optimal way, by the way, the applied active filters may boast of being of the 4-th order thus helping to attain the excellent response roll-off steepness.
Tone controls function in a peculiar way. They are able to cut or boost pretty wide sections of frequency response curve which serves to adjust not only the frequency balance, but also the volume of the whole system.
The angling of speakers to 45 degrees produces standard HF cut so it is not recommended to experiment too much trying different angles of the speakers but at once position the two of them towards the listener’s ears.
The distortion curve review shows that with low and medium volume levels the speakers perform well. Thus, with the sound pressure of 75 dB(A) and 1 meter distance from the speakers the average total harmonic distortion for the range keeps below 1%. A slight rise may be observed with up to 200 Hz frequencies, but it is practically imperceptible when playing music. By increasing the volume to 80 db(A) we register a fully normal increase of distortion, but even in this case the total harmonic distortion exceeds 1% only with low frequencies. It should be kept in mind that we deal with low-sized speaker systems which are not designed for high output operation while their low output performance is absolutely faultless.
Subjective test listening leaves pleasant impressions, especially with the speakers’ price in mind. STREAM Light renders a rather confident sound performance. Tone balance is not so true as we expected of this frequency response, but any serious drawbacks are also absent. Vocal is a bit shifted towards the cold tones but it is typical for multimedia speaker systems. With the control knobs in mid positions high frequencies are slightly insufficient which can be easily repaired with treble control knob. It is not exactly the case with basses considering the small size of the speakers, so if you wish to get a high quality low frequency performance you’d better use a subwoofer. The speaker system excellently performs when reproducing electronic music and even rather complicated classical compositions with the mid-frequencies rendering a pleasant detail of sound signal. Among the compositions which are hard to be rendered with STREAM Light only hard rock/heavy metal ones can be mentioned as plenty of powerful sounds specific to them makes the level of detailed sounding drop. But, again, we should not demand from the light version too much. It is designed first of all for reproduction of non-complicated music, movies and games, the task it copes with faultlessly.
Conclusion
As a result, the upgraded light version of the renowned speakers can be considered a success. With its price of $80 this novelty can boast of good workmanship and isolated amplifiers for each driver. STREAM Light excellently copes with movies dubbing and modern music rendering. The main drawbacks, if any, are only due to compact design of the cabinets. So those fond of deep bass had better purchase a subwoofer.