Specifications

The Specs

Overall System Response: 50Hz to 20kHz (± 3dB @ 1 Watt/Meter)
Maximum SPL: 105dB @ <10% THD/1kHz Class A/B Hybrid-Monolithic Design
Proprietary S2Busä Interface
Two-Layer Glass Epoxy(UL 94V-0) Printed Circuit Boards
Redundant Protection Circuits (Thermal, Short-Circuit, Under/Over Voltage)
Gold-Plated Inputs/Outputs
Amplifier Power 100 Watts RMS
50 Watts for the Subwoofer
25 Watts per satellite
20Hz-20kHz, all channels driven 8W @ <0.1% THD
Input Impedance: > 50k W @ 1kHz, < 200pf @ 20kHz
Input Sensitivity: Input A: > 200mV RMS (minimum required input level to achieve maximum output @ 1kHz) Input B: > 400mV RMS (minimum required input level to achieve maximum output @ 1kHz)
Maximum Input: 8V (peak-to-peak, before input clipping)
Dynamic Headroom: > 3dB
Low-level Stereo Audio (2) via Gold-Plated RCA Jacks (switch selectable at control module)
Dynamic Microphone via 3.5mm Mini-Jack (mixable with either input via adjacent potentiometer)
Outputs Left and Right Satellite Speakers via Gold-Plated, Spring-Activated Push Terminals.
Line out via 3.5 mm Mini-Jack (controlled by volume potentiometer on Control Module)
Subwoofer: 8" Glass-Impregnated Paper Cone with Dual 1.5" BiFilar OFC Voice Coils on TSV Composite Formers Rare-Earth Neodymium Magnet Structure
Subwoofer Enclosure: (16.5"H x 8"W x 17"D) Rigidly-braced MDF, Computer Optimized Side-Firing Vented Design with Dual Turbulence-Free Ports and Removable Fabric Grille
Satellite Speakers: Computer-Optimized Two-Way design with 13mm Poly/Aluminum Dome Tweeters and 4.5" Treated Paper Cone Mid/Bass Drivers, Neodymium Magnet Structures
Satellite Enclosures: (8.5"h x 4.75"W x 5.5"D) Two-Piece Die-Cast Aluminum, Ellipsoidal Acoustic Suspension Design with ¼"-20 Threaded Inserts (for brackets)
Crossover Networks: Active, 2nd Order- 12dB/octave - High/Low Pass for Subwoofer
Asymmetric Conjugate - 6/12 dB/octave (Satellites)
Crossover Frequencies: 130Hz (Subwoofer), 4kHz (Satellites)
Control Module: (1.7"H x 5.8"W x 2.6"D) Interface to Power Amp with control of Volume, Balance, Bass, Treble, 3DSPä, Input, Mute, and Loudness
Volume Control: 100 dB Range
Balance Control: > 50dB Isolation @ Maximum Left-Right Rotation
Bass Control: ± 12dB @ 100Hz
Treble Control: ± 12dB @ 10kHz
Input Isolation: > 90 dB (between Input A and Input B)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: > 80dB (A-weighted)

Notes

Wow! All this info is from the last page of the manual for the MidiLand S2 4100's. As you can see, MidiLand is very proud of their flagship product, and has provided more technical data on its product than any other multimedia speaker manufacturer I have ever seen.

Looking carefully at the specifications, you see features that belong in high-end home speaker manuals rather than computer speakers. The use of neodymium magnets is nice because they are the most powerful magnets for the size; this generally means greater efficiency of the speakers. MidiLand isn't trying to hide anything from us, as we see clarifications in the form of tolerances or ranges for almost every number. For example, the frequency response numbers do have a dB range, which is much more useful than claiming that a speaker can produce the entire range of frequencies, but at levels that only dogs can hear.

Just reading these specs created a good amount of anticipation, and I was looking forward to hearing what the S2 4100's were capable of and seeing how they compared against other "spec heavy" speakers, mainly the Klipsch ProMedia's. You didn't think I'd get through this article without mentioning the Klipsch ProMedia's did you? I mean, you readers were actually the first to start talking about both of these speakers in the same sentence.