Altec Lansing PT8051
Puns aside, Altec Lansing's entry into the home-theater-in-a-box segment is a literal heavyweight. The PT8051 is Altec's flagship model and it's hefty indeed. There's reason for this heft: encased in the front unit's anodized aluminum shell are the left, right, center speakers, and the amplifier. The rear surround unit, while roughly half the size of the front unit, connects to the main unit wirelessly, although it requires its own power cable. It's no surprise then that the PT8051 is one of the easiest home theater speaker system to physically set up, perhaps only rivaled in simplicity by one-piece sound projectors from other manufacturers (see sidebar).
The only snag you might encounter when setting up the speakers is the need to adjust for audio lag from the rear speakers. The manual provides a formula for compensating for the delay, so you might have to do a few simple calculations yourself. Other than that, it's all a matter of hooking any of up to three digital and three analog sources. The PT8051's flat-panel NXT drivers deliver 5.1 sound from just two units.
With games and movies, the sound is pretty robust, although lacking in bass. The set doesn't have a dedicated sub, but thankfully, there's an option to hook it up to a subwoofer. The overall sound quality is comparable with the best of Altec's efforts. Perhaps, its minor shortcoming is the lack of sound separation between the left and right channels.
Another bonus that home theater owners will appreciate is the inclusion of a universal remote. The remote can be programmed to control other devices such as TVs and DVD players, aside from the main speaker system. It's a small thing but it's a great step in reducing remote clutter. Ed Geronia Jr.
ALTEC LANSING PT8051 | P59,995
www.alteclansing.com
LOVE Simple setup, wire-free surrounds, plenty of inputs.
HATE Lack of real sub, no LCD display.
WE SAY Great sounding home theatre system that's a breeze to set up.
POWER OUTPUT 125W
CONNECTI0NS 2x Toslink, 1x Coax, 3x analog
SURROUND Dolby Digital, DTS
FREQUENCY RESPONSE 70 Hz – 20 kHz +/– 3dB
SIZE/WEIGHT 1016mm x 170mm x 152mm (front), 560mm x 170mm x 152mm (rear)/ 8.2 kg (front), 4.4 kg (rear)
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T3 Magazine Philippines - July 2008 Issue
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 ALTEC LANSING PT8051
Mound of Sound
Sound projectors have multiple speakers encased in a single enclosure. They use the principle of sound reflection to create surround sound.
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