Analog Performance

Newer isn't always better!

Analog is old school when it comes to audio. You will find many audiophiles who swear by their LP's and vacuum tube amplifiers. The theory behind this is that all music is originally analog. When you do the analog to digital conversions, and vice versa you inevitable will introduce some artifacts that could be audible. No conversion is perfect, and repeated conversions will lead to audio loss. In addition, the final stage of the audio signal must be analog to get the cones in your speakers vibrating.

For analog auditioning, I had the speakers hooked up to a Montego II Quadzilla and a SB Live!. Because all the satellites were identical, the passing of sounds from one speaker to another was very good, no tonal changes occurred. This is something to keep in mind when designing a home theater or four speaker PC audio system.

Sound Quality

Let me begin by saying that I thought these speakers sounded great. They played loud and clean, especially for computer speakers. Whoa, for computer speakers, you ask? Well, sure. There is no justice in comparing these speakers to systems that cost many times more. Admit it, unless your birthday gifts include small countries, we are economically limited, and it's only fair to compare the FPS 2000 to other computer speakers.

Computer (or "multimedia" speakers) were originally a euphemism for "poor quality" speakers, and thankfully this is no longer true. This genre of audio equipment encompasses most magnetically shielded, self powered speakers. Often these speakers were last year's high-end home theater equipment, you gotta love technological progress.

Specifics

The sound quality was very impressive, with strong highs and a clear midrange, surprising attributes, given the satellite's single driver design. This is a similar design to the famous or infamous Bose sub/sat systems. Extended listening to the older Bose systems was often exhausting as you would become overwhelmed by the highs and boomy bass; they sounded great on demo but they just don't cut it with more melodic music sources.

I found that the FPS 2000s escaped this characterization. One of my colleagues, a self-proclaimed music lover, with over 20 years worth of JBL speaker technology, even remarked at the impressiveness of the FPS 2000, especially when considering the size and cost of the system.