SVEN company regularly adds new interesting devices to its product line. At first sight we see an ordinary 2.1 active multimedia speaker system; however, it has its spice. So let’s deal with it – after all, this brand is highly respected by Russian consumers, and we mustn’t disregard it...
And again, the creativity of these hot Finnish guys amazes! I gladly recall the time when I was accredited to take part in an expert review and write articles about fifteen various SVEN speaker systems. It was often tough, as many models had minimal difference from one another, but with SVEN MS-1085 it’s completely different. It’s a 2.1 multimedia speaker set again, but it has so many pleasant trifles and possibilities! Two cute table/bookshelf satellites in cabinets of black natural wood are equipped with a 25-mm tweeter and a 75-mm midrange with a silvery paper diffuser on a long-stroke rubber suspension. The speakers are not equipped with phase inverters, and the audio cables are embedded into the cabinets, so there are no terminals outside. Grilles are not provided, though the fragile dome of the tweeter is covered with a three-ray plastic grid. The drivers are integrated into the glittery polished plastic frame, while the midrange driver is sunk into the speaker. The main and controlling unit is the active subwoofer supplying power for the two satellites. The total power of SVEN MS-1085 system is nearly 50 W, which is more than enough for a PC-equipped workplace. Unlike most other subwoofers produced by SVEN, the included one is not tower-shaped, but a squatty rectangle. There is the same kind of a plastic polished panel on its foreside, but in the centre there isn’t a transducer framed with a silvery ring with SVEN’s logo, as it may first seem – it’s just a designer’s fad. Actually, the device is made under Bandpass acoustic technology: the 125-mm woofer is placed inside the cabinet, and the sound is pumped out via the phase inverter port located on the right wall. Such a solution helped achieve deep bass with the small-sized subwoofer. As for control elements, there is only subwoofer volume control on its rear wall. SVEN MS-1085 is commuted this way: signal is transmitted from the line output of the PC of laptop sound card to the subwoofer input. The microphone input of the sound card is connected to the output on the subwoofer connection panel with a separate cable. The satellites, as we have mentioned, have embedded cables with RCA connectors, and they are connected to the subwoofer in the same way. The gimmick of this system is an attractive and very handy wired remote control shaped like a small cylinder consisting of two parts: the moving upper one of silvery plastic and the black-coloured lower one. They are divided with a ring emitting friendly blue light when the device is on. In its lower part there are two mini-jack inputs for headset (headphones/microphone) connection. And the rotating upper piece, as you might have guessed, adjusts the volume level. Marvellous solution!
Evaluating such devices is pretty difficult. We are quite often reproached with bias by the users not too well-versed in the topic – why should you give a good or excellent appraisal to a simple 2.1 speaker set? In other words, a High End class device that costs half a million roubles can claim it, and a 5-thousand system deserves no more than “satisfactory”. In our view, there is some misunderstanding. Don’t try to compare a Ferrari sports car with Ford Focus, though both cars can move and have four wheels, a steering wheel and seats. And we won’t tell you about the way the affordable, but very solid multimedia system reveals the sound of voice formants in a grand classical piece of music, sound colours of the oboe, all the detail of the brass section or the musical jingle of timpani. Though, such complicated musical material can be nicely listened to with SVEN MS-1085, as well as records in any other style. The subwoofer creates a pretty good triphonic that will make most modern popular compositions sound noble with deep bass. The design is up to you to appraise, and as for the sound quality – we guarantee it.
Conclusion
The system is an excellent modern solution for organizing a home theatre or a stereo system on the basis of a workstation or a laptop, needing minimum space and providing maximum quality. And the elegant subwoofer will add reality to the sound and won’t let you down at a critical moment.
Pluses: affordable price, handy remote control with a headphone and a microphone jacks, informative sound, solid bass.