Product Bundle, Specifications, Design and Features

Packaging

We can not emphasise the size and weight of this product when packed in its shipping cartons. The total packed weight of the speaker set is 37.5 Kilograms which is much heavier than even many modern stereo hi-fi systems and even old 20" CRT Monitors. You will need a suitable vehicle such as a hatch back, SUV or home delivery if you intend to buy these speakers.

The packed size is also impressive and proved a challenge to unpack the speakers and to subsequently repack them when our review was concluded to return to the supplier. The speakers are shipped in two large cartons, the larger containing the sub woofer and accessories and the smaller box containing the satellites. The total dimensions of both cartons combined is 630mm Wide, 470mm Deep and 790 mm High.

The speakers we received came in Edifier branded shipping cartons, the actual colourful product boxes were inside these boxes, which contained the image of the product and all specifications and certifications. This protects the product more but proved a slight annoyance when unpacking.

The satellites are packed securely in a custom foam tray which not only protects the satellites during shipping but if the user needs store or transport the speaker, retaining the packaging will allow the speakers to be packed away safely. However, the sub woofer was not protected in this way simply due to its size and weight and simply had upper and lower foam inserts to secure the sub woofer. the control pod was 'thrown' in alongside the sub woofer with just bubble wrap.

Product Bundle and Accessories

Since Edifier classify this as a 'real' or premium multimedia speaker system, the S550 does not use any captive cables at all apart from the control pod. All cables used are industry standard speaker cable or RCA stereo cables. easily replaceable or extendable by the user. The product bundle also includes a removable stand for the control pod and a standard figure 8 AC power cable measuring 1.5 metres, typical of these sort of devices. We would have liked to see the cables labelled so that the user does not mistakenly use the longer rear speaker cables for the front channels. This would also assist setup and avoid any confusion.

The oxygen-free speaker cable used is fortunately more than long enough for even a large living room installation, which is the scenario we chose to test these speakers. The three pairs of speaker cable used for the three front speakers measure 2.4 metres, with the two pairs of speaker cable used for the rear channels measure a whopping 8 metres ! This would cover the setup needed for most users without the user having to replace the cables due to length. We cant say the same with some cheaper speakers in the $100 range that we have tested that use captive cables throughout where short cables prove frustrating.

The Point of having a 5.1 channel speaker system is that the cables should be long enough to allow the user to position the speakers in their proper locations to enjoy the full surround sound experience without compromise. The diameter of the speaker cable conductor is 1 mm.

Each Stereo RCA cable which of there are three needed for the six channels of audio are 2.4 metres long.

To connect the speakers to a PC the three stereo cables are combined with the bundled stereo RCA to 3.5mm adapters to pluged into a PC that supports six or more channels of audio.

To connect to a DVD player leave the adapters off. See the documentation for more information. The adapters fortunately use slim 3.5mm plugs so connecting to the PC will not be a problem and not conflict with other plugs such as USB cables or microphone or line in audio cables.

The adapters are about 15cm long each and not their length isn't a problem as they are Y-Cables and not solid one piece adapters which would cause a problem. Although the cables seem generic, the adapters have the Edifier brand name stamped onto the plugs and they are colour coded to the PC industry standard.

Like other multimedia speaker sets of this calibre, a remote control is bundled. In the case of the Edifier the remote offers some features that are directly not available on the control pod so users should try not to loose the remote. The remote offers a mute feature, direct adjustment of all levels without having to navigate through the LCD as well as a reset button to reset all levels to factory default. The remote is powered by a standard lithium coin battery. This remote is what's known as a credit card remote and is often bundled with premium products or offered as a secondary remote for devices such as televisions. The disadvantage of this type of remote is constant use can damage the switches. The manufacturer likely envisaged that owners would only occasionally use the remote and would mainly use the control pod.

Documentation

Two pieces of documentation are provided, a multilingual User's Manual describing setup and operation and a sheet describing the 'patented' distortion control that is included in the speaker system. These documents seemed to be have photocopied rather than printed but this is not necessarily an issue for a product such as this.

Specifications

The specifications provided to us on the official sales sheet for the speaker by the Australian distributor differ to the specifications in the product documentation. This is likely due to revisions made to the product due to product evolution and the need to adapt the speaker to work on 220 Volts AC.

Design and Features

• Luxurious 5.1 speaker system with 10 inch sub woofer
• Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
• Passive radiator on both sides on the sub woofer to exaggerate bass
  performance
• Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
• Switch able dual input ports for both 5.1 channel and stereo inputs
• Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
• Headphone output on wired remote controller
• Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
• Volume booster for extra power output
• Separate bass and treble adjustments
• Multifunctional wireless remote controller included