Movies
For testing movies, I bring the MX5021 into my living room where it will compete with my Athena Technologies Auditions Series ASB2 150W speakers and ASP300 300W subwoofer in a 2.1 speaker setup. I power the MX5021’s in two ways: using the MX5021’s built in amplifier, and by using my Panasonic digital receiver. This gives me a chance to observe the effects of different amps. The Altec Lansing MX5021 is a bit outclassed by the Athena speakers, but it will be an interesting comparison.
I used Finding Nemo, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Lost in Translation for my testing.
The bass reaction is very solid on the MX5021 and none demonstrated this better than The Two Towers. The action sequences of the warg attack and the battle of Helmsdeep were intense and thunderous. The marching of the orc army, the exploding of the wall, thumps of warg paws resounded very convincingly. I found the Athena subwoofer giving a fuller sound, but surprisingly the MX5021’s bass range is pretty good in comparison and nearly matched the intensity at times.
Special effects, like the Warg attack, really shows
off the MX5021.
The highs are very sharp as you can predict from what we’ve observed already in music and in games. This is really great for dialog and sound effects like shattering class or sword clashes. MX5021’s ability to produce these highs give Lost in Translation‘s opening sequence (Bill Murray’s arrival to Tokyo) and the scene in the arcade a real dreamy quality and a sense of culture shock. The dialog is very clear and distinct.
The mids, however, are sometimes lost. In Finding Nemo, the ambient noise of chatter and ocean sounds are barely noticeable under the more prevalent highs like Nemo’s voice. This isn’t a matter of lacking surround speakers because the Athena speakers in 2.1 mode manage to render the same sequences with more detail and clarity. If listening to the MX5021s alone, you may not notice this, but it’s clear what is missing when compared to the Athena speakers.
Dialog is very clear, but covers the ambient noises.
A lot of movies being produced are taking advantage of positional audio, unfortunately because the MX5021 is a 2.1 speaker system you do not get the full surround effect. If this is something that concerns you, you can always get another set of speakers to act as your surround. However, if surround-sound doesn’t matter to you, then the MX5021 will surely please.
controller required urgently
Thank you so much for providing photos of the cables and speaker wire. I am missing one of the cables and I had no idea what to look for. You have saved me hours of guesswork!