Desktop Theater 5.1- Mikael Hagén - Last updated 22/9/99

Installation:

The kit includes small stands on which you mount the rear speakers, unfortunately the height of these are knee level and of course well below the desired ear level when you sit down, unless you sit directly on the floor. It still sounds very good even at that low level but two feet higher definitely would be an improvement. The advantage of the small stands is that it's easy to put them under the desk /table when your don't need them. You can of course use your own stands instead and the kit also includes screws and plugs you can use to mount the satellites on a wall.

The front satellites could either be set on top of your desk or mounted on the sides of your monitor, while the center speaker can either be put in front of your monitor/TV or on top of it.

Performance:

There are 3 uses for this system: gaming, listening to music and watching movies.

Music:
When I played music in the Stereo/FourPoint mode, where only the small satellites are used, I found the quality to be good only when playing music at a volume appropriate for background music. If I turned up the volume, I found the midrange to be especially lacking. When set in Movie or Music mode, where most of the sound comes from the much more powerful center speaker, the quality, especially midrange is much better. However, it's not something audiophiles will replace their stereo system with. The system can then easily fill a small room with good quality music. However, the system is not powerful enough to play loud music in a living room except for low volume background music. I also tried the special FourPoint mode (see above) where the center channel is used but I preferred the music mode.

Games:
When it comes to games using 3D sound you'll want to switch to the FourPoint mode where the center speaker is silent and the four weaker satellites will be used to a greater extent. They still do an admirable job together with the subwoofer for the typical bass heavy sound effects you find in games. High frequencies are clear while midrange is only good enough for typical game sound and music but as mentioned above not something I would like to play more typical music through. I also tried the special FourPoint mode where the center channel is used and found it to be better than the normal FourPoint mode. Even though you lose some of the positioning, the overall better sound quality resulting from the strong center speaker makes up for it.

Just like Cambridge SoundWorks' cheaper FourPoint Surround (FPS1000) and their more powerful FPS2000 you will only have to deal with one volume control set. This makes it's easier to change the volume for the satellites and subwoofer and unlike the FPS1000 you'll have the option of increasing the volume of the rear satellites, all controlled from the Amplifier unit. Compared to Cambridge SoundWorks'  two 4.1 system the DTT 5.1 is better than the FPS1000 but falls behind the FPS2000.

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