Microlab M-1910 Review

👤by Tony Le Bourne Comments 📅14-04-14
Performance Testing

Setup, Design & Observations
Setup of a surround system is one that will usually take a fair bit of time, the rear satellites have a cable length of around 3.5m and should be long enough for a small sized room. There are plenty of cable options available though you may require some adaptors should you wish to use it with your PC via 3.5mm jacks, however the coaxial and optical options are readily available. Setting up the M-1910 with a console and TV is relatively simple too as long as you have the right output options available.

The build quality is reasonable but there were some concessions made, I guess that is how the extra connections were crammed in at this price point. Each unit is made of MDF including the sub/amp, though each is faced with a fairly cheap feeling, glossy plastic facade that is a dust and fingerprint magnet. The Subwoofer/amp front panel buttons are 'clicky' while the main volume dial was surprisingly very wobbly. Despite the wobble, the dial still functioned properly, when turned it gives a tactile click for each jump in volume and pressing the dial in swaps the audio input. The remote is small and fairly sturdy and has all the options you could need it for and is a great inclusion. This means you have control of the system from any position in your room and it worked well within 4m within a 70° unhindered line of sight. It is interesting to note that you can control the volume of each channel (centre, bass, front, rear and master) via the remote, yet should you lose or break the remote you can only control the front, bass and master channels. Fortunately it does not save the adjusted volume should you turn the system off.



Multi-Media

Listening to a varied music playlist, I quickly identified the weaknesses of this system. At max volume, it is capable of filling a small room with sound but is not excessively loud and because it suffers with a little distortion at high volume, the overall 'usable' loudness is reduced further. The bass output from the subwoofer was rich, defined and fairly impressive, though it would appear that the satellites would not produce tones lower than 100Hz. It is fairly normal to have the bass crossover at 80Hz but the increase to 100Hz reduced the audial presence of music playback from the satellites making them sound empty and hollow. The satellites also seemed to have a slight lack in definition in the mid to high tones too. Having a higher bass crossover point does have its advantages, the direction in which the audio originated from seemed easier to identify, increasing the sense of the 'surround experience'. If the system is correctly setup, watching TV, movies and playing games was a nice treat.


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