Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/341
Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 Digital Speakers
by Jason Clark on July 18, 1999 12:47 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
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Cambridge Soundworks |
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With today's onslaught of speakers into the multimedia market, your choice of speakers is plentiful. But making the decision of which speakers should make it into your home or office is a difficult one. It seems as though anyone who has some plastic and a set of paper cones can make a set of speakers these days. There have been some speakers that were worth the money manufacturers have asked for them, like the Microsoft DS-80's, Midland 4100's and the Cambridge Microworks. After listening to the lower end of Creative Labs' speaker line up, I was not terrible impressed by the weak sound that they produced. The new FPS2000's seem to breathe some new life into Creative Labs' speaker line up.
It seems that the acquisition of Cambridge Soundworks by Creative Labs was indeed a good move on Creatives' part.
Cambridge Soundworks brings years of experience in building speakers. Cambridge Soundworks was initially co-founded
by Henry Kloss in 1988. Henry Kloss has been a major player in the home audio market since 1952 when he co-founded Acoustic Research.
Since then, he has been involved in such companies as KLH and Advent, which are both successful players in the audio market.
What does all this mean? Well, essentially you have a solid foundation of audio knowledge (i.e. Cambridge Soundworks) behind some very good marketing (i.e. Creative Labs).
Specifications
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Sound Quality
| As the audience, judging the sound quality from a set of speakers varies from one person to another. That being said, your personal taste in how you like your music to sound should affect your decision to buy speakers more than someone saying, "Dude, these speakers pound!". Some people enjoy music played at ear-blistering levels, where the distortion is so high that making out lyrics is almost impossible. Others, like myself, enjoy the clarity of a speaker more than how loud it is. |
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Section 1. Music I spent over a week listening to these speakers, pushing them in various aspects. Music was the first test that I tried, since I spend a great deal of time listening to it while working. I played all types of music, from The Eagles to TLC to Louis Armstrong. These speakers have the most amazing clarity in the high and mid frequencies that I have heard to date in computer speakers. I also own a set of Microsoft Digital 80's, which are fantastic speakers, but the FPS2000's are even better. The first song I played was the acoustic version of Hotel California by The Eagles. If you have heard this song, which I'm sure some of you have, it is an excellent song to sample a full range of tones, from the sound of acoustic guitar to the thump of the bass drum. The speakers sounded stunning in this song, due to the extreme clarity of the highs and mids of the satellites. The 4 satellites are powered by a 4-channel amplifier, which produces 7 watts RMS to each speaker. That may not sound like much, but it's plenty loud enough for your computer. It was then time to see how the subs clarity stood up. I tried No Scrubs by TLC, which has some decent lows. The sub sounded fantastic, producing clean deep punchy bass. Now if you are looking for something that rattles pictures off the wall and shakes screws loose, then get yourself some fifteen inch JBL's and a big power amp :) The sub is a 5 1/4" woofer in a ported box, powered by a Class H subwoofer amplifier that produces 25 watts RMS (root mean square). Describing what the different classes of amplifiers are is an article in itself, so if you are curious about it go here. You will not be disappointed in the subwoofer - it is better than the sub that comes with the Microsoft DS-80's.
Section 2. 3D Sound & Gaming |
| Functionality One word comes into mind with the FPS2000's: "Versatile". The speakers are in a well rounded package with all kinds of features that make them unique. First of all, the volume control for these speakers is a separate control unit that controls the volume and the fade. My only complaint is that the volume control unit does not allow for the sub's bass level to be adjusted; that would have iced the cake. Another feature I found great is the fact that all of the satellites use standard speaker wire; so you can ditch the cheap speaker wire and get some decent gauged wire and position the satellites wherever you want. Since there are four speakers in this package, you are probably wondering where you put the two rear speakers. The speakers come with a set of stands for the rear. They are 18" plastic legs that make two tripods. |
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Cambridge Soundworks |
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Cambridge has put together a fantastic set of speakers here. These speakers deliver in all areas: sound, price and functionality. For $199.99 MSRP, you are getting a feature-packed, quality set of speakers. So if you are in the market for a set of good speakers, go out buy them and wake up the neighbors ;)
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