Altec Lansing M602 review, and we compare with the Bose SoundDock & Apple iPod Hi-Fi, page 4

                                                            page 4
Altec Lansing M602 review, and we compare with the Bose SoundDock & Apple iPod Hi-Fi
12 November 2006   (click on images for enlargements)

The “High End Hi-Fi” iPod Speaker System Shootout and Comparisons (cont'd from pg 3)

The bass frequencies were dominant but very noticeably muddy even up to the mid range frequencies of 4 to 8kHz. Pull off the front grill cover and you’ll find The two 80 mm “wide-range” speakers and a single a 130 mm woofer. There are also two internal baffling ports, because the speaker enclosure is a sealed type design.

As we said before, put the speakers in a box that is expected to sit on a tabletop and you create problems, in this case muddy sound and buzzing on the desktop at high volumes.

Now it that weren’t bad enough news, it gets worse. The iPod sit precariously on the top of the Apple boom box with no back support. We had a number of occasions when various models of iPods fall off or nearly fall off. Good luck using this as your portable ghetto blaster when the iPod can fall out with only a slight jarring. You won’t be running around with the iPod Hi-Fi on your shoulder like a boom box.

Now here’s the kicker, this is an Apple product, same guys that sell (not make) the iPod; yet there is NO USB 2.0 computer sync port and NO video output for video to a TV or monitor for use with the Video iPod! There is at least, an auxiliary stereo input port for and external sound source.

     The iPod Hi-Fi's only port is a 1/8-in Stereo Input.

The remote looks kind of like the old 1G iPod Shuffle with the same kind of mysterious control functions and there is no place to store it on the iPod Hi-Fi either.

    Sketchy iPod Dock Support and NO Tone Control

At a whopping $349 (reduced recently from $399), the Apple iPod Hi-Fi is a major disappointment; don’t expect to read that assessment in any of the publications that kiss Apple’s butt for advertisement dollars though. We’re more honest than that.

The Technical Analysis -

While using our review panel’s acutely trained ears (musicians, sound editors and engineers) is an important factor in making choices about which speaker system sounds the best, bringing digital analysis equipment in to play also provides aid to that decision making process. Looking at these analysis can show us results that the ears senses, but can’t necessarily explain.

Never the less, human ears are what speakers are made for and we weigh our results skewed towards feelings about sound and so should you when you choose which speaker system to buy.
So lets look at the Digital results –

("low" means Bass and "high" means Treble, in Decebels "db" the smaller the - number the louder) Click Images to enlarge

Altec Lansing M602- The Fourier Spectrum shows a "flatter curve" responce from a low of 20Hz at -39db to a high of 25 kHz at -90 d. This was the Best of the three iPod Speakers because the Bass was stronger and louder and the Treble range was greater and brighter.

Bose SoundDock - The "FS" was also a flatter curve, but at the expense of weaker lows of 20Hz at only -52 db and the highs (Treble) was weak by only 20 kHz at just -96 db.