Altec Lansing ADA745 5-Piece Speaker System

The 4 speaker satellite + the deep bass sub woofer emerse sound around you. Expensive but well worth it. Probably the best computer speakers I've tried.

Defective, crackling sound, it was junk.

We bought the system with our Dell computer six years ago. The last few years the sound has faded down to nothing. Yesterday I started to look for something to identify the problem. A sound card voltage problem -- ICM? -- was suggested; overheating was another problem. I started to see if I could rip the main volume adjustment (right, front) speaker apart to figure out where this one review said you had to stick in an electronic do-hickey (capacitor, resistor, transister, babysitter?)to get your tunes back -- welded shut, harder to enter than Ft. Knox. Like all things for American consumers, not intended for repair -- planned obselescence. I decided not to go there.One recommendation was to plug the right front speaker plug into the subwoofer only part way. And hey, hey, I hearing "Life in the Fast Lane" by the Eagles even as I type this. Push it in, but not too far, wiggle to the right (oh just the woofer has volume), wiggle to left (heard the sound, but now it's gone), a little back to the right and pull it out a smidge and I'm good to go. Maybe, Monster Cable's 24k gold contacts ain't all hype...Now how do I fix the right rear speaker cord the dog chewed up (or was it the rabbit before he singed his whiskers chowing down on the washer cord -- brought an electrician in to fix that one)?

The speakers sound great and for the price they are can't be beat. The are however a bit dated as they lack a center channel speaker. Good for music and games but if you will be watching lots of movies - go 5 or 7.1

Can't find these great speakers anymore.

I've had this set of speakers for almost 10 years now and really love the quality of the sound. It is not to boomy/bassy like most Logitech Nor too bright/high pitched. They do justice to virtually anything I listen on them whether it's listening to orchestra, pop music, trance, jazz, or watching movies. In my opinion, they have a perfect tonal balance. Too bad Altec Lansing has stopped making speakers like these now.Just like some other reviewers, I also had the volume issues with this set starting last year. First one was that the sound will suddenly jump up/down as if there is some loose wiring. Secondly, over a period of last year or so, the volume had virtually gone down to almost non-existent. I had the volume in windows and on the speakers set to maximum, yet couldn't hear much clearly. Since, I really liked these speakers and knew what they were capable of, I starting researching online and found several solutions. I decided to go with the easiest one, which is to un-plug the main speaker's (the one with volume control) wire and plugging it back in slowly, while music is playing, and seeing if I can position it just right and normal volume is restored. That didn't help.Next I disassembled the speaker with the volume control. The volume control is basically a potentiometer and it could get dirty, resulting in similar behavior. I cleaned/soaked it with liberal amounts of Rubbing Alcohol, although recommend solution for cleaning potentiometer is something different - you'd need to look it up. Then I gave it several full end-to-end turns and played some music...Viola...the speakers were shaking my house again! Now, the speakers are running at volume dial set to 40% and volume bar in windows is set around 50% and I'm getting enough sound to please my soul. If i turn up the volume, they really open up like they used to and I'm so happy that I didn't just throw these great speakers away.

I purchased this sound system with my Dell Dimension 8250 in 2003, and the sound system (AND the Dell, lol) still work excellently. All sounds are crisp, clean and vibrant. The bass vibrates my entire house!!I would confidently put the ADA745 up against anything on the market today and I am also confident that the ADA745 would crush the rival, hands down.

Just what we wanted