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Review on Edifier R1280T Active Bookshelf Speakers - 2.0 Stereo Near Field Monitors - Wooden Enclosure - 42 Watts RMS - Ideal for Studio Monitoring by Busaba Ounsiri

Revainrating 4 out of 5

The item is of good quality, there is only one minor defect.

See the actual sample if you want to choose by design since even though they look more attractive in the picture (like themes with wood), the grids and the top of the speakers are actually a bright silver color. When it comes to the sound quality, I believe the speakers are given too much credit. After listening to the SVEN SPS-820 with a subwoofer, which is around 1.5 to 2 times more affordable than these, the sound here feels oddly "flat," as if it were lacking in vitality. In addition, you won't even be able to hear the bass if you turn the bass knob all the way counterclockwise. Typical speakers from a Sony tape recorder from the 1990s that do not include a subwoofer, in my opinion, play lower and more attractively, particularly the bottoms, and the singing is more audible there. Both the mids and the highs are effective. The cables are of low quality; they are thin, and the plug in the laptop cracks whenever there is even the tiniest wiggle in the wire (I immediately replaced it with my high-quality cable and the problem disappeared). Due to the fact that the volume control does not have a lock in either of its extreme locations, it is impossible to even get a rough estimation of what volume the amplifier is set to (to understand this, you will first have to turn the volume to full, which is not acceptable everywhere). In the absence of sound, background noise at low and medium volumes is almost inaudible, although it appears if the volume is above average, and is quite well heard at full volume. This is a significant benefit for me after sven, and it is one of the reasons why I chose to use it. When I wasn't listening to music, well, it took up a lot of space, but there is very little of it, which is why I now only bought two boxes instead of three. In all fairness, it must be said that Sven had much more problems than I did. Although he played the bottoms vividly, he didn't have tops in principle. In silence, he had such annoying background noise from both the sub and satellites that he had to pull him out from the outlet. In theory, these things will fit like computer speakers; however, if I'm being really honest, after reading such gushing reviews on the internet, I expected a higher sound quality for the price. There is also the level of conventional speakers, which can be purchased for one-half the price of the premium speakers. If they wanted to sell it for three thousand dollars, they should at least include a headphone output and a balance adjustment. Instead, the only feature is an unnecessary remote control. In my opinion, the price of speakers of this kind ought to be cut in half.

Pros
  • Behave quietly and in silence at medium volume (you can only hear it if you explicitly listen at a distance of up to 30 cm), however the hiss shows more clearly the closer it is to the maximum volume setting.
Cons
  • Low-cost wires (must be changed immediately). It has no bass at all and poor processing of low frequencies compared to other speakers; the drums sound notably flat and humiliating, as if they were hitting on the drum with their hand on their knee rather than with a stick. The sound of human singing can be just made out, although it is subdued and comes off as secondary to the music. If you are able to make out exactly what people are singing on other speakers, you will need to pay close attention to the words being sung via these (it becomes a little clearer if you turn the treble control to the maximum). A power chord that is extremely short; either the active speaker will need to be placed right at the socket, or you should consider purchasing an additional extension cord. Speakers, in my opinion, are priced too high for their "average" quality. It would appear that Edifier's marketing have taken it upon themselves to create exaggeratedly positive evaluations on the internet in order to promote a brand that is not yet well recognized.