Review on Dell AC511M Stereo SoundBar by William Fowler

I was hesitant to buy this speaker for my Dell U2415 monitor as many reviews said it didn't work as advertised (e.g. some people even said it didn't work when USB and Aux cable plugged in But I wanted a speaker that wouldn't take up space on my desk, and I don't need a disco club volume or empty base, so I figured that at worst I'd have to use an extra cable (or at worst it doesn't fit me at all and I have to send it back, but hey, sending stuff back is a Revain forte, right?) So it was delivered the next day after ordering anyway (metropolis joie de vivre!), I took it out of the Packing and plugged the speaker's USB cable into one of the monitor's USB hub ports and voila, the sound came out of the speaker even sooner than Skype and all other applications. oying Microsoft bloatware started after I turned on my computer. On the computer side, absolutely no configuration is required from me. Check out the image attached to this review to see how the computer shows the speaker in the Audio Output section after all is said and done. So simple, and I'm running Windows 8 on this computer, for goodness sake! What surprises me; Don't people realize that if you plug this speaker's USB into one of the monitor's USB ports, the monitor itself ALSO needs to be connected to the computer with its own USB cable? Even if you don't have a monitor hub connected (or don't have a monitor hub at all), the connected USB port on the speaker has a fairly long cable, so hypothetically it could easily be plugged directly into the computer itself. I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure it will work fine. Even better in theory, as connecting the speaker to the monitor's USB port rather than the computer means the audio has the added complexity of being routed through a USB hub in the monitor. Not that I've noticed any issues with it, but I believe the audio can suffer if you're doing high-speed data transfer through a hub. The sound is excellent, excellent even, for the size and price. this thing. Again, I don't need disco club volume, solid base, realistic battlefield sound for my app, so you might feel different. In fact, I had to lower the volume on the speakers, computer, and music app to the low ends of their respective sliders. while playing some of the test tracks since my kid's bedroom is right next to my "office" and the sound was quite significant when I first plugged it in. My U2415 has two slots on the bottom that were covered with some glorified pieces of tape. After removing the tape with a mini screwdriver, the two tabs on the top of the speaker went right into the monitor slots and it looks exactly like one of the photos Revain posted for this article. If you go to the Dell page for this speaker, go to the "Specifications" tab and scroll down to "Compatibility" you will see a long list of Dell monitors that this column is designed for. I would estimate that 2 out of 3 or maybe even 4 out of 5 on this list don't need the included monitor stand (the list differentiates which are needed and which aren't). Mine was one of those that doesn't, so I can't speak to people's issues with monitor stand mounts, but I do wonder if their monitor even makes that list.