Eagle Arion ET-AR504LR-BK 2.1 Speakers

Testing

To put these speakers through their paces, I ran them through a variety of activities:

• voice chat
• movies
• music
• and of course, video games

All tests were conducted with the following rig:

Voice chat:
This portion of the testing consisted of two long bull sessions, a one-on-one with my fellow author Ian via Skype, and a 25-way free-for-all over Ventrilo. In both cases, the voices were clear and distinct, even over top of loud background music, game noises, and an excessively vocal cat.

Movies:
Casino Royale was my movie of choice for this test; it’s got a good mix of just about everything you’d expect to hear in a movie: loud gunfire and vehicle chases, quiet conversations, and swelling orchestral music. Dialogue was clear and distinct, even during noisy sequences. Booming explosions and other bass bits were firm, if not overpowering. As advertised, high volumes did nothing to distort the sound at any point in the movie.

Video games:
For this test, I booted up Left 4 Dead and ran through the Dead Air campaign with three friends. Gunfire was satisfyingly sharp and the shrieking Infected were suitably hair-raising. While positional audio usually works better with headphones or a surround-sound speaker set, I had no trouble hearing what was going on around me. Though this game is less explosion-happy than many, I still noticed that the explosions that were present were not as powerful as they could have been.

Music:
This test of the Eagle Tech speakers was the most demanding of the four, and the one I paid the closest attention to. As the clip above shows, I tested it with a wide range of music, from orchestral and big band to heavy metal and R&B, with a little ambient electronic thrown in for good measure.

Results with orchestral and big band were phenomenal, with the wind and string instruments singing like they were right there in the room. Vocals came through clear and strong, with no harshness or muddiness, even at high volumes.

Testing with the more bass-heavy end of things was slightly disappointing. The Basement Jaxx song featured in the clip above is one I use regularly as a bass test; it starts out with a steeply diving melody line that ends in a meaty BOOM around 30hz. The punch of that bottom note was absent, even with the bass controls turned up as far as they would go.

Testing with Aphex Twin’s vordhosbn was the most revealing: mids were punchy and crisp, while highs and lows were somewhat muted, at default settings. Cranking up the treble and bass controls a few notches brought those ranges out of hiding, though. As with the R&B test, bass was firm, but not powerful. Highs were crisp and clean, with no harsh shrilling at any point.

If rock is more your speed, you’ll feel right at home with these speakers. The resonance chambers present in each satellite come into play here, giving the guitars a warm, energetic sound that’s quite satisfying.

After all this testing, I thought I’d try something a bit more fun. Pointing the satellites at the open door, I turned the volume up to 80% of max and retreated to the opposite end of the house before hitting play. Although,this pissed off everyone that was home, to0 no end, the results were there: I could hear no distortion even at ridiculous volumes.

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