I recently set out on a mission to track down an excellent 2.1 speaker system to hook up to my MacBook Pro for continuous playback of music through iTunes, and other various entertainment requirements.

I’d heard a lot of good things about Altec Lansing’s FX6021 range, and had played with them a few times within the confines of an Apple Reseller. However the noisy and crammed environment is not necessarily the place to put speakers to the test, I had to make a ‘deaf’ decision.’

I decided to finish my long search for speakers and just purchase them, if they were awful, I could always sell them. Once they arrived, the word awful wasn’t even in my vocabulary, the speakers are outstanding, to the point that I would refer to them more as a ‘sound system’ than multimedia speakers.

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Sound Quality & Density

When the FX6021s started pushing out audio the first thing which blew me away was the super high density and ‘punch’ of the music, it sounds very luxurious. The ability to fine tune the Bass and Treble setting to your liking is a much appreciated feature.

The system has 5 volume levels, I’m generally listening to music on the first level, occasionally kicking it up to the second. Anything past two and you’re getting into something I’d like to call the ‘party setting,’ ideal for blasting music through a large noisy area. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to have them accidentally turned up to level 4 or 5 when kicking up iTunes first thing in the morning, unless you’re sending out a wake up call for your neighbors.

I’ve been very impressed with how quickly I can change settings to adapt different styles of music. Generally I leave bass and treble two bars off the top - set to the mid level the bass it delivers is really thumping, I’ve been told time and time again to turn the bass down due to excessive thumping, not necessarily a bad thing.

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Design & Overall Environment Blending

Residing next to a 30” Apple Cinema Display the two speakers look impeccable. They match the ‘Apple environment’ very, very well. I assume these would look as amazing when hooked up to a MacBook or one of the newer aluminum iMac’s.

The subwoofer sits conveniently under my desk, it’s not massive, though it’s not small. I’d recommend checking if you have enough room on the ground near your workstation to place it, as you’ll get much better sound quality with it on the floor than sitting on top of your desk.

Included in the box is both a wireless remote, and a desktop controller. The desktop controller is used for controlling volume, treble, bass, and power - while also providing you with a headphone port to isolate your sound into a pair of headphones should the need arise. The desktop controller would be amazing if it was wireless, sadly, it’s not, meaning it’s a little restrictive to where you can place it on your desk - not a huge problem, just a little grudge. If Altec Lansing had anything they could improve on, that’d be the one thing I’d push forward.

The design of the speakers, sub, desktop controller, and remote are all perfectly in sync. The system is very well polished and looks very professional in any setting.

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Concluding Thoughts

Overall, I’ve been more than impressed with the system. I would highly recommend these to anyone who is looking for a suitable and compact sound system to hook up to your system for music, DVDs, and other media playback.

They have been a dream since day one, I really didn’t know how bad the audio on any other sound product I own was until I was treated to these. A must have addition to your setup is a good sound system, make these your choice.