ADA 305 Digital Powercube Speaker System Manufactuerd by Altec Lansing Retail Price $150 Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz  Satellite Power: 10W+10W Subwoofer Power: 20W

The ADA 305, being a USB design, is quite simple to install, and the package also comes with sufficient information for setting it up. All the speakers are magnetically shielded and are nicely designed. So placing them on your desk won’t be a problem.

The included Audio Management Software gives you greater control of your audio environment over the ADA 305 True Digital Audio speaker system. The program itself has a very user-friendly interface. This on-screen software allows you to individually adjust each audio channel and to add preset audio settings, which includes Music, Games, Action, Sport, and Movie. You also have the ability to customize these settings if you’re not satisfied with the presets. In addition to the on-screen controls, the Audio Management Software program allows the user to control the speaker volume and switch between stereo & Dolby Pro Logic mode. For stereo mode, the two satellites will work as two speakers instead of four. When Dolby Pro Logic mode is activated, the angled secondary drivers on top of the satellites will work independently, producing a 4-channel surround effect.

For those of you who don’t have USB support in your computer, fear not. Just like in a conventional PC speaker system, the subwoofer contains controls for manual operation. So don’t concern yourself over these on-screen controls. 

As Altec Lansing’s top offering at a price of $150, you’d come to expect a lot from these speakers. But that’s not quite the case. They don’t sound anywhere near good enough to suit the price tag. In fact, if these speakers were priced at around $80, it would have been a good buy. 

We weren’t impressed with the musical quality of these speakers because the mid-range frequencies were hard to notice when playing some instrumental music. The vocals didn’t have that rich muscle to it when we tried out some pop music. So no recommendations can be given to the ADA 305 on the musical score. The story changed a little with DVD audio tracks: the sound effects were pretty decent but still not impressive. As for gameplay, EAX was pretty much average but A3D 2.0 audio in Half-Life sounded nice. 

But as soon as you activate the speakers’ Dolby Pro Logic mode, all hell breaks loose. The speakers don’t do a good job when it comes to simulating a virtual surround sound environment.  In fact, not only the ADA 305, but most speakers on this roundup flopped on this test. So games should be played without these settings: leave the 3D API alone and let it do what it does best. At the end of the day, the Altec Lansing ADA 305 speakers weren’t the ones we were looking for. What with the price tag, there are some better alternatives out there.v