 PELE Enterprises, $49. Requirements: Any Macintosh. For more information, visit PELE Enterprises at http://www.pelezone.com.
Review by Rich Pizor
In the movies, it is held as conventional wisdom that you only notice sound if it's poorly done. This only stands to reason; movies, even fantasy or science fiction, are depicting a world that we are being asked to accept as reality, if only for a brief time and within its own context. This is true to a lesser extent to video games; the other half, however, is that since video games are always impressionistic, we do not necessarily expect them to maintain the level of internal realism that we would demand of a movie. As such, games with particularly good sound effects are noticed just as quickly as games with particularly bad sound.
Noticed, that is, if you have speakers that are up to the task of delivering them.
The funny thing about sound on a computer is that you never notice it until you change it. When you first get a new computer you are presented with whatever sound qualities it comes with, and this defines the baseline of your expectations. Add some better speakers and your baseline shifts, but after the initial "oooh, wow" has worn off, you will never again notice the quality of your sound until you have to replace them with something better or (Woz forbid) something worse.
I've recently attached 3 sets of speakers to my Mac -- all were an improvement over the built in sound, but there was still a huge range in clarity and quality between them. In all categories except size, the Pele Apolla speakers were far and away the winner.
Out of the box, the Apolla speakers are very user friendly. All the components are carefully packed and polybagged, with all cords and ports clearly labeled. The instructions go to almost ridiculous lengths to ensure that anyone will be able to get these speakers attached with little to no confusion; it took me less than 2 minutes. The speakers also come with an AC adaptor so that you can use them with or without batteries.
The speakers themselves are a handsome addition to just about any desktop. Like most Mac peripherals released in the last 18 months, the Apolla speakers feature a translucent ice-blue color scheme specifically selected to compliment an iMac or a blue/white G3. However, Pele opted for a more subtle color scheme that also compliments both the creamy off-white of an older Apple machine as well as the beige of a clone or generic monitor. The right speaker holds all the controls, which include power, volume, and bass boost; the controls here will affect settings for both speakers, which makes adjusting them to your taste a breeze.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time here going into technical specifications about the speakers' range and capabilities, mostly because I don't understand those numbers myself. Suffice it to say that they are loud and rich, to the point that if the amp is cranked and the system volume is set anywhere over about 1/3 of maximum, my desk starts to vibrate. Not bad.
I cannot rave enough about the sound quality these speakers produce. Most speakers pop when the computer is started up; these hum. The bass is so rich and dynamic that an MP3 played through these speakers sounds as good as a CD played on my stereo. You will be hard pressed to find a pair of speakers at this price point that will deliver performance this exceptional.
About the only bad thing I can say about these speakers is that they take up space. For some people, this is not an insignificant consideration. My own computer workspace is small, and with the speakers I'd been using previously, simply sticking them up on top of the monitor was sufficient to free up desk space. The Apollas, however, are about twice the size of the older speakers, and as such the bases were too big to balance safely on the narrow ledge on top of the monitor before the housing begins its downward slope to cover the tube. Once I realized how amazing the sound quality was, I had to literally rearrange my entire desktop to get them to fit. It was worth it in the end, but a certain amount structural engineering was required, and for more compact desktops this could be an issue. Thankfully the speakers do seem to be shielded, since even when they are placed right next to a monitor there is no visible distortion from them being turned on.
Overall, you will be hard pressed to find a better value in computer speakers. Professional audiophiles will need to look elsewhere; features like 3D surround sound or separate subwoofers are missing from this setup. But those who are simply looking for a solid set of basic speakers to enhance day-to-day computing (and crank the holy heck out of video game sound) need look no further. |