Alesis M1 Active 320 USB review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 18 Apr 2008

Price when reviewed: £69

Supplier: http://www.dv247.com

Reviewed By: Ben Pitt

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

User Rating

At 188mm high, Alesis's entry-level studio speakers are half the height of the 620 set.

The back of the right speaker houses stereo mini-jack, phono, in jack and USB inputs. The latter lets users bypass a PC's built-in sound without resorting to a musician's sound card. You can even use the speakers' other inputs to record line-level sources to the PC. The 115cm cable joining the two satellites is too short, and the mini-jack speaker cable isn't easy to replace.

Sounds from the 320 USB were precise and authoritative, but while a Bass Boost switch provided extra low-frequency punch, bass wasn't that deep. Very high frequencies were lacking, too, and the top volume was tame.

The compact design and USB connection make this an attractive prospect for musicians working with a laptop, but sound quality is only narrowly up to the demands of music production. M-Audio's AV 40 costs just £12 more and offers a huge leap in sound quality.

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User comments

Not a well built or long lasting product.

Only 12 months after I bought a pair of these (exactly when the 1 year warranty expires!), the left speaker on a regular basis, after just a few minutes of listening at moderate volumes, dropped down in level by about 10db below the output of the right speaker, causing a severe and distracting balance issue, that can only be remedied by turing the volume knob way up on the right speaker (the speaker which houses all the inputs, outputs, and amplifier stages). That would temporarily kick the left speaker back into gear and resolve the balance issue, but the problem will return with a few minutes of listening at regular volumes. I am an audio engineer who troubleshoots complex audio systems on a regular basis, and trust me, I eliminated the possibility of it being a bad cable or audio source. These speakers are cheaply built and I don't trust that they'll work for more than a year or so. I called and the technical support personnel at Alesis did nothing to help, except direct me to take them into have them fixed on my own dime at an authorized repair facility a 12 hour drive away. To sum it up, I wish I hadn't spent my hard earned money on an Alesis product.

By PeteWild on 30 Nov 2010