Artis S5555 5.1 Speakers

In the midst of numerous LCD TV and monitor reviews you will find one write-up on a choice for a speaker system, because, what good is killer video without decent audio? In this segment we believe budget is important, at the same time the speakers should perform and last. Thus today we are looking at the more down to earth brand, Artis, more specifically a 5.1 speaker package by Artis called the S5555.

Design and Features
It consists of 5 small size bookshelf speakers, with rectangular black cabinets making up their exterior. These connect to the subwoofer, again, not too large. The subwoofer is a bit tall though with LEDs in the front arranged vertically in a column (7 in all), below a similar row of flat silver buttons. This is on the right extremity of the front panel. Color is black matte for the whole set. The product is lightweight and easy to lug around, not to mention very simple to connect, with RCA connections lined up at the back panel, both for stereo and analog 5.1 inputs, even the individual speaker outs are yellow RCAs. The satellites come with wires attached so that’s quite convenient.

Speaker driver materials are not mentioned, plus the cloth grilles cannot be removed, so we cannot check and assume. Their sizes are: 3-inch drivers for the satellites and a single 5.25-inch driver for the subwoofer. The sub is sideward firing, with single reflex port on the opposite side. This unit supports Dolby Pro logic, so that is interesting.

As for the stated specs, the power output is measured in PMPO, at a total of 3000 Watts. RMS ratings are also given, at 80 Watt total. Frequency response is 25 Hz - 20 KHz, while Signal to Noise Ratio is 70 dB. The unit comes with a small remote, powered by 2 AAA batteries (not included).

Performance
I plugged it in to my PC at work and played some Jazz flacs and played Prototype on the PC. Considering the price and type of this model, it makes no real sense to subject the piece through very hi-fi tests, as it would mostly fail. All I really wanted to see is whether the sound has bad distortion levels. And thankfully the speaker did not have that problem. The frequency response yielded not so clear highs and mid frequencies, with too much forward sounding mids. The sound is loud enough, and also the low end is not bad, it is warm and extends quiet lows.

There is no real separate tweeter in this speaker unit, so I wasn’t too inspired to check high frequencies, as they were clouded by the mids. But in surround sound mode we had fun as the bass is hard enough to watch and enjoy a film or play games. In fact in this realm of multimedia the speaker system sounds better, as absolute sound clarity is not required. (Though of course it is always welcome.)

Conclusions
At Rs. 3350 street price this model is a nice choice for super stringent budgets, as there is no distortion in the sound, and bass is not all that bad. Of course highs and mids are all over the place, but for the price it is fine, so someone looking for a quick solution on a budget can check the Artis S5555 out.