4100 Enhanced Review

Enhanced for your pleasure.

The mad inventors over at Altec Lansing have just surfaced from their subterranean

laboratory with their new 140 watt 4.1 surround sound system in tow. And bless

the gaming gods, it showed up at GR in a lovely brown package.

Oddly, it’s named the 4100 Enhanced (enhanced from what? Who

knows?). It’s a simple system with great performance, not to mention a kick-ass

digital remote unit. Ringing in at a fairly reasonable $200 dollar dip in the

pocket book, the 4100 had piqued our interests.

But before putting these puppies through their paces, you gotta connect them

to the computer. No problem. Simply plug the color-coded speaker cords, digital

remote and sound card connectors to the corresponding pigments on the back of

the pounding subwoofer. Now plug the sound card connectors to the “front” and

“back” ports on your sound card. Last up, plug in the power cord to give the

whole system…well, you know, power. That’s it – it takes about fifteen minutes

and you’re ready to play.

You won’t be disappointed, either, as the 4100 are made to game. Good

3D positional sound is essential for any gamer worth his weight in spent Deagle

shells, and lucky for us Altec knew this going in. The 3D positional audio produced

by the 4 speakers is extremely distinct. Pinpointing the position of certain

sounds in Counter-Strike

(gunfire, footsteps etc.) is quite easy. Rock on!

Which is exactly what you’ll be doing once you hear your favorite music on

the 4100. While not quite as suited for music as the 641

and the 621 (400 & 200 watt sets) we reviewed a few months back, Altec’s

latest more than hold their own against comparable speaker sets. There is absolutely

no distortion, crackle, background hum or hiss. The music is clear and the sound

is thoroughly enjoyable no matter what type of music you play.

Plus, it’s all controlled by the snazzy digital remote unit. Place it within

reach of your keyboard and you can easily adjust the volume, bass, treble or

turn the power on/off for quick muting without having to move an inch. No more

fumbling behind your computer trying to locate the headphone jack, as a jack

is included so you can game late at night without waking the neighbors. The

little unit also has a button for gaming and stereo modes. If the sound doesn’t

clinch it for you, then the handy-dandy remote unit will.

Altec has one more trick up their hi-tech sleeve. The included AAC1 RC cable

allows you to connect the 4100 to a DVD player, stereo television, VCR,

cable box and more. This means you can have your beloved console systems benefit

from this great setup.

One of my only problems with the 4100 speakers is that they’re not very

attractive. Sure, they don’t have to be to perform well, but they look a bit

unfinished, like the face of each of the four speakers is missing. You won’t

be buying them for their good looks. I know it’s a bit petty, but hey, I’m a

critic.

The subwoofer is also a bit large. Though it’s not nearly as awkward as the

641 series subwoofer, it’s still larger than it needs to be. Given, the size

probably has something to do with the excellent sound quality. Still, this is

one area that Altec should consider improving upon.

But what are you waiting for? Go grab yourself a set of Altec Lansing’s new

4100 Enhanced 4.1 speaker system. The price isn’t too bad, you get great

sound, awesome 3D positional audio, a kick-ass remote unit and cool connectivity

options. This is the best mid-range 4.1 system we have heard so far. Great,

another reason to play more Counter-Strike.