Altec Lansing Orbit iMT237

Everyone into PCs and multimedia knows exactly who Altec Lansing is, and their wide range of products speaks for them. More often than not, these guys have impressed us with their designs, and decent sound capabilities for the prices they quote. Today I feel the Orbit iMT237 that we are about to review will be interesting to say the least.

Design and Features
Calling it just Ultra portable, will be absolutely befitting. This is a small round speaker driver housed in a lead and aluminum metallic finish casing, powered by batteries. Let me elaborate: the shape is cylindrical, with a perfect circle side panel. The top panel is the face of the driver, of course hidden behind a black mesh. Thus this is, in theory an upward firing model. It’s meant to be kept on desktops, seat of your car, or any place not too far from your ears; the floor is not going to work, it’s way more personal than that.

The bottom panel has a nice round lid that open out; exposing the battery compartment. The unit works on 3 AAA batteries. When put back on, this lid itself acts as a holder for the 3.5mm jack and its small little wire that is permanently attached to the speaker, thus making it a strictly plug and play design. There is also a 3.5 mm to 2.5 mm converter, for mobile phone users. I have to make a point here in appreciation: the body is quite robust and has a very nice finish, and never really gives out an impression of being tacky in any way.

The package contains batteries, and a nice circular pouch made especially in the shape of the Orbit. This pouch is made of polymer - I suspect neoprene material - thus giving it a pretty, yet rugged look. The unit has no volume knob, which in my opinion is good. It just has a simple on/off push button, and a bright green battery indicator LED. The driver size is 30 mm, and the power is not mentioned in the specs, but I am assuming it’s below 2 watts RMS.