Altec Lansing InMotion 3 review

The third generation of Altec Lansing's speaker system for the iPod comes in white or black (to complement the U2 iPod), with silver speaker grilles and trim so that it fits in with the iPod and every Mac in Apple's range.

The two 2W speakers sit either side of a flip-down dock connector that locks into place when in use and houses on/off and volume buttons. The dock connector is designed to fit 30GB and 40GB iPods. Round the back are a 9V DC socket for the included external power supply, a connector for the iPod's FireWire cable to enable you to sync it when it's in the IM3's dock, a power switch and a line-in socket.

The line-in allows you to connect any audio source with the supplied audio cable, so even if you have an older iPod without a dock connector, it can still be used with the IM3, albeit without the ability to sync with iTunes.

The remote control lets you put the IM3 on standby mode, change volume, play, pause and skip backwards and forwards. It's a tad small, but the buttons are a decent size and well laid out.

Completing the package are a black carry bag and dock connectors for 10, 15, and 20GB iPods, as well as the iPod Mini.

The IM3 performed fairly well. Music from our iPod was crisp and bright, and the speakers did a good job of picking out detail. But as you'd expect from such small drivers, bass wasn't great. This was improved by setting the iPod's equaliser to Bass Boost. InMotion's i-Station (see Reviews, 1 October 2004, p32) got around the problem by including a subwoofer, which did improve bass response. A similar solution could have been employed here.

Altec Lansing's InMotion 3 speaker set looks good and folds up, making it easily transportable. It's let down by less than great audio performance, particularly at lower frequencies. It also costs more than most of the competition and is twice the price of the less elegant i-Station. If it were the only solution around we'd recommend it, but we're spoiled for choice in the iPod speaker market and at this price the IM3 doesn't stand out.