Altec Lansing Octane 7 2.1 Speaker System
The Octane 7 speaker system from Altec Lansing may be billed as a different and unique speaker setup but this different type setup may be the death of the Octane 7.
Ease of Use, Performance: 10/25
Look & Feel: 15/25
Features 12/25
How much I enjoy 12/25
Total: 49/100
The Octane 7 from Altec Lansing makes for an odd sounding speaker system when you consider it is only a 2.1 stereo speaker system with its six drivers on two tower speakers and subwoofer. The only problem with the Octane 7 is they decided to place the midrange speakers facing down so the sound bounces off your table or desk and supposedly fills the room.
The Octane 7 is a three piece speaker system with two odd speaker towers and a subwoofer that plays music pretty well or movies but gaming is different. Actually one of the three common listening types( gaming, movies or music) would be fine if you didn't switch between these.
The big problem here is you have to adjust treble and bass according to what type of sounds are coming through and when you switch between them you will probably have to adjust. The Octane 7 has two small towers with two one inch drivers in the upper part and a three inch driver in the cone shaped base pointing straight down.
This means there are four small drivers and two medium sized drivers for some good range but the medium drivers which will be a lot of your main sound points in the wrong direction. Bouncing sound off your desk or table just does not work well for mid range sound and the setup is just not good if you're using the speaker system for a variety of audio.
The Altec Lansing Octane 7 has the large subwoofer that is 11 inches tall six 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches deep that has the main connections for the system. Power, each speaker and the audio connection all has connectors or are attached to the subwoofer while the main controls are on the right speaker.
You have bass, treble and volume dials on the right speaker with an auxiliary input on the speaker below these controls so you can connect an MP3 player or other device without going to the rear connections of the subwoofer. The controls work well and are nice to have on the speaker for easy control of your system but you may have to be using these a little too often.
The setup is as simple as any other speaker system and the cables are sufficiently long for setup in an office or living room for home theatres or a computer. The problem with the down facing speaker can be readily solved by setting the speaker on its side and you get pretty good sound but for a PC you can use them on your desk.
I found with a little experimenting and adjustment you can get good sound for gaming and movie viewing on your PC by using the speakers as they were meant to. I just did not like switching from one to the other as the sound did not do well with the various differences between the two different types of audio.
The volume worked fine and being able to change the bass and treble while switching from gaming and movies worked fairly well but the Octane 7 just did not work as well as the designer would have wished for a general speaker system. I really did not like the amount of bass and treble and having to adjust this more than just a few times when I first started using it.
If you wanted to use this exclusively for movie viewing or gaming the system may work well enough but with the wide variety of speaker systems available you can find a better performing one for the same price. I just cannot recommend this system unless you're looking for a speaker system that has a unique design and is only going to be used for one device.
If you happen to find the Octane 7 at a really good price you may want to grab it for use as an oddball music speaker system like in a garage or other room and not your main entertainment system. That was about the best use I could find for the 2.1 speaker system as I just did not like the sound or the fiddling with the controls to get things tuned just right.
The Octane 7 from Altec Lansing is an example of a company that is experimenting with not only a better design idea but a statement in style and really should not have taken it to market. The Octane 7 is not really worth a look as it just is not good enough sounding to consider unless you get an unbelievably good deal on it, which may be reasonable considering all the mediocre reviews.