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Edifier e3100 2+1 Speaker System Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Testing and Conclusion
A game of Farcry and some CD audio provided the sounds for testing, since these tests are pretty subjective your results can vary.
The Edifier e3100 sounded superb in all aspects. The highs were very crisp and accurate, Bass response was very tight however there was a noticeable gap between the crossover frequencies (ie midbass, where the woofer leaves off and before the midrange picks up and again between the midrange and highs.) Total frequency response is decent for a system of this caliber. Again bass response was tight however the extremely low frequencies were not produced and started to taper off around the 40Hz range. Unless you are looking to hit something in the 30's on a regular basis I doubt you'll ever notice, not to mention there a very few games that even dip into the sub bass region. Our only complaint would be with power handling. We found that the woofer and satellites would begin to flub out past half volume with the gains set around 50%. Dropping the gain dials helped a little but only for a short while.
Overall volume is average, db for db my Altec Lansing ACS56 were slightly louder during gameplay but the music tests put the Edifier e3100 at an advantage due to the better high-end frequency response.
The Edifier e3100 sounded superb in all aspects. The highs were very crisp and accurate, Bass response was very tight however there was a noticeable gap between the crossover frequencies (ie midbass, where the woofer leaves off and before the midrange picks up and again between the midrange and highs.) Total frequency response is decent for a system of this caliber. Again bass response was tight however the extremely low frequencies were not produced and started to taper off around the 40Hz range. Unless you are looking to hit something in the 30's on a regular basis I doubt you'll ever notice, not to mention there a very few games that even dip into the sub bass region. Our only complaint would be with power handling. We found that the woofer and satellites would begin to flub out past half volume with the gains set around 50%. Dropping the gain dials helped a little but only for a short while.
Overall volume is average, db for db my Altec Lansing ACS56 were slightly louder during gameplay but the music tests put the Edifier e3100 at an advantage due to the better high-end frequency response.
Conclusion
Being of the mindset of comparing specifications before buying anything I'll have to admit I wasn't too impressed in the beginning. The speaker sizes used in the Edifier e3100 were a little small for my tastes and the power output of 8w per satellite and 12w to the subwoofer seemed to be a little light for my personal tastes. However I went into the review with high hopes and I'm happy to report that I wasn't disappointed. Sound quality was excellent and despite a few power handling issues system hit hard and sounded great doing it.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
The Good Things
Compact speaker system
Great sound quality
MDF boxes throughout
Hard hitting bass
bymetallic speaker wire included
retro styling
comes in two colors
Great sound quality
MDF boxes throughout
Hard hitting bass
bymetallic speaker wire included
retro styling
comes in two colors
The Bad Things
Only a 2+1 configuration
Power handling could be better
No digital input
No fancy light show
Power handling could be better
No digital input
No fancy light show
Ninjalane Rating
I would like to thank Edifier for helping to make this review possible.
