Add a designer name and the price goes up, however it is not always the case that the quality goes up to match it. Here I am looking at a set of very stylish 2.1 speakers, is the name all they have to offer?
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Porsche is the name more associated with cars however I recently looked at the basic model in the same range the Powerstixx 2.1 (29/8/04), it was somewhat expensive but had many redeeming features. There is a 5.1 system in the range and in round figures it costs 50% more than the Powerstixx 2.1. Where is he going you may say - well the stated price of this offering the Powerstixx Ultra 2.1 is more than double that of the basic 2.1 system and more than a third more than the 5.1 system. As yet I have not seen more than an image and a couple of paragraphs about the 5.1 system but in the brief outline it seems to offer more than is on offer here.
Design is a funny thing and ask any of the ladies that have been in my life and they will tell you if they were polite I am no design guru. In fact I have used this set of speakers for an extended period just to see if they grew on me or if I had missed something. Perhaps if I were female and considerably younger.
A chromium effect cylinder around half a metre tall and a quarter of a metre round is the sub woofer. The sound it gives is okay but to my ears little better if at all than the 2.1 offering. The on/off switch is under the front of the unit and unless you are a lot fitter than me it means knelling on the floor as bending over that far and then pushing your hand under the front of the unit is not that simple.
The leads all connect at the rear base of the unit thats the lead to the two candlestick units and the power lead, again not that easy but in fairness something you are unlikely to do that often.
The candlestick speakers are one third of a metre tall and a maximum of 4cm across with a 10cm base. Each candlestick has four circular speakers in the top half of their length stacked vertically.
The remote control 8.5x5x1.5cm is perhaps the best part of the whole unit. It has a total of 8 buttons a large on/standby button at the top with a small 3D immediately below it. Below that are three pairs of buttons the first to + or - the master volume and the other two pairs to do the same to the sub woofer and the treble.
I used the unit connected to a PC and also to a MP3 playing device with a line out socket, using it with an MP3 player that only had headphone out produced such low volume levels as to be disregarded.
Try as hard as I could the output seemed very little different to the 2.1 speakers. I am aware this unit has treble controls but even though I used a full range of music I found they made little difference.
At the stated price of £207 they would not be for me, I thought the price for the 2.1 system at just less than £100 was quite high but I made some allowance for style.
Link http://www.meroncourt.co.uk/prodview/731
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