Videologic
Sirocco Crossfire review
Posted by Julio
Franco on October 03, 2000 - Page 3/5
Company: Imagination
Tech/Videologic Product:
Sirocco
Crossfire 4.1 speaker system
The Amplifier
Unlike
most of today’s PC speaker systems that come with a built-in
amplifier on the subwoofer, Videologic preferred to package a
full separate amplifier with the Crossfire. This was an
excellent decision given the fact that the amp does not only
handles the 4 channels and the subwoofer but also gives room
for additional options we will be talking about later.
The
Sirocco Amplifier has got 6 built-in amps (according to
Videologic), it manages the 4 satellite cones independently
and the other two amps are used in parallel for the subwoofer.
As I mentioned before all
controls and connectors have been placed in the amplifier, in
the back of it you will find 5 sets of gold plated phono
connectors for 2 front, 2 rear speakers and the subwoofer. The
inputs for front and rear speakers are independent so you can
easily connect for 3D positional or surround sound to a quad
speaker capable soundcard.
Additionally you’ve got a
secondary Input for devices that use RCA phono leads such as a
CD Player. If you intend to connect the Crossfire for Dolby
Digital or Dolby Pro Logic, there is also available a AC-3
Input, combined with a decoder you can create a phantom center
channel between the two front satellites, for a four speaker +
subwoofer home theater system.
On the front you’ve all the
controls for Master Volume, Subwoofer level, Fade (to control
balance of front and rear speakers), a button for turning
on/off the quad output and a knob for selecting the source you
will use. Last but not least, on the front you’ve got the
3rd input for connecting units that use a 3.5mm stereo jack
input.
Subwoofer and Satellites
The Subwoofer that comes with
the Crossfire is the same one than the original Sirocco
system. Using an Audax 6.5" cone housed on a black MDF
cabinet, the Sirocco subwoofer is capable of a 40W RMS output.
In the case of the Satellites,
they come with 3" mid range Audax cones (bass) and a high
frequency (tweeter) 10mm polymer dome from Audax as well. Each
channel can output up to 10W RMS, that would be a total of 40W
in quad output mode.
According
to the Crossfire specs, the system is capable of 80W RMS
output (full system) at 1% THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) or
100W RMS output at 10% THD. We’ll be talking of sound
performance later however in theory these numbers mean that at
very high volume levels there should be no noticeable
distortion in the sound quality, very impressive.
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