The hills are alive… Review

Logitech’s SoundMan SR-30

The hills are alive…

Since Slimer, Egon and the rest of the gang came by to exterminate the last
batch of ghosts and other supernatural apparitions haunting the GR office (by
the way, we ain’t afraid of no ghost), we have had little by way of scapegoats
to blame for our poor Counter-Strike
records. All the ammunition we have left in our artillery of finger pointing
is speed cheaters, the ubiquitous blurting of “My team must suck!” and a fatally
unsophisticated 2-set speaker system. Since speed cheater defenestration is
unjustly illegal and the teams we play with will forever suck, we decided to
attack the problem from the speaker end. So we enlisted the aid of our friends
over at Logitech.

SoundMan SR-30

Their assistance came in the form of a 4-speaker, 1 subwoofer setup called
the SoundMan SR-30. At first glance, the SR-30 looks like your
average modestly priced 4-speaker system. But after you easily connect the speakers
together and introduce the system to the ports on your sound card, you will
quickly realize that you are dealing with an excellent sounding, high-end/low-cost
audio system.

The SoundMan SR-30 comes with a space-saving subwoofer, a handy remote
volume control with headphone jack, the surround-sound 4-channel speakers and
a relatively decent software bundle.

The included bundle is oddly titled Soundmobile.com, and it’s nearly the same
as those we have seen shipping with some of the more recent sound cards. I don’t
know how many copies of Muscimatch Jukebox, Kool Karaoke and Music Maker one
person can have, but I know I have too many. Thankfully, Logitech has included
a few other programs, like Dance Maker, Audio Pix and QCreator. While this isn’t
the best software bundle I’ve seen, it definitely gives you a variety of ways
to really push this system to its limits.

We’ve tested these babies with several games (Serious
Sam, Counter-Strike, Clive
Barker’s Undying, Rune etc.). The SoundMan
SR-30 brought a brand new experience to each one. The “cling-clang” of weapons
in Rune, the deep bass from grenades and other explosions in Counter-Strike
and the dramatic Carmina Burana-esque music from Clive Barker’s
Undying were all sharp, clear as crystal and a feast for the ears. It’s
amazing how these little puppies help to immerse you in your favorite games.
You feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.

This is especially true if you can manage to set up the speakers appropriately
to receive full surround sound pleasure. Unfortunately, the SoundMan SR-30
offers little help when it comes to speaker placement, as no speaker stands
are supplied. Instead you get some very small, nearly useless wall mounting
brackets, which require you to drill holes in your walls to properly mount the
speakers. I would have much preferred two stands for the rear speakers. Heck,
tack on another 10 or 15 bucks if need be. I’d pay $80 to $85 for this set with
solid speaker stands, no doubt.

The speaker set not only works on your computer, but it can also be used with
your portable CD player, television or DVD player. If you’re so inclined, you
could connect these to your TV and enjoy stereo surround sound for all your
favorite movies and all your other video game consoles. That’s right – play
Dreamcast Tony
Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 in full surround sound. Now that’s cool.

Retailing for the affordable $69.99, this quartet is a no-brainer. You get
4 great compact speakers, a pounding subwoofer and a handy remote volume control.
Sure, there are higher-end, better sounding and more expensive speakers
out there. But for the money and the sound quality, you can’t go wrong with
the SoundMan SR-30.