Altec Lansing Octiv 450 iPad speaker
Does the twist
Review After a slow start, quite a few iPad speaker-docks in the shops these days, one of the most recent arrivals being the Octiv 450 from Altec Lansing – well known for its inMotion range of portable iPod speakers. The Octiv isn’t portable, but its compact design is neat and practical, and it produces a surprisingly robust sound.
In the frame: Altec Lansing's Octiv 450
The Octiv looks rather like an easel, with the stereo speakers forming the solid, rectangular base of the contraption. The iPad then slides into an armature that has a dock connector built into it, and which holds the iPad just above the speaker unit.
The armature tilts backwards and forwards, and also rotates so that you can switch the iPad from portrait to landscape mode when watching video. There’s an Aux input for connecting other types of audio device, but no USB port for syncing the iPad with iTunes on a Mac or PC.
Audio quality is very good, producing a warm, textured sound, and the rectangular speaker unit pushes sound out to the sides as well as the front, so that the sound really fills the space around it. Altec Lansing were reluctant to tell us the output wattage – “we prefer to focus on the sound quality” – but the Octiv was louder than I’d expected for such a compact unit.
Twists and turns for your viewing pleasure
The bass could be a little more full-bodied, though, and a bit of distortion creeps in as you push the volume right up to maximum. It’s not quite powerful enough for a full-scale party, but is more than adequate for listening to music in your bedroom, or in the front room when you have a few friends around for dinner.
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COMMENTS
Total pants response
Sorry, but what a load of faff. No "normal" person looking for some everyday useful speakers or hi fi system is going to be looking for (or understanding) any of what you just said.
Considering the price point and purpose of this device, how many watts RMS output per speaker is all you really need to know.
You can.
I do. No tape or blue tack required! :)
Okay so mine is up on a shelf which helps.
Title required
The Airplay speaker systems on display at this years CES make this already obsolete.
Watt SPL?
Asking about Watts is the wrong question to be asking.
With Watts you are finding out how much electricity is being sent to the speaker, from there it depends on how efficient the speaker is as to how much sound actually comes out, and this is measured in SPL.
More relevant questions to be asking would be what is the SPL output of the speaker with 1 watt fed to it, measured at 1 meter, ideally with pink noise from 20Hz to 20kHz, rather than a 1kHz sine wave.
Or what is the maximum SPL of the speaker
