Advent AV290

Company: Interact Accessories, Inc. (subsidiary of Recoton Corp.)
Product: Advent Multimedia Sound System - AV290
Street Price: ~ $50
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2000
Reviewed By: Mark Hagan
Rating:  ***** (FIVE stars of maximum five)

The Tests!!!

Now it is time to see what these things can handle.  What we are looking for in these tests are both overall quality and quality at high volume levels.  By saying "quality," we mean being able to hear those detailed sounds in the background of video games just as if they were actually there.  We are looking for realistic sound quality that is so real you feel like you are actually in the game.

Advent Sub Size

Altek Sub Bottom

Test One: (CD-Audio)  Let me see, let me see...Ah ha!  I found the perfect cd.  I am going to start off by listening to the soundtrack from "Hackers" (I am a huge techno fan.)  Lets let her play song eight on both systems and see how the finished product turns out.  I am going to try the Altek ACS33 speakers first for testing.  Turning the volume all the way up under the Windows 98 Audio controls, and the volume to around half way on  the speakers will be our first test.  Sounds great.  I am getting some great audio quality from these things.  Now, lets see how well the Altek ACS33 speakers can perform at higher volume levels.  After cranking it up, I could tell that these poor speakers were barley hanging on to the next note.  I was getting more static than sound at this point, so I turned down the volume and they went back to descent quality.  Well, that just killed those for house parties.  Now for the Advent speakers.  Using the same testing format as above, I changed the volume levels, and played the same song (number 8,) from "Hackers."  Again, awesome quality.  More bass than before,  but that was expected.  Now, to kick up the volume and see what she sounds like. Chris on wheels, it sounds like I have a live band in my room.  This is what CD audio was supposed to sound like.  NO STATIC.  Not even at its highest treble and bass levels!  Test One:  Success.

Test Two: (Quake 3 Arena (Linux))  Now, for the test that matters most to all of us.  I chose to use Linux for this test because, from my experience, I have noticed that Q3A for Linux has better sound quality (along with more sounds.)  I am running the same system, just this time, the operating system is Slackware Linux 7.0 instead of Windows 98.  Again, I am going to start with the Altek speakers instead of the Advent speakers.  Linux (at least Slackware Distro.,) defaults to the highest volume level possible from the driver (which is the EMU10K1 driver available from opensource.creativelabs.com.)  So, we start with the test.  The Q3A intro-screen gives me a quick rush from the slamming bass.  Okay, I start the game and begin fragging everything in my path.  The sound quality is nothing short of amazing.  No static at this volume level.  There is no reason to turn it up from here.  Now, I close out of the game and plug in the Advent speakers.  Game starts up, I get the all-famous intro screen and, again, the sound quality is great.  More powerful once again.  Now, once I start playing the game, I can immediately hear a difference.  I hear sounds that I could not hear with the Altek speakers.  This is exactly what I was going for.  Excellent sound quality.  More realistic than the Altek speakers were.  As far as quality of the sounds heard goes, there was no real difference between the two.  They are both excellent speaker systems.  Test Two:  Success.

Test Three: ("Mr. Roboto" by Styx)  It is time for the ultimate test of high-quality audio.  I will make a point not to sing the song here on the review, but I know you are humming it as you read ;)  Anyways, the test goes the same as with cd-audio (big surprise (sarcasm).)  Actually, I just wanted to listen to Mr. Roboto.

Go To Page 3 To See Why I Gave A Five-Star Rating...