Altec Lansing octiv AIR iPod and iPhone speakers
I’m not too up on fashion. I’m not entirely sure what was in vogue on the catwalks of Paris and London this year, but I do know that the trendy thing for iPod and iPhone speaker designers this year has been no wires.
That’s right burn the cord, cut the cable get rid of the wire. Whether its bluetooth or wireless the aim of the game for 2009 has been to get your speakers going wirelessly.
With a great tradition of giving iPod speakers just what users are looking for, Altec Lansing brought out the Octiv AIR earlier this year to join the growing number of wireless speakers on the market.
The Octive air consists of a dock that will charge your iPod and a wireless speaker unit.
Altec Lansing claim that the dock and the speaker can be up to 100 feet away and the unit will still work just fine and apparently they’re right. Tests have shown that even when putting a couple of sneaky walls between the dock and its speaker the music still keeps on playing uninterrupted.
One of the advantages of this system is that you don’t just have to confine yourself to one speaker. The octiv Air system allows you to connect up to 8 speakers to the dock allowing so that you can broadcast your music throughout your home if you wish (although the basic package to buy is one speaker) . If you wanted to put a couple of M812 speakers in the same room for a good stereo experience, then you’re in luck; on the bottom of the speakers there’s a small switch that allows the speakers to communicate with each other and form a seamless stereo setup.
The speakers themselves look good and on their own provide 80 watts of power each across 2 channels. Because of their design the speakers can be oriented horizontally or vertically, so you can fit them in to the right place in your room with ease. Also available is a wall-mounting kit in case you want make these speakers more of a feature in your home.
Sound wise the M812 isn’t bad at all, producing a nice warm and rich sound thanks to its two 4 inch full-range drivers and 1 inch silk dome tweeters which is makes this a good step up from some smaller iPod speakers that can sound a bit on the thin side. If we were to be picky, when you’ve got a big track on and the volume at a reasonable level the sound could benefit from a little more clarity, but that would be picky and overall the octiv Air gives you a nice sound.
The octiv Air also has an FM radio in case you get a bit bored of your iTunes and also comes with a handy remote that lets you navigate through tracks, adjust the volume and adjust the treble and bass settings without having to leave the comfort of your sofa.
So there you have it. The Altec Lansing’s octiv Air is a good looking, robust and versatile system that that gives you a number of options to enjoy music around your home. The sound is good, better than many cheaper models, and it comes with a handy remote and and a dock that will charge your iPod but apparently not your iPhone.
If I’m honest, i think for the money there are a couple of better systems out there. For instance, the Sony AIRSA20PK Wireless Multiroom system doesn’t have quite the depth of sound the octiv Air does, but it comes with 2 speakers and quite a few extra features that make the user experience a bit more enjoyable. Then there’s the Bose Companion 5 system in the same kind of price range that definitley trumps the ociv Air in the sound stakes, but is low on extras and features.
The octiv Air is the best of both worlds and is a good speaker system, but may just be a touch too high in terms of price than it perhaps should be.
If you’d like to take a look at some other high-end ipod speakers than just click here.
If you want to see the octiv Air in action take a look at this useful video from Keith Shaw at Network World
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