It's a space age tremor

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:00

Your IT - Entertainment

Thankfully no aliens involved

TDK Tremor Xa60 2.1 inch flat panel acoustic sound system, $129, www.tdk.com.au

2.1 surround sound systems for PCs and audio devices such as CD and mp3 players have long been popular replacements for the tinny speakers that accompany many desktops (and are built into most notebooks), and the headphones that are used when mp3 players are used on the go.

Of course these larger speaker systems are used with mp3 players when they are in one location, such as at your home, or on your office desk. With any confusion that 2.1 speaker systems are for use when you're listening to your mp3 player on the bus now firmly out of the way, it's clear that the attraction of a subwoofer, coupled with two speakers in an attractive package, at an attractive price, is quite undeniable, as is the quality of sound that they produce.

TDK have long been creating just these kinds of speaker systems, and today we're looking at their latest model. This space-age speaker system uses ultra-thin satellite speakers with a newly remodelled subwoofer that improves the overall clarity of sound with enriched bass, making it more compact and powerful than previous models.

Other improvements include an auto sensing switch-on from standby mode function. Designed for TVs, DVD players, PCs and notebook computers, it adds a pretty cool sonic dimension to computer games, multimedia presentations, music and movies.

So, how is it different to those cheap speakers your computer already comes with? Glad you asked.

It's different from conventional speakers thanks to NXT SurfaceSound technology. NXT works by creating complex vibration modes over the surface of the NXT panel in the satellite speakers, producing full frequency response from 50 Hz to 20 kHz from a single driver for a pure, coherent and uncoloured sound quality. At least, that's what it says in the manual. Hold on, hold on'¦ let's keep on reading.

The panels have a wide dispersion pattern that fills the listening area with an expansive sound field, eliminating the 'beaming' of conventional speakers and creating a wider sonic 'sweet spot'. Once you've plugged the speakers in, you realise that what they're going on about with this wider 'sweet spot' business is quite true - it really does sound one heck of a lot better than the speakers in my notebook! And plugging them into an mp3 player makes my music sound much better, too - wherever you're standing in the room.

If you're looking for a simple way to get better sound of out your PC or mp3 player'¦ it's well worth checking out the TDK Tremor range. We give it a thumbs up for affordable surround sound in a space-age package!

ALEX ZAHAROV-REUTT