Digital Home Thoughts: Altec Lansing FX5051 USB 5.1 Surround Speakers Review

"It seems that Altec Lansing is finally making a comeback when it comes to desktop audio outside of the OEM sets they manufacture for Dell. Their latest product, the FX5051 boldly stands out spec and design-wise from the typical Creative and Logitech sets we're accustomed to seeing, and one-ups the whole market by being the first 5.1 channel speaker system to incorporate a USB input! On to the review... Gone are the days of seeing boring black rectangles on your desk, as Altec Lansing has taken a more angular approach with their latest offering. While silver and black is nothing new (but I still love the color scheme), what gives the FX5051 speakers their unique look is the fact that each of the five separate speakers is shaped like an irregular pentagon with a broad face and a square base that's angled straight at you. Each unit houses a 40mm midrange driver and an 18mm high frequency tweeter, consuming a modest 12 Watts of power, except for the center channel which uses 13 Watts."



I have been using Altec Lansing speakers for a really long time now (easily over 6 years) and it looks like the FX5051 are a great new set to own. What makes them different from most others is that they are USB based speakers which is a great solution for laptops IMHO. I just wish they had S/PDIF inputs for gaming consoles since I really don't like having two sets of speakers for various devices. Unfortunately, these cool speakers will set you back over $200.