| Saitek A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System
|
Performance (continued):
The first caveat with the operation of the Saitek A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System is that you can only control the music stream when the speakers are being powered by batteries. If you are using the A/C adaptor to power the speakers, you can not pause or skip back and forth through your play list, but you can still control the volume.
The second caveat was software related and only showed itself when using Winamp. For the controls to work when using Winamp it had to be minimized. If Winamp was maximized the controls would not work. At first this perplexed me and I could not figure out why I was having this issue and I thought I may have a defective unit. I looked in the trouble shooting section of the manual that came with the speakers, and the issue was documented with the solution to run the offending software minimized, which worked fine. This issue did not arise when using Windows Media Player and the controls on the speakers worked fine no matter what the status of Windows Media Player was.
Right in the middle of the A-250 system is an LCD display that flashes on when a control button is used. The display shows messages related to the control used such as Next, Previous, Play, Pause, and Volume setting, and then turns off after a few seconds to conserve battery power.
To use an alternative music source you simply connect it through the supplied 3.5mm audio cable and power up the A-250 either via the batteries or A/C adaptor. Then hold the Pause button for 3 seconds and the A-250s will switch to the alternative music source and "Line" will be displayed on the LCD. When used with an alternative music source, only the volume controls will work and you will have to use the controls from the music source to control the music stream's other functions.
The next question to be answered was how far from the PC can you stream music via the wireless connection. Saitek claims 30 meters which works out to approximately 96 feet. So with music playing and speakers in hand, off I went to see just how far I could get from the PC and still have good reception. The computer the A-250s were connected to is in an upstairs bedroom and reception anywhere upstairs was flawless, closed doors and walls seemed to have no effect. I then headed down the stairs with the A-250s and half way down the stairs the sound stopped, I took one more step down and it came right back. As I came to find I had several "holes" in my reception. None of the holes were large and moving the speakers a foot or two brought reception back. I was able to take them outside to the BBQ grill and out to the garage. With the exception of a few small holes in reception the A-250s lived up to Saitek's claim on range. These holes may be caused by interference from other electronic devices, as I found out a running microwave oven will play havoc with the A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System, for example.
The Saitek A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System performed better than I had expected when it came to streaming music. Out of curiosity I tried some PC gaming with the A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System connected through the wireless connection. There was a noticeable lag between game action and the sound, but the lag disappeared when I connected the A-250s to the computer with the 3.5 mm audio cable. The A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System isn't advertised for gaming, so you can't really knock them for not being able to keep up with the action.
|
|
|
|
